The Alpha's Healer

19 | Friends

Robert and Claire showered her with enthusiasm on the elevator ride up to the lab. While Robert remained a bit restrained, Clair openly admitted how difficult life was as the only female in the team.

"Empathy? Have you heard of that word? I haven't felt it since I joined this group of hard hearted, unfeeling men!" Claire cried out in despair.

Behind her back, Robert made frantic gestures at Iris, silently urging her not to believe those lies.

But when Clair started to make a show of exposing lies, even his outward calm facade cracked and fell. "You're going too far, Claire! When did I steal your lunch?!"

Iris inched to the back of the elevator and watched with amusement as they playfully smacked the air around each other. Amidst the scuffle, the elevator door opened, and a pleasant tune indicated their arrival.

Claire fixed her hair and coat, put on a beautiful smile and reached for her hand. Iris reflexively dodged it.

The little flinch would have easily gone unnoticed if Iris didn't act out in sheer panic. Her back hit the elevator wall, then she tripped over her own feet, stumbling out like a toddler with no sense of balance.

Claire paused in surprise, then as if nothing happened, lowered her hand and led the way without touching her. Robert didn't mention it either.

The confidence Iris had gathered all morning to build up, crumbled like a cheap building.

After all, it was fake. Iris didn't know what it meant to be confident. When the foundation itself was poor, even the slightest tremor could shake it into breaking.

Luckily, neither of them brought up her strange behaviour. The knot in her chest loosened after stepping into the lab. Her heavy feet suddenly felt lighter as the smell of medicine floated to her, calling her into it's world.

Dr Carlos and Adam came out of the lounge attached to the lab. The little room was off limits the last time Iris was here. Dr Carlos had specifically mentioned the importance of the room when he skipped past it yesterday.

"The lab isn't a personal space, the hospital has a share in it. It was given to me for hospital and research related work. But the lounge is my own little space where I discuss everything with my team. Only my team is allowed there."

Iris took a second glance at the door at the time. Today, the senior doctor stood by the same door, wearing a welcoming smile on his face as he opened the door for her.

"Come on in." He pushed it wide open and made a gesture for her to enter. "To be honest, I was surprised that you agreed to join my team. I was prepared for you to reject the offer."

Iris paused at the threshold. "Why?"

The eccentric doctor let out a short laugh, "You don't seem ambitious, that's all. Why don't you sit down? We can talk about your role in the lab."

Iris relaxed slightly on the couch. The lounge was so small the only thing it had in name of furniture was an L shaped couch big enough for 5 people and two tall bookshelves similar to the ones in Dr Carlos' cabin.

Dr Carlos switched into work mode without a warning. He handed her a thin stack of papers and said, "These are the rules and regulations as well as the recent cases handled by the lab. Half of these are hospital funded cases and the rest are personally acquired. Here, we not only treat patients but also carry out relevant experiments to develop better medical facilities for our patients."

He removed an uncapped pen from his loose, jungle like hair and pointed at Adam, "Aiden is in charge of general medicine. He's the one who sees most of our regular patients."

The pen's pointed end shifted to Claire. "Casey handles most of the lab work, namely tests and observation and writes reports."

He unceremoniously grabbed Robert by the collar and pulled him forward. "Rob focuses on treating patients that Adam can't, which are patients with critical health. He also helps out at the lab whenever needed, basically he throws himself into any gaps we need to fill."

He let go of his son and pointed at himself, proudly declaring, "And my role as a mentor is to take care of the things that can't and guide them. That makes up our roles."

The pen suddenly pointed at her face. Dr Carlos' face lifted into a faint smile as he analysed her, "As for you, I am yet to see where your strengths are. You can choose one of these three to follow for the time being. After I've observed you for a while, I'll assign you to proper work."

Iris mulled over his words, carefully thought about whom to choose, then asked, "Can I choose Mr Robert?"

"Of course you can. He's one of the best." Claire agreed before Dr Carlos had the chance to speak. "Robert graduated two years before his peers. You'll surely learn a lot of you follow him. And it just so happens that his workload has increased recently. You can assist him in all that, and reduce our work load by doing so!"

Infected by her excitement, even Iris couldn't help but smile a little. Her doubts about the decision dissolved a little after hearing what she said.

Iris still sought out Dr Carlos and Robert's approval on the matter. The senior doctor nodded in agreement and Robert smiled and said gently, "Welcome to the team."

"Alright, everyone disperse. Go back to work. Adam, aren't you on rounds? Switch with Robert for today. Let him take Iris on rounds so she can get familiar with the hospital layout." Dr Carlos handed out some orders, then looked at Iris and asked, "Are you in a hurry to go home tonight?"

Iris didn't expect him to ask that. She shook her head, indicating that she did not. In that empty apartment, Iris did not have anything but loneliness waiting for her return, to grip her on all sides and choke her in it.

Suddenly, Iris caught herself thinking of Sebastian's home. She couldn't tell what was the difference between an ordinary home and his.

"Perfect. Let's host a team dinner. At the usual place, at six in the evening. All of you finish your work before then. I'll be in my cabin if you need me!"

Dr Carlos trotted out of the lounge without looking back. Iris didn't have time to understand what he truly meant. The concept of 'team dinner' was new and honestly a bit confusing for a social outcast like Iris.

"What is a team dinner?" She asked Robert during their rounds. Her voice smaller than a whisper, feeling shy about her lack of knowledge.

"You haven't work anywhere before this, have you?" Robert chuckled. "A team dinner is just a casual dinner with the team. Dad takes us out once a month. Nothing special."

Iris learnt a new term about the world that was so foreign to her. A team dinner sounded quite normal on the surface, but Iris' overthinking mind kept her on edge until evening.

Dr Carlos and Claire finished their scheduled tasks ahead of time and changed before Iris and Robert returned from their round.

More than twenty floors of pure maze running reminded her of the time when she'd always stay up on her feet, running across the three floors of the house doing chores.

The thin film of comfort had aged those memories and left them rotting behind. Yet, it all seemed to have condensed into a figureine, staring in her face, reminding her that back then her back had bent under the weight of expectations and not fatigue.

Because today, her aching feet were still the same but the need to curl up and cry was nowhere to be found. Instead, she allowed herself to smile over the pain, and trailed behind the people who were now her 'friends'.