At the medical center, inside the observation operating room.
This surgery—the first of its kind in the U.S., a high thoracic epidural anesthesia coronary artery bypass graft—drew a massive crowd. The second-floor observation room was packed to the brim.
Watching Adam perform the surgery while casually chatting and joking with the fully awake patient was something else. Every now and then, at the patient's request, he'd mimic bird calls with such spot-on accuracy that everyone was left dumbfounded.
"When did Dr. Duncan get so into birds?" someone whispered.
"I heard he crash-learned it just for this patient!" another replied.
"No way!"
"Why not? You forgetting Dr. Duncan's got that photographic memory? Picking up bird knowledge on the fly isn't a stretch for him."
"Sure, I get that remembering bird facts isn't hard for him, but pulling off those perfect bird calls? That's a whole different level!"
"Wow, you're dense!"
"Seriously, so dumb!"
"He just doesn't get it."
A group of female doctors shot sidelong glares at a skeptical male doctor, their eyes dripping with disdain.
"Get what?" the guy protested, confused.
The women didn't even bother responding. They turned away, their gazes shifting into something else entirely—dreamy and a little unhinged. "Being Dr. Duncan's girlfriend must be pure bliss…" one sighed.
"Uh, what don't I get?!" the male doctor whined, turning to a fellow guy for backup.
"Dude, you…" His buddy leaned in close, whispering, "You seriously don't see it? The patient in there? Total bird guy. You catch that?"
"Yeah, I know," the scorned doctor nodded. "He mentioned it earlier—'bird people' are just those folks who love birdwatching, right?"
"Exactly," his friend murmured. "And Dr. Duncan? He may have crammed all that bird stuff last minute, but with his skills now, doesn't he kinda qualify as a 'bird guy' too?"
"Does that count?"
The guy's face was a picture of bewilderment.
"You're hopeless," his buddy groaned, throwing him a pitying look. "Haven't you heard the legends about Dr. Duncan? Now he's nailing these bird calls like a pro. If he's not a birdman, who is?"
The first "birdman" came out in English. The second was in broken Dongguoese, with a dramatic pause for effect. Yep, this guy was a foreigner obsessed with Dongguo culture, sporting some half-baked Dongguoese skills.
"Keep it down!" another male colleague hissed. "You can't just slap random nicknames on Dr. Duncan like that. His fan club'll come for you!"
Noticing a few female doctors glancing their way, the trio clammed up fast. Especially the guy with the shaky Dongguoese—he knew Adam was fluent in multiple languages, including Dongguoese way better than his own. The others might not fully get the joke, stuck on "bird guy = good at bird calls," but he knew Adam would catch it. The thought of ticking off Adam? Nope, he wasn't risking that.
Still, he couldn't help snickering internally. But then his peripheral vision caught the smoldering stares from the female doctors, and the laughter died. A weird wave of sadness hit him instead…
---
Down in the operating room, Adam had no clue someone was trying to nickname him—let alone something that goofy. Otherwise, he'd have had a "friendly chat" with them for sure.
Two hours had already passed.
With Adam's steady guidance, the patient, Mr. Adeno, was holding up well emotionally. But what's bound to happen eventually does.
"Those people…" Mr. Adeno tilted his head to chat with Adam. Even though Adam was right there, just a slight turn away, two hours of that had worn him out. Instinctively, he shifted a bit more to ease the strain—and then he saw it. The second-floor observation room, buzzing with people, all staring down at him.
Dr. Burke exchanged a quick glance with Adam. They didn't need to check the monitors to know something was off—Mr. Adeno's heart, right there in front of them, started pounding harder under the weight of all those eyes.
"You're watching the view from the bridge, while the people watching the view are up there watching you," Adam said smoothly, jumping in to calm him. "Mr. Adeno, it's no big deal. Think about when you're birdwatching—sometimes a bird perched on a branch turns and looks right at you. Just imagine they're all birds up there."
"But there's so many… too many…" Mr. Adeno muttered, still uneasy.
"Even simpler then," Adam grinned. "Picture a migration season hitting a storm—thousands of birds dropping from the sky. That sight's way more epic than what you're seeing now, right?"
"I've never seen it," Mr. Adeno said, his bird-nerd side kicking in as Adam hooked his attention again. "But I've heard about it—headwinds plus rain, forcing them to land nearby. Locals get to see tons of them, even super rare ones. Man, I'd love to witness that…"
"You'll get the chance!" Adam assured him. "Stormy migration chaos isn't easy to catch, but you could totally hit up Atu Island. It's a birdwatcher's paradise…"
He glanced at Mr. Adeno's heart, now beating steadily again, and caught Dr. Burke's impressed nod. They kept chatting for another hour.
When Mr. Adeno glanced up at the observation room again, Adam didn't wait for him to tense up. "Just think of them as birds," he said gently. "There's endless types, each with their own vibe—like people. Look at them, study their expressions, guess their personalities, and match them to a bird."
"I can't do that," Mr. Adeno mumbled.
"No worries, I'll start," Adam chuckled. "See that tall guy in the corner? Watching everything with a cool, sharp eye? To me, he's a great blue heron. What do you think?"
"Yes, yes, totally!" Mr. Adeno followed Adam's gaze to the surgical director who'd just stepped in, hands on hips, observing from the corner. With Adam's description, the guy practically morphed into a heron in his mind. "Spot on!"
"Your turn," Adam said, using the director as a guinea pig to nudge Mr. Adeno into facing the crowd—and kicking his fear of being gawked at, guts and all, to the curb.
"Okay… her," Mr. Adeno hesitated, then perked up. "She's got a long neck—she's gotta be a spoonbill!"
"Perfect match!" Adam mimicked a spoonbill's call, then grinned. "Next!"
"That guy!" With Adam's encouragement, Mr. Adeno, the bird fanatic, dove into the game of "spot the person, name the bird." "He looks all gloomy—he's a thrush, a black-headed nightingale thrush!"
---
Back in the operating room, Christina and the team glanced up at Dr. Shepherd in the observation room, chin in hand, watching intently. Hearing Mr. Adeno's commentary, they nearly cracked up. Dr. Shepherd was brooding lately—tangled between his on-again-off-again ex, Meredith, and his fiery new fling, Rose. Gloomy? Oh yeah, nailed it… 😂
(End of Chapter)