FORTY-NINE
CALLUM
The apartment is quiet when I step in. Sunlight slanting through the blinds, the faint scent of eucalyptus soap clinging to my skin. I’m tired, but it’s the good kind. The kind that follows a night you don’t regret.
Keys hit the counter. I pour a glass of water and head for the desk.
Laptop on. Victor Chen’s name. Call.
“Callum,” Victor answers, dry amusement in his voice. “Sorry. Did I catch you at a bad time earlier?”
“No. My bad. I was at a . . . friend’s.” The word doesn’t quite fit. “You just caught me off guard. Didn’t expect an 8 a.m. call.”
“Early bird gets the ethics approval,” he says. “Now, what’s this about inhaled methoxyflurane?”
I sit forward. “Pilot trial. Using the green whistle for outpatient gyno procedures—mostly conscious IUD insertions and transvaginal scans.”
He whistles. “Off-label. You’re expanding it out of emergency settings.”
“Exactly. Old drug, new application. If we can prove reduced systemic effects and procedural tolerability, especially in under-medicated space, it could be big.”
“You’ll need a tight ethics plan.”
“Ethics approved. Support lined up. Now it’s just slicing through red tape.”
“You don’t mess around.”
“Can’t afford to.”
“Since when did gynecological anesthetics become your wheelhouse?” Victor hums. “Last I checked, you were all about trauma and general surgery.”
I pause, considering my response. I think of Jordie. Of pain shrugged off, dismissed, endured. Of how often women like her are told to just grit their teeth and get through it.
But that feels too raw to share.
I keep it clinical. “Expanding my scope. Pain management in this area is severely lacking.”
“Alright, Han. I’ll send over trials from London and Singapore. Good comp studies for your lit review.”
“Appreciate it.”
We hang up. I stare at the screen.
This isn’t about climbing ladders anymore.
It’s about fixing something that should never have been broken.
And yeah, Jordie didn’t ask for this. But maybe it’s something I can give her. Her—and every woman who’s been told to just bear it.
Something that actually matters.