Chapter 29 - Dr Kessler and Dr Ramsey

Chapter 29: Chapter 29 - Dr Kessler and Dr Ramsey

The VIP lounge looked like the inside of a private jet, with the cream leather couches. A gas fireplace flickering behind glass. A window overlooking a small, manicured garden with a stone fountain. Soft lighting. A side table set with a silver coffee service, a crystal pitcher of fresh orange juice and a tiered tray of pastries. Croissants, macarons, little fruit tarts glazed so perfectly they looked fake.

"Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Kessler will both see you here together," Kimberly said. "They’ll be in shortly. Please, help yourself to anything you’d like. Coffee? Espresso? We have fresh juice, sparkling water, tea..."

"Coffee’s fine."

"Of course." She poured it herself. Added cream without asking how he took it, then caught herself and looked horrified. "Oh. Did you want cream? I can make a new—"

"It’s fine, Kimberly."

"Okay. Okay, great." She set the cup in front of him with both hands. "If you need anything at all, just press the button by the door. Anything."

She backed out of the room, still smiling.

Jesse sat down on the leather couch and looked around.

Three times he’d come to this hospital and sat on a plastic chair in the general waiting room, clutching a clipboard, feeling like a fraud. And the whole time, this room had been right down the hall.

He picked up a croissant and took a bite. It was buttery, flaky and warm.

He was halfway through a raspberry tart when the door opened.

Two doctors walked in.

Dr. Helen Ramsey was in her late fifties, small and silver-haired, with reading glasses pushed up on her head and a no-nonsense way of moving. She’d been the one who first explained his eye condition to him years ago, patiently, with diagrams.

Dr. Adrian Kessler was younger, maybe mid-forties. Tall, tanned, with an expensive watch, perfect teeth and the slightly smug confidence of a man who’d been featured in magazines.

Both of them looked at Jesse with careful, polite curiosity. Kimberly had obviously told them something, and they were trying to work out how much of it was true.

"Mr. Byrne," Dr. Ramsey said, sitting down across from him. "It’s good to see you again. It’s been a while."

"Two years," Jesse said.

"Kimberly tells us you’d like to move forward with surgery."

"Both surgeries," Jesse said. "Eyes and nose. As soon as possible."

The two doctors exchanged a look.

They talked for half an hour. Dr. Ramsey pulled up his old records on a tablet and walked him through the strabismus correction again: the incisions, the muscle adjustment, the recovery. Dr. Kessler sketched on a notepad, explaining how he’d straighten the deviated septum and rebuild the bridge of his nose. He showed Jesse a rendering of what it might look like afterward.

Jesse stared at the rendering for a long time.

He barely recognized the face.

Then they got to the hard part.

"I’d strongly recommend spacing these out," Dr. Ramsey said. "Ideally a few weeks apart. Two procedures in close succession means two rounds of anesthesia. More swelling. Longer recovery. Higher risk of complications. Your body would be trying to heal two surgical sites at once."

"The nose especially," Dr. Kessler added. "You’re looking at significant bruising and swelling around the eyes for a week or two. That could complicate Dr. Ramsey’s post-operative assessment. It’s not ideal."

"I understand," Jesse said. "I still want them on the same day."

Both doctors stared at him.

"The same day?" Dr. Kessler repeated.

"Eyes in the afternoon. Nose in the evening. Or the other way around, whatever makes more sense medically." Jesse set his coffee cup down. "And I want them tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Dr. Ramsey actually laughed. "Mr. Byrne, I have three surgeries scheduled tomorrow. Dr. Kessler has a full day of consultations. We can’t just—"

"Whatever your rates are," Jesse said, "I’ll pay double. Both of you. And I’ll cover whatever it costs to reschedule your other patients."

The room went quiet.

The two doctors looked at each other again. A long, silent conversation passed between them.

"Mr. Byrne," Dr. Ramsey said carefully, "may I ask why the urgency?"

Jesse thought about it.

Because I’ve looked at this face in the mirror every morning since I was fourteen years old and I don’t recognise my face. It doesn’t feel like me. It hasn’t felt like me for a long long time.

"Because I’ve waited long enough to feel like my true self again," he said.

Dr. Ramsey looked at him for a long time. Something in her expression softened.

She sighed and pulled out her phone.

"I’ll have my office move my afternoon cases.." She glanced at Dr. Kessler. "Adrian?"

Dr. Kessler hesitated a second longer. Then he shrugged and smiled, flashing those perfect white teeth.

"Double rate? I’ll clear the evening."

"Thank you," Jesse said. He meant it.

Dr. Ramsey stood and shook his hand. "Nothing to eat or drink after eight a.m. Be here by noon. And Mr. Byrne, please understand. You’re going to be in a lot of discomfort for a while. Recovery will take time. There’s no rushing it."

"I understand."

The doctors left to make their calls.

Jesse sat back on the couch and looked out the window at the little stone fountain.

Recovery will take time.

He thought about the warm, heavy feeling that had rolled through his body in that hospital bed at St. Nicholas. Broken ribs gone overnight. Bruises vanished. Not a single scar.

One-Time Full Recovery. One time. And he’d already used it.

’System,’ he thought. ’Is there any way I can get that healing ability again?’

[Yes, host.]

Jesse sat up straighter.

[Healing-related abilities can be obtained again. However, they must be unlocked through Lucky Draws.]

’So I just need more draws.’

[Correct.]

Jesse smiled slowly.

He thought about Carrie, waiting for six o’clock with his address folded in her apron pocket. Five percent affection, and one million dollars.

He knew exactly where his next draw was going to come from.