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"You're late," her world-famous, internationally acclaimed surgeon boss drawled as he straightened off the doorway of his consultation room.
"No, I'm not." Joelle perched her butt on the high-backed stool behind the reception counter. "You just have a habit of coming to work freakishly early, which is so not my fault."
Her cousin only grunted, and Joelle studied him surreptitiously while she started sorting through the dozen or so letters and invitations addressed to Dr. Adam Al-Masri.
Adam would've usually said something mean by now, and the fact that he didn't was telling.
Two years had already passed since Cora Mitchell's death. The woman had been in her seventies, and it was by account of her age that various top surgeons had refused to operate on her. Adam had been her last hope, and while he was the type of man who would've willingly risked his reputation for a chance to save his patient—-
He had never been given the chance to do so, and all because his girlfriend in secret had bribed his assistant of five years to refuse new cases on the night of their anniversary.
Adam had not wasted time breaking up with Ilona and firing his assistant after what happened, and while it might seem to most other people he had moved on since then, it was here in his clinic, which Adam considered his most sacred space, that he stopped wearing a mask to hide his grief.
Joelle had been frequently tempted to ask him if he wanted to talk, but she had always decided against it in the end. She had known Adam since they were kids, and so she could understand why a perfectionist like him continued to hold himself accountable for what happened.
Still, she didn't think what he was doing was healthy. As a doctor, Adam had to know that drowning himself in work wasn't an effective long-term solution. At the rate he was keeping himself busy, it was only a matter of time before exhaustion forced him into making a costly mistake in the operating room.
Adam could sense his cousin's growing restlessness as Joelle peeked at him now and then. "Just spit it out, Jo."
Joelle looked at him in chagrin. "I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say, but...whatever. I'm still going to say it anyway."
As always, his little cousin was unable to resist the opportunity to nag at him.
"I know you still hold yourself accountable for what happened to your patient, and I get that.However...I think youalsoknow yourself that it's unhealthy to keep dwelling in the past."
Joelle could see her words had hit a nerve, and this encouraged her to continue with her point. "Find a new hobby, a girlfriend, or even a one-night stand if that's all you're willing to commit to. It's not like you to waste your time brooding," Joelle pointed out, "and whether you admit it or not, that's what you've been doing the past two months."
Adam was saved from replying when the hospital's paging system sounded out.
"Dr. Adam Al-Masri, please report to the E.R. immediately."
All thoughts outside work were immediately pushed aside when he ended up performing emergency surgery, and Joelle had already left for lunch by the time he returned to his clinic.
His cousin's words came back to him as he settled behind his desk, and a grim frown marred his forehead.
It was true that Cora Mitchell's death still haunted him to this day, and what really ate him was how he had actually been seriously contemplating marrying Ilona prior to what happened.
But after what she had done, Adam now had a hard time trusting himself to choose the right woman for him.
He had thought his rules would help him avoid troublesome relationships, but it had only resulted in the opposite. His cousins, on the other hand, didn't have any such rules when it came to dating, and yet all four of them had seemed to find love in a matter of weeks.
Crown Prince Saif was now set to marry his American fiancée come winter, second-born Ilyas had fallen in love with his own secretary, while Khadem, the youngest of the Huznan princes, had already made arrangements for his Prue to continue her studies in Huzna. And when it had seemed Rashad would be the only bachelor left among his brothers, the third-born prince had then dropped a bombshell on his family by declaring he was already betrothed.
If his cousins had been able to find their respective partners purely by chance, then perhaps it was time to ditch his so-called rules. He would wait instead for fate to send the right woman in his way, but in the meantime...
Joelle was right, Adam thought broodingly. He needed to move on...or risk making costly mistakes in the operating room sooner or later. He needed to distract himself from the past, and was there any other greater distraction than having a woman to warm his bed?
Very well then.
A woman he would look for again, but since he no longer trusted himself to find the right one—-
He that plants thorns must not expect to gather roses.
It was a popular saying back in Huzna, and Adam thought it fitting for his current dilemma. The women he had been dating were all thorns while his cousins were now set to marry roses of their own.
If Adam wanted a rose of his own, it was time to do as his cousins did and allow fate to turn his world upside down.
Ball's in your court, Yahweh.
