A heart in Hand II

The Summer Cupid

(If you missed the beginning of the story, you can read Part 1 right here)

“What would you like to order together?” the waiter asked.

“We are not together,” I replied quickly.

Just a minute prior, I had set my bag down on an empty chair to rummage for something stuck at the very bottom. It was summer, the only time of year the restaurant moved its tables and chairs out onto the sidewalk. If it hadn’t been for the warm weather, those outdoor chairs wouldn't have been there, and our paths never would have crossed. But they did. The man sitting at the table next to my bag used the moment to introduce himself. Before I left, he asked for my contact information. I gave him my Instagram handle, assuming nothing would come of it, and he headed back to work. That was our meet-cute, and the waiter was our unexpected Cupid. Thank God for summer. 

He was the kind of man any woman would dream of—he could make you laugh, he genuinely listened, and he knew how to give a compliment without making it feel fake or overloaded. That man was Alex.

To be honest, I never expected him to message me. I had intentionally given him my Instagram because I rarely ever checked the app. So, when I finally logged in days later and saw his name in my requests, I was genuinely surprised. We eventually arranged a proper first date: a long, beautiful walk through the gardens. We were lost in the view, but the romance didn't last long. That day, I was on-call and my pager went off for an exciting aortic rupture. In my world, saving a life beats a dinner date anytime.

The funny part? When I rushed into the hospital and prepped for surgery, Alex walked in as the scrub nurse. Our love story had officially relocated to the workplace. Looking back, that restaurant waiter really was the summer Cupid who started it all.

In the Present

Currently, I am still mentally debating how I am going to break up with Jeff. Jeff and I have been friends for what feels like a lifetime. It was one of those classic, agonizing friendships where you know the guy likes you, but you just don’t see him that way. Then, one day, he did the unthinkable. He went directly to my father to ask for permission to take me out.

Naturally, my dad fell absolutely in love with him. Jeff is a general surgeon, and he easily won over my father, the Head of the Surgery Department, making Jeff the "perfect man" in my family's eyes. Our high school friendship had faded during our university years, but when he arrived at our hospital to do his fellowship, we crossed paths again. With my father pushing from the sidelines, the boundaries of friendship were quickly crossed.

When Jeff first showed up, I was already in an intense "proving myself" mode at work. As a cardiothoracic surgeon, I didn't want the staff thinking that because my dad runs the entire surgery department, I was getting away with everything. My tumultuous relationship with Alex had already caused far too many waves in the O.R., and I was desperate for peace. Jeff stepped into my life right as Alex and I broke up. It was a case of perfect timing. Fueled by my father's approval and my own heartbreak, the relationship moved at warp speed. Before I knew it, we were engaged.

But after standing in the ICU today and listening to Justice’s wife speak so fervently about true love—about staying together through forty years of thick and thin—my perspective shifted. I want what they have.

I was in the middle of documenting my notes for the last emergency case, completely lost in my thoughts, when my pager buzzed. A new patient had just been admitted with severe post-chest trauma. The ER team had performed an ultrasound, confirmed a cardiac tamponade, and done a quick, life-saving pericardiocentesis in the trauma bay. Now, we had to move immediately to the operating room to stop the source of the bleeding.

 

As I rushed toward the O.R., my heart dropped. There was Alex, deep in conversation with an ex—or rather, a not-so-ex. Amanda. She was breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of woman who could manipulate any man with her charms.

Sometimes, I wish my love life was just a storybook where I could easily write and unwrite characters out of existence. I suppose that is why I started writing in whatever unavailable spare time I could find.

Suddenly, a wave of doubt fills my mind. Should I actually end the engagement with Jeff?  Seeing Alex with Amanda makes me realize one thing: I am simply not in the mood to do any competition over a man.

Right now, I have to clear my head, step through these O.R. doors, and focus entirely on the bleeding heart in front of me. We will see what happens when the anesthesia wears off.

Stay tuned for Part 3.