The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 560

Winter faded into spring. The trees on Riverdale University's campus sprouted tender green buds, and the sunlight filtered through the fresh leaves, scattering a mottled pattern of light across the ground.

Lawrence Sterling sat in his office, wearing his reading glasses, flipping through the latest academic journal. A freshly brewed Earl Grey tea sat on his desk, the fragrant steam curling into the air. Everything was peaceful and orderly.

Suddenly, the sharp click-clack of high heels echoed rapidly down the hallway, approaching much faster than a normal stride.

A second later, the office door slammed open with a bang. Vanessa stood in the doorway, clutching a file in her hand, her knuckles white from the pressure.

She was usually composed—hair perfectly in place, clothes entirely wrinkle-free. But right now, a fine layer of sweat beaded her forehead. Her lips were pressed in a tight, grim line, and she had completely forgotten to knock.

"Professor, it's a disaster!"

She slapped the file down on the desk right in front of him, her voice hushed but failing to mask the sheer panic spilling over. "Something went wrong with Vitas-1."

Lawrence Sterling took off his reading glasses and looked down at the document.

It was an adverse reaction monitoring report. The first page was dense with data tables, and the staggeringly high rate of adverse reactions printed in bold red ink was glaringly obvious.

Vanessa's finger dragged rapidly across the report as she spoke in a frantic rush.

"It's been on the market for two months, and over seventy percent of patients nationwide are experiencing severe side effects. At first, it was just rashes and low-grade fevers, so we assumed it was a standard drug reaction. But starting in the third week, we saw cases of acute liver damage. Transaminase levels spiked to over ten times the normal limit. Some patients had their entire skin and sclera turn deep yellow."

"By the fourth week, patients developed bone marrow suppression, with their white blood cell and platelet counts plummeting. Three patients are already in the ICU with severe infections, and two are currently undergoing emergency surgery for intracranial hemorrhaging."

She took a deep breath, looking up at him, a tremor slipping into her voice that she didn't even notice. "The families of the patients have already filed a joint complaint with The Drug Safety & Enforcement Administration (DSEA)! Task forces from the DSEA were dispatched to major hospitals this morning!"