Chapter 33 PRESSURE IS STILL PRESSURE

Chapter 33 PRESSURE IS STILL PRESSURE
“Let me help you,” Isabella whispered. 

She reached up with her hands, working around the silk. 

Xavier looked down at her, seeing the focus in her eyes. For a moment, everything faded away. The hospital, Thorne, and all his worries disappeared. In front of her, everything looked calm. Everything felt peaceful. 

She then looked up at him. “What?”

He chuckled. “Nothing. It's just… it just feels weird after what happened the other day.”

She smiled at him. “Forget the Blackwell family. Focus on you. You have something to do.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. He couldn't believe that in this story he was living in, this woman had played a crucial role and the role wasn't a good one. 

He wondered what happened to her to make her play that role, but he wasn't going to ruin the story for himself. He was going to play the role that he was given and see where this would lead. 

“There,” she said, smoothing the silk and then stepping away. “Perfect.”

The distance between them wasn't much as they stared into each other's eyes for a while.

The tension started to get high as a beep sound came from Xavier's phone. It was an alarm telling him that he was wasting time and he needed to be already on his way to work. 

The moment shattered as Xavier smiled.

“That's my cue,” he said, picking up his phone and then straightening his cuffs. “Wish me luck.” 

He then picked up his briefcase that was on the couch as he looked at Isabella who nodded. 

“Good luck, Alexander. Go out there and show them who you truly are.”

They then walked out together as the morning air hit them before they got into their cars and drove away. 



The hospital atmosphere was electric as Xavier walked in through the lobby. He saw Nathaniel standing by the elevators looking at his watch, and the moment he saw Xavier, he rushed to him. 

“You were almost late. I was calling you. Where did you keep your phone?”

“I was driving,” Xavier said, walking into the elevator. 

They then went up to the boardroom floor. As Xavier got out, Craig passed them, narrowing his eyes at Xavier. 

“You are a minute late, Alexander.”

Xavier checked his watch. “A minute late to make them wait, Dr. Craig. Shall we?”

Craig nodded, gesturing ahead of him. “After you.”

They then walked into the room as the air was thick with the scent of papers and expensive perfumes. 

Aris sat at the head of the long mahogany table with his silver hair sweeping back in a relaxed manner, but his eyes were cold. 

Craig took a seat beside him with four other board members scattered around the table. Xavier walked to the center of the room, bowed to them, then stood with his back held high and straightened. 

He did not look like an ordinary resident. He looked like someone who was here to win. 

Craig cleared his throat. “All right, let us begin. We are going to do this the best way we can, and as such, we don't know who you are. So for the record, can you tell us your name?”

Xavier looked directly into Aris’s eyes and felt the system hum within him. 

"My name is Alexander," Xavier said, his voice sounding really calm and clear in the boardroom. "I am here to show that medicine is not just about following the rules but about understanding how the human body works."

Aris did not move. He sat still with his fingers laced in front of his face. Next to him Dr. Craig nodded, looking at a folder.

"Well Alexander,” Dr. Craig started, "you did a great job during your residency. Let's talk about the case of the thoracic aorta last Tuesday. Most surgeons would have waited for the bypass machine. You on the other hand did not. You used a cooling technique and a manual clamp that is not used very often. Tell us why you did that."

Xavier answered right away. "The patient was getting bad fast. If we had waited for the machine the patient would have had brain damage in three minutes. The manual clamp was a risk I know. However it allowed us to fix the problem while keeping the patient safe. It's a risky technique but it works. Pressure is still pressure, Dr. Craig."

One of the women on the board leaned forward her glasses falling down her nose. "What about the emergency surgery in the lobby? You used a drill from the maintenance closet. How did you know where to stop?"

Xavier smiled a little. "It's about feeling it,” he said. "The bone changes just before you get to the hard part. If you listen to the drill and feel the resistance you know when to stop."

The board members started whispering to each other looking surprised. They looked at each other not believing what they were hearing. He sounded like a doctor with a lot of experience not someone who just finished training.

"Impressive," one of the board members said. "He talks like he was born to be a surgeon."

Aris finally moved. He leaned forward, his eyes getting smaller. The room became quiet.

The beast had been woken.

"Enough with the simple questions,” he said, his voice sharp. "Anyone can memorize a book. Be good with their hands. Let's see if you really know what you are doing, Alexander. I want to talk about Idiopathic Myocardial Fibrosis in stage four. Tell me what exactly happens at the level that makes the scarring go away or become permanent?"

The room became very quiet. Dr. Craig's eyes got wide.

“You have to stop Aris,” Craig sighed. “That is a question for someone who is a lot experienced, not someone who is just trying to get a basic license. It’s been fifty years of research and nobody has been able to give a clear answer on the case you just brought up now.”

Another person on the board agreed with Craig. 

“Even I don’t know the answer even though I have been a heart doctor for thirty years. Now I wonder how someone new to the field can possibly know it. Aris, your question is not making sense.”

Aris looked at Xavier. “If he is really as good as people think then he should be able to answer the question. Maybe he is just pretending to be something he is not.”

Xavier stood still. He could feel the System in his mind trying to help him with the answer. But he did not need it. He already knew this.

Xavier smiled, “the answer is not about enzymes.”

He started as the doctors stared at him in surprise.