Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15

:

86

E55 vouchers

The medical community was buzzing on Lilac Medical Forum, the country’s leading online hub for doctors. A live surgical broadcast had just gone up, shattering the usual quiet and grabbing everyone’s attention.

[Which hospital is this? Talk about chasing fame.]

[It’s Westwell Hospital.]

[They’re opening a child’s chest for a febrile seizure? Have the doctors there lost it?]

[Emily is the lead surgeon?]

[Actually, she’s listed as the first assistant.]

[Wait, am I seeing this correctly? The country’s top surgeon is the assistant? Who has the influence to have her serve merely as an assistant? This just got very interesting.]

Most people, however, saw it as a farce. They shared the link in their work chats, pulling in more viewers.

The news spread like wildfire. Before the first cut, the entire medical field was talking about Westwell Hospital’s controversial plan to open a child’s chest for a febrile seizure. Tens of thousands soon filled the live

stream.

In the operating room, Stella stifled another yawn behind her mask.

“You’re completely mad,” Emily said, her heart hammering. Under the harsh surgical lights, she felt the same paralyzing nerves as her first solo operation.

Emily’s gaze drifted upward to the observation room, where faces pressed against the curved glass wall.

“Any other questions?” Stella’s voice was soft with fatigue.

A viewer commented, [Her voice is so sweet and gentle.]

Another added, [Look at Emily’s face. She’s completely outmatched.]

The chat on the Lilac Medical Forum livestream scrolled rapidly, buzzing with reactions.

“Mr. Quinn mentioned you predicted this child was dying,” Emily said, keeping her tone steady. “How could you have known?”

[Is this the Mr. Quinn I’m thinking of?]

[There was a rumor this morning from General Military Hospital about an important man’s grandson being rushed to Westwell Hospital. Could this be the same case?]

For several full seconds, the chat fell completely silent.

Victor was a true national hero, a pioneering figure in nuclear physics. In recent years, he’d been living quietly

12:10 Tue, Jan 13

Chapter 15

in his hometown, away from the public eye.

86

55 vouchers

The question Emily had asked was precisely what everyone in the observation room wanted to know.

They all wondered what gave Stella such absolute certainty that Logan was dying.

Just then, the anesthesiologist raised a hand, signaling that it was time to begin.

Stella took the scalpel. “It’s in his leg,” she said, and began the cut.

“His leg?” Emily paused. She hadn’t seen anything wrong with Logan’s leg beyond the convulsions.

Stella looked up. In the bright surgical light, her face was calm and distant.

“I saw him at a café yesterday,” she replied. “In ten minutes, his leg jerked six times without him knowing. That kind of spasm usually happens at night, when he’s asleep.”

A drop in breathing made the brain believe the body was shutting down. The resulting spasms were its desperate attempt to sound the alarm, a signal that it had detected a lethal threat.

“His parents missed it,” Stella added.

[Guys, check her control. She’s holding a conversation while her blade stays perfectly steady over the heart. Where did she train?]

[She’s not even looking at what she’s doing.]

[Unreal.]

A thick silence filled the observation room. Every senior doctor there was staring, eyes wide.

From that first cut, they knew they’d been wrong about Stella. She looked barely old enough to be in medical school, yet her hands moved with a master’s certainty.

“Curved forceps.” Stella’s voice cut through the tense silence.

The procedure was at its most critical moment. Under the unforgiving glare of the operating lights, Logan lay exposed, his vital signs faint. In the silence of the livestream, a million viewers held their collective breath.

Emily handed over the instrument with a sinking feeling. She couldn’t follow Stella’s logic and had no idea what she planned to do next.

Standing at the operating table, Emily, the celebrated prodigy, felt utterly lost for the first time in her career.

“There it is,” Stella murmured, a trace of a smile visible above her mask. Even through the screen, her quiet triumph was palpable.

[Holding my breath.]

[Perfect thoracic separation.]

12:10 Tue, Jan 13

Chapter 15

Then came a concise, technical note: [Superior vena cava.]

86

55 vouchers.

The chat went silent. It slowly dawned on the audience that the person who had posted that comment was Emily’s own mentor, the internationally revered surgeon, Samuel Miles.

He had retired from practice years ago after passing on his skills to his final student, Emily.

His appearance in the livestream was completely unexpected.

As the comment went live, Stella had already plucked a sliver of glass from Logan’s vein, a piece so small that it was barely visible.

The moment she lifted the fragment for everyone to see, the entire room was struck speechless with shock.

That tiny shard had slipped past every scan and almost killed Logan.

“Flush and close. You can finish up…” Stella said to Emily, her voice relaxed.

Dropping the instrument onto a tray, she turned from the table. “My first assistant,” she added over her shoulder.

Emily watched her go, heart hammering in her chest.

*****

At the coffee machine, Stella knew she had a tail.

A hand reached for her shoulder, but she spun and had the person pinned before they could touch her.

“Ow! Stella, what are you doing?” yelped a girl with spiky, dyed hair.

Hearing her name called, Stella eased up.

Upon getting a clear look at Stella’s face, the girl gaped. “Did you… did you get work done?” she stammered.

Stella now looked stunning, like something out of a fantasy.

Stella looked back at the girl, a vague memory surfacing. She recognized Evelyn Murphy, one of the party friends from before she’d been expelled.

“Do you need something?” Stella’s voice was cool and dismissive.

“I told Hazel you were taken the other day,” Evelyn said, shifting her weight. “I asked if we should call the police. She told me not to.”

She pulled a garish phone covered in pink plastic gems from her pocket and handed it over. “You dropped this.”

Stella stared at the gaudy device, trying hard to suppress the desire to throw it in the trash.

“Also…” Evelyn’s voice trailed off.

12:10 Tue, Jan 13

Chapter 15

“Go ahead,” Stella said, taking a slow breath as she accepted the phone.

86

55 vouchers

“Hazel stole your in–game crush. They’re having a virtual wedding tomorrow. Maybe stay offline.” Without waiting for a reply, Evelyn turned and hurried away.

Stella took a moment to process the absurd news about Hazel and the stolen in–game crush.

Then she remembered that Hazel was her so–called sister, the Carters‘ real daughter.