Hucklerobby Enemies to… Lovers?
Ever since Whitaker joined the ER, Dr. Robby had singled him out.No one understood why, but he was excessively harsh with him, and no matter what the boy said, even if he was completely right, Robby never seemed to agree.
He wasn’t even like that with Dr. Mohan; even she felt bad for poor Whitaker.
Whitaker didn’t like the way Dr. Robby treated him either. At first, he tried to figure out what he had done wrong, but he simply hadn’t done anything.
If he was lucky, he could avoid the man whenever he was in a bad mood.
Hopefully, he would finish his rotation and leave, though that upset him because he genuinely thought the PTMC was a good place to work and even felt like he had found his place… but unfortunately, his boss was an asshole.
Everything went to hell during his second-to-last week there.
Robby called him into an empty room to talk, starting by attacking him verbally, yelling at him just because Whitaker had been kind to his patient. It wasn’t unusual for some patients to flirt, but Dennis had only politely rejected them and nothing more.
It made no sense. It really made NO SENSE AT ALL.
“Can you shut up for once!?” Shut up yourself, Whitaker, he’s your boss, you’ll make him give you such a bad recommendation that no one will want to hire you. “For God’s sake, I haven’t even done anything! And you treat me like… like—”
“Like shit! Are you a fucking bastard or what? I don’t even understand why you act like this with me! I’m sick of being treated this way! You’re my boss, but that doesn’t give you the fucking right to treat me like garbage! I’m not tolerating this anymore.”
Dennis opened the door and stormed off to look for another patient, while Robby remained there with words stuck on the tip of his tongue.
Damn, he had really messed up.After that argument, things between Robby and Whitaker became even more tense than before.
Robby shut him down; Dennis told him to go to hell.
Their hateful stares were always directed at each other.
Anyone unlucky enough to share a case with both doctors ended up exhausted and drained, with no desire to keep working because of the sheer wear and tear caused by their arguments, especially since they never agreed on anything.
But Robby had calmed down somewhat. He only got irritated whenever Dennis had patients who were friendly—or, as Trinity later put it, patients who were flirting with him, though Dennis never saw it that way.
During an outing with Santos, Javadi, Mel, and Mohan, Santos suggested that maybe Robby was in love with him and just didn’t know how to show it (it should be noted they were all a little drunk by then), referencing the saying “those who fight love each other.”
Dennis rolled his eyes in disgust. It was absurd. What kind of immature person treats someone they like badly?
“Sure, and I’m a millionaire too, right?”
The conversation drifted to another topic, but deep in Whitaker’s mind, that thought remained.
Maybe he’s in love with you and just doesn’t know how to show it.
By the final week, Robby was extremely irritable. Everything annoyed him; he looked like a bomb about to explode from the moment he arrived until the moment he left.One afternoon, near the end of his second-to-last day shift, Dennis noticed Dr. Robby talking to Abbot from a distance. Whitaker watched as Abbot seemed to be scolding him.
He had the feeling he was being watched.Whenever he looked up, the two men were staring at him, but Robby always looked away immediately, while Abbot greeted him with a small gesture.
Whitaker wondered what they were talking about.
His last day arrived, and in short, it was the calmest shift he had ever had.
When he got off work, most of the people who had interacted with him at the hospital went to greet him at the bar where he had gone to celebrate with his friends.
He was with Trinity, Javadi, and Mohan. Mel had left because she had to pick up her sister, but she had wished him good luck on his exams and hoped to see him again.
There were a few more people there, and even though the celebration was for him, he wanted to go to bed early. Finishing his ER rotation didn’t mean he was done—not at all. He still had to keep studying for his exam and send emails requesting interviews at hospitals for his residency.
When he left the bar, he planned to walk until he could catch a taxi, since Trinity wanted to stay a little longer.
But then he ran into Dr. Robby. God, not even after finishing my rotation at his hospital does he leave me alone.
“Hi.” Robby sounded nervous.
“Hi—” Dennis felt something hit him directly in the face. Purely on reflex, he caught it in his hands once it moved away from his face.
“I hope your interview here at the hospital goes well.” What?
“I hope you want to do your residency here. At PTMC.”
“Uh—uh, yeah, yes, of course, sure.” Dennis shifted his gaze between the flowers (slightly crushed from smashing into his face) and the man standing before him, who was… blushing? And nervous—it was obvious from the way he couldn’t stop moving his hands at his sides.
“Good… Because… you’re a good doctor.”
Who is this man, and what did he do to the annoying Dr. Michael Robinavitch?
“Uh… thank you, sir.” He was curious to know… “Are these flowers for me?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Robby replied harshly, but quickly softened his tone. “They’re… an apology.”
“An apology for what?” Of course Dennis knew why, but he wanted to know Robby’s reason for giving him flowers. His face was starting to turn red from embarrassment.
“I haven’t been the best boss to you.” Robby looked him in the eyes. “I’ve behaved inappropriately toward you… I’ve been…” The man cleared his throat. “An idiot.”
Dennis had always thought that the day Robby admitted he was an idiot and apologized, he would feel satisfied.
But no. It felt like there was something more behind it.
“Yeah… you are an idiot.” Robby looked at him in disbelief. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not your employee anymore.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean I’ll let you insult me.” He gave him a smile, a very warm one. Dennis felt a tightness in his chest, a warm sensation spreading through him. “And I don’t know if I want to work at PTMC if you’re there. You’ve been a terrible boss.”
“The option is there, and I’m sure a lot of people would want to work with you here.”
Robby looked like he wanted to say something else, but couldn’t.
“And I suppose you’re not on that list.”
“Oh, come on, what do you want me to say? That I’m not?”
“That’s something only you can answer.”
Whitaker turned to leave. He walked past him, but soon felt Robby grab his arm.
Dennis turned around and looked at him.
Maybe he’s in love with you and doesn’t know how to show it.
“I… Shit, Abbot said this would be easier.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Whitaker, I want you to work at PTMC… I… I wrote a recommendation letter…” Robby looked him in the eyes with a gaze Dennis couldn’t decipher. He was blushing—even his ears were red. “Whitaker… I…”
His gaze was no longer fixed on Dennis’s eyes, but on his lips.
But then Robby pulled away as if Dennis suddenly burned. He cleared his throat.
“The flowers are an apology for my behavior. I hope that if you decide to do your residency at The Pitt, we can work together and… that you can give me the chance to be a good boss.”
And before Dennis could reply, Robby hurried away.
Dennis couldn’t think clearly anymore, so he simply walked in the opposite direction, staring at the beautiful red flowers that Dr. Michael Robinavitch—the man who had made his life miserable for six weeks—had given him… Or rather, thrown at his face.
According to my Google research, red represents love, passion, and romance. Ideal for anniversaries or winning someone over.
That’s why Robby gave him those flowers—the man looked it up on Google.
(I’m tired and I need to go out with my friends 😔)
