No one knew how it started, but every phone in the room lit up at once. Across Metropia, digital billboards on skyscrapers—some dark, some running ads—switched simultaneously to the same broadcast.
In the first clip, a middle-aged woman held out a test report with shaking hands. “Dr. Walsh… with my son’s condition… does he really have to take the imported medication? Couldn’t we use a cheaper alternative?”
The camera cut to Sapphire’s flawless profile. She snapped, impatient. “If you can’t afford treatment, why are you even here?”
She tossed the report onto the desk like trash. “Do you have any idea what one dose costs? It’s more than your whole family spends on groceries in a year.”
The woman dropped to her knees. “Dr. Walsh, please… have mercy…”
Sapphire slammed her hand on the desk and stood, her heels screeching against the floor. “If you want to kneel, do it outside. Don’t hold up the line.”
She turned and yelled to a nurse, “Next!”
As security dragged the woman away, she screamed through sobs, “He’s only sixteen…”
The video cut off sharply, and immediately jumped to another.
A young resident stood in front of Purity, clutching a report, hesitant but trying to be brave. “Dr. Walsh… this patient has a benign ovarian cyst. Removing it is enough. There’s no need for multiple rounds of chemo and another surgery. The risk—”
Purity flung the report straight into the resident’s face. “Am I the owner of this hospital, or are you? If I don’t drink blood off patients, how am I supposed to feed you useless people?”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: She Was the Treasure All Along