"Oh ya, thanks for the help today. Will return the money at the end of this month. I'm waiting for my increment to come in..." Ellie announced as Jazzlyn clapped her hands.

  "Happy for you, Ellie! Congratulations!" Isla said as she joined in the clap.

  "Congrats, Ellie!" Jazzlyn cheered, but Ellie laughed with an upset smile.

  "What's wrong?" Isla asked as Ellie sighed. "Is it cause of your mother?" Ellie shook her head.

  "I don't understand why in the office right you just have that one colleague that must be so kaypoh*. Increment also can become a sensational hot topic." Ellie whined.

  "Who? Spill the tea!" Jazzlyn questioned while sharing her chips with Ellie whom she knew cannot resist as Jazzlyn smirked when Ellie took one.

  "Bad influence..." Isla nagged as the girls giggled. "Diam!*" Jazzlyn scolded as Isla chuckled.

  "There's this one colleague... I just don't get it. When you're close to the person, it doesn't mean I need to tell him every single thing, right?" Ellie vented as Jazzlyn and Isla nodded in unison.

  "He actually resigned because of a fight with another colleague. Then, the HR manager was trying to retain manpower. So, they asked for his explanations and tried a counteroffer. I was told that one of his reasons was that I lied to him about my salary. HR was like it's supposed to be confidential, and how on earth did he know the real salary? I suspected he must have opened my files while using my laptop. Whether it's by accident or not, I have no idea, but he truly deserves to leave the company." Ellie shook her head as she rolled her eyes.

  "What the heck?! Who the fuck does he think he is? Your boyfriend? Your husband? Fucking self-entitled! Even your mother doesn't even know the real amount or us!" Isla vented as Ellie tried to calm her down by fanning her.

  "Chill, chill... Yes... I don't mind you both knowing. It's just a mere six thousand plus after the first increment. I'm not sure about the end of the month's next increment." Ellie mentioned.

  "You don't even have to mention. It doesn't matter to us..." Jazzlyn said assuringly but Ellie shrugged indicating it was fine with her.

  "The first increment was already an issue..." Ellie said before getting interrupted by Isla.

  "You should just quit the company! There's no confidentiality at all! Unethical!" Isla declared as Ellie chuckled.

  "It's not about the management. Just a couple of toxic staff members. The HR who was envying my first increment had already left anyway. We were once close, but I think she felt I should be indebted to her for getting hired by the company and that if I were to get an increment, she should too..." Ellie explained.

  "She has to know you're both in a different industry. What the heck is such HR thinking? So shallow!" Isla complained.

  "It's common out there to be this shallow. Look at me so many years of working for the hospital yet I am still a contract staff. We are all being squeeze like sugarcane but get paid peanuts." Jazzlyn lamented.

  "That's true... Parents think it's the teachers' responsibility to teach their kids, but it's also their parenting contributing to most of the children's upbringing. Most parents in this generation only care about gentle parenting or trying to sweep the child's problem under the carpet. No one has the time or energy to try and solve it with the child. Then why on earth have kids?" Isla whined.

  "It's all in their generation. That's why there's a generation gap." Jazzlyn rolled her eyes.

  "The lesser human, the lesser issues there are. Isn't the world a better place this way?" Ellie concluded. "Good riddance!" The girls cheered with their cans of soft drinks in hand.

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  The next day, Jazzlyn continued on her hectic schedule for the next few days. At the back of her mind, her two weeks time was drawing near but yet she could not bring herself to tell Ethan of her decision which had been right there in her heart from the point he asked her to decide. Somehow, she wanted time to stop so that she had more time to selfishly convince herself to accept the offer.

  Ethan had been busy with several surgeries that they both had not had the time to catch up on since the meal he treated her. End of the first week, Jazzlyn stood by the garden alone, imagining she would never get to see Ethan again and tried to get used to it. She was still not ready to let go of the hospital job yet though the offer was her dream.

  She would rather fight her wars daily in the ward from a broken fibula or tibia to detecting internal bleedings from unconscious trauma patients or witnessing more traumatised raped victims being sent in for treatment than live with the worry of not being there to save Ellie or her family members and most importantly Isla if ever they were sent in to the emergency ward. Even if it meant not being a permanent staff member, that was the very least she could do to keep herself at ease to repay for not saving Lex, which she was still guilty of.

  A pager for her to prepare for an emergency on two accident victims came distracting her as she rushed back down to the emergency ward.

  She felt she was living in nostalgia again. It was her worst nightmare to see Benjamin's parents as her patients this time. She knew the medical history of his father with hypertension as she rushed to save him with the standard procedures first. Jazzlyn was checking for vital signs, and his blood pressure was reducing, and so was his heart rate. She knew there must be a rupture somewhere.

  "To the operation theatre! Now!" She insisted after contemplating for a moment whether to do an MRI first. Her chaotic, chasing thoughts of rescuing Benjamin's mother made her rush the decision to send him to they operating theatre first.

  "But MRI?" The nurse questioned.

  "The patient has a history of hypertension! There's a potential rupture... no time to waste!" She urged while Ethan rushed in from the next room after ensuring Benjamin's mother's condition stabilised.

  "Send the patient for a scan first! His heart rate and BP can hold these few moments! " Ethan insisted, and since his position was much senior, the nurses obeyed his instructions.

  "Dr. Su! Don't be too confident! It's an accident!" Ethan severely scolded Jazzlyn, who realised he was right and, most importantly, was glad that another comrade was saving another life.

  Noticing her realisation, he stepped closer and told her in a lower voice. "To check more thoroughly is better, especially if it's another doctor's relatives! His wife is fine. Non-severe injuries. A fractured arm and some scars."

  "Now prepare the operating theatre first!" He bellowed at her to put on a show after stepping away as she rushed to scrub in with him for the operation.

  Turns out Ethan was right about the rupture being not only in the brain but also in the left eye. Benjamin's father's pupil reactions were weak, with slight facial drooping on the left side of his face. The operation took nearly two hours, and by the time Jazzlyn walked out of the theatre, she forgot it was Benjamin's father. She only recalled when she saw Benjamin's distraught face waiting outside of the theatre, hoping she had saved his father.

  She nodded as the first sign before listening to his sigh of relief. Ethan walked out on them before making the updates on the patient's condition as the main doctor in operation.

  "The patient is currently under observation. There's been a rupture in the left brain vessels and eyes. So his vision might be impaired after this. He had also suffered a minor stroke on the left side of the body." Ethan explained as Benjamin nodded.

  "I understand. I know what I need to do. Thank you, Dr. Wang." Benjamin politely said before Ethan walked away. Jazzlyn wanted to leave, too, only to be caught by Benjamin, who held her arm when she walked past him.

  "Jazz..." Benjamin called out softly in his shaky voice. She lifted her gaze to meet his distraught look before being pulled in for a hug.

  It startled Jazzlyn for a bit as everything happened in a split second. To her, it felt like a comforting hug as she had managed to save someone who used to be close to her and not let history repeat itself, while to him, it was a relief hug.

  At the back of her mind, she thought she would feel the excitement of being in his hug again but she felt nothing. A hollow emptiness as her gaze met with Ethan from a far. That gaze alone made her felt sad and bad for Ethan who must be misunderstanding their situation.

  No matter how much her mind told her to push Benjamin, who was breaking down in her arms, away to avoid further escalation on the misunderstanding, her body's muscles could not bear to do so. Instead, she raised a hand to gently pat Benjamin's back to comfort him.

  It's probably better for him to misunderstand. After all, I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon... Jazzlyn thought to herself bitterly and forced herself to ignore her growing feelings for Ethan.

  Glossaries:

  Kaypoh: busybody in hokkien dialect

  Diam: Shut up