Over Each Ruins (Virago Series #2)

as the unknown ascent

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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
as the unknown ascent
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To be acknowledged is something that everybody desired once in their lives. I wasn't spared from that but somehow, at this very moment, it feels suffocating and not right.

"She's who I chose," was just what Dr. Selene said, but it created an impact greater to me than I had imagined.

My heartbeat fastened when all of them stared at me again. Some of them looked proud, some were questioning my presence, but the most priceless reaction was Freya's and Dr. Morales. Both of them stared with such disbelief. Ang unang nakabawi ay si Freya na napatayo nang tuluyan.

"Dr. Selene, there must be a mistak-."

"For someone who performed ECT without any legal authorization or management, you're bold to say that I made a mistake with my judgment, Freya." Agad na sumeryoso ang tinig ni Tita Selene.

Napasinghap ang mga nasa paligid. Nanlaki naman ang mata ko sa narinig.

Freya performed ECT? Electroconvulsive Therapy? She electrocuted her patient? That's illegal unless approved! How can she do that to her patient? Did her patient approve of it? Even if they did, it's illegal if it wasn't authorized as a contract!

Freya chuckled nervously, "W-what? I never did that, Dr. Selene! Don't point fingers at me!"

Tinignan niya ang palibot, "This must be a sabotage! Para hindi matuloy ang kasal namin ni Novan!"

My breathing hitched when Novan's hold on me became firm. Napatingin ako sakanya pero seryoso lang ang tingin niya sa harap. Hindi ko tuloy alam kung naapektuhan ba siya sa sinabi ni Freya o ano.

"What a compulsive liar you are," Dr. Vania crossed her arms, "I just invited you here, Freya, to ask about what you have done to your last patient not to introduce you as whatever you thought it is."

Dumaan ang gulantang sa mata ng isa.

"I wouldn't have come home from Austria because of a stupid dinner. My schedule is more important than that and most board members here are invited because they wanted to know who's IMI's next Medical Doctor... which you thought was you, right?" Tinawanan siya ni Dr. Vania.

My heart ached when I saw how Freya's expression turned ro pain. I don't know if it was out of pity or what, but she certainly doesn't want to get ridiculed like this, does she?

This doesn't even solve everything. Dr. Vania and Dr. Selene might be going overboard with this. Freya must've had her reasons, just like everybody else... even if she reached for it in a negative way.

"It has come to our concern that you performed Electroconvulsive Therapy to your last patient who doesn't even have any clear diagnosis. You did it without anybody's legal signature, not even their guardian, the higher-up, or Dr. Canzar herself. It was an unauthorized treatment you did with Dr. Morales and your father, right?" Dr. Vania said, her brow raised.

What she said was followed by a deafening silence. Lahat ay gulat at hindi makapaniwalang nakatingin sa dalawa na halos hindi makagalaw. Ganu'n din ako.

"My guests here should've just been Antonov and Solace, but then I thought that the two of them and the board should know of the atrocity you're doing, Freya. Anton doesn't deserve you. And you certainly don't deserve to be a part of IMI." Tita Selene said seriously.

Napako ako sa kinatatayuan dahil do'n. Is this why I'm invited? They're dropping a bomb like this to expose her and make it known to us?

"Let's go." Novan said all of a sudden, making my thoughts dissipate.