Chapter 17: Professor Sterling, Can I Add You on WhatsApp?
Sebastian brought Hazel back home.
She went straight to the bathroom to shower. The longer she stayed in there, the slower her movements became. Her whole body felt drained.
“Babe, are you done yet?” Sebastian’s low voice came from the doorway, his tall figure casting a shadow outside the bathroom.
Hazel responded lazily, “Not yet.”
But unlike usual, Sebastian didn’t walk away. He remained standing there, voice gentle but with a subtle edge of pressure. “Want me to join you?”
As he spoke, he reached out to twist the doorknob.
Hazel jumped in alarm and shouted, “No!”
She quickly locked the door.
Sebastian tried the handle twice, found it wouldn’t budge, and sighed with disappointment. “Fine. I’ll wait out here.”
The thought of him lingering outside made Hazel even more restless.
If she could, she’d spend the entire night in the bathroom.
But eventually, after stalling for thirty more minutes, she had no choice. She emerged wrapped tightly in a towel, head to toe.
The moment she opened the door, she saw the bedroom had been transformed.
The harsh white lighting had been swapped for soft, warm-toned bulbs. A bedside lamp flickered gently, setting a quiet, seductive mood.
Sebastian had already showered in the guest room. His damp hair clung to his forehead, water trailing down his jaw into the open collar of his shirt.
“Babe, I got you something.”
He smiled and pulled out a gift box with an air of mystery.
Hazel had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, when she opened it, it was a set of lingerie. Her chest tightened. Without a second glance, she threw the box to the floor.
Sebastian’s face darkened. “You don’t like it?”
Hazel’s lips tightened. “You never bought things like this before.”
Sebastian let out a soft breath of relief, mistaking her resistance for surprise. He draped an arm around her and picked the lingerie off the floor. Held against the light, it was a revealing black three-piece set with butterfly-shaped lace barely covering the chest-flirtatious and sultry.
His gaze burned as he imagined her in it.
“Babe, we should try something new. This one’s perfect for you.”
Hazel’s stomach turned. Her voice was cold and even. “I’m not wearing it.”
She turned off the lamp and got into bed-completely ignoring his reaction.
She could feel him standing there silently for a long while before the door finally opened and shut behind him.
Hazel smiled faintly in the dark.
So, just because she wouldn’t play along, he didn’t even bother staying.
12:09
My “Perfect” MD Hubby Chose My Sister… So I Chose a BILLIONAIRE!
14.5%
Since that night, Hazel poured all her energy into lab work-culturing leukemia cell lines and testing the efficacy of different compounds.
One afternoon, Lily approached her and handed her some documents. “Hazel, can you take this to Dr. Grant?”
“Sure,” she replied.
She walked to Dr. Grant’s office and knocked. A calm male voice responded, “Come in.”
Hazel opened the door-and froze.
Sitting behind Dr. Grant’s desk was Elias Sterling.
Her surprise was impossible to hide. To her, he was just one of the drug trial volunteers.
Why would he be sitting in Dr. Grant’s chair?
“Surprised?” Elias asked without looking up.
Hazel quickly shook her head. “No… If Dr. Grant isn’t in, I’ll come back later.”
She turned to leave, but his laid-back voice stopped her. “You needed to consult him?”
Hazel paused, “I was just dropping off this data report for Dr. Grant.”
Elias took the flow cytometry report from her hands. He had been toying with a pen, but now he casually flipped off the cap and pointed at the scatter plots and histograms.
“This is patient 03, acute monocytic leukemia, right? CD13 expression isn’t a clean peak-there’s a tail on the curve. There’s a small population of cells with noticeably lower CD13 levels than the main group. What does that suggest?”
Hazel hadn’t expected him to get so technical-let alone be spot on.
It felt like being cold-called in class. She straightened up instinctively.
“Maybe clonal heterogeneity? That could mean the patient’s leukemic stem cells are more aggressive-or less responsive to standard induction
chemo.”
Elias looked at her for a moment, making her nervous.
Did she get it wrong?
“Is that right?” she asked softly.
He gave a short nod. “Yes. Check if her FLT3-ITD mutation test results are back yet.”
Hazel immediately opened her email. “Yes-they just came in. It’s positive.”
Elias’s expression grew serious. “That’s a poor prognostic profile. Targeted therapy is key for patients like her. Add midostaurin to the first-line treatment plan.”
Hazel scribbled notes rapidly, her eyes full of admiration and hunger for knowledge.
She hesitated, then pulled out her phone. “Mr. Sterling… Can I add you on WhatsApp?”
Elias glanced at her sudden boldness, lips quirking into a faint smile. “So you looked down on me before.”
Hazel flushed, caught off guard by his bluntness. “No! Not at all!”
Her face turned red, even her ears.
Just as she was about to put her phone away, Elias reached out and pressed down on her wrist.
His fingers were long, slender, and pale-cold to the touch, like a snake with no body heat.
Beep- He scanned the code, then let go.
Still expressionless, he said, “Send me the FLT3 results and analysis in written form this afternoon, attached to the patient file.”
Hazel straightened. “Yes, Professor Sterling.”
Elias paused, watching her walk away. When she called him “Professor Sterling” so seriously, the corner of his lips curved upward-so subtly even he
didn’t notice.
He’d never imagined taking on a student.
But she was quick to claim him anyway.
As soon as Hazel left the office, she felt a cold sweat down her back. She rushed to find Lily and grabbed her. “Didn’t you say Elias Sterling was just a drug trial participant?!”
Lily blinked. “I… I never actually said that, did I?”
Hazel thought hard.
She really hadn’t.
It was all in her head.
Utterly mortified, she buried her face in her hands.
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