Three months had passed since Sally’s first surgery. During this period she noticed that cases like the farmer were rare, and while she had done a few mistakes during routineprocedures, Dr. Roseberry was always kind and ready to help her out.

Diane face was less strange to her by now, she had changed her hair color twice since Sally’s first day at the job and now it seemed tobe carrot-red. Within this time, the receptionist seemed to be as shallow as the first day, which matched the personality of most of their patients, despite the fact that they often were much richer than her.

There was an odd pattern regarding the patients, they all seemed to grow very fond of Dr. Roseberry, she had even caught one of them fondling him during an examination, then vanishing. She attributed this to a misconduct of behavior, such ethical failure had left diminished her hopes of growing to like her job.

Sally woke up feeling tired this morning, she hadn’t slept much well yesterday, and nightmares of her boyfriend being killed by a pursuer were growing more common lately. This, coupled with the fact that he hadn’t sent her any messages since the night before had caused an anxiety she hadn’t experienced in a while.

Moving through with her routine, she joined Doctor Roseberry for a surgery, an ear lobe reconstruction. The patient was not much older than herself and he seemed rather lanky, his hair seemed too oily as she went through with the disinfecting procedures and by the time that they were on the operation room, she had been disgusted by most of his features.

“I want you to help me with an incision, Sally.” Dr. Roseberry had grown accustomed to call her by her first name, even during professional hours.

“Should I cut right here, behind the lobe, doctor?” Sally grabbed the scalpel and placed it, Roseberry merely nodded to the question as he oversaw her cut.

“I’d like to visit a certain restaurant once we’re done here, Sally, I think you should join me.”

This had stuck her with a surprise, for a moment, her focus fell out of the patient, being unable to notice he was still bleeding. Roseberry went to cauterize the wound, thus bringing her focus back to him.

“Diane told me you had a boyfriend, don’t worry, it’s just a professional lunch.”

“Sure, doctor, I’ll join you.” Her mind kept racing about the images she had seen in the past few months, one could consider paranoia, but the feeling that there was something wrong there wouldn’t just go away.

The operation was dragging on longer than she had wished for, she had made many mistakes and could feel the watchful gaze of the doctor over her, and by the time they were applying the stitches she could sense a hint of anger coming from Roseberry.

Once they were done with the surgery, Roseberry took her back to the parking lot, getting into his spacious sedan and driving it silently through the streets towards a fancy restaurant. A happy song played at the car’s stereo, its upbeat rhythm causing Sally to feel even more anxious.

Roseberry parked the car into the restaurant’s parking lot, offering his right hand to Sally as he helped her out of the vehicle. His touch wasn’t cold as before, she noticed, and the demeanor she was experiencing from him was much more of a gentleman than she could have predicted, so far, he had respected their professional relationship, except for a few compliments on her features and strange note on her skin.

The inside of the restaurant was crowded from start to finish, even though it was only still early in the evening. Roseberry seemed to have planned the whole occasion in advance, as he had already reserved a table, which was shown to them by an elegant maître.

She played along and sat in front of him, waiting on the delicacies to be served, first with some pastries that should set up the mood.

“I must tell you, maybe I could do some treatment for your sun spots.” Roseberry smile seemed as fake as Diane’s for a moment, it caused Sally to quiver, “Is it cold here? Maybe I should have picked another table.”

“No, it’s fine… It’s just that I’m not prepared for something like this.”

“Well, some of the best moments in our life can be summarized as surprises. However, I don’t think a smart girl like you didn’t have a clue.”

“I- I can’t deny I had noticed a pattern, doctor.” Under the table, her hand motioned for her phone and she checked for a message, still there was none.

“If only you had noticed what I did.”

She arched her elbows into a protective stance, her cowering becoming nearly evident to a passerby, “I don’t get it, doctor, what have you noticed?”

“Your potential, there’s so much you could be doing. Oh Sally, if only you were as pretty as I picture you.”

Sally was borderline offended by that, Roseberry was outright calling her ugly, she clenched a fist and put the phone back in her pocket as she waited for him to explain himself, all while remaining silent herself.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way, but it must be hard for you to see all those pretty girls come into my office and not wish to be as pretty as them.”

There was a hint of truth in his speech, though, Sally did know she didn’t like the vanity of such girls because it made she feel sad about herself, about the spots in her skin, the imperfections of her cheeks. Diane seemed strange to her because her beauty was almost surreal, not because she was shallow and then there was Roseberry, practically begging for her to be like them.

She bit her lip in a mist of anxiety and excitation, akin to the first feelings she experienced as she had came into the office. Curiosity came into her mind and she dared asking him a question that had always pondered in her mind.

“What happened to the nurse that worked with you before me?”

To her surprise, Roseberry chuckled and looked straight at her, as if he had foresaw shemight ask that question someday, “Let’s just say she wasn’t pretty enough.”

Food was placed on the table just as Sally was left to meditate on Roseberry words, who now sliced through a piece of meat. The meal exhaled a scent so strong and enticing to Sally that she just gave up on the thought and decided to enjoy a bit of the experience.

“So, once we’re done here, you should come to my place. Not the office, my home.”

Roseberry opened up his smile once again, this time it seemed different to the nurse, like he was actually interested and happy.

“As much as I’d like, doctor, I can’t.” Sally knew he was being overly tempting in inviting her to do it, she just couldn’t see what was behind this act of kindness, what could she offer to him while she was just a nurse.

Once again she decided to try to change the topic, but only slightly, “Doctor, did you perform any kind of surgery on Diane?”

“Yes, when I was starting out, she is amazing, isn’t she?”

“I think she can please some eyes, yes.”

“Then why don’t you come with me? You have much more potential than her.” His eyes were open wide and she had just noticed how he had leaned in so close he was almost on her side of the table.

Sally felt too uneasy to remain there, she looked to both sides and found a bathroom, theclassic escape from a bad date. “Sorry, doctor, I have to use the bathroom.”

Roseberry didn’t look disappointed, but he nodded and waited for a moment before motioning a glass towards her, “A last sip, then?”

Sally nodded and allowed it to go down her throat.