"But..."

"You trust me, right?"

​​

"I...I...but I am not prepared for this, what if...what if, it..." he pulled her closer to him and placed his hands on both her shoulder with his eyes staring into her. She seemed conflicted internally, one part of her wants to trust him and do it but the other part is afraid the situation is too big for them to handle.

"Do you trust me?"

"I...I do," she took in a deep breath then they entered into the operation theatre, they wore the blue surgical gown and cap over their clothes then they sterilized their hands and walked into the operation room.

Everyone turned to them as soon as they entered, including those above the operating room.

"Who are you?" One of the surgical nurses in the room questioned

"I will be taking over this surgery," he announced to their surprise, they immediately looked up to question the chief surgeon but seeing the confused look on his face they guessed this person is talking gibberish.

"Who is that?" the chief surgeon questioned into the mic.

"I am surgeon Han Chen and Surgeon Yu Yan will be assisting me in this surgery,"

They all turned to where Yu Yan was seated, seeing that she was no longer there, they looked back at the operating room until they heard a slam on the glass in front of the observation room.

"Are you guys taking my father's surgery for a joke?" the eldest son roared, the glint in his eyes showed his anger, they all shook at the sudden outburst, Surgeon Nanjing quickly walked up to him.

"He is a new surgeon but he has performed many surgeries of this nature, you can trust him," she assured but he slowly turned to her with a cold glint in his eyes.

"My father is lying in there, with his body opened and your incapable surgeons are still unable to stop the bleeding but you are here telling me to trust an unknown surgeon," he slammed the glass again causing her body to shake again, if the glass isn't very strong, it would have shattered by now.

"He..."

"Salute, senior colonel," Han Chen saluted with his right hand at the side of his head, everyone turned to him immediately while the eldest son had a surprised look on his face, Han Chen took off his mask, exposing his out of the world face, the female surgeons opened their mouth in a 'wow' shape as soon as he removed his mask while the males were left speechless.

"Cap..."

"If you trust me then I will proceed with the surgery," he said, still saluting him, the colonel immediately smiled seeing the face behind the mask.

"What is going on?" they all started murmuring seeing the smile on his face.

"Proceed," he answered, Han Chen smiled and dropped his hand at ease, Yu Yan was confused by the whole thing but she decided to save the questions for later, he moved to the front of the table while Surgeon Lian Wei moved away but as soon as he took a step from where he had stood frozen, he collapsed.

"Take him out," Han Chen ordered the nurses standing behind the room, they immediately assisted him out of the surgical room.

"But he is..."

"He is definitely not incompetent as the rest of you are, after this surgery, we still have a score to settle," he glared at the chief surgeon who was about to protest then he took his seat again and took in a deep breath.

Mrs Nanjing was the only one who wasn't confused by the situation even though Jia Yu understood the reason why the senior colonel was assured, she couldn't understand what he is doing at the hospital and why Mrs Nanjing spoke on his behalf.

Yu Yan glanced at Yue Ling who was still taken aback by all that had just happened, she glared at her knowing that from now Yu Yan is the second in charge so she and her team leader are more or less just assistant nurses now.

"I will begin now, I will be instructing surgeon Yu Yan, the process will be carried out by her and you two are to assist her, am I understood?" he spoke with an extreme tone of authority that they wondered if he is their senior, both cardiologists looked up in complaint but seeing that senior colonel and the helpless chief surgeon who is relying on this stranger to save the hospital, they had no choice but to comply.

"Understood,"

"Stopping the bleeding is the secondary focus, Yu Yan suture the ruptured veins, you will continue stopping the bleeding while your focus will be transfusing blood into the patient's vein," he instructed the three of them, then they started doing as he said.

"Jia Yu, what is your brother doing there?" An Ke asked aloud, everyone in the observation room immediately turned to Jia Yu, she smiled at them awkwardly and turned to An Ke with a scolding look.

"Your brother?" they questioned, except for Mrs Nanjing who sighed at the turn out of the whole situation

"Yes...something like that," she awkwardly answered and nudged at An Ke who avoided her accusing glare.

"Please let's focus on the surgery," one of the head surgeons ordered then they immediately turned back.

{Her brother...}, Chen Kai remarked inwardly.

Under his instructions, they stopped the bleeding after much effort then they proceeded to complete the transplant process, to everyone's surprise...well not everyone but she was too fast for someone who is being instructed, especially in such a dire situation.

"He is very good...too good," one of the surgeons remarked aloud while others started murmuring in agreement, he made demonstrations as he spoke to the surgical crews while they followed his orders.

The climax of the surgery had now arrived, everyone concentrated their full attention on the surgery this time, they had already dissected the heart, now all they need to do is place the artificial heart into the chest and connect it to the blood vessels.

Yu Yan glanced at him in nervousness which he could see in her eyes but he nodded at her telling her to be confident, everyone in the operation watched their interaction, they knew something they don't know is going on between the both of them.

"Ready..."

"Ready," she responded, taking a deep breath, the surgical technicians handed the parts of the artificial heart to the surgeons on by one while they sutured the parts they need to suture to the vessels, finally they finished placing the artificial heart in the chest and connecting it to all the vessels needed.

She placed the aortic root vent and started low-pressure pumping of the left ventricle, she de-aired the artificial heart after being confirmed by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) then she removed the aortic clamp and weaned the patient off cardiopulmonary bypass.

The surgical technicians activated the total artificial heart...the moment everyone has been waiting for, everyone held their breath as they waited for the artificial heart to start pumping.

"It is pumping," Yu Yan exclaimed, they all looked at it again, THE ARTIFICIAL HEART IS PUMPING.

They all sighed in relief with smiles on all their faces, they all started rejoicing.

Yu Yan excitedly turned around and hugged Han Chen with his hands in the air, he was startled, he expected her to be excited but not to that extent, everyone paused seeing her hug the new heartrob, her team leader sighed and moved to the mic.

"Surgeon Yu Yan...professionalism, please," she said into the mic, Yu Yan opened her eyes which she had shut tight when she hugged him, she realized the situation so she quickly unwrapped her hands off him and smiled in embarrassment at the surgeons in the observation room.

The senior colonel nodded satisfactorily at Han Chen who saluted him again, he stood up from his seat to meet his sister and brothers at the ward where their mother is receiving her drip.

"Chief Surgeon, we still have a lot to talk about, don't you think...?"

"Of--of course," he nervously replied.

"Then I will see you outside..." he turned back to the operating room.

"-Later," he turned around and left.

Seeing the senior colonel leave the observation room, Han Chen quickly removed his surgical gown and followed after him, he didn't want to make his greeting in the presence of others since he still plans on lying to them.

He finally caught up with him when he got to the hallway after the operating theatre.

"Salute," he saluted with his right hand at the side of his head.

"At ease, we are not in a military environment and we are both not on uniform so you don't have to salute me,". With that, Han Chen put himself at ease.

"I am glad you were present here today or I wonder what those stupid surgeons would have done," he sighed in relief and patted his shoulder.

"Most of them are stupid but not all....like my assisting surgeon," he replied with a smile.

"You mean the girl who followed you in, she does seems capable, her speed is almost on the some par with yours but I can see she just lacks the experience,"