Doctor-Patient Confidentiality: New Adult Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

Chapter Seventy-Eight

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It takes a minute for his words to sink in.

Complications?

What does he mean by 'complications'? What kind of complications? I should be verbalizing all that to him, but instead, I try to assess his face, searching for any subtle cues or changes his expression might give away on the seriousness of the matter, but he remains as stoic and unreadable as ever. I can't even tell if I should be worried or not.

It actually baffles me how he can so easily go right back to being cold and distant without any hesitation. It's as if he didn't just hold me and try to comfort me. The way he looks now, he may as well have just sat in complete apathy and watched me break down in silence without doing a single thing or uttering a damn word until I was done unravelling and making a complete fool of myself in front of him and then resumed as if nothing happened. To be honest, that's actually the kind of reaction I would have expected from him. Not what he did...

I really want to be angry at him, that he can be so easily removed and detached emotionally, but I know I have no right or reason to be. In fact, I think I might actually be jealous of his ability. If our situation wasn't so...well, complicated, I might have asked him to teach me his ways. And speaking of complicated, my thoughts come back to the situation at hand.

For some reason, my eyes remain fixated on Frost's fingers for a moment, and I notice how he flexes them in their interlocked position. It seems almost like a quirk or a nervous habit. For my sake, I'm hoping it's not the latter.

"Like I mentioned before," he continues, bringing my attention back to his face "part of the tumor is lodged in and around your diaphragm. That's why we didn't try to remove it during your endoscopic ultrasound. Normally, we'd do what we call a fresh frozen sample in almost all instances of biopsy in minimally to moderately invasive procedures like endoscopy and we can also typically remove tumors, even large, advanced ones that are intertwined with nerve endings and blood vessels. Unfortunately, the way your tumor's positioned really complicates matters and going the standard route was out of the question."

I frown at the way he says 'your tumor'. Like it's a fucking Christmas present that I relentlessly asked for or some shit. As if it belongs with me. As if it belongs to me. But I decide it's not worth bringing up and fighting with him over. So instead, I say, "So, what exactly are my options if the standard route isn't going to work?"

"Direct abdominal surgery," is his immediate response. "We'll have to go in and remove the tumor from your stomach directly. Obviously, that'll be more invasive, put you at a higher risk for infection, and will require more downtime than an endoscopy since we're going to be opening you up."

I visibly cringe at the thought of incisions being made on my belly and my insides being exposed. I suck in another shuddery breath and exhale with equal difficulty.

"But the risk here isn't just for infection," he continues. "Ramona, I'm bringing this up because I know you mentioned you're a vocalist."

My forehead furrows in both question and confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"There's a very high chance that the segment of your diaphragm where the tumor is located won't function the same after surgery. It will most likely suffer a huge loss in elasticity, especially around the lining since a lot of the cells there will have to be removed along with the tumor. For an everyday person, that wouldn't be an issue, but for you—"