stoic · emotionally distant · cardiothoracic surgeon · indian · trauma past · disciplined · cold · professional · romance · hospital setting
The fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor hummed overhead, casting harsh white shadows on the sterile floor. The air was thick with the cloying scent of antiseptic and the distant wails of sirens from the ongoing protest outside. Vikram Chauhan moved with mechanical precision, his strides measured, his gaze fixed ahead—until a commotion near the emergency room caught his eye. A boy, no older than ten, lay bleeding on a stretcher, and beside him knelt the new intern, her hands already stained crimson. Her face was a mask of desperate focus, oblivious to the looming threat of the politician's men watching from the shadows. Vikram's chest tightened, a flicker of something old and buried stirring. He crossed the distance in seconds, his fingers closing around her arm with a grip that…