Chapter 6 BOARD QUERY
ALL PALE FACES turned to look at Elias.
"An ex-convict?" one of the board members asked in a small voice. "Do you mean, like, he went to prison?"
"Stop asking stupid questions, Doctor Phil," Marcus snarled. "Yes. That is exactly what I mean. In fact, not just any prison. He went to Fathom's Gate."
At the mention of the name, another hush fell over the room. Now, the pale faces were not just shocked; they were also filled with fear and apprehension as they looked at Elias, who stood calmly at the door with Harper by his side. Harper was fidgeting. This was not how everything should have happened. She knew what Doctor Marcus was doing. He was intentionally making Elias seem worse than it actually was.
Elias let the bomb drop and allowed their brains to process everything before he walked in. He held Doctor Marcus's gaze as he sauntered toward the empty chair left for him. He sat down, cleared his throat, and leaned into the microphone.
"Good morning, everyone," he said simply.
His voice jolted the board members back to life.
"We can't allow this," one fat man said, raising his fist in anger. "A prisoner attending to patients? That has never happened before!"
"Harper, what would the news say? The press would eat us alive if this ever went public, and you know it," another one said. "Speak to the chairman. I'm sure he was probably on drugs when he agreed to this."
"The chairman, who would have been dead if it wasn't for this man," Harper said, pointing at Elias. She had sat down beside him. "What he did on the street, under such pressure and with no tools, I am sure none of you here would have done it."
They shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"And there is video evidence too," Harper snapped. "I will have it pulled up."
She went on her phone, and in a minute, the video was playing on the large projector screen. It was a bystander's video recording of Elias. It was blurry and shaky, and other bystanders were obstructing it, but it was good enough.
"Is that... light I see coming from his hands? Were you pointing a torchlight at the chairman's neck?" one of the board members asked, glancing from Elias back to the video.
"You're seeing things," another one said. "Its just the reflection from the sunlight."
All of them remained quiet until the short video ended, when the chairman suddenly regained consciousness and Elias slipped away.
The room remained quiet long after the video ended, until the fat man who had spoken earlier managed to ask, "What did you do?"
Elias smiled and said with an air of nonchalance, "A bit of acupuncture here and there..."
"Acupuncture?!" Doctor Marcus flared, glad to have another point he could use against Elias. "Alternative healing has no place in a medical center!"
"He is being sarcastic, Marcus," Harper said hastily, and some people chuckled, making Marcus feel even more foolish.
He glared at Elias with even more hatred in his eyes.
"From what I saw in the video, we are glad to have you here, Doctor Barton," one of the men said.
He was not dressed in a doctor's coat like the others. Instead, he was even more stylishly dressed than Elias. His own appearance spoke of luxury and elegance.
"Welcome to Bellamy Medical Center."
Some heads nodded in approval, while others were still with Marcus, shaking their heads and glaring at the cocky smile on Elias's face as everyone stood up.
"You said only one sentence, but you managed to piss off Doctor Marcus even more," Harper said with amusement.
Elias looked over at the head surgeon, wondering if the reason Marcus hated him was simply because he was an ex-convict or if there was something deeper behind the hatred.
When the meeting was over, the man who had welcomed Elias walked up to him and extended a hand. "Doctor Barton. It is nice to meet you. I am Derek Bellamy. I see you have met my sister." He smirked at Harper, who snorted angrily.
Elias took the handshake firmly and squeezed back as Derek tried to impose dominance. Derek was taken aback by his strength, so he released Elias's hand and dipped his own hand into his pocket.
"We look forward to working with you," he said before walking away.
"I didn't know you had a brother," Elias said, watching Derek's departing back.
Harper shook her head slightly. "Half-brother, and we aren't on good terms." Derek turned around slightly and glared at her again before walking away.
"He did not introduce himself as a doctor," Elias noted. "Isn't he?"
Harper shook her head.
"No. He works in the hospital's administration. He is not a doctor."
Marcus walked past them without as much as a glance of acknowledgment.
Harper leaned closer to Elias and said, "He will test you, and he will keep trying to test you. Do not let him win."
Elias chuckled. He had no plans of letting the snobbish little balding man win. He had faced a lot worse in prison.
"Come, let me show you to your office," Harper said as they entered the elevator.
---
Elias had hardly relaxed in his new office, admiring the doctor's coat they had handed to him, with his name boldly printed on the breast pocket— DOCTOR ELIAS BARTON —when a call came in.
"There is an emergency at the ER!" came a scratchy, panicked voice.
"What?" Elias asked.
"You are needed in the emergency room, Doctor," came the voice again. "Downstairs. All the other doctors said you should come and take care of this patient. Quickly!"
And the call ended abruptly.
Elias frowned. He touched Chen Wei's bag attached to his belt and felt a sense of reassurance as he shrugged into his doctor's coat.
Was this one of Marcus's tests? he asked himself as he left his office to deal with the medical emergency.
