The Night Shift — Episode A: Routine | Romance Story

She told herself it was just a pattern.Every night at almost exactly 2:17 AM, the same doctor walks through her wing of the hospital. He takes the coffee she leaves on the counter, says goodnight, and disappears.It's routine. It's professional. It's nothing.Except by week seven, she can read his nights by the set of his shoulders. By week nine, she's noting the exact minute he leaves. And by week thirteen -- when he doesn't show at 2:17 -- something in her body goes quiet in a way that has nothing to do with the work.Overnight shifts have their own kind of gravity. The hallways dim. The world narrows. And the smallest interactions start to mean more than they should.This is Episode A.The beginning of a slow unraveling.She thinks it’s routine.