My BFF Betrayed Me with My Boyfriend! Now Neither of Them Will Leave Me Alone! Chapter 04
After that unpleasant conversation, Evan and Karen publicly announced that they were together.
They brought coffee and pastries for the entire department.
The younger nurses had no idea what had happened and cheerfully called out to me, “Dr. Ellis, come over. We saved you an iced Americano.”
Evan frowned and blurted out, “Her stomach can’t handle that. The hot ginger tea is for her.”
The nurse’s smile stiffened.
The room fell silent for a moment.
I smiled and raised my thermos.
“I brought my own ginger tea.”
After my night shift that day, I had just parked my car when a sudden wave of unease washed over me.
Something had felt wrong these past few days.
It was as if someone had been watching me.
I took a deep breath and started toward home, but a dark figure suddenly stepped into my path.
My heart lurched.
It was Karen’s ex-husband, Derek Shaw.
He held a baseball bat and glared at me viciously.
“Athena. Long time no see.”
My stomach dropped.
I instinctively tried to leave, but he blocked my way.
“You looked pretty pleased with yourself when you brought that guy to my house and beat me up. What happened? Scared now?”
He sneered.
“Right. I forgot. Karen stole your man.”
“That bitch is with the hospital director’s son now, so I can’t get to her. But someone has to pay, Dr. Ellis. Blame your own bad luck. You took a risk for her, and she betrayed both your friendship and your relationship.”
Derek laughed coldly, his grip slowly tightening around the baseball bat.
I took a deep breath, felt for my phone inside my pocket, and pressed the emergency call shortcut.
My hand trembled slightly, but I forced myself to appear calm and tried to reason with him.
“What do you want? Money, or something else? We can talk about it.”
Derek’s expression twisted.
He spat hard onto the ground.
“I don’t want anything. I just want you to pay.”
He swung the baseball bat at me.
I screamed, turned around, and ran.
“Derek, calm down. You’ll go to prison for assaulting someone.”
Derek chased after me.
“My wife ran away from me, and now I’m everyone’s laughingstock. As for prison, I don’t care anymore.”
He cornered me in a dead end.
My entire body shook.
“Please don’t hurt my hands. I have surgery tomorrow.”
“My patient is a little girl. If the surgery succeeds, she’ll live…”
“Derek, please…”
Before I could finish, the baseball bat sliced through the air and slammed directly into my arm.
I heard the bone shatter.
Just before I lost consciousness, I looked at my phone lying smashed on the ground.
The screen showed that it had dialed my emergency contact.
But he hadn’t answered.
When I opened my eyes again, white hospital walls surrounded me.
The sharp smell of disinfectant filled the air.
Karen knelt at the foot of my bed, her eyes swollen from crying.
“I’m sorry, Athena. I’m so sorry…”
Evan looked furious.
He slammed his fist into the wall and opened his mouth.
“I didn’t know. He… that call…”
I simply closed my eyes.
“Give me the test results.”
Evan hesitated before handing them to me.
As a doctor, one glance was enough for me to understand how badly my hand had been injured.
No physical pain could compare to what I felt inside at that moment.
My entire body trembled as I looked at the colleagues who had come to visit me, then at Karen and Evan standing there in anguish.
“Get out. Please.”
As the hospital room door opened and closed, my muffled sobs could barely be heard.
Evan and Karen waited outside my room every day.
I refused to see either of them.
Then one day, Evan spoke through the door, his voice heavy with pain.
“Athena, even if your hand is injured, it’s not the end. I can talk to my father and have you transferred into hospital administration. Or you could teach at a medical school. Whatever you want, I’ll make it happen.”
I ignored him.
I only looked at my bandaged hand.
Then, with trembling fingers, I replied to an email from University Hospital Zurich.
“I’ve made my decision.”