Esme Ortega

Esme Ortega, a character in the Open Heart series, is Your Character's intern at Edenbrook Hospital during your second year. She makes her official appearance in Book 2, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Esme has brown eyes, shoulder-length wavy hair, and tan skin. Her hospital outfit consists of blue scrubs. Her casual clothes consist of a black sweater under a green jacket and hood, with silver chain jewelry.

Personality
Esme appears to be a woman of a few words. She is also hotheaded and doesn't allow others to push her around, as shown when she breaks Dr. Thorne's hand after he harasses her at Donahue's.

If you take her with you to do your diagnostics work in Chapter 2, she mentions that she spends a lot of time on people's bad sides and is used to being bailed on, so it is possible she keeps others at a distance as a way of protecting herself.

Background
In a premium scene in Book 2, Chapter 7, Esme reveals that her parents were undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, although she herself was born in Arizona. When she was 14, she returned home after school one day to find out that her parents had been seized by ICE and taken away. Esme says she has not seen her parents since then.

After her parents' deportation, she lived with her neighbor, an old lady named Julia. She says that she 'learned to' like Julia's hands-off approach to raising her, claiming that it made her stronger.

Book 2

 * Chapter 1: Prognosis
 * Chapter 2: The Interns
 * Chapter 3: What's Done Is Done
 * Chapter 4: Blind Spot
 * Chapter 5: Influence
 * Chapter 6: Buying Time (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 7: Wake-Up Call

Your Character
You first meet Esme at Donahue's, where she is shooting down advances made by Dr. Garrett Thorne. You can either try to help her or stay out of it, but whichever you choose, you follow her out to help her clean her wounds. If you tell her that Dr. Thorne got what he deserved, she relaxes a little; if you tell her to be careful, she remains on guard and you explain that he could make her life miserable. After your first meeting with the Diagnostics Team, you meet with the other hospital residents and find out that she is the intern that is assigned to you.

Dr. Garrett Thorne
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Garrett is seen making a pass at Esme at the bar. When she shoots him down, he tries to charm her into having another drink and puts his hand on her back. That makes her wrench his hand off her and slam it into the bar, breaking it. He shoves her and she falls back, bottles breaking and shards gashing her leg. He angrily says he will sue her but is pushed out of the bar by Ethan.

Trivia

 * She shares her first name with the Fire Source from The Elementalists series.
 * She shares the same last name as Zig Ortega, Sophie Ortega, and Linda Ortega from The Freshman et al series.
 * The surname Ortega is of Spanish origin and means "dweller at the sign of the grouse" or "nettle".