Well-
Emma knows she fucked up.
“You’re learning. It’s okay to make mistakes,” the memory of Dana’s voice rings over the blood rushing in her ears, “but you have to deal with the consequences.”
Consequences.
She thought the consequences would be an incident report. Or a one on one with her manager, or the nurse educator.
She didn’t think the consequences would be… this.
She didn’t think the consequences would be her standing at the end of a hallway as Doctor Park stalks towards her, fury blazing so brightly in his eyes it’s almost blinding.
She’s never even met this man. Never exchanged a single word with him or been in the same room up until now. All she knows of him is his reputation. The fear he seems to strike in the hearts of his coworkers, the panic he seems to induce whenever his name is mentioned.
He’s notorious.
He’s mean.
And he’s headed right for her.
“You’re Emma?” He snaps, white teeth gleaming. One look and she’s like a fish out of water, gasping for air. Desperate for one more gulp.
The fact of the matter is, whatever he dishes out, she has to take it. She’s the one who messed up. She’s the one who didn’t double check, who didn’t register the NPO order until it was too late.
Until it delayed a surgical case that he made room for in his schedule, and set up a domino effect of delays.
She basically ruined his entire day, literally.
“Y-yes.” The instinct to lift her fingers to her mouth and bite is so strong, she struggles to override it. Even though she knows she doesn’t have much left there anyway. She’s pretty much chewed everything off.
“Want to explain what happened?”
“I-I… made a mistake, I thought-”
“Thought?” He scoffs. “You clearly did not think anything.” He takes one step forward to her two steps back. That’s how big the difference is. A mountain and a mole hill. “I know you’re new, but I would expect even a new grad would be able to read an order correctly.” It stings. She really is trying, so hard. It’s been a month, and she hasn’t found her footing yet. Dana keeps telling her it will get easier, but so far, it’s been an uphill battle. One she cries in her car over after she clocks out.
“Doctor P-park, I’m sorry, I really am, I-”
“Your sorry isn’t going to fix your major fuck up, princess.” He leans in close. So close. Too close. Close enough she can see the flecks of gold in his irises, a barely there hint of caramel in a sea of chestnut.
For a minute, she forgets herself. Forgets her place. Her job. The walls that were seemingly closing in around her a minute ago.
All she sees is those eyes.
They narrow.
Her tongue turns dry.
“I know…” emotion overwhelms her, and she has to fight a tremble in her lip. “I know I screwed up.” She hates how her voice trembles. How she cowers as he studies her with a focus so sharp it could a scalpel. “I’m sorry, I really am.”
“You’re not nearly sorry enough.” His gaze sweeps her, takes her in from head to toe, a muscle in his jaw ticking for a moment before it turns back to stone. “But you will be.”
