After seeing off Gabe, the third brother, Adam spent the last two days in Boston.
Juno, Karen, and Heather—who had flown in from Texas—were already waiting for him.
The four of them had a wonderful ti together.
Talking with Juno helped Adam finally put aside the troubling thought that Gabe might be a second Barney.
Of course, when Juno suggested that Gabe could have been influenced by him, Adam firmly disagreed. For the first ti, he found himself doubting Juno's judgnt.
After all, Juno was only human, not a god.
Since Heather had a tight schedule and they had limited ti together, Adam knew better than to dwell on this issue.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Sunday Night
At the airport, Adam and Heather bid each other a reluctant farewell.
He flew back to New York.
Heather returned to Texas.
Juno stayed in Boston.
As an outstanding graduate of Harvard dical School—despite the many students who got in through connections or sheer luck—her academic performance remained top-tier.
As a result, she was placed at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the best.
Karen, having studied nursing, found the transition easy. After years of assisting Adam and Juno in hunting and dissections, she was more than prepared.
Monday Morning
Adam got up early, got ready, and arrived at the dical center well ahead of ti.
Today was orientation day.
Several people were already waiting there.
"Adam."
A young woman of South Asian descent spotted him and approached. "Do you rember ? I'm…"
"Cristina Yang."
Adam smiled. "Juno's classmate. You and redith really gave up those great hospitals in Boston just to co to New York and compete with us?"
"Competition is everywhere. It's the sa no matter where you go."
Cristina raised an eyebrow, unconcerned.
"Where's redith? Didn't you co with her?" Adam asked.
"No."
Cristina shook her head. "She's staying at her mother's house, while I rented a place on my own. I don't like living with others. She wanted to go to a bar last night, but I turned her down since we had orientation today. She's probably still asleep."
"You didn't wake her up?"
Adam chuckled.
"She'll wake up."
Cristina smirked.
So much for sisterly love.
Adam understood imdiately. When Cristina said, competition is everywhere, she ant it.
redith might be her close friend, but she was also her biggest rival. If redith didn't perform well, many of her opportunities would fall to Cristina instead.
So why would she wake redith up?
Adam even wondered if Cristina had chosen not to live with redith precisely to keep so distance and avoid unnecessary complications.
"By the way, thanks for helping on that flight."
Cristina changed the subject and thanked him.
"No problem."
Adam glanced at her briefly.
They casually chatted about so hospital gossip, and ti passed quickly.
More interns gradually arrived.
Orientation Begins
"Is everyone here?"
A bald man in a suit looked over the group, checking his list.
"redith isn't here yet," Cristina whispered to Adam.
"Don't worry. The head of surgery is a close friend of her mother's."
Adam smiled knowingly.
"Good point."
Cristina nodded.
For regular interns, the first few days were nerve-wracking—they had to be extra cautious to avoid breaking any hospital rules and getting kicked out of the residency program.
But for soone like redith, who had strong connections, the rules didn't apply in quite the sa way.
This was probably why, despite knowing today was important, she still felt comfortable drinking at a bar the night before.
"Follow ."
The bald man didn't call nas. He simply led the group into an office and had them take their seats.
"I'm Jason Dawn, the hospital's legal advisor. Today, I'm here to give you an orientation, so you understand what you can and cannot do."
He glanced around. "Now, can anyone tell what the most important thing is for a doctor?"
"Caring for patients?"
A young intern raised his hand and answered with a smile.
Jason let out a dry laugh.
"See? This is exactly why you're all so naive! Caring for patients? No! The most important thing you need to rember is—the hospital does not want to be sued! Lawsuits are never a good thing…"
What followed was a long list of lawsuit cases involving doctors. The sheer variety of legal troubles—many stemming from doctors who had ant well but were still sued—made everyone's scalp tingle with unease.
"Good."
Jason scanned the room and, seeing that everyone had taken his words to heart, nodded with satisfaction.
"Now, let's say you've done everything you can, but an accident still happens. What do you do then? Any takers?"
"Deny everything?"
Cristina raised her hand.
"Exactly!"
Jason's eyes lit up, and he pointed at Cristina.
"Deny, deny, deny. Of course, that applies when dealing with the patient. But if the patient is already dead, well… then you can say whatever you want."
He even chuckled at his own remark.
No one laughed with him.
Jason clicked his tongue in disappointnt and continued drilling this legal mindset into them.
eting the Departnt Heads
"Alright, my job here is done. Your departnt heads will take over now. I'm sure they have plenty to tell you."
About ten minutes later, two doctors in white coats—one white, one Black—appeared at the door.
Jason finally wrapped up his speech.
"Surgical interns, follow ."
The Black doctor, an older man with short, graying hair, spoke briefly before turning to leave.
Cristina was the first to jog after him.
"Let's go."
Adam nodded at Elijah, a fellow internal dicine intern, and gestured for Bianca to follow. Then, he joined the surgical group.
The interns followed the surgical departnt head into a room that, once the lights were turned on, was revealed to be a practice surgical suite.
"This is where you'll be training," the departnt head began.
He looked around at the group and started his speech.
"Today, you co here full of hope, eager to compete…"
At that mont, a young woman slipped in through the door.
The departnt head glanced at her but didn't say anything about her tardiness. Instead, he continued:
"In dical school, you were students learning how to beco doctors. But as of today, you are doctors.
"The next seven years of your residency will be both the best and worst years of your life."
Standing with his arms crossed, he spoke in a calm but firm tone.
"You will be pushed to the brink of collapse. Look around. Say hello to your competition.
"By the end, eight of you will transfer to less demanding specialties. Five of you will crack under pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave.
"This is your starting line—your battlefield.
"Where you end up depends entirely on you."
Adam scanned the room.
There were 20 surgical interns in total.
According to the departnt head, only five would make it to the end…
Let the gas begin.
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