Tom was about to leave the hospital for a seminar when his phone rang. As a doctor, there were lots of such seminars and conferences he needed to attend. At times, he grew somewhat weary of them. It wasn''t easy, traveling and living out of a suitcase. "Hey Leena. Back already?" Tom asked and opened the door of his car. Then he got in and stuck the key in the ignition.


    "Tom, are you at the hospital now? It''s Patricia. She''s in a car ident and needs your help," Leena said rapidly. Meanwhile, she grabbed her coat and practically ran out of the bedroom.


    "What? A car ident?" Tom went nk for a few seconds. What scared him most was that deep down, his heart felt like it had been struck by a hammer.


    "Yes. You have to save her, please. I sent the ambnce to Renxin Hospital." Leena burst into tears, finally overwhelmed by it all. The tears blurred her vision and stung her eyes.


    "Ah! Stupid girl! Why did you send them here? The best choice is the nearest hospital. Didn''t you know that?" Tom said and got out of the car. He ran to the emergency room to ask the staff to prep the OR for surgery.


    "I... I don''t know." Leena sniffed. She was telling the truth. Her first thought was Tom. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have told Michelle to do that.


    "Never mind. She''s on her way here anyway. Don''t worry, I''ll do what I can." Tom cared for Leena a lot. He did not have the heart to me her. She was distraught, and yelling at her wouldn''t help anything.


    "Yeah! Thank you, Tom." Leena stood beside her car, hesitating. She eventually decided not to drive herself. She was not sure it would be safe for her to do that, given that she still felt like crying. She would need to calm down before that happened.


    "Thank me after she''s pulled through!" Tom frowned. He did not know how serious it was until he saw Patricia''s bloody form, lying so still. ''She must be in aa, '' he thought, shivering. But he calmed himself down soon enough and prepared himself for emergency surgery. He was a doctor, and had a life to save.


    "Sir, her pulse is erratic," a doctor said to Tom. They were in the ER, and mobilizing for the operation.


    "And fading," said Tom as he pulled on a rubber glove. "Prep her for surgery. I''ll do it." Tom didn''t know why his heart hurt. It almost stopped beating for a second when he saw Patricia''s motionless form.Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    She was in pretty bad shape. Although Tom did the surgery himself, her heart stopped beating for a few seconds several times. Her life was on the line.


    The surgery took several hours. When Leena arrived at the hospital, Patricia was still undergoing the procedure. She met Michelle in the waiting room. Michelle couldn''t sit still, pacing back and forth, a worried look on her face.


    "How''s it going, Michelle?" Leena was not her usual stylish self, having rushed out of the house taking no time to dress up. Michelle did not look any better, and indeed worse. She had blood on her clothes and tears lining her face.


    "What should we do, Leena? I''m so afraid." Michelle burst into tears, her voice was thick with grief. Finally, she broke down and threw herself into Leena''s arms.


    "Don''t worry. Tom will save her! He has to." Actually Leena didn''t know whether he could, but she wasn''t going to make Michelle feel any worse. She kept telling herself to keep calm.


    "Tom! It''s all his fault! Patricia couldn''t focus because of him. She drove herself too hard every day!" Michelle flew into a rage when she heard Tom''s name. Leena wished she hadn''t said anything. To Michelle, if he hadn''t hurt Patricia''s feelings, she wouldn''t have pushed herself so hard and put her life in danger.


    "What? Was she practicing a lot then? You were there. Why didn''t you get her to stop?" Leena was in a pickle. She had been away in Paris, so she had no clue what happened here. She didn''t know what she should say, or even could say. She couldn''t take sides -- not Tom''s, and not her best friend''s.


    "She wouldn''t listen to me! She practiced so hard to forget Tom! She''s your best friend! Why didn''t you help her?" Michelle was now thoroughly upset. And she felt like Leena was using her, when she was just trying to find out more about all this. And because she couldn''t yell at her friend, or Tom, Leena became the target of her ire.


    "I''m sorry! It''s my fault. If I did not insist on trying to get some rest and just went out to meet her, things would be different." Leena hated herself a lot right now. Especially when Michelle turned on her, she med herself even more. And she was right.


    Michelle saw Leena''s downcast look and came back to her senses. "I''m sorry, Leena. I''m just worried. I didn''t mean it." Michelle realized that she spoke without thinking and said some terrible things. She shouldn''t take it out on Leena. It was just that she was right there. A convenient target. Leena was innocent, wasn''t she?


    "It''s all good. I''m worried about her too. I get it." Leena tried to raise the corners of her mouth to force a smile, but failed. The grimace on her face looked even more terrible than an expression of grief.


    "She''ll be fine, right?" Michelle did not have many good friends. She cared about Patricia a lot. She did not want to lose her.


    "Yeah she will. She''s ours. No one''s going to take her away from us," Leena said firmly. Her words were serious and heartfelt, like she would kill any one who tried to take Patricia''s life, even God. But in her heart, she also worried a lot and was quite uncertain about what was going to happen.


    "Really?" Michelle was a strong and independent woman. No one could push her around. But right now she felt extremely weak. She was anxious and had no clue what to do about it.