How Do We Live?

Chapter 5: Denaturation

The days after the beach incident, lagi na niya akong dinadalhan ng pagkain. He would stop by my office just to drop off food. Kung hindi man ako late uuwi ay yayain niya akong mag-dinner and I couldn't bring myself to say no to him! He and his power!

"Can you finished this up?" I ask my first at agad naman siyang tumango sa akin. I immediately left the operation room para makapaghanda sa meeting 'kuno' namin ni Rahim.

When I finished cleaning myself and talk briefly with the guardian of the patient ay nagpalit na ulit ako ng damit. After the meeting, out ko na 'rin naman.

I even check my phone before heading out of the locker room pero wala namang ibang notifications doon aside from my emails and reminded schedule of operation and consultations.

Bago pa ako umakyat sa conference room ay pinaalalahan ko muna iyong doctor na papalit sa akin for the night shift and then I paved my way up to meet Rahim.

Hindi na ako kumatok pa at binuksan na lamang ang pintuan.

I saw Rahim on the last seat of the long table. May tambak ng papel na nakakalat sa harapan niya. His Ipad Pro on his side, hawak niya pa iyong pencil and jotting down something there. Ang MacBook niya naman ay nasa harapan niya and some sticky notes on the table and his g-techs laying around and a cup of coffee.

I fake a cough before walking toward him. He didn't even raise his head on me para tignan ako so I silently occupy the seat on his side. Kami lamang ang tao doon sa conference room and it's quiet because his too engrossed on the things that he's doing.

"Give me a minute." He said and rest his head on the backrest of the chair pagkatapos ay hinilot ang bridge ng ilong niya at bahagyang tinanggal ang glasses niya.

I couldn't help but study him while he rests for a minute. With his eyes close and him massaging the bridge of his nose. Ang iilang daliri ay tinitipa sa lamesa.

"Quit staring." Napapitlag naman ako matapos niyang sinabi iyon. He fixes his hair with his fingers and wear his glasses again. I even saw how he manipulated his Ipad and pop there the footage of the operation.

"I-I'm not!"

"What a lousy liar, Dr. Roque."

Natahimik ako ng tawagin niya ako ng ganoon. I'm just getting used to him addressing me with my first name. Kahit pa pinaglaban ko ng una na hindi dapat kami lumalagpas sa boundary namin in our professional roles.

But then I know I'm a hypocrite with all the times that I had dinner with him. Psh.

"Do you notice something strange on the footage. We need to gain some evidence dahil malapit na ang trial ni Dr. Valencia. The complainant along with her lawyer is already passing the appeal." Napatango naman ako dahil nagsimula na siyang magdiskurso sa harap ko.

"Is there a wrong procedure in it? I compare some same surgical video and it's all almost the same." Simula niya.

"Yeah, I notice that the operation is on the right track. It's just half-way of the procedure before the patient's blood pressure started to drop. His heart is failing slowly as they try to find the cause of the problem."

"How about the test ran before the surgery. Are those all congruent with the type of procedure used?"

"Based on the test, it's all congruent and aligned. Tama ang basis ni Dr. Valencia with all of this. He even proposed a second procedure to be done pero mas akma ang ginawa nila."

"So why did the patient died inside the O.R? Dr. Valencia even assured the spouse of the patient that it will be a successful procedure."

"I'm thinking about the delay of the operation. Though the x-ray and ultrasound will be immediately release, they also got to ran a computerized tomography or CT scan, that would be at least 15 minutes but I guess they are already prepping the patient for surgery while waiting."