When The Ward Fell Apart

I stopped and looked down at the cart.

Three full boxes, all of them my own belongings.

But before I could speak, the charge nurse rushed over in front of everyone.

"Grace Walker, open your boxes. I need to check them."

I stood in front of the cart.

"You do not have that authority."

I said it to the charge nurse, but my eyes stayed fixed on Valerie.

Because she was the one who had whispered to the charge nurse, and then the charge nurse had called me back.

Besides, I had packed my things right under the charge nurse's nose.

Valerie stroked her stomach and met my gaze calmly.

But the charge nurse had already shoved me aside and dumped everything from my boxes.

"You can't take this plaque. This is the department's honor, not yours personally."

I pointed at the words on the plaque.

"The department's honor? Nurse Parker, my personal name is written on it."

"Still no."

The charge nurse tossed the plaque aside carelessly.

"And these operating manuals and training notes can't be taken either. These are department materials.

"The preserved flowers a discharged patient gave you can't be taken. She only gave them to you because of the department."

Eventually, the charge nurse even took the half-used notebook and pen I had been using.

"These are also department property. Grace Walker, don't be a workplace thief."

I looked at the mess on the floor. I had no doubt that after I left, all these things would be thrown into the trash.

The charge nurse did not care about them. She only wanted to humiliate me.

Finally, she found the eight excellence certificates.

After thinking for a moment, she fed them straight into the shredder.

"Grace Walker, you earned these honors through our department. How can you have the nerve to take them away?"

I listened to the shredder at work.

Crunch. Crunch.

In ten seconds, eight years of my effort were destroyed.

But I did not argue. I did not even move.

After all, I did not care for scraps of paper earned through self-sacrifice anymore.

"Check carefully. Don't miss anything," I even said with a smile.

The charge nurse seemed not to expect that reaction. For a moment, she froze.

At that exact moment, Valerie suddenly stepped forward.

"Nurse Parker, I know it isn't really my place to get involved in your department's affairs, but since we're all friends, I should just say this directly.

"The nurse uniform Nurse Walker is wearing still belongs to your department, doesn't it? I wonder if you'll need it later."

As soon as she said that, the whole department went silent.

I looked at Valerie. Her expression was innocent, but her eyes were full of malice.

The charge nurse immediately reacted and pointed at my nose.

"Dr. Stone is right. Grace Walker, take off that uniform now. It belongs to the department."

When I did not move, the charge nurse even tried to grab at me.

I stepped back slowly, took off the uniform, and placed it over a chair.

"Good. Very good. I'll remember this."

After saying that, I pulled my nearly empty boxes and left.

I had just turned the corner when footsteps came from behind me.

"Nurse Walker, wait."

It was Valerie.

She hurried over. The politeness she had shown in front of everyone was gone. She frowned at me.

"Grace Walker, who told you to go to the administrator and talk nonsense? Who told you to make this whole thing bigger?

"Do you know what people at the hospital are saying about me now? They're saying I used my connections to force you out."

"Oh."

I suddenly laughed. So that was why Valerie had targeted me today.

"Isn't that the truth, Dr. Stone?"

Valerie did not hear the humble apology she had imagined. Her face instantly flushed.

"Grace Walker, I really don't understand what gives someone with no background like you the right to be so arrogant."

I did not answer her again. I slowly turned around and left.

Valerie thought she had won this silent war and secured her right to have her baby.

The charge nurse thought she had won her authority and could step on me, the senior nurse of the department.

But they were wrong.

I did not care. I had no interest in competing with them.

I was only waiting for the moment when the show truly began.