From Street Trash To Dragon Lord

_5_

Sophia Ashford turned away from the window, her sharp eyes moving from the departing figure of Ethan to Doctor Chen's desperate face. The room buzzed with preparations for her father's transfer, staff rushing to coordinate with Metropolitan General Hospital.

"Stop," Sophia said quietly.

The single word cut through the chaos like a knife. Every person in the room froze. Marcus looked at his sister with surprise and growing irritation.

"Sophia, you cannot possibly be considering this madness," Marcus said, his voice tight with controlled anger.

Sophia ignored him, addressing Doctor Chen directly. "Can you contact him? Bring him here?"

"I can try," Doctor Chen said quickly, relief flooding his features. "He was heading to the parking lot. If I hurry—"

"Then go," Sophia commanded.

Doctor Chen practically ran from the room. Marcus stepped in front of his sister, his face dark with fury.

"Have you lost your mind? That boy looks like he sleeps under bridges. You would trust Father's life to some street performer?"

"Doctor Chen is not a fool," Sophia replied calmly. "If he says he witnessed something impossible, I want to see it for myself. Father is dying regardless. What do we lose by allowing this?"

"Our dignity!" Richard sputtered from across the room. "The reputation of the Ashford family! Imagine the headlines if word gets out that we brought in some vagrant witch doctor!"

Sophia's cold gaze silenced him immediately. "Father's life matters more than headlines."

Ten minutes later, the door opened. Doctor Chen returned, slightly out of breath, with Ethan and his mother following behind him. Sarah Vale looked hesitant, clearly uncomfortable in the luxury suite. Ethan's face was unreadable, his exhausted eyes taking in the opulent room and the people within it.

"Thank you for coming," Sophia said, stepping forward. Her sharp gaze assessed Ethan from head to toe in seconds. Shabby clothes, tired face, calloused hands. But those eyes. There was something in those eyes that gave her pause.

"My mother needs to get home and rest," Ethan said bluntly. "Whatever this is, make it quick."

Marcus let out a derisive snort. "Listen to him. Giving us orders like he has any authority here."

Ethan's gaze shifted to Marcus, cold and indifferent. "Then I will leave. My mother is my priority."

"Wait," Sophia said quickly. She gestured toward the bed where Thomas Ashford lay dying. "My father has the same condition your mother had. Crimson Rot Syndrome. Doctor Chen says you cured her. Is that true?"

"It is true," Ethan replied simply.

"And you can do the same for my father?"

Ethan walked closer to the bed, ignoring the hostile stares from everyone in the room. He studied Thomas Ashford's pale, unconscious face for a long moment. His enhanced senses could feel the disease ravaging the old man's body, the same corruption he had burned out of his mother.

"I can," Ethan said.

"Ridiculous!" One of the specialists stepped forward, his face red with indignation. "This boy knows nothing about medicine! He is a charlatan preying on desperate families!"

"Exactly," another doctor agreed. "What credentials does he have? What medical school did he attend? This is a joke!"

Marcus moved to stand beside the specialists, forming a wall of skepticism. "You heard them. You have no qualifications. No training. You are nobody."

Ethan met his gaze without flinching. "Your father is dying. What do my qualifications matter?"

"They matter because we are not going to let some street trash experiment on the patriarch of the Ashford family!" Marcus's voice rose with each word.

Richard joined in, his voice shrill with panic. "He will kill Thomas! This is insane! We should throw him out immediately before he does irreparable damage!"

The head doctor, emboldened by the family's hostility, stepped forward with renewed arrogance. His earlier desperation had been replaced by professional superiority now that he had powerful allies.

"Young man, I have been practicing medicine for thirty years," the head doctor said condescendingly. "I have treated thousands of patients. I am the chief of surgery at this hospital. And I am telling you right now that whatever parlor trick you performed downstairs means nothing here. This patient requires real medical intervention, not street magic."

"He is going to die anyway," Ethan said flatly.

The room exploded.

"How dare you!" Richard shouted.

"Throw him out!" A nurse demanded.

"This is outrageous!" The specialists spoke over each other in outrage.

Marcus stepped forward, his face inches from Ethan's. "You have some nerve coming into this room and speaking about my father like that. I should have security break both your legs for that disrespect."

Ethan did not back away. His voice remained calm and unbothered. "I stated a fact. He is dying. You brought me here because you have no other options. Every second you waste arguing with me is another second closer to his death."

"You arrogant little punk," Marcus hissed. "You think because you fooled some doctors downstairs with sleight of hand that you actually know medicine? You probably poisoned that woman yourself and then pretended to cure her. A con artist playing on desperate people."

The specialists nodded in agreement, their expressions smug. The head doctor crossed his arms with satisfaction, clearly pleased that the family was rejecting this threat to his professional authority.

"He does not even understand basic anatomy," one specialist said mockingly. "I guarantee he cannot name five organs in the human body."

"Or explain what liver cirrhosis actually is," another added with a cruel laugh.

The nurses whispered among themselves, their words just loud enough to be heard. "Street trash pretending to be a healer. This is what desperation looks like."

Marcus leaned in closer, his voice dripping with venom. "Tell me something, boy. What do you even know about medicine? Anything real? Or just the nonsense you make up to scam people?"

Ethan's eyes locked onto Marcus, and for the first time, a faint smile touched his lips. When he spoke, his voice was quiet but carried clearly through the room.

"Your right kidney has been failing for six months. You have been hiding it from everyone, including your family. The pain keeps you awake at night. You have been taking painkillers in secret, increasing the dosage because your tolerance has built up. In another three months, if left untreated, you will need dialysis. In six months, you will be on a transplant list just like your father."

The color drained from Marcus's face. His mouth opened but no sound came out. He took an involuntary step backward, his confident posture crumbling.

The room fell into stunned silence.

Sophia's eyes widened slightly, the first crack in her composed mask. She stared at her brother, then at Ethan, her sharp mind racing.

"That is impossible," Marcus whispered, his voice shaking. "How could you possibly know that?"