Chapter 152 - Valentine's day (7)

Dr Light is a renown surgeon, with a great reputation. He is also JoAnna's mentor and supervisor.

JoAnna met him three years ago, when he did a guest lecture at Harvard University where she studied medicine at a time. She got his attention during question-answer session after his lecture. Her questions were smart and on point, and he was immediately interested to find out more about this young lady who showed deep knowledge of surgery at such a young age. Then he found out that she is only first year student, younger than he initially thought, and he was even more interested in that beautiful, extremely intelligent young lady who can make the whole room stop with her smile.

They met few times, and shortly after, he became her mentor. He promised to guide her to accomplish her goals to his best ability, and she promised to focus on studies and perfecting her skills.

Dr. Light advised her to switch from Harvard to Johns Hopkins University which holds first rank in surgery.

Usually, medical students spend at least three years in general residency before finding their specialization, but Dr. Light arranged for JoAnna to speed up and to start focusing on surgery after only one year. That was not a problem for JoAnna who has great grades and amazing capabilities, but without him using his connections, it would not happen.

When JoAnna started residency, Dr. Light arranged that she does it at Franciscan Medical Center with him as her supervisor. At FMC, all other residents had different Dr. in charge, she was the only one whose residency was managed by Dr. Light. This made her become a receiver of jealousy from other interns and residents, but besides few harmless pranks, she didn't experience any other predicament.

JoAnna is grateful that he took her under his wing. With his help she was able to speed up her studies and meet various established surgeons from all over the world, get guidance from them, and assist them during surgeries. Her brilliance in medicine is like a bright fire, and every time she interacts with experts in the area, oil gets thrown into the fire making the blaze stronger. Everyone who worked with JoAnna grew fond of her and expressed their desire to work with her more often.

JoAnna checked the time, it was 10:23 in the evening. She was wondering why is Dr. Light in the office, he was not a doctor on call for the evening. 'Shouldn't he enjoy his evening off? He is single. With his reputation, there will be many ladies lining up to spend Valentine's night by his side.'

JoAnna knocked on the door with a sign:

'Gregory Light, MD

Senior partner'.

"Come in", she heard a male voice, and entered the office.

Dr. Light is the best surgeons in the hospital, member of the board as a senior partner, and his office is on the top floor. Office is spacious, and JoAnna could compare it to Sophia's office in Orion Enterprise, it's just that Dr Light's office is smaller in size… but then, not many offices can compare in size with Sophia's.

"Hello Dr. Light, you called for me?", JoAnna was polite.

"How many times I asked you to call me Greg?", male voice carrying slight irritation came from behind a large desk.

JoAnna smiled lightly and remained silent. Even after three years of knowing him, she was not comfortable to address him informally.

JoAnna observed that side table was set up for a dinner for two. There was a bottle of champagne in a bucket with ice and bouquet of red roses rested on the table.

Dr. Light stood up and walked up to her, stopping few steps away. He is a man in his mid-forties, few inches shorter that JoAnna. His body is well proportioned, and it shows that he takes care of himself. His neatly combed short black hair has few grays above his temples that give him a more respectable, mature look, and his imposing aura makes people shrink before him.

JoAnna cleared her throat, "Why did you call for me?" She finished her shift and thought of relaxing a bit. That is what she usually does during night shifts. But he called her, and every minute in his office means less rest for her. If it was anyone else, she would probably ignore the message, however Dr. Light is her mentor and she feels responsibility to respond to his summons.

He gestured toward the table set up for dinner. "What do you think?"

JoAnna was not sure why he is asking her such a question. "Looks nice."

He chuckled, "I called you to join me for dinner."

"Oh", JoAnna understood, and felt awkward. "Thank you, but I'm on my shift now..."

He frowned and cut her off. "You are not thinking of leaving without dinner, are you? It will not take long, and you need to eat. Did you have your dinner yet?"

"No, I was thinking of eating later.", JoAnna admitted.

"Good, good. Then join me.", he ushered her toward the table.

So far, they traveled together more than once, and shared numerous meals. This setting was more intimate than usual, but JoAnna didn't think much about it, and took a seat.

Plates were already filled with roasted chicken, potatoes, steamed vegetables and mushroom sauce.

"It's your favorite, isn't it?", he smiled while observing that she is pleased with food on the plate in front of her.

"Yes, it is. Thank you." JoAnna started eating while checking the time. Soon she needed to start her second round of checking on patients.

He noticed that her mind is elsewhere, "How are things going?"

"Good", JoAnna responded between hurried bites.

His lips stretched into a smile, "I arranged for you to assist Dr. Wolf during his next surgery."

Hearing this, JoAnna's eyes lit up and her movements stopped. Dr. Wolf is a leading surgeon for respiratory systems. Immediately she got interested and started asking questions about that surgery, forgetting about her food. Her mentor was happy to see that he got her attention. No matter where her mind was, if surgery was mentioned, JoAnna's attention would be drawn there without a fail. JoAnna didn't even realize that she neglected her plate.

"You didn't touch your drink.", Dr. Light gestured to the glass of champagne.

JoAnna shook her head, "Uhm, I'm working, so I will not drink that. I hope that's OK."

"Sure, it's fine.", he looked disappointed.

At the mention of work, JoAnna checked the time. "Oh, I didn't realize the time... I need to get going. Thank you very much for the dinner.", JoAnna stood up and headed towards the door.

"JoAnna...", he called.

She stopped and turned around. He was right in front of her, holding the bouquet of roses. "These are for you.", he smiled and handed her flowers.