Malik looked down at his watch. It was a little after eleven o’clock. He had finished with the stack of insurance claims to follow up on. Now it was time to emerge from his office to check on things. As soon as he opened the office door, one of the medical assistants zoomed by, just barely avoiding a collision with him.
“How behind is he?” Malik called after him.
“He just went in to see his ten o’clock appointment,” the MA replied. “I’m bringing his eleven o’clock appointment back now.”
“Has Magaly come in?” Malik asked.
The MA smiled. “Your not-so-secret office crush got here a little while ago. She’s in room five with a patient.”
Malik felt embarrassed. “What? No, I was just curious.”
The MA had already turned the corner to retrieve the next patient.
Even a regular Monday was the busiest day in the office. The patients who had issues over the weekend tried to get in to see the doctor first thing Monday. Dr. Patel tried to accommodate everyone. Magaly had started as a medical assistant at the office and realized that helping the sick was her calling. She worked full-time and took classes to get her nursing degree. She got a job at Emory Hospital but still worked in Dr. Patel’s practice now and then. Magaly was planning to become a nurse practitioner, and Dr. Patel was always willing to let people shadow him.
Before Malik knew it, the end of the day had arrived. The last patient of the day was waiting on her prescription and scheduling her next appointment. The staff was busy sanitizing the patient and waiting rooms. Magaly was at the front desk talking to Christine. Now was as good of a time as any.
Malik walked to the front desk, rehearsing the lines in his head. Hey, Magaly, how’s it going? So, if you have some free time, I’d love to—
Malik shook his head. “Love” was too strong. It would be great to grab a coffee or a drink or some—
The second he saw her curly black hair and bright eyes, his mind went blank. He felt the beads of sweat collect on his forehead.
“Uh, hi, Magaly!” was all he could say.
“Hey, Malik,” she said. Her smile directed his way made it hard for Malik to think. “Busy day, huh?”
“Yeah,” Malik said. “The only good thing about Mondays is…” the words came out of his mouth too fast, but he cleared his throat, “hearing a lot of good weekend stories.”
Christine said, “Well, I’m heading home.” As she walked past Malik, she whispered, “Nice save.”
Magaly smiled, and Malik looked down at his feet.
“So,” Magaly said in a light-hearted tone, “What are we going to do with you?”
Her tone made Malik look up, feeling hopeful. “It’s funny you say that.” Malik’s stomach tightened. If there was ever a good time, this is it. “I was thinking that we could—”
“Excuse me,” a familiar voice interrupted.
Startled, Malik turned to find a man in the vestibule.
“Is Dr. Patel still in the office?” the man asked.
The man was dressed in a crisp navy-blue suit. He was of average height, thin, and balding, with a well-groomed goatee. Malik recognized him but didn’t let on.
“Do you have an appointment?” Malik asked.
“The doctor is expecting us,” the man said. “We’re from Confidence Biotech.” This was Chance Domagk, the Chief of Staff to the CEO of Confidence Biotech. He continued, “Our CEO is on a tour meeting with a range of our key clients. Our head of sales spoke with Dr. Patel a few weeks ago about coming in and discussing our latest respiratory viral infection medication. He said that today would be a good day.”
“I’ll go ask him,” Magaly said before heading to the back.
“You’ll need to still go through the detection machine,” Malik said. He logged into the receptionist’s computer and set the scan for a non-patient visitor. He looked up, and his heart sank into his stomach. Standing before him was none other than Roy Mengele, President and CEO of Confidence Biotech. Roy was a large man, standing over six feet tall, and looked like he could bench press two hundred pounds on an easy day. He was immaculately dressed in a navy-blue suit and a bright red tie. The Confidence Biotech uniform.
“How do you like it?” Roy asked, nodding toward the machine.
“It’s… it’s great,” Malik said.
“You ready for us?” Chance asked, stepping toward the opening of the machine.
“Yes, go ahead,” Malik said.
Each of the men had come through the machine into the waiting area when Dr. Patel walked up to reception.
“Hello, gentlemen,” Dr. Patel said. “We can meet in my office. Malik, you should come too.”
Once in Dr. Patel’s office, Roy said, “Thanks for seeing us, Dr. Patel. We understand how busy you are, so we appreciate you taking the time out of your day.”
“It’s my pleasure. How may I be of service?”
The sales lead jumped in. “Atlanta has seen a high rate of patients testing positive for the virus, as one would expect, yet I’ve noticed that you’re not prescribing our latest antibody. We wanted to get a better understanding of why.”
“I do prescribe it to any patient who requests it,” Dr. Patel said. “But a lot of our patients can manage the symptoms with other methods. We try that first, and if they are unsuccessful, then I’ll prescribe your medication.”
“We are well aware that you’re one of the best internal medicine doctors in the nation,” Roy said. “I’m sure that the data from our latest research will give you confidence that our antibody will reduce the harmful symptoms faster than any other method.” Roy turned the floor over to his sales lead. “Hank, if you don’t mind.”
Hank pulled out some marketing materials. He handed a brochure to Dr. Patel and one to Malik. “Your endorsement of this drug would be a huge benefit. I would be happy to walk you through some details.”
Malik opened his notebook and pulled his lucky pen out of his jacket pocket. He listened intently as Hank rattled off statistics.
“Excuse me,” Roy interrupted Hank’s well-rehearsed presentation. Malik and Dr. Patel turned their attention to the CEO, who was now staring at Malik.
“You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked.
Chance chimed in, “You were an intern with us, weren’t you?”
“I was.” Malik nodded.
“That’s right,” Roy said. “I used to see you in our New York office.” Roy seemed to stare at Malik’s notebook. “That’s an incredible pen. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.”
“It’s my lucky pen,” Malik said.
“I’d be willing to pay—”
“Malik,” Dr. Patel interrupted, “you’ve had a long day. Why don’t you head on home? I think we slowed you down on your way out of here.”
“Well, I can stick around if you need me—”
“No, it’s fine. Go get some rest.”
Malik stood up, shook the men’s hands, and walked toward the door.
“I hope to see you soon, Malik,” Roy said as Malik closed the door behind him.