Asher's aesthetic ~

Hi guys! I am so sorry it took me so long to update! I had a chem exam and a whole project due the same day so I've been writing in between my study breaks. 😭 I've also decided that I'll try to post every Sunday from now on. This way there's more consistency and will give me enough time to do my school work and write. But anyways, here it is! In this chapter, we get to meet a certain love interest and he is just oh-so-charming. I love him so much! But then again I'm biased because I love all my characters the same haha.

Enjoy!

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Girl Almighty by One Direction

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"If we are not brave enough to say the words

our eyes will"

- j.b. [soul language]

~ Present Day ~

Boston, Massachusetts

Aedrienn

As Nova drives us to the hospital, I look out the window, taking the time to appreciate the beauty of the oncoming spring, and yet still I couldn't decide whether I loved Boston or Seattle more.

During the winter, despite its freezing temperatures, Boston was a wonderland. Although Harvard was located in Cambridge, Nova and I and some of our other friends from medical school would take daily trips into the city. Some days we'd jump from coffee shop to coffee shop. Other days we'd walk the harbor, but my personal favorite was when we'd visit the central library. And because Mason had moved out here after he graduated college, my family and I would constantly go see him. Despite it being all the way across the country, we'd visit so often that soon it became a second home.

Seattle, on the other hand, was my jewel. And although it held some unpleasant memories, it also held so many more good ones, held the absolute best part of my life. Even now I still made the effort to visit once a year.

Twenty minutes later, Nova pulls into the closest parking space and we walk the remaining distance towards the glass doors, and the air rushes out of me at the sight.

Despite being known as the most innovated, most prestigious hospital in the country, teaching and nursing some of the best physicians the world has ever seen, the building was a wonder in itself.

They called it the City of Light, not just because it was so large, composed of three full-scale buildings with several other facilities surrounding it, making it seem like an actual civilization lived beyond the gates, but for the way the sun's rays reflected off the glass walls, creating a myriad of color and beauty, and even though I'd been here before, it never failed to impress me.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Nova says, coming up behind me. "I come here every single day and I still can't get enough of it."

We walk in through the doors and I let Nova lead us into the elevator.

"While you're doing your interview, I'll go round on some of my patients in the east wing," Nova says as the doors close behind us. "Do you know who's interviewing you?"

I read the paperwork in my hand. "Um...yes. It says I'll be interviewing with Dr. Leo Callahan"

Nova gives me an ear-splitting grin and -  is she blushing?

"Dr. Leo Callahan..." Nova sighs, a dreamy look on her face. "Let me tell you, I'd risk it all for him. He's the second sexiest man I have ever seen in my life."

I arch an eyebrow. "And who exactly might be the first?"

A loud ding rings in my ears and the elevator doors open. Nova steps out and I follow right behind her.

She winks at me. "I'll let you figure that out for yourself. The reception desk is right around the corner, someone will help you out. And, hey - " Nova takes my hands in hers and squeezes tightly. "They would be so, so proud of you. Good luck!"

She plants a kiss on my cheek, and before I can say another word, she turns and scurries down the hall.

For a second, I don't move, and I stay there in the middle of the corridor, contemplating the words Nova just spoke to me. We're on the fifth floor, and I step closer to the wall, noticing my reflection on the glass windows.

At this moment, I couldn't help but think of my late brother. Not just because of what Nova said, but because I'm convinced if I stare at myself long enough, I can see him in me.

We'd been similar in appearance. We'd both had the same dark brown hair, mine which was now placed in a half-up half-down type of style, pieces of strands framing my face. We had the same chestnut-colored eyes, same round face, same tanned skin - we were practically twins.

Except he'd always be the better sibling - the better doctor, even in death. And although I do believe that he'd be proud of me for doing this, a part of me - that fragile, dark space I'd always keep locked away - would continue to believe that he was the one meant to be here. That he was the one who was meant to survive and not the other way around.

And just like that, memories come rushing back.

A freezing, bitter night. A rainstorm of snow and sleet falling down violently. The sound of a horn and the blinding lights of a car -

I gasp, taking a step back from the window, and try to calm my breathing. I grit my teeth, frustrated because this was not the time nor the place to have another episode. And yet the memories still lingered like hungry vultures, creeping and waiting to pounce at the right time. Wanting to feed off whatever desperation and fear they found.

But I don't let them. I will endure. I will endure and nothing will ever break me again. I repeat the words to myself, the mantra that was whispered to me on my darkest days. And just like that, I gather the confidence from all those who've loved me, and I feel it flare within, the memory of them lighting the way. I straighten my shoulders and make my way towards where Nova directed me.

The hallway opens up to a ginormous, well-furnished waiting room, the reception desk sitting right in the middle. From the looks of it, there's no one managing the front, then I see a woman with blond, straight hair coming from around another corner - a doctor from what I can make of her badge. As she comes closer, I can't help but notice how beautiful she is. With the dark grey pantsuit and red lipstick she wears now, she radiates authority and status. I don't think about how she might react when I stop her.

"Hi," I say, giving her a friendly expression. "I was wondering if you could help me - "

"Do I look like a nurse to you?"

I blink, taking a step back at her sudden rudeness. "Excuse me?"

"You're the one who interrupted me." There's a scowl on her red lips, and even though she can't be a few inches taller than my five-foot-seven frame, somehow she still manages to look down at me as if I was gum stuck to the bottom of her brand new red bottoms. Which, by the way, did look new.

I try not to let her words affect me, but I just got off an impossibly long flight and was in no mood to deal with people like this. "I'm here to interview for the chief surgical resident position. I need to find - "

"You're who they're interviewing?" And just when I thought she couldn't look any more disgusted, she did. "How old are you? Nineteen?"

I clamp down on my teeth, trying and failing miserably to suppress my anger. "Twenty-four. I'm just trying to find - "

"This is ridiculous. We have interns who are - "

That's it. "You must love the sound of your own voice for you to keep interrupting me the way you're doing it." Now it's my turn to cut her off, and I look her up and down the way she did to me just a few seconds ago. "And as much as I'd like to continue this lovely conversation, I need to find Dr. Leo Callahan."

Her pale face goes red with fury. She opens her mouth to say something, then thinks better of it because she just turns around and stomps away, the clicking sound of her heels echoing throughout the building.

"Thanks for the help," I murmur under my breath, and I'm about to call Nova when I suddenly hear laughter from behind me. I turn to see two women now standing on the other side of the desk, one of them dressed in red scrubs and the other in a fitted-white dress.

"That," the one in scrubs says, "was the best thing I've ever seen."

I step closer until I'm in front of them. "I wasn't trying to be rude, but she's just..." I don't even know how to describe that interaction.

"Awful? Rude? Bitchy?"

"Lilian," the other woman speaks up now, a warning in her voice. "Someone might hear you."

"And?" Lillian says, shrugging her shoulders. "You were thinking it too."

She shakes her head, but a smirk plays on her lips. "You'll have to excuse my friend here. She doesn't really know when to mind her business. I'm Dr. Alex Nasser." she extends out her hand and I take it. "It's nice to meet you...umm - "

"Dr. Atalia. I'm Dr. Aedrienn Atalia."

Lillian also introduces herself. "I'm Nurse Lilian Chen, but I think you already knew that." She winks, and I can't help but notice how similar she and Nova are in personality.

"I heard you were looking for Dr. Callahan," Alex says. "Is he expecting you?"

"Yes," I confirm. "I'm here to interview for the chief surgical resident job, actually."

A wide smile splits Lillian's face. "So you're the famous young surgeon everyone's been talking about."

I laugh at her words and raise an eyebrow at her. "Depends on what they're saying."

"All good things of course." Lillian leans against the counter. "We're all friendly here." She casts a glance down the hall. "Well, most of us are friendly."

"If it makes you feel better," Alex interjects, "she hates everyone. Come on, I'll take you to his office."

Alex moves around the desk. She motions for me to follow and I wave goodbye to Lillian.

"So," Alex starts as we make our way down a long corridor. "Are you nervous?"

"No. Actually - yes." And this is the first time I say it out loud. I'd been lying to Nova when I told her I could always find a different hospital if this one didn't take me, but my brother's legacy was here. To me, it'd be a betrayal to our family, to our bond, if I continued my career somewhere else when he was the one who inspired it in the first place. This was the least I could do for him.

The sudden truth of that statement sends my mind reeling, and the nervousness creeps up inside me again.

Alex must sense this because she places a friendly hand on my shoulder and squeezes. "I've heard great things about you. You'll do just fine."

I cast her an amused look. "What exactly has been said about me?"

"Oh, just the usual. That you graduated top of your class at Harvard medical school. Did an internship at Mayo at the age of nineteen. Was mentored by the brilliant Edwards."

I waved her off. "I'm just another doctor. But what about you? What's your specialty?" I direct the conversation back to her, hoping she doesn't notice the shift in topic.

She gives me a curious side-glance but relents either way. "I'm the head OB/GYN resident. Lillian is actually my lead nurse. We're not normally on the surgical floor, but we have a c-section scheduled later this evening, so we've been preparing. You should stop by to watch once your interview is over."

"I would love to." I haven't scrubbed in a cesarean ever since I was an intern and declared my specialty, but from what I remembered, it had been one of my favorite rotations. And if I did end up getting the job, it'd be nice to get a head start to see how the doctors interacted and worked here.

"Well, here we are." Alex stops us in front of a large wooden door and turns to me. "Maybe once you settle in we can get lunch or go out for dinner."

At first, the offer takes me by surprise. I wasn't expecting Alex to have been so kind, a stark contrast to the blond doctor's earlier behavior, yet I'm grateful for it all the same. "I would appreciate that."

"Of course. Good luck! See you soon." Alex gives me one last friendly smile and walks away.

Letting the inhabitant know I've arrived, I knock on the door and hear a loud "Come in."

I step through the threshold to find the rude doctor again, only this time her glare isn't directed at me, but rather at the man sitting behind the desk.

"You're making a big mistake Leo," she hisses at him, but either Dr. Callahan ignores her remark or remains completely oblivious to it because he looks past her, his gaze landing directly on me, and signals for me to come closer.

"Dr. Atalia," he says, a charm in his voice. "Please come in. Wren here was just leaving." So her name's Wren.

"You're going to regret this. Hire someone else," she shoots back, and at this point, I know she's talking about me.

Dr. Callahan finally addresses her and gives her a stern look. "We will talk about this later, Dr. Emery. Now please, I have an interview I need to conduct," he says and practically throws her out of the room.

As if she knows she won't win this battle, she turns around, and I step out of her way as she marches past me, certain that if I hadn't, she would've had no qualms about running me over.

The door behind me slams shut and the doctor and I are left alone.

"I am so sorry about that Dr. Atalia." Dr. Callahan stands up to greet me and signals towards the chain in front of his desk. "Please, why don't you take a seat."

His voice is like pooled honey, deep and rich, and now I understand why Nova was a blushing mess.

The man before me was tall and handsome. He had short, brown hair styled to perfection - not a strand out of place. The grey suit he wore accentuated his lean but strong frame, and I'd never admit it out loud, but when he smiled at me and his hazel eyes shone with humor, I swear I felt heat rush to my neck. And I couldn't help but notice that a sort of... adventurousness radiated from him.

This man was charm incarnated and he knew it.

And for a second - just a split second - he reminded me of a boy from a different time, a different life.

Focus Aedrienn. Focus.

I take the seat across from him. "Dr. Callahan, it's a pleasure to meet you."

He mirrors my actions "Please, call me Leo."

"I wanted to thank you for this opportunity. The work you are all doing here is revolutionary."

Dr. Callahan - Leo - leans back in his chair and crosses his hands in front of him, and his easy manner immediately helps me relax. "Well, it's doctors like you who make it revolutionary. From what I've read in your file and from how much Nova speaks of you, you're excellent."

"Thank you." I can't help but blush at his compliment, and this time it really didn't have to do with him. It always made me uncomfortable whenever people praised me for something I did. During my undergrad years in Seattle, I established well professional relationships with my professors, all of which who wrote me stellar recommendation letters, and I remember how hard it was reading them. How hard it was to believe that the same girl they wrote about was me.

Leo speaks again, bringing me back from my thoughts. "I understand you spent your first year as a resident at a military base in Texas."

"Yes, I did. I actually just got back earlier this afternoon."

"Can you tell me more about that?"

"The majority of what I did there was centered around emergency medicine - how to handle trauma cases, specifically." The nine months over there were some of the most challenging months of my life. The cases we saw weren't as extensive as if we had been on an actual field, but the mental training on how to approach such scenarios that was led by the head trauma surgeon was brutal.

Leo nods, genuinely interested in what I have to say, then he speaks again. "But your specialty is cardiothoracic, correct?"

I nod, and we go on like that for a couple more minutes. Him asking me questions about what I did as an intern, what my future plans were. Me asking him about his specialty, and I'm not surprised when he tells me it's plastic surgery.

After a while, he sits up in his chair and looks me in the eyes. "Well, Dr. Atalia, I think I've heard everything I needed to hear."

Times stops, and I hold my breath.

"Congratulations. Welcome to the City of Light."

Relief crashes into me like a wave and I feel like I can finally breathe again. I got it. I actually got the job.

I stand up and shake Leo's hand. Maybe a bit too aggressively, but I just can't contain the joy that seeps from me now.

"Thank you, Dr. Callahan. Truly."

He nods. "Of course. We're glad to have you here. I'll speak to our administrative staff and have them start the orientation process. In the meantime, you're more than welcome to scrub in on a couple of surgeries and take a look around the hospital. As of today, you have full privileges here."

It's all too much, and my head begins to spin, and I'm a thousand percent sure I must look insane with the wide smile that I feel on my face, but everything is as it should be.

Leo stands up. "Is there anything else I can help you with, Dr. Atalia?"

I shake my head. "No, I don't think - actually...there is one more request I'd like to make." I wouldn't even have thought to mention it until he spoke my title. "On the paperwork that I submitted for the position, it says that I go by Dr. Atalia, but I was wondering if I can take up my second surname for my practice here, and every other company that we may be associated with."

"Of course. What is it?" He picks up a pen and sticky note, probably meaning to write it down.

"It's Renna - I'd like to go by Dr. Renna."

Leo's head snaps up, a look of pure, unrestrained shock on his face, which I had been expecting.

"Renna," he repeats, slow - as if it's in a different language. "As in...Dr. Mason Renna?"

I give him a wide grin. "That's the one."

He blinks once. Twice. And finally, he nods, coming back to his senses. "I'll - I'll make note of that. You're free to go whenever you'd like."

I nod. "Have a good day, Leo," I say, and even as I walk out and shut the door behind me, I can feel his gaze on the back of my head, following me all the way down to the end of the corridor.

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Asher

I look out the window, gazing down at the pedestrians that walk out of the hospital doors, and as I do, I can't help but wonder if they're leaving with good or bad news.

Because of this reason, some people hated hospitals, others loved them, and after doing this job for so long, I really couldn't decide which category I fell into.

"Dr. Gabriel? Are you there?"

The sound of an annoying, overly excited voice blares through the speaker of my phone, bringing me out of my thoughts, and suddenly I remember that I'm on a call - a call that was already running way too fucking long and testing my shitty patience. It was just another research facility trying to get the hospital to approve their trial - a faulty, half-ass trial that would benefit no one but their own greedy pockets. At this point, I didn't even know why my administration bothered to pass these proposals along, but Eliseo Medical Enterprise needed to keep up a friendly face, even if it meant enduring hours of these useless phone calls.

I clear my throat, not bothering to hide my annoyance anymore. "Actually, no I'm not. Call back when you have something that's actually worthy of my time." Before the man on the other line can get a word out, I hang up the phone. He'll probably complain to the board and I'll probably hear something about it, but at this point, I didn't give a shit.

It had been a long week of endless paperwork, meetings, and recruitments, not to mention that I was running on two hours of sleep. My fucking insomnia was slowly getting worse, and I didn't know how long my body could go before it completely gave out on me.

Another problem for another day.

You'd think because I'm a doctor I'd be smart enough to take care of myself, but I'd proven it true when they said doctors made the worst patients.

It was about five in the afternoon now, and just as I decide to go home for the day, someone bursts through my office door. I'm about to curse at the intruder when I realize who it is.

Leo Callahan, my childhood best friend and closest confidant of twenty years, winks at me as he sits down in my desk chair.

"Get out," I snap at him, but he just reclines back in the seat and props his feet up on the desk.

"Hello to you too, sunshine," he purrs, and I refrain from tossing his ass on the floor.

"What do you want? Don't you have an interview to do?"

He gives me an annoying grin. "Already done. Speaking of which, you're going to want to hear about this one."

I pick up my jacket and keys, preparing to leave. "As long as they do their job and don't kill any of my patients, I don't really care."

"Are you sure you don't want to know?" Leo sits up now, and I can practically feel the anticipation coming from him, can see the excitement in his eyes at whatever news he's about to share.

I start to walk away. "I told you. I don't care - "

"Aedrienn," he cuts me off. "Her name is Aedrienn."

I open the door. "Goodbye, Leo."

"Renna. Her name is Aedrienn Atalia Renna."

I stop, and the hand that had been previously turning the door nob returns to my side. I shut the door and start towards Leo.

"What?" I whisper, not quite believing what he's saying, but the look on Leo's face confirms it.

"You heard me. Aedrienn Renna - as in Dr. Mason Renna. As in Mason Renna's younger sister."

I take a step closer to him. "You're lying. If I find out you're fucking lying - "

Leo stands up now, waving his hands in an exasperated motion. "Why would I lie about this? I even checked both their files. The dates match up. She's here."

"And you didn't bother to tell me the second you saw her application?"

"I didn't know until after I hired her and she told me." He gives me a flat look. "You think I would've kept this to myself if I had known?"

I shake my head, still refusing to believe the words that are being spoken to me. "Maybe it's someone else. Maybe - "

"She's a cardio surgeon, Asher," Leo breathes. "Just like he was. Exactly like him."

"Show me her file. I need to see - "

Before I can say anything else to my friend, another person slams open the door, not bothering to knock.

What the fuck is up with people barging into my office today?

"Dr. Gabriel," Dr. Anderson, our trauma surgical resident pants, almost as if he'd ran all the way up here from the ER. "You have to come with me. It's an emergency."