At the medical center.
Adam checked a box, and the hospital instantly reached out to the person on the list. That night, the patient flew in with family in tow. Adam had her admitted and ordered a full workup.
The next day.
"You ready?" Adam asked, straightening Paige's white coat for her.
"Yep," Paige grinned. "This is gonna be fun!"
"Cool, stick with me—just watch, don't talk," Adam said, ignoring the gossip-hungry stares from the four interns as he led Paige to the ward.
Paige wanted to tag along for the whole ride, and Adam wasn't about to say no.
"Dr. Duncan wouldn't sign off on something like this—you know how rare it is to get in on this kind of clinical research?"
They walked in to the patient's sister mid-lecture.
"What wouldn't I agree to?" Adam asked, glancing at Paige before stepping inside.
On the bed was Greeda Berry, a middle-aged African woman. Her sister stood beside her.
"Is there any way to push the surgery back a few hours?" Greeda asked. "My boyfriend's flight got canceled—I want him here."
"Greeda!" Her sister tried to cut in, but Greeda was quicker, pulling out her ace move—interrupting first.
"He's got some issues," Greeda said, ignoring her sister and looking at Adam. "He knows this stuff. I don't even know what to ask."
"You rethinking the treatment?" Adam probed.
"She's not!" Her sister jumped in, panicked. She'd done her homework—this was a golden opportunity—and was terrified Greeda's waffling would tick Adam off and get her booted from the project.
"Andre and I haven't been together long," Greeda went on, lost in her own world. "This treatment's got deadly risks, right?"
"Yeah," Adam nodded. "The tumor in your brain's aggressive. Even without surgery, you've only got a few months…"
"But Andre and I could spend those months together! You know how precious that time is?" Greeda cut in, voice rising.
"We get it," Adam said, meeting her eyes. "That's why we contacted you, explained everything, went over the risks a million times, and got your okay before prepping the serum."
"…I'm not canceling," Greeda faltered. "I just mean I want to wait for Andre. He'll help me decide."
"We can wait, but the immune serum we made to kill the tumor only stays good for a few hours," Lexie piped up out of nowhere.
"Not even three hours?" Greeda pressed, stubborn as hell.
"Sure," Adam said, stopping Lexie. "Surgery's totally voluntary. We'll wait three hours."
With that, he led everyone out of the room.
"So this is your daily grind?" Paige shook her head. "Not exactly a blast."
"Not as fun as math, huh?" Adam grinned. "But when you save someone with your own hands, that feeling? It wipes out all the crap."
"She's ridiculous! We confirmed everything—triple-checked—before starting the serum," Lexie huffed, eager to shine today. "If it expires 'cause she stalls, that's wasting precious resources!"
"It's not uncommon," Adam said, glancing at her. "Keep your cool. Like she said, this surgery's a huge risk. It's normal she's hesitant. Let's see what her sister thinks."
He turned as the sister stepped out of the room—she'd been throwing him signals earlier, clearly with something to say.
"Sorry, Dr. Duncan," she started with an apology.
"No worries," Adam waved it off. "What's the deal with Greeda's boyfriend? She didn't mention him yesterday when she checked in."
"There is no boyfriend!" The sister burst out. "Four months ago, she came back from a cruise claiming she met her soulmate. No pics, no one's seen him. This tumor can cause hallucinations, right?"
"Yeah," Adam nodded. "Temporal lobe tumors can blur reality and fantasy."
"Exactly!" The sister nodded hard. "Dr. Duncan, can you tell her she can't wait for Andre? Or just lay it out—tell her the truth? I can't. Every time I try, she snaps that I'm the 'good sister' with a husband and kids, while she's the 'lonely loser' sending herself Valentine's flowers. Says I can't stand her being happy…"
"That's not her talking—it's the tumor," Adam reassured her. "You're a great sister. If you weren't, she'd be alone right now."
"Thank you, Dr. Duncan," she said, covering her mouth, tears welling up. "It's not that I want to call her out, but her story's insane. Listen to this—you'll get it.
She says she was on a Greek cruise, stopped at Santori Island. They all got off to explore. She was heading back to the ship when her shoe fell off. The ship's horn blew, so she didn't stop—hopped aboard with one shoe. That night at dinner, Andre showed up with her shoe. Then bam, they fell in love. Sound familiar?"
"Cinderella!" Lexie blurted out.
"Yep!" The sister gave a bitter laugh. "Straight-up Cinderella! That story's wild enough already. Now with this tumor, and four months without a single sighting of this 'Andre'? How am I supposed to buy it?"
"Easy," Adam grinned. "Let's check if Greeda's really Cinderella."
He pulled some strings to dig into whether this Prince Charming Andre even existed.
The result? Everyone's jaws hit the floor.
He was real! 😳
Adam got in touch with the guy, waited for him to fly in, and let him see Greeda before hashing out the surgery plan.
According to Andre, this African "Prince Charming": "I'll never forget it—she hopped onto the gangway with one shoe, hair fluttering in the wind. Most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It's our fairy tale."
After their reunion, with that fairy-tale magic in play, they both believed Cinderella and her prince would live happily ever after.
Adam, though? He was torn—half-tempted to call off the surgery. The vibes were getting worse by the minute. Fairy tales are full of lies, after all! 😅
But Greeda—done flip-flopping about "precious remaining days"—was now dead-set on this surgery's magic to lock in her forever with her prince. A few months? Not enough!
Her sister and boyfriend begged too, apologizing like crazy.
At this point, Adam thought it over and said yes.
With Greeda's wild afro flowing in the breeze, snagging a tall, handsome, successful guy who saw her as his soulmate Cinderella? That kind of luck might just spark a miracle.
Adam's clinical research surgery needed miracles.
So, Cinderella stepped onto the operating table. ✨
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(Chapter End)