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"I don't want to be alone, I want to be left alone."

-Audrey Hepburn


Chapter 11: Secret Place

By the next morning, the fuss over Sissi's hospitalization had calmed down. When Yumi made it to the hospital, there was absolutely no press in sight.

"Good morning, Dr. Ishiyama," greeted Anais. "Got home okay?"

Yumi nodded. "I'm glad that the press is no longer here," she responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "Did something happen?"

Anais bit her lip, knitting her eyebrows together. "After you left, a man came claiming to be a fan of Miss Delmas. He saw Dr. Stern speaking with her and immediately went insane." The nurse widened her eyes and held her hands up.

Yumi could see that happening. She supposed that when the director tried to turn the hospital into a brand name, calling in celebrities, this was to be expected.

Anais then added, "He grabbed Dr. Stern and screamed, 'Are you seeing MY Sissi?!'" She held her fists out in front of her in attempt to imitate the scene.

"Was he okay?"

"Well, he got injured."

"How badly?"

"He says he's okay, but it was his right hand, and there was a lot of blood..."

Yumi looked down to the floor in concern. "But Ulrich is right-handed," she recalled. She left for Surgery's office to search for him, but he wasn't there. Was he possibly taking the day off?

She turned to her right, noticing Jeremie on phone. She waited for him to put the receiver down before deciding to approach him.

"I heard Dr. Stern's been injured," she said.

Jeremie nodded, crossing his arms. "I examined him. There's absolutely nothing to worry about."

Yumi was relieved to hear that he wasn't hurt too badly.

"But he needs to rest," Jeremie added. With a troubled face, he scratched his head. "We need to reschedule all of his upcoming operations..."

"Representative Fumet is supposed to come tomorrow," Yumi reminded him. The director must have gotten batty when he found out about his son's injury. Now it was getting in the way of an operation that was crucial in expanding the hospital's name.

"He's arriving at the hospital this evening," confirmed Jeremie. "I made a call to Dr. Meyer, but she's away visiting family. I asked her to come as quickly as possible."

Yumi remembered Dr. Meyer. She was always Ulrich's first assistant during an operation.

"I need to speak to the director. If Mr. Fumet can be persuaded, Dr. Meyer will take over the place of Dr. Stern."

"Why not you?" Yumi asked. Jeremie never really dealt with the hands-on part of being a surgeon. Instead, he's been single-handedly running the Surgery department.

"I unfortunately have a conference to attend in the US," he responded. "My flight leaves tomorrow morning."

"I see..."

"But you will be there." Jeremie shot her a faithful smile. "We'll continue the preparations with that in mind."

Yumi nodded. "Is Dr. Stern out?" she then asked.

"He's ridiculous." Jeremie ran a hand down his tired face. "I told him to stay home. But he said there were plenty of things he could do outside of operating. If you see him, please encourage him to take some time off."

"Of course." Yumi wasn't surprised. It sounded like something Ulrich would do. But there was no reason for him to work himself like that with an injury. He couldn't operate for a while, so maybe he felt responsible for putting himself out of commission.

As a result, Yumi kept an eye out for him, but it was like he disappeared. Remembering yesterday, she took the back entrance as a last resort.


Immediately she was able to sense the pungent scent of cigarettes. The woman looked up the stairwell, spotting the familiar brunet doctor. "Dr. Stern!" she called to him.

From the top of the stairs, Ulrich turned to face her, looking surprised. "You again.."

Yumi rushed up the steps to stand beside him. "Is this place like your own private hideaway?" she asked him, genuinely amused.

"I guess so.." Looking down, he rubbed out his cigarette with his left hand, lacking the grace he usually possessed with his right. Her eyes fell on the bandages wrapped around from the tip of his fingers to his wrist, and it shook her a little.

"How's your hand?" she asked him.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Everyone's worried. You should've taken time off."

"There's no time." Ulrich averted his gaze with a tired expression. "Mr. Fumet is coming."

"Are you expecting everything to go according to plan?" Yumi had her hands on her hips. "He's coming here because he wants you to be his surgeon."

"I'll be present at the surgery," Ulrich responded. "There shouldn't be a problem."

"I heard Dr. Meyer will take your place."

"Isn't she with family?"

"They called her back."

Ulrich gazed at Yumi intently. She could literally see the gears turning in his head. "You should perform it," he suggested, gathering up his things. "I'll speak to the director. It's not so simple an operation where we can just call Meyer out of nowhere."

And without even turning a head, Ulrich simply walked away.

"Hey, wait!"

She couldn't just operate in place of him—the director wouldn't ever allow a newcomer like her be the surgeon on such an important operation. Regardless, Ulrich calmly sat himself down on the steps, letting out a deep breath. A gentle breeze ruffled his spiked hair, and they were able to hear a few cars humming in the distance.

Yumi looked around her. She finally understood that there was something relaxing about the place.

It was Ulrich's secret hideaway, and she was the only one that knew about it.