The hospital hummed with its usual rhythm — the crisp click of heels on tile, the muted chorus of monitors, the sterile brightness that made every surface gleam like glass. Evelyn Harrow moved through it with practiced grace, her white coat perfectly pressed, a name tag polished to a quiet shine. To anyone watching, she fit seamlessly into the cadence of the Harrow legacy — calm, precise, always prepared. Yet beneath that polished surface, a restless thought lingered, like a whisper beneath the steady hum of fluorescent lights.

Today, the corridors were alive with something new. Snippets of conversation drifted from the nurses’ station, from the break room, from the faint hum of the coffee machine: “Have you heard? The new doctor’s starting today.” “Straight from abroad, top of their class.” “They say they trained under Dr. Faulkner — imagine that!”

Evelyn caught the words in passing and smiled politely, though she didn’t join in. She didn’t need to. The hospital had always loved its new arrivals, the fresh faces that promised brilliance. Still, something about the buzz tugged at her curiosity — maybe because she remembered being that new doctor once, the one everyone whispered about, the one carrying not just her credentials but her family’s entire name on her shoulders.

At the nurses’ station, her colleague Maya leaned over with a grin. “You met the new one yet? Rumor says they’re some kind of prodigy, the board can’t stop talking about them.”

Evelyn shook her head, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve been in the lab all morning. I didn’t realize their first day was today.”

“First day, big impression,” Maya said, lowering her voice.