Alex looked at her, he couldn’t believe that he’d just heard her say what she just said. At first, he scoffed as he stared at her in disbelief, hoping that she would maybe tell him that he had heard wrong, but she didn’t say anything.Elena only glared at him as if she really meant it when she called him a lying, cheating bastard, and that made Alex laugh. Every time the world echoed in his head, he couldn’t hold back his laugh as he shook his head.The sound of his laughter tore out of him raw and ugly, a short, sharp bark that didn’t sound like amusement at all. It scraped his throat on the way up, and he couldn’t stop it.“Oh my god, you amuse me, Elena Max.” He said amidst laughter as the laugh kept coming in broken pieces while the heat behind his ribs climbed higher, tighter, until it felt like something was going to crack open inside his chest.Eventually, he stopped laughing as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and he looked at Elena. He stared at her as if he was t

Alex shook his head, he couldn’t deny that the fact that she couldn’t answer the question had hurt, but he always knew that Elena would never choose him over Marcus.He didn’t even know why he had asked the question in the first place, but maybe it was because there was still a part of him that hoped she would make that choice.Alex had no idea Julian was already beside him until he felt the firm hand on his shoulder, squeezing as if to let him know that he still had a bit of support from his friend.Looking at Julian, Alex forced a smile at him and nodded. And just as he turned away from Elena because he needed to be as far away from her as he could be.If he spent another second with her, he would lose his mind and that wasn’t something he could afford right now. He was a doctor, a surgeon, he needed a clear mind.And this place was still a war ground, there could be an attack on this base or on the citizens outside it, and he had to be very clearheaded so that he could make good de

“But, we don’t have enough—”“I won’t hear it.” Alex cut in before the soldier could finish, his eyes not leaving Elena even for a second. “You don’t expect me to leave a citizen here, she could die, and you know damn well that I won’t let that happen, especially if it’s a death I can prevent.”The soldier didn’t say anything as he looked away from Alex for a second to look at Julian in hopes that Julian would explain the situation to Alex, but Julian shook his head.They’d all known Alex enough to know that if he made his mind up about something, to get him to change it back would be difficult.Alex’s eyes studied Elena, he hadn’t seen her like this before. Her expensive clothes were already filthy, and fine dust coated her hair and the tracks of tears on her cheeks.She had never known hunger before, never seen war either. The closest she had ever come to danger was a late dinner reservation and a driver who ran a red light.But now, the ground itself was trying to throw her off her

Alex looked around to see if anyone else was going to say anything about his personal life, as much as he enjoyed the fact that neither of the people working for him thought of Elena as an important enough figure for them to respect, he also wouldn’t have them talking down on her.That was the difference between him and Elena, when she could have defended him in the past, when she could have told the people who insulted him both to his face and behind his back, she kept quiet.He wasn’t going to do that or that would just make him the exact same person as Elena. He wouldn’t defend her, but he was going to stop them from talking down at her.“Anyone?” He asked firmly, looking around, but everyone around knew that they dared not say another word about Elena. “Good.” He muttered.The tent fell silent so completely that the distant crack of small-arms fire outside sounded suddenly louder.Alex exhaled once, slowly, and the personal weight dropped from his shoulders like a coat he no longe

“Good job, guys.” Alex said to the nurses who scrubbed in with him. “I think that’s all for now, I appreciate all the effort, and since there is nothing for us to do now, those who scrubbed in will go and rest while the others handle the rounds.” He added.Julian’s response, with a few other nurses and doctors, was a yawn as they took off their gloves, washed their hands and faces and made their way back to their own tent to rest.They knew for sure that resting until the entire fatigue wore off was a luxury they couldn’t afford, but they also couldn’t pass up the chance to go to their tents and sleep for a couple hours.A little rest is way better than no rest at all.The last patient of the night—a young man with a shattered femur and a partially severed femoral artery—had been stabilized and moved to the observation bay.Alex stripped off his gloves as the rest of the crew made their way out, yawning as he tossed the gloves into the biohazard bin, and stepped out into the cooler ni