[NIKITA]

"Be kind to yourself, kid; it\'s imperative," Maggie said, but Nikita just smiled at her. As he walked towards the elevator, the good doctor took a look at his surroundings. The place that had been like home for more than eight years.

He had never thought there would ever come a day when he would down his medical tools, and that was something that hadn\'t crossed his mind.

He always believed that he would get out of the operation room when he was old and fiddle, but even then, he would still be a surgeon who either taught people or took over the hospital. Funny how everything had become so twisted.

He now had a lot of wealth to his name and was still downing his tools. This shit hurt more than anything he would ever be able to admit. Everyone was busy, from the doctors to the nurses and even the patients\' families.

Even with the scandals, the people of Todorov still trusted the hospital where the chief surgeon was. They believed that a man was made not by the reputation people had stained but by many\'s skills and testimonies.

Besides, Nikita didn\'t wake up to be the best surgeon of Russia and Tododor.

He had earned it.

The testimonies of the patients, the records.

He was a good doctor, and no matter what anyone wanted to say about him, they wouldn\'t just believe it openly. However, the doctor didn\'t know that. He knew they were all judging him, he thought they were benignly cruel because of everything, but they cared about him.

Even with all that, he knew that leaving was a smart decision today.

*****

Nikita got into the elevator, thinking to himself that this was probably the last time he would be taking the elevator to the higher floor. When he reached the third floor where his office was, he couldn\'t help but look at the children\'s door.

They had been friends for a long time, and he had been their symbol of hope.

However, as he looked at their door, he wondered whether they still thought the same of him. The doctor was accused of bringing a virus into the hospital, and the children had cancer, and it was crazy how vulnerable they were really.

Nikita hoped that they would forgive him for ruining their trust in him. Sure he would have to earn it, but it would take a while, especially since his focus wasn\'t even on clearing his name but on finding his brother.

Maybe, in the end, everything would be okay.

Maybe the sun would rise again, and they would smile like they always did.

Walking into his office, Nikita looked around too, like he was mentally saying goodbye to everything in here. He had adored this room, and it had been his safe space even before his parents had passed away in the crash.

It had been his most significant constipation and link to the world outside of medicine. It did hurt that he would also have to say goodbye to all of this. He had loved his profession, but he had never been exposed to the pain on the other side of goodbyes.

Sure his family had perished, but he never said goodbye, and he never got the chance. But here he was, a celebrity bidding his favorite room goodbye.

He wanted to stay.

He wanted to change into his surgery clothes and walk towards the operating room while smiling at the young children. He tried to tell them not to give up and that they would be okay after chemo even though there was a chance they would never survive.

He wanted to be the doctor Russia had adored and loved, but he couldn\'t.

At least not today.

His phone rang as he was reminiscing and finding it hard to say goodbye. Without checking who was on the other end, the good doctor answered.

"Yoh bro, where are you at?" Qiao\'s voice came through the speakers. They were worried about Nikita, and they wanted to know how he was doing and holding up. They wanted to ensure their best friend was not drowning.

They needed to be there for him, and even though they had taken over the task force and the company, they still had time to make sure Nikita was okay.

After all, that was the very reason they had taken a leave for the military, and that was also why they had walked into the corporate world like they owned the place, even though every decision would always have to go through Nikita.

It was crazy how willing they had been to make sure their friend got better, but such were the friends anyone would ever need. They loved him, and they cared, without any strings attached. They didn\'t care about the wealth or even the state of anything other than Nikita.

"The hospital, what\'s up?" Nikita asked absentmindedly. He knew there wasn\'t an issue with the company that Qiao and Carrie wouldn\'t fix. They were soldiers, commanders, people who had once been tasked with ensuring their squadrons returned safely.

They were responsible.

They were intelligent and, more than anything, and they were capable of handling anything. However, he seemed to be forgetting that in the midst of all that he had promised to keep and obligations to his friends.

"Just checking on you—" Qiao said before he was interrupted by a grumpy Carrie.

"You haven\'t said a word since we took over, you little conniving ingrate; I\'mma shave all the hair on your head and body," Carrie warned as she ran away.

It was her polite way of telling Nikita she was worried and needed to know if the doctor was okay or if he needed them to show up for him again. It was an exciting relationship they had, but it was all they had.

This was what was left of their family.

They weren\'t going to risk losing it.

Picking the mood of the conversation, Nikita retorted at Carrie and Qiao. It was something they always did anyway. Besides, it was always safe to give Carrie her answers instead of letting her find them on their own because that woman was a bully, and the boys were scared shitless of her.

"I\'m here packing you, little twerps; I\'ll see you soon. Don\'t worry, Carrie, I\'ll keep my promise, bro," Nikita said as his friends hung up. He would keep his promise, that much he knew.

Having put everything he needed in a small backpack, the doctor left to go to the director\'s office for the main agenda that had gotten him away from his people. He needed to be free, and the only way to ensure that was if the doors of Todorov closed on him today.

Hopefully, he would have to come back here because he had bullet wounds.. Hopefully.