A Perfect Revenge on My Ex

For my sake, Marcus, a brilliant and renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, turned down a prestigious fellowship abroad.

He had taken my hand in front of the entire hospital staff, declaring to everyone that I was the only woman he would ever love.

Back then, everyone whispered that an unremarkable resident like me had somehow managed to capture the heart of the youngest Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Apex Medical Center.

That night, he held a bouquet of white roses and proposed to me on the hospital rooftop, with a sky full of fireworks exploding behind him.

But when I woke up, everything changed.

I had suddenly traveled three years into the future.

The thirty-one-year-old Marcus stood before me, tossing a reassignment notice stamped by the HR department onto the desk.

"Sienna, stop slitting your wrists just to beg for my sympathy. I stopped feeling anything for you a long time ago."

"This transfer to the ER to do grunt work is entirely your own doing."

The man standing in front of me wore a pristine, spotless white lab coat. His eyes were cold, completely devoid of the tenderness that had once filled them on that rooftop.

A sharp ache hit the back of my throat, and my eyes stung. "Marcus, are you snapping at me?"

Marcus froze.

The next second, his brow furrowed even deeper.

I could not wrap my head around this.

Just last night, he had been on one knee on the hospital rooftop, handing me those white roses.

"Sienna, let's get married."

He was such a proud, ambitious man, yet he had turned down a spot at Harvard just to stay by my side. He had even stayed up for three consecutive nights to help me edit my research paper so it could be published sooner. I still remembered the dark circles under his eyes.

How could a single night turn the man who once cherished me into someone who looked at me with nothing but sheer disgust?

Marcus obviously had no patience for my confusion.

He stared at me, his lip curling slightly. "Time travel? Sienna, you're a medical professional. Do you honestly expect me to believe that ridiculous excuse?"

He scoffed, yanking off his surgical mask. Unwilling to spare me another glance, he turned on his heel and walked out.

Panic seized me.

Without thinking, I rushed after him, reaching out to grab his sleeve. "Mar"

Suddenly, Marcus stopped dead in his tracks.

Caught completely off guard, my nose slammed hard against his solid back.

The sharp pain made me gasp, and tears instantly flooded my eyes.

But Marcus did not seem to hear me, let alone care to turn around. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his vibrating phone.

He answered it.

A soft, melodic female voice slipped through the receiver, clear enough for me to hear every word.

"Hey, Marcus. I just emailed you the final draft of the new review. Don't forget to take a look when you have a moment."

Marcus offered a quiet, gentle hum. His voice softened into a tone I had not heard all morning. "Got it. I'll review it tonight."

I stood frozen in place, staring at him in disbelief. "Who is she?"

The voice sounded incredibly familiar, but my mind was in such a chaotic mess that I could not place it.

"Have you had enough of this drama?" Marcus slid his phone back into his pocket, his brief moment of tenderness vanishing instantly. "Be grateful, Sienna. If I hadn't vouched for you in front of the Chief of Medicine, you wouldn't even have a job as a clerk."

His gaze flicked to my red, swollen nose, his expression icy. "You are no longer the promising doctor I once thought was worth mentoring."

The heavy thud of the door closing shook me out of my daze.

I fumbled with my phone, scrolled to the very top of my contact list, and pressed dial.

The line rang for what felt like an eternity before a voice finally picked up.

"Sienna?"

My best friend, Jenna, sounded hesitant, as if receiving a call from me was the last thing she expected.

But I was too overwhelmed to notice her strange tone. The moment I heard her voice, the tears I had been holding back finally spilled over.

Jenna remained quiet, listening to my frantic, rambling explanation.

After a long pause, her voice spiked in disbelief. "Are you telling me Marcus proposed to you on the rooftop yesterday?"

I squeezed the reassignment notice tightly in my hand. "Yes. But now he's transferring me to the ER to do grunt work." I sniffled, my voice trembling. "Jenna, can you come pick me up?"

Another long silence stretched over the line before she softly replied, "Okay. I'm on my way."

Inside the quiet cafe, Jenna stared at my face for a long time, as if trying to find a stranger hidden beneath my features.

"So, you're saying you fell asleep, woke up, and three years had passed? You don't remember anything that happened during this time?"

I did not know whether to nod or shake my head.

"Sienna, to be honest, this isn't the first time Marcus has tried to push you out." Jenna spoke slowly, choosing her words with extreme caution. "And frankly, you and I haven't spoken in a very long time."

I stared at her, stunned.

Jenna let out a long sigh before explaining the nightmare my life had become over the last three years.

Less than six months after that grand, romantic rooftop proposal, Marcus began to change.

My eyes widened. "He fell in love with someone else?"

"Yes. It started about two years ago," Jenna said, taking a sip of her coffee and watching me closely. "It was Brooke, the junior resident you used to mentor."

According to Jenna, once I found out about the affair, I completely lost my mind. I began doing desperate, reckless things.

"You crashed the National Cardiothoracic Conference. In front of the entire medical community, you screamed that Brooke had plagiarized your research data, causing a massive scene. Later, you broke into her office and smashed her newly won award. Marcus called security on you himself and even had the psychiatry department come down to evaluate you."

Jenna took another slow sip. "I couldn't watch you destroy yourself like that, so I tried to convince you to let him go. But you were hysterical, and you ended up shoving me down a flight of stairs."

After that, everyone turned their backs on me.

The once-promising resident who had captured the heart of Apex Medical's star surgeon had become the biggest laughingstock in the entire city.

"I accused her of stealing my paper, and Marcus just decided I was insane?"

Jenna remained silent, but she gave a slow, somber nod.

I looked down, smoothing out the crumpled transfer notice on the table.

In a way, Marcus had been merciful. Even though he despised me to this extent, he had not officially requested the board to terminate my contract. He had simply relegated me to the chaos of the emergency room.

I pulled a pen from my bag, ready to sign the document.

"Are you actually going through with this?" Jenna's hand shot out, gripping my wrist. Deep concern swam in her eyes. "You've pretended to agree to transfers before, only to turn around and storm the administration office to cause another scene."

I looked at her, utterly bewildered.

Had the future version of me really become so pathetic?

"Sienna," she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Do you really not love him anymore?"

My fingers tensed around the pen.

Love?

A flood of memories rushed into my mind.

The truth was, Marcus had been right about one thing. It was his recommendation that had allowed me to secure a permanent residency at Apex. It was his guidance that had given me access to top-tier research resources.

But three years ago, he had promised to help me refine my research paper so I could submit it to a prestigious international journal.

Yet shortly after, Brooke had published a paper with almost identical data.

When I confronted him, Marcus had smoothed it over, claiming that Brooke's research direction had simply overlapped with mine. He told me that with my skills, I could easily write a better one. He told me he loved me, so I worked twice as hard, desperately trying to be someone worthy of standing by his side.

I had agreed to climb to the peak of the medical field with him, believing we were partners.

But now, he had chosen someone else to walk that path with him.

The debt of gratitude I owed him for his mentorship had been paid in full with my broken heart.

Wasn't it time for me to reclaim my own life and chase my own dreams?

Jenna's eyes welled with tears, her voice cracking. "Sienna, I am so, so glad to hear you say that."

Standing before the towering building of Apex Medical Center, I looked up.

The grand, modern glass facade remained unchanged.

Yet, it felt completely different from the place I remembered.

"Isn't that the crazy girl from Cardiothoracic?"

"Why is she back? Didn't she embarrass herself enough last time?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. Last week, a nurse tried to talk to her, and she nearly scratched his eyes out."

The hushed whispers of passing staff drifted into my ears.

I pulled my gaze away, tightening my grip on the signed transfer form.

Before coming here, I had tried calling Marcus. It rang once before he hung up. When I tried again, the call went straight to voicemail. He had blocked me.

Since I was leaving the department anyway, there was no point in dragging this out. I wanted to hand the paperwork directly to him and close this chapter.

Jenna had tried to stop me before we parted ways.

"I have a court hearing this afternoon, are you absolutely sure you can handle this alone?" She was a busy corporate lawyer now. She clearly did not believe I was fully sane yet, thinking I was just using the paperwork as an excuse to cause another scene.

But seeing my quiet determination, she had finally relented, looking back at me with worry as she walked away.

Clearly, she was not the only one who expected the worst.

The moment I stepped into the Cardiothoracic wing, the nurse at the front desk was so startled she knocked over a bottle of disinfectant.

Several residents nearby instantly went on high alert, surrounding the desk as if a threat had entered the room.

I could not blame them. Jenna had told me that during my worst breakdown, I had completely trashed the Chief's office, a scene that someone had filmed and posted online. Marcus had used that incident to suspend several colleagues who had dared to speak up for me.

I understood their hostility.

I looked at the nurse, forcing a polite, calm smile. "I'm here to see Chief Marcus. I need to hand in my transfer slip."

The nurse hesitated, looking highly uncomfortable. "Dr. Sienna, Dr. Brooke left strict instructions. Non-department personnel are not allowed in the administrative offices."

Dr. Brooke. My former junior, who was now Marcus's golden child.

"The transfer paperwork requires the Chief's personal signature," I said smoothly, stepping past her.

The nurse panicked, and two residents moved forward to block my path.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out near the entrance of the wing. A crowd of doctors was walking in.

Before I could turn around to see what was happening, someone shoved me hard from behind.

Losing my balance, I stumbled forward, my forehead slamming violently against the sharp metal corner of a supply cart. A sharp gasp of pain escaped my lips.

Clutching my throbbing forehead, I spun around, only to meet Brooke's wide, innocent eyes.

"Oh! Dr. Sienna, it's you! I am so, so sorry. I didn't see you standing there."

I rubbed the blooming bruise on my forehead, my voice dropping to a cool, dangerous register. "Your eyesight is remarkably poor for a surgeon, Dr. Brooke. No wonder you mistake other people's research papers for your own."

Ignoring her gasp, I turned toward the Chief's office, but she stepped in front of me, blocking the door.

"Sienna," Brooke said, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness, though her words cut deep. "You don't belong to Cardiothoracic anymore. Prowling around our offices is highly inappropriate, don't you think?"

I tilted my head, studying her.

Jenna had mentioned that the surgical techniques I pioneered had helped put this department on the map, nearly earning me a major national award. But Brooke had swept in and claimed all of my research as her own.

"Until the transfer paperwork is finalized, I am still legally a doctor in this department. Who do you think you are to stop me?" I stared directly into her eyes. "A thief who builds her career on stolen data?"

Her face paled, and tears immediately welled in her eyes. "Sienna, I know you're bitter about the transfer, but you can't just throw wild accusations at me."

She stepped closer, leaning into my space as if begging me to strike her.

The whispers around us grew louder, the onlookers' expressions turning from caution to outright disgust.

"This is ridiculous. She has no talent of her own, so she resorts to slandering Brooke."

"Brooke works herself to the bone every single night. How could she possibly plagiarize?"

"Exactly. Chief Marcus is incredibly strict. If there were any issues with her paper, do you think he would have let her publish it?"

Looking at her pathetic, victimized act made my stomach churn.

I stepped back, revulsion clear on my face. "Get out of my face. You make me sick."

That single sentence seemed to detonate a bomb.

Brooke covered her face, sobbing hysterically. "What did I ever do to deserve this, Sienna? Why do you hate me so much?"

"That is enough!"

A thunderous voice boomed from the end of the corridor.

Marcus was walking back from rounds, flanked by a dozen doctors. He strode forward, immediately wrapping a protective arm around Brooke's trembling shoulders.

When he looked up at me, his face was flushed with fury. "Sienna, what kind of psychotic episode are you having now?"

Before I could speak, Brooke clutched his coat, her voice shaking. "Marcus, please don't yell at her. It's my fault. I shouldn't have argued with her."

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You are far too kind for your own good, which is why she thinks she can walk all over you." Marcus gently wiped her tears, then glared at me, his eyes burning with disgust. "Sienna! Is this what you came here for today? Do you find this amusing?"

He looked at me as if I were a piece of trash. "Stop playing these desperate games. It won't work."

I realized then what he was thinking.

In his eyes, my presence today was just another pathetic stunt to get his attention and delay the transfer. He truly believed I was willing to humiliate myself just to stay near him.

"You're right. It isn't amusing at all," I said, a calm smile spreading across my lips as I pulled the paper from my folder. "That's why I came to finalize the paperwork."

Marcus froze.

He stared at my face, then down at the paper in my hand. His eyes locked onto the signature block at the bottom, narrowing in confusion.

With a sudden, violent sweep of his hand, he knocked the paper out of my grip, sending it fluttering to the floor.

"Are you mocking me?" he hissed, his voice rising dangerously as the veins in his temples pulsed. "Are you really so desperate that you'd resort to this kind of reverse psychology just to cling to me?"

Slap.

The sharp crack echoed down the sterile hallway.

Marcus's head snapped to the side, his words cut short by the sheer force of my palm against his cheek.

Ignoring the gasps of the surrounding staff and his murderous glare, I calmly knelt down and picked up the paper.

"Take a good look, Marcus."

He ground his teeth, staring at me with pure venom for several seconds before taking a sharp, angry breath and snatching the paper.

He looked at the signature line.

There was no frantic "I refuse to sign," nor was it a blank space designed to buy time.

Written in clear, elegant print was my signature.

Directly above it was a single sentence:

I consent to the transfer to the Emergency Department.

He stood completely frozen.