Sophia Collins, 29, felt like her life was falling apart lately.
She got chewed out by her boss, Adrian Roberts, first thing this morning for missing her savings target at the bank. Then came the nonstop calls from her mom, Lillian Collins, insisting she go on a blind date. And now, to top it all off, she noticed a bit of blood in her urine this afternoon. She immediately asked for leave and rushed to Shulan Hospital, but even that earned her more eye-rolling from Roberts.
Right now, she was sitting in the nephrology outpatient clinic, frowning hard, convinced something was seriously wrong.
For the past six months, she’d been dealing with frequent urination, pain, and on-and-off hematuria. The first time it hit, she ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. Since then, it happened three more times—every time landing her back in nephrology.
“You're young and not sexually active, so recurrent UTIs could signal something structural. I'll refer you to urology for further tests,” the doctor said, tossing her file back after updating the system.
Sophia, heavy-hearted, headed over to the urology department.
“Is Sophia Collins here? Sophia Collins?!”
She quickly stood up. “Here.”
“Called your name a few times already! You should be watching the monitor,” the triage nurse snapped.
Sophia felt more annoyed than anything. While waiting, she was also trying to confirm a weekend blind date via text with a matchmaker her mom picked.
When she pushed open the exam room door, she was met with the sight of a sharp-featured, clean-cut young doctor, who honestly looked like a celeb.
Turns out, it was Ethan Hayes—one of the youngest urology specialists at Shulan Hospital, a protégé of academic hotshot David Hughes, and freshly returned from a top program in the U.S. Today was actually his first clinic day back.
“Your number?” Ethan asked.
“Seventeen. Sophia Collins,” she said, handing over her records.
“What's the issue?” he asked while flipping through her reports.
“Nephrology sent me over—unknown cause of recurring UTIs,” she said quietly, dreading what might come next.
“I’ll need to run a physical exam. Go get the nurse outside,” he said, looking serious.
Not quite sure what was going on, Sophia left to fetch a nurse.
When she came back, Ethan was already pulling on medical gloves.
“Lie down on the exam table behind the curtain and take off your underwear,” he said without a flicker of emotion.
“Can I get a female doctor instead?” she asked, frozen in place.
She hadn’t expected a urology exam to be this... exposed. Now she realized the nurse was there to avoid any legal trouble during the procedure.
The nurse near her smirked, “Doctors don’t look at gender. Also, we don’t have female urologists here.”
Ethan, noticing her hesitation, added coldly, “Do you still want the exam? There are a lot of patients waiting.”
Sophia felt her vision blur. She didn’t really have a choice—health came first. Reluctantly, she undressed and lay on the table.
As soon as Ethan started the exam, she felt her entire face burn with embarrassment. This wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was humiliating.
“Are you married?” he asked.
“No,” Sophia replied, staring blankly at the ceiling, overwhelmed and frustrated at how unfair everything felt.
The nurse just stood there expressionless.
Sophia could tell Ethan was being gentle, which calmed her slightly.
But then, she felt him touch an area she thought was strictly gynecology territory. She jerked and yelped, “Doctor, are you sure you’re checking the right spot?!”
“If you don’t trust me, don’t come to me. I’m checking for a urethral diverticulum,” Ethan replied flatly.
With that, he peeled off his gloves. “We’re done here.”
Sophia got up from the exam table and put her clothes back on. Her mood was at rock bottom. She felt humiliated and utterly defeated, like she’d hit the lowest point in her life.After the nurse left, Ethan Hayes finished writing the prescription.
“There’s no major issue, but do you hold your pee often?” he asked.
Sophia Collins was mortified. She couldn’t even look him in the eye. Now that it wasn’t anything serious, all she wanted was to get out of there. Honestly, she didn’t catch a single word of his instructions after that.
On her way to the pharmacy, ready to pick up the meds, she got turned away—no prescription in hand.
It hit her right then—she’d been so flustered, she forgot to take the script from Ethan.
When she pushed open the clinic door again, Ethan was already with another patient.
He looked up, his eyes shifting ever so slightly. “Something wrong?”
“I forgot the prescription,” Sophia said, face burning. She couldn’t handle looking at him—even though he was her doctor.
After getting it, she practically sprinted out of the room.
Sophia worked at a bank counter. When things got busy, she often had to hold her bladder to get through the lines. Even then, she still caught complaints about being slow, and her boss would come down on her for making customers wait.
Her parents had split up long ago. Her dad had remarried, and her mom, Lillian Collins, worked as a hospital aide at Shulan Hospital. Her biggest wish? To see her daughter end up with a “stable job” guy—a doctor, teacher, or someone in civil service.
Now that Sophia was 29, Lillian saw her as an “older single woman” and was determined to get her married before she hit 30. That year, she was actively setting her up with blind dates non-stop.
Sophia was already burned out. It felt like her life was either on a date or rushing to one.
A week later, as her UTI symptoms were mostly gone, Sophia got ready to meet a matchmaker-arranged blind date.
The matchmaker had set her up with three guys this time—all doctors. Sophia didn’t want to waste her weekend. Her plan? Bang them all out in one day—one in the morning, two in the afternoon.
That Saturday, she put on light makeup and slipped into a French-style floral dress before heading out.
She had lost count of how many guys she’d met over the past year. Some were decent-looking. But most? Total messes—bald spots, beer guts, and weirdly cocky too. More than once, they’d vaguely hint her age was “a problem.”
She totally bought into that saying—good men are never out in the market.
So her expectations were pretty much zero. she just wanted to get it over with so she could enjoy her Sunday off.
When she stepped into the café, a new mug on display caught her eye. She made a mental note—buy it after the date.
Following the directions her match had messaged, she wandered to a seat by the window in the corner… and froze.
Sitting there, sipping coffee, was Ethan Hayes.
He wore a white T-shirt and light casual pants, looking relaxed and effortlessly charming.
Sophia stopped dead in her tracks, torn between fleeing and pretending she hadn’t seen him.
“Hi, I’m Ethan Hayes.”
He’d clearly noticed her, a flicker of surprise crossing his face as he stood up and politely pulled out a chair for her.
“H-hi,” she stammered, heart pounding so hard her ears rang. Her face was blazing.
“You’re the one Dr. Clarke introduced—Sophia, right?” Ethan asked with a smile.
“Yeah.” She sat down, unable to meet his gaze.
Dr. Clarke was the wife of the vice president at Shulan Hospital and head of Breast Surgery. Lillian worked under her as head of the cleaning staff.
“Need me to officially introduce myself?” Ethan joked, a teasing tone in his voice.
“No need.”
Sophia barely squeezed it out. At that moment, all she could think about was how to put a quick end to this awkward mess.
