30. Lauren
30
LAUREN
It was different from what I expected, though I wasn't sure what I expected to begin with. I sat at the end of a long table staring at six board members and two men with police badges on their jackets. I was extremely uncomfortable with this. I had no clue what was going on. I didn't understand why there were police here or what they could possibly want.
"And in your professional experience, have you witnessed Dr. Park being unethical or making poor decisions on behalf of you, his team, or his patients?" A woman named Sue Kline, as indicated by the nameplate in front of her, spoke to me in a strict and serious tone. The chair where Henry Burgeon was supposed to sit was empty. I knew he was downstairs with Jason. I'd asked them not to call David in specifically so I didn't have to speak with him. I wondered if that was why I'd been called up here.
"No, ma'am." I spoke with confidence even though I felt intimidated. Without knowing what was happening or why they were asking me about David, the best I could do was mitigate my anxiety with introspective grounding techniques and be truthful with my answers.
"And have you witnessed him making poor choices or acting unethically off the clock?" She looked at me over the rim of her glasses, pen poised to write, and I felt sick to my stomach. What David and I did off the clock was our personal business, but given it was against hospital policy, it was very unethical. Rather than lying outright, I felt the need to press back. I needed answers before I threw him or myself under the bus.
"Dr. Kline, can I ask you what this is about? I'm not just some intern who's being interrogated. I've been a doctor at this hospital for years. My specialty is in emergency medicine and I chose to work with Dr. Park because of his expertise." I tried to make it sound like I was concerned about my future, given how I'd changed departments. "I'd like to know what's going on."
The room felt so hot it was stifling, but I knew it wasn't the temperature. It was the guilt on my conscience. Whatever this was, it was far worse than a simple affair being exposed. David was in real trouble here. No one invited cops to a board meeting unless it was bad.
"Well, Dr. Newhouse," Sue said, casting a sideways glance at the other board members. None of them reacted except the oldest man in the room, who nodded slowly. Then Sue continued, "It appears Dr. Park has had a physical altercation with a man. The man, Jim Yates, is a patient here now, and it stems from an assault he was the victim of. Dr. Park has confessed to assaulting Mr. Yates, and now he faces some serious charges with the police and we are investigating his work ethic to determine his status with us at Our Lady." Sue's tone was rigid, unmoving.
My heart lurched and felt like it stopped beating for a second as I processed what she was saying. "Assault?" I asked her, confused. "But when?" David wasn't a hothead. He was one of the most patient and compassionate men I knew. He'd never assault someone, let alone a patient.
"On the evening of July seventeenth." One of the detectives flipped open a notepad and pulled out a pen. "You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?"
I held back the vomit that wanted to rise. That was the night he saved me. The man who was following me… David hit that man and drove off with me sobbing in his car. My God, this was all my fault. I felt my cheeks grow cold, probably ghost-white, too. I swallowed hard and knew I couldn’t let him be punished for something like that, but if they were asking me, it meant they hadn't heard it was me. That David never told them the whole truth.
"I, uh…" I stuttered, and my vision blurred. I blinked hard, trying to get my eyes to focus. No wonder he hadn’t told me. He knew if I got messed up in this, the board would fire me immediately and maybe him too. They'd know about our relationship, or at least about the kiss, which would lead to a bigger investigation and definite termination.
"Dr. Newhouse, if you know something that could help our investigation, now is the time to tell us." The way the detectives started addressing me directly instead of listening to the board members' questions shook me to my core. How could I let David go to jail to save my job? That was what he was trying to do, right? Because if he told them it was self-defense, this wouldn't be a thing.
The tornado in my thoughts wouldn't let up. I needed air and time to think, but there was no time. I had to do the right thing even if it meant falling on my sword.
I took a deep breath and blew it out, then confessed. "I was with Dr. Park that night." My chin dipped. I couldn't make eye contact as I laid it all bare. "I was in a pub, and a man hit on me. The bartender chased him off. Later, when I was waiting on my Uber because I was tipsy and my friend was busy, the man came back. He started following me. I ran.
"I was so scared, and it was dark. The Uber was late, and I just had to get away from him. You have to know I was terrified…" I looked up at the board members, who were eagerly waiting on me to continue. "There was another man getting something out of his car, so I just ran up to him and demanded that he kiss me and pretend to be my boyfriend. One look at the creep following me, and the man did what I asked. It was Dr. Park. He saved me that night. That man got very angry and pushy, and David—I mean, Dr. Park, punched him, I think at least twice.
"Then I got into his car, and he drove me several blocks away to a subway station where I got out and took the train home." My heart was racing, my palms sweaty, and it was done. But now the real problems started.
"You kissed him?" Sue Kline asked, narrowing her eyes at me.
"Well, yes, ma'am, but I didn’t know it was Dr. Park when I approached him. I just saw a man bent over." It was the truth even if they didn’t believe me.
"And what was your response when you saw it was him?" she asked, lips pursed in judgment.
That split second of recognition was all I needed to stop what I was doing. David would have protected me from that man, no matter what. I knew that now, but then I didn't. Then I was banking on the thought that if the man saw me kiss another man, he'd back off, but he hadn't. Regret ate away at my conscience.
"I, uh… I kissed him anyway." Shame flooded me, and my once ice-cold cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Hmm…" she grunted, and the detectives had more questions.
"So, you're willing to pick the man out of a lineup, the one who you say you were fleeing from? And you're willing to testify that Dr. Park was defending you?" His pen scribbled things on the yellow notepad and tears started to burn at my eyes.
"Yes. I will." I nodded and noticed the board getting antsy, moving around uncomfortably in their chairs.
The detectives were quiet now, taking notes and whispering so quietly I couldn’t hear. But Sue was anything but quiet, and it made me rue the day I met David Park.
"And what is your relationship with Dr. Park now? I assume since you work together, things have gotten uncomfortable, given you kissed, and now he's under this investigation due to that?" She took her glasses off and folded them, then set them down in front of herself on the table. More than one of the board members leaned forward and assumed the same posture as Sue—hands folded, elbows firmly planted on the table.
They were all waiting, eager to pronounce judgment on me and David, and I would not lie. I told him from the beginning that it'd have been better to come clean and tell them this. I could see now why he snapped at me a few days ago when I approached him. He probably thought I was wanting to go public again, when in reality I'd been approaching him about a loan for Jason's rehab. David knew if we said anything now, he'd be fired instantly and so would I, especially with all of this going on.
But nothing was more important than this now. My job was just a job. I could find a new one. David could even find a new career, and though that wasn't my decision to make for him, it was a cold, hard fact. None of that, not my reputation, not the salary, not even my financial state, was more important than keeping David out of jail.
"Dr. Park and I have been seeing each other since the incident." I kept my head down, avoiding their hot gazes, and continued. "We discussed approaching HR to divulge the relationship as per policy, but we wanted to determine whether we even had something worth divulging before we did that." It was coming up on October now. We should have done it months ago. "This all happened and he never said a word to me, so I figured he was distancing himself from me and there was no point in coming forward."
I added the last part so that if by any means possible, they'd at least not fire him. He had tenure. I didn't. I'd be reassigned or fired, and he'd hopefully keep his job and not go to jail. It ripped my heart out, but it was overdue and he was worth it.
"I see," Sue said, then I heard a flurry of whispers. I blinked out a few tears and swiped them away. I didn't know what David would think when he heard I'd given them all this information, but even if he was angry with me and ended everything, I hoped he was thankful I'd saved him from jail.
I sat there for a few long minutes while they talked. I thought I heard some nasty comments, but nothing was very audible. When Sue cleared her throat, I looked up.
"Is there anything else you need to tell us before we let you go?" Her piercing gaze sliced through my heart.
"Yes…" I mumbled. "I'm pregnant." As I said it, the tears poured out. I couldn’t stop them. I felt like an idiot. I hadn't even told him yet, and here I was confessing to perfect strangers. But it was going to come out soon enough anyway, and then what? If they put me back to working with him and then found out later, they'd think we really never broke it off and we'd have trouble again. It was better to say it now.
Her look of disapproval seared my conscience. "Please keep your phone on and your schedule flexible. We might call you back for more questions. You may go now."
I stood and slunk out of the boardroom feeling like a scolded child and carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Stay around? I'd have no problem doing that. I was here as long as Jason was, which could be a while. The trouble would be dealing with David when he found out I was here and what I'd done.
I called to talk to him because he left messages for me, but he didn't answer. It was an omen hanging over my head, and I felt cursed. This shouldn't be happening.