Accident Prone

Elizabeth got to her office carrying a sandwich, a small fruit bowl and a strawberry yogurt and froze in the spot at the door when her eyes landed on the sight inside.

There are flowers… everywhere! There are at least few dozens of bouquets spread on top of her desk, file cabinets, sofa on the left, the exam table on the right… even the bench and two chairs which are for the patients to sit have flowers resting on them!

Liz took a step back and read the name at the door:

'Neurosurgeon

Elizabeth Williams, MD'

Yup. That is her office but, why did her office turn into a flower shop?

She walked robotically to her desk and realized in horror that her chair is surrounded with flowers, red roses mostly. She didn't see these from the door!

Liz picked a card from the bouquet on the top.

'I hope you recognize my sincerity and forgive my rash actions.

~ Christian Snow'

Damn that man! What is wrong with him? Liz was confident that he gave up, but… Ahhh! Now she knows why those nurses gave her strange looks while she waited in the line to pay for the food!

Liz's eyes darted over the explosion of colors in her office, and she realized that each of the bouquets has a card. She reached for one, and another one and another… they all had the same message: 'I hope you recognize my sincerity and forgive…'

Liz took a deep breath in an attempt to compose herself, but a variety of sweet smells assaulted her, and it only made things worse.

She started moving through her office and removing the cards from each of the bouquets frantically. She needs to get rid of these. Quickly!

If it's one or two, she would just call the nurses to take them away, but this ocean of flowers needs organized hauling.

Liz decided to call Rhonda, the administrator who is in charge of the staff's schedule at Franciscan Medical Center. She will know what to do.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.readwn.com for visiting.

About ten minutes later, Rhonda was standing at the door of Liz's office and observing the flowers. "You want me to take all these away?"

"Yes, please. Rhonda, I'm counting that you can make these leave my office as fast as possible."

Rhonda nodded in understanding. Usually when doctor does not want flowers (or any other gifts), nurses take it to their room where they rest but this is too much. "What should I do with them?"

"Keep the ones you like, and for the rest… give them to the patients staying in the hospital. Prioritize the ones who didn't have visitors recently. You can do that, right?"

…

Twenty minutes later, seven nurses were getting the flowers out and arranging them on the two-layered carts with wheels. It will be easier to carry all the flowers out like that.

"You don't want to keep any?", one of the nurses asked Liz.

"No."

One nurse could not contain her curiosity: "Why are you rejecting Dr. Snow? He is obviously sorry. Look at all these flowers…"

Liz wanted to ask, how does she know it's from Dr. Snow? But then she saw the nurse holding a card. It seems that Liz missed to remove few.

Liz did her best not to frown. Why is this woman meddling? "Don't talk about things you are not familiar with."

The nurse was not done. There are seven of them, all eager to find out what is going on. She is confident that others will support her if needed. "What is there I am missing? He is a good looking man, interested in you. And you are available. Is there a need to humiliate him like this?"

Liz paused. Is she being reprimanded by a nurse she barely knows? She has no need to explain herself, but this is work and she does not want to be rude to her coworkers. "You are missing one important point. I am NOT available."

"Oh, you have a boyfriend?", another nurse asked.

"Yes."

"Really? A boyfriend who is a better catch that Dr. Snow? Who is he?"

Liz looked at seven sets of eyes looking at her unblinkingly while expecting an answer. Liz opened her mouth, ready to say 'Maximilian Anderson', but she swallowed that down. Considering his past, what if one of these seven women is his ex? Even if that is not the case, Max is known as 'Seattle's greatest playboy' and if Liz announces that she is his girlfriend, won't she just make a big joke of herself?

Liz cleared her throat awkwardly. "I prefer to keep my private life outside work. Please, don't make this situation more uncomfortable than it already is. I have work to do, so please…", Liz gestured to the corner which still has flowers in it.

All seven nurses looked at Liz suspiciously and Liz guessed that they don't believe her. Well, she can't blame them. Dr. Snow is an attractive, accomplished surgeon. In their eyes, he is probably an unrivaled charming prince and they can't see that anyone could be better than him.

After few seconds of hesitation, nurses got back to collecting flowers and they left Liz's office when they were done.

Liz plopped on her chair and sighed.

Is it so hard to say that Max is her boyfriend? Liz is aware that she avoided going out with him out of fear of being seen. And now she is reluctant to reveal their relationship. How can they have a relationship like this? She is a horrible girlfriend! She is using him as a shield against Dr. Snow's advances and for comfort and that feeling of safety, yet she is embarrassed to say that she is his girlfriend.

Her mind went back to the flowers…

Why is Dr. Snow not giving up? He knows that she gave away the flowers yesterday, right? Everyone else knows, so he must be aware of that as well. Why did he think that she would accept the ocean of flowers if she was not willing to accept the one bouquet from yesterday?

She rubbed her temples in frustration. Now what? Should she go and confront him? She does not want to cause a scene or to make this more unpleasant than it already is, but she wants him to stop.

No matter what, she can't do anything good if she is this upset. She needs to calm down first.

This day is getting worse by the minute!

Liz was not sure how long she was spacing out when she got pulled out of her daze by the office phone. Liz sighed when she heard the woman on the other side of the line: Chairman Lee wants to see her as soon as possible.

Now what?

Liz told herself not to panic. She did nothing wrong, and her work performance is great so… who knows what this is about? Maybe he will give her that promotion earlier and she can start performing surgeries as the main surgeon!

…

Liz entered Chairman Lee's office and she was unable to read his expression, but she can see that he is not smiling.

"Please sit.", Chairman Lee pointed over his desk, to the chair opposite from him. "You are probably wondering why I called for you."

Liz responded with a nod.

He sighed. "This is not easy, but I need to remind you that your private life should not interfere with the operation of this hospital."

Liz was not sure she heard him right. "Can you please clarify that?"

Chairman Lee picked up a printout from his desk and took a deep breath before he started talking: "Today, at 11:05 AM a flower delivery truck parked in front of our main entrance and was there for twenty seven minutes while number of men used all three elevators in the surgery wing to deliver flowers to your office. You should know how that entrance is car accessible to accommodate disabled patients, not flower deliveries. Other than people not being able to approach the main entrance while the truck was there, we have number of complaints filed because people with seasonal allergies got sneezing and coughing episodes while using those three elevators in the next half an hour after the flower delivery was completed…" Chairman Lee kept the printout down on the table and looked at Liz. "I understand that you are young, and romantic gestures are expected, but please… don't do them in the hospital. At least not at a rate which will upset our patients and block the entrance."

Liz pressed her lips into a line. She felt like crying. How is any of this her fault?

She wanted to clarify, but what will she say? It will only sound like lame excuses, or maybe even bragging and she knows that Chairman Lee loves Dr. Snow. She still remembers the grand introduction: '…the most talented orthopedic surgeon…', were Chairman Lee's words while his expression showed how proud he is that FMC managed to poach such an outstanding surgeon all the way from Chicago.

If she says anything that can implicate Dr. Snow in this mess in front of Chairman Lee, Liz will only shoot herself in the foot.

"Yes, Chairman Lee.", Liz said as calmly as she could.

Chairman Lee forced a smile. "Today you don't have any other appointments. Why don't you head home early? …"

…

Chairman Lee watched Liz walk out of his office and he wondered if he was too harsh.

This whole day is a mess. He got a memo that their largest donor, the White foundation, will stop their contributions at the end of June. The White foundation alone is giving more than 50% of donations and without them Franciscan Medical Center will not be able to finish planned upgrades to the radiology department or additions to the surgery wing, and he can forget about ordering new defibrillators and dialysis machines.

Chairman Lee was confident that this is a mistake. The White foundation is making donations to the Franciscan Medical Center for more than a decade without missing a payment. What happened?

He called his contact in the White foundation and all his hopes sank when he heard: "It is nothing personal, Chairman Lee. The White foundation decided to withdraw donations from several institutions and to shift priorities to financing the LA Medical Center in Los Angeles…"

Chairman Lee rubbed his temples while thinking how to get out of this. After some deliberation, he called his secretary…

"Bring me the list of existing donors and any companies with offices in the Seattle area who have more than a hundred million in revenue but are not on the current list of donors… I want the event committee in my office in one hour… We will have a fundraising ball in two weeks…"

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