Chapter - 11 - End of the world

Upon reaching her office, Dr.G received a call from Dr.Henry, the Head of the Department asking her to meet him at his office within ten minutes. She knew yesterday's commotion would be the reason why Dr.Henry wanted to meet her. He always looked for a chance to find fault with Dr.G. She locked her door and left to meet the HOD, wondering whether he would listen to her justification or succumb to the orders of the higher officials.

She gently knocked on the door and entered his room. Unlike what she expected, Dr.Henry was in a jovial mood and welcomed her with a radiant smile. Dr.Henry asked her to sit and she thought as she sat on the couch, 'Is the world going to end? Why is he smiling at me? If he is so happy…wait….are they going to fire me?!! They can't fire me for saving a patient! They should fire the security for not doing their job well, NOT ME!! Where were they when those armed men walked into the ER??' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the coffee machine and she looked at his face and couldn't stop thinking why he looked so happy.

After a few minutes, Dr.Henry walked towards her with two cups of coffee and sat opposite to her on the couch, still smiling brightly. "Do you know why I called you?" asked Dr.Henry calmly. 'Am I a psychic to know what you are thinking? If I knew what was the matter, why would I be sitting here looking at your ugly smile?' Gianna couldn't say these thoughts out loudly, so she shook her head in response, smiling back at him.

"Remember the project you proposed for approval?" asked Dr.Henry with expectant eyes. Dr.G responded with a yes to his question wondering did anything go wrong with the project. He continued, "Well….you have got the approval !!! Not only the approval, but also one of the sponsors is going to fund the whole project !!!" Dr.G couldn't believe it and replayed what he said in her mind again and again. 'Did I really get the approval and funding too? My hard work for two years didn't go in the gutter !!! Thank heavens !!!' she thought happily.

Her happiness was written all over her face and Dr.Henry was also jumping over the moon. "Gianna, this project has brought our department in the limelight. This is a wonderful opportunity for you, so choose your team wisely. I have full confidence in you that you will make our department and the hospital proud." Dr.Henry said proudly and he gave a few ideas to plan for the project and told how this project will be an advantage to the hospital.

Gianna was really happy about the approval of her project and was eager to start the process right away. Before she left the room, Dr.Henry spoke again, "The Director knows about the chaos that happened last night." He paused and looked at Gianna's face seriously before continuing, "He told he is happy to hear that you and the patient are safe. Also, he said this should be the last time you put yourself in danger." Gianna doubted that this was all a dream after hearing his words and confirmed it wasn't a dream by pinching herself only to feel the pain from her arm. She looked at him in astonishment but Dr.Henry didn't want to continue anymore so he gestured her to leave.

She quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door gently. Still surprised, Dr.G thought, 'I really think the world is coming to an end. Did the director really tell that? As far as I know all the higher ups hate me for being me. My project was approved, Dr.Henry is acting all supportive and the Director is caring for me! What's happening here?' She shook her head in bewilderment and took her phone out to call Victor.

Meanwhile a fleet of black cars stopped at the entrance of the hospital one by one. Many men in black suits descended in a swift motion from the cars and one of them opened the door of the middle car. Everyone in the hospital looked at the car with eagerness to know whether any famous personality had arrived but to their despair, an elderly man around 60 years alighted from the car with utmost grace and walked briskly into the hospital with five men following behind. They moved towards the Neurosurgery ICU and reached the entrance of the ICU ward. The assistant of the elderly man quickly walked towards the head nurse and informed her that they were here to see the patient who was admitted last night.

The four muscular men in black suits behind the assistant caught the head nurse's attention and she was scared that something would happen to her and the patient inside. The sturdy looking man in the green suit who stood looking at the entrance of the ward was roughly 60 years old but the scar on his cheek told her that he was more dangerous than those muscular men. She trembled in fear and looked away from the elderly man before politely replying to the assistant, "I will have to inform the doctor in charge before letting anyone inside as per the protocol. Can you please wait until I make the call?"

The assistant looked towards the elderly man for his consent and he nodded his head indicating he would wait. The nurse was slightly relieved and immediately called Dr.G but unfortunately no one picked up, this made the nurse sweat profusely. She tried once again but still no answer. 'Dr.G always answers her phone within two rings. She never misses a call ! What happened to her?' thought the head nurse.

She felt the elderly man's patience fading slowly and quickly called Dr.Victor, praying that he would answer the call. In the department room, Victor was reading through the journal when his phone started to ring. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the call was from the ICU ward. He promptly attended the call, hoping it didn't have to do anything with any emergency.

Victor's call connected in no time and the nurse almost shouted out of joy but quickly controlled her emotions and said, "Dr.Victor, there are few men here wanting to meet the patient who was admitted yesterday night but Dr.G is not responding to the call. So, can you come over quickly?" Victor responded to her with a yes and prepared to leave. She quickly hung up the phone and smiled faintly at the assistant as she knew all of them heard her conversation on the phone. Victor thought 'Dr.G didn't answer the phone? She would never miss a call ! Is the world finally near the end?!' He asked Ralph to join him and left for the ICU ward.