Lucas sat at the resting station, slowly eating his sandwich. Ever since what happened with Layla, his mind had been restless. The summoning. The devil. Whether she was sane or completely out of her mind.
The thoughts kept looping, mixing together until he could not tell which one disturbed him more.
"Shit, what should I do?" he murmured.
Before he could take another bite, someone bumped hard into his shoulder. The sandwich slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
Lucas stared at it for a second, realizing that was the last money he had, then let out a quiet groan and looked up.
"Oops, sorry. Didn't see you there."
Alan chuckled as he walked past, already heading toward a group of nurses who were gossiping nearby.
Of course it was him. That damned bastard. A psychiatrist everyone liked. Nurses, doctors, staff. Every single worker in this hospital adored Alan.
Lucas clenched his jaw. Alan never bullied him directly. He joked, smiled, and made comments that sounded harmless.
Once people realized Lucas was safe to target, they did it gladly, as if they had been waiting for permission.
Anyone who had once been below him either left the hospital or climbed just enough to make sure they were never the ones being laughed at again.
Hanna was one of them.
The senior nurse approached with a stack of reports, thick round glasses perched on her nose and makeup layered heavily on her face.
She had been polite when Lucas first arrived, even helpful, but that changed quickly once she understood how the hierarchy worked and where Lucas stood in it.
"Lucas, you don't really have anything important to do right now, do you?" she said.
"Put all of this old data into the system. You keep forgetting things and you move too slowly. Try not to get in other people's way."
Lucas's hands tightened, but he kept his voice steady. He was still new here. One bad evaluation from her would be enough to end his job.
"Yes," he said. "I'll do it."
Hanna crossed her arms. "Newcomers these days. If you can't think properly, at least move your hands and feet faster."
She walked away and immediately softened when she reached Alan.
"Dr. Alan, how's your day?" she asked, her tone suddenly gentle as she fixed her hair.
"Good," Alan replied easily. "Don't be too harsh on my brother, Hanna. I know he's useless. Honestly, I don't even know how he managed to get hired."
He glanced back at Lucas and smirked.
Hanna sighed. "How can you two even be brothers? Compared to you, he looks… different."
The nurses nearby followed her gaze, openly looking Lucas up and down before giggling.
"Is it true he was born from an affair?" Iris asked, her whisper loud enough to carry.
Alan laughed and made a slow circle beside his temple. "Yeah, maybe that explains a lot. And his face isn't exactly helping either. God is fair, right?"
He took an apple from the table and bit into it, still smiling.
Lucas lowered his head and stared into the tea cup in front of him, catching a faint reflection of his own face. Messy bangs. Tired eyes. Someone who looked like he had learned to apologize just for existing.
Layla's words drifted back into his mind. The way she spoke about escape. Revenge. A way out.
He stayed where he was, silent, staring at the table while the noise of the hospital carried on around him.
The question lingered in his thoughts, uncomfortable and persistent:
Will he live in this miserable spot for the rest of his life?
The realization hit Lucas all at once. His chair scraped loudly against the floor as he stood up, his voice cutting through the noise before anyone could stop him.
"I'm not useless," he said. "And I got this job with my own effort, not like you, Alan."
The room went still.
"I heard Mom paid 'hush money' to the director so you could fill a so-called temporary doctor position,"
Lucas continued, his tone steady, almost calm. "And you'll probably get fired next month anyway. You never finish your work, and you spend most of your time flirting with nurses instead of doing your job."
Alan's mouth opened, then closed. He tried to laugh it off, but Lucas was already moving on.
"And ladies," Lucas added, glancing at the nurses, "you might want to be careful. He had chlamydia once and made it everyone's problem because he fuck with an old hag on the street because she offer 50% off!"
The reaction was instant. Gasps, disgust, people stepping back. Even the busty nurses who used to hang off Alan looked at him differently now.
"That's not true!" Alan snapped, standing up. "You're just saying bullshit because you're jealous of me!"
Lucas laughed, sharp and short, as he stepped closer. "Jealous of what? The fact that your daughter doesn't even resemble you? Or that your PhD and doctorate are fake?"
Alan froze.
"I saw it," Lucas went on. "You get rejected by all the universities and play games in your mother's basement while I worked myself half to death just to pay for college."
He pressed his fingers against Alan's chest. "So no, I'm not jealous. I'm better than you. In every part of my life."
He brushed his bangs aside and looked him straight in the eye. "Even my face is better than yours. Your mother's an ugly old hag. Mine was beautiful."
"Fuck you!" Alan shouted, swinging his fist.
Lucas caught it easily.
He twisted Alan's wrist and bent it down with controlled force. He screamed as pain shot up his arm, his knees buckling until he was forced down.
"Even my strength is better than yours," Lucas said quietly.
"Let go! Let go!" Alan cried, face red, voice breaking. "I'll tell Mom!"
Lucas leaned closer. "Your mom's life is already hanging by a thread. One slip on the bathroom floor would finish it."
His grip tightened slightly. "So keep wiping, pussy."
Alan sobbed as Lucas finally released him. He collapsed to the floor, humiliated and shaking.
Lucas turned to Hanna.
She looked pale now, lips trembling, sweat forming at her temples. She did not look angry anymore. She looked scared.
"You," Lucas said, his voice lower, colder. "Sad, sad, woman."
Hanna flinched.
"You hide behind authority and ugly makeup because you know once people look past it, there's nothing there," he continued.
"You're a bitter, dusty virgin who watches younger women get picked again and again, and instead of fixing your life, you decided it was easier to step on someone weaker."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I'm not useless. I'm not slow. And I'm not a burden to anyone here," he finished. "You and your pathetic superiority complex are. So don't you ever give me your work again. Do you understand?"
Hanna's shoulders shook as tears slid down her face.
"Yes," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
Lucas turned to the remaining nurses. "And you two, start working instead of hoping some doctor or rich patient will notice your fake chopped boobs and ass."
Then he walked out.
His heart felt lighter than it had in years. Not because he had won an argument, but because for once, he hadn't swallowed it.
And as the door closed behind him, one thought lingered quietly in his mind.
Maybe he didn't need demons to fight back.