Bryce Lahela

Bryce Lahela, a character in the Open Heart series, is a surgical intern at Edenbrook Hospital and one of your love interests. He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Bryce has brown eyes, dark hair with brown streaks and a dark tanned complexion. His casual outfit consists of a maroon-wine colored button-up dress shirt under a dark gray sweater and dark blue jeans. He wears a black corded bracelet and a brown leather wristwatch on his left wrist. His scrubs are green (possibly to denote his department).

Personality
He says he has an unshakable self-assurance. He is confident, optimistic, flirtatious and has a healthy self-esteem. On the surface, he is cocky and mischievous. He doesn't have many surgical intern friends because they think he's arrogant and pushy (after his initiative helps him get noticed by their attendings). He says he has never been one to care much about what other people think. He works hard, takes risks and seizes opportunities. He also enjoys trying new things.

Bryce is shown to be very supportive, kind and helpful; always uplifting his friends and your character especially, constantly buying them drinks and even helping clean their apartment after a party, among others. If you choose to go to the fundraising gala with him, during your exhausting period finishing clinic before the hospital closes down, he would show up at your apartment bringing home-cooked pasta. He says it was the only thing he could make without screwing it up.

On a deeper level, Bryce is fair and pragmatic. If you choose to seek advice from him at the end of Book 2, he would tell you that there are a lot of pros and cons with Bloom's takeover, which some are unknowable at that point. He said sometimes, helping others requires making personal compromises. He later tells you that the advanced technologies brought into the hospital would help them become better doctors. You also note that he is doing a good job at being full-time guardian for his sister.

Bryce is portrayed to be playful yet skilled and trustworthy surgeon. While he enjoys the 'perks and toys' outside work, the toys he really wants to play with are in the operating theatre, indicating how much he loves doing surgeries. However, just because he enjoys what he does, doesn't mean he doesn't take it seriously. In all his confidence, his pragmatism also helps him weight the sensible risks and benefits of surgery, instead of jumping on every opportunity presented to him. He is not scared to tell his patients when the risks outweigh the benefits, or reassures confidence when the benefits outweigh the risks. This allows his patients to have trust in him and go into surgeries fully informed.

When it comes to romantic relationship, Bryce is initially reluctant to commit. Due to his childhood, he says he always wishes to be free and able to run anytime he could. It is one of the reasons why he loves the ocean because of its vastness and freedom. However, if you romance him, he will tell you that being with you is the most free he has ever felt. And that you are the best thing that ever happened to him. He is thankful because you help him become a better man and a better surgeon.

Background
The Lahelas were property tycoons who became white-collar criminals. When Bryce was a senior in high school, his father went to jail for insider trading while his mother was acquitted because she testified against him. Consequently but hardly surprising, the kids whose parents had lost money from his parents' schemes took their anger and frustrations out on him - and he couldn't even disagree or blame them. It didn't stop when he got to college either though he tried to get as far away from Hawaii as possible. His hometown is Maui, Hawaii. When Keiki was six years old and in elementary school, Bryce left for college and did not return. He implied that he was a rebellious and irresponsible kid prior to his father's arrest. His father constantly called him a disappointment, which got him into fights with his parents. For, at least in hindsight, obvious reasons his parents always wanted him to become a lawyer, but Bryce chose to become a doctor instead. Eventually, his father was paroled for “good behavior”.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: The Doctor Is In
 * Chapter 2: Code Blue
 * Chapter 3: Hanging in the Balance
 * Chapter 4: Dolores
 * Chapter 5: Relief
 * Chapter 6: Housewarming
 * Chapter 7: Patient X
 * Chapter 8: Make-Believe
 * Chapter 9: The Pita
 * Chapter 10: Risk and Reward
 * Chapter 11: Whatever It Takes
 * Chapter 12: Panacea
 * Chapter 13: Admission (Determinant)
 * Chapter 14: Triage
 * Chapter 15: Hearing Impaired
 * Chapter 16: The Curious Case of Dr. Banerji
 * Chapter 17: The Oath

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
 * Chapter 8: Fair Game
 * Chapter 9: Undetected
 * Chapter 10: The Senator
 * Chapter 11: Countdown
 * Chapter 12: Control
 * Chapter 14: Snowball
 * Chapter 15: Do No Harm
 * Chapter 16: The Kindness of Strangers
 * Chapter 17: Hopeful Hearts
 * Chapter 18: Inevitable
 * Chapter 19: One Last Case
 * Chapter 20: Picking Sides

Book 3

 * Chapter 1: Edenbrook 2.0
 * Chapter 2: More Than Meets The Eye
 * Chapter 3: Look on the Bright Side
 * Chapter 6: Checks and Balances
 * Chapter 8: The Die Is Cast
 * Chapter 9: Build Up
 * Chapter 10: Ceasefire
 * Chapter 11: Wedding Belles
 * Chapter 12: Steady Hand
 * Chapter 13: Building Up (Determinant)
 * Chapter 14: Against the Boards
 * Chapter 15: Day in Court (Determinant)
 * Chapter 16: Moving On

Your Character
"Fighting for what's right is what makes you a great doctor."

- Bryce to MC

You first meet him in the locker room on your first day. In Chapter 2, when you are hiding in a supply closet, you are able to let him help you gain some confidence. You can choose if you want to keep the conversation on a professional basis or if you want to hug and even kiss him. At the bar, you have the option of playing darts with him and his fellow surgical interns, even wagering a kiss if you win.

In Book 1 Chapter 3, you can choose to sneak with him into the OR to watch Ethan Ramsey and Naveen Banerji treat a seizure patient. As a surgical intern, Bryce's keycard can freely access the OR and he will bring you to the observational deck to watch. If you ask him why he went into surgery, he tells you that he has always liked fixing things. He thinks it's amazing something like us can become self-aware, can make art, can fly to the moon, can seek its place in the universe. In Chapter 6, after your housewarming party winds down, he will help you clean the house and you can choose to hook up with him.

In Chapter 7, when you are following Dr. Ramsey, you ask Bryce to distract Ines and Zaid for you. He says you owe him for this. In Chapter 10, he will reveal to you that he doesn't have many friends among the other surgical interns anymore. Apparently, they say it's because he's too arrogant and pushy, even though they didn't seem to mind before the attendings started to notice him. He offers you support for being in the same shoes with you considering it was the same time you were shunned by your peers too. In Chapter 11, he will join you and Kyra if you go skydiving together.

In Chapter 13, if you choose to see him, you can choose to hook up with him. Either way, he tells you that what is bothering you isn't something new. It is something you've carried all along: your doubt. He tells you that while he knows how to own his talent, you always feel the need to justify why you're there like you don't think you're cut out to be a doctor. He tells you that you're so wrong. You deserve to be there because you are a good doctor, a brilliant doctor. In Chapter 14, you have the option to go go-kart racing with him where he tries to cheer you up. He tells you that fighting for what's right is what makes you a great doctor. He believes Mrs. Martinez wouldn't want you to change or surrender. She'd want you to keep helping people stuck in the system.

In Book 2 Chapter 8, if you go shopping with him and his sister, you tell him that it feels like a date. He reveals that he hasn't asked anyone to go to the mall with him since he was fifteen. And he would ask you out in a heartbeat if the two of you met at that age, in which you reply that you would definitely accept and that you would have a major crush on him. In Chapter 11, when you are poisoned in an assassination attempt, he rushes his surgery to check on you. You voice your worry that he is leaving a surgery for you. But he says that he would leave anything, anywhere for you. When you tell him that he doesn't need to pretend to be positive for your sake, he tells you that he is being optimistic for himself, otherwise he would lose his mind watching your condition. During that period, he tells you that you mean a lot to him more than you know, and he couldn't bear the idea of losing you.

In Book 3, if you do not romance Bryce and you decide to "test" your patient Andrew's "psychic powers", you find out that Bryce thinks you have the biggest and warmest heart of everyone he knows. He is also slightly intimidated by you and wants your approval of him. If you romance him, Andrew will say that Bryce thinks you are the hottest and most gorgeous person he ever saw. In a scene during escape room, he also tells you that your brilliant mind is sexy.

In Chapter 6, you find Bryce shaking at the nurses station, something you had never seen he had before. In private, he tells you that he messed up on the carotid endarterectomy that he just performed. His hand had slipped and he nicked the arterial wall. He froze in panic and it was his intern who stepped up to help him save the patient. He doesn't believe he is in any formal trouble, but he imagines his attending will want to talk to him after the latter recovers from the operation. If you decide to, you and Rafael can distract him by taking him to play paintball and rebuild a little of his confidence.

In a premium scene in Chapter 11, while teaching you how to surf, Bryce advises you not to be scared of the waves. You can choose to return the advise to Surgeon Bryce, and it is revealed that he is still anxious with what happened during the carotid endarterectomy surgery that he becomes overly cautious than he used to. You tell him that he is more than cautious. Rather, he is anxious that he's going to fail again and it keeps him from trying. It causes him to pull away from Henry's surgery, a patient he did multiple operations on who had grown to be a friend. You also get the chance to confess your love for him in the same chapter.

In Chapter 14, when your character, Jackie, Aurora, Sienna, and Elijah are in the middle of the board exam, Bryce and Rafael will bring lunch for the exam goers to eat in between sessions. At the end of Book 3, Bryce will enter his fourth and final year residency, suggesting that things won't change much and he will stay at least for another year at Edenbrook. Regardless of whether you choose to stay or leave the hospital, Bryce will tell you he will always support you, and that you and him are solid. If you romance him and choose to leave Edenbrook, he will look a bit sad, but tells you he is proud of you and will always support you whatever your decision is.

Jackie Varma
"We really, really suck at trying to cheer Lahela up!"

- Jackie to Bryce When you meet him in the locker room, you also meet Jackie. It appears they know each other as she likes to egg him on and he doesn't mind the nicknames. In Book 1 Chapter 3, if you choose to sneak into OR with Jackie to watch Ethan Ramsey and Naveen Banerji treat a seizure patient, you and Jackie will steal Bryce's keycard. Despite constantly teasing Bryce, Jackie had shown that she cares for him, including cheering him up when Bryce felt down. In Book 2 Chapter 15, you get to pick a premium choice to have threesome with Bryce and Jackie.

Dr. Tanaka
Dr. Tanaka is one of Bryce's surgical attendings. Bryce impresses him by being proactive and stepping up when necessary. He saved the patient and handled a solo surgery. However, due to his rash yet confident behavior in later surgeries, Dr. Tanaka took Bryce off his schedule because he felt Bryce was being too risky, even if the end worked in the patient's favor. Due to that, other attendings and surgical residents followed Dr. Tanaka's direction and took Bryce off their schedules. It takes Dr. Ryan to add Bryce back on her schedule for him to start again, and in Chapter 14, when all hands are on deck for the subway derailment accident, Bryce gains favor with Chief Emery and assists her in saving Rafael. He earns her kudos and she praises him in front of Dr. Tanaka.

In Book 2, when Bryce performs an extrapleural pneumonectomy on Kyra Santana and you are caught up in an assassination attempt on Senator Ed Farrugia, Ines offers to call Dr. Tanaka for him to take over. Bryce tells her that Dr. Tanaka is on vacation, but she offers nevertheless. If Bryce decides to have her call in a premium opportunity, Dr. Tanaka arrives as Bryce finishes wrapping Kyra's heart with Gore-Tex. Dr. Tanaka praises Bryce for his cool head and is impressed by his technique. He takes over for Bryce when Bryce is done with the tumour extraction.

Dr. Harper Emery
Bryce's dreams of seeing Chief Emery operate are fulfilled in Book 1 Chapter 14. She also appoints him her second and tells him that he did excellent work that surgeons ten years his senior couldn't pull off.

In Chapter 1 of Book 2, Bryce admits that Harper's surgeries are the hardest to get on, as well as her standards being "perfection high", which is why he's been working hard to meet them and as a result, he was able to score the most surgeries out of the interns.

Rafael Aveiro
Bryce and Rafael were first introduced to each other in Book 1 Chapter 9 when you invited Rafael to join your dinner with Bryce and your roommates. Rafael was initially uncomfortable in the circle as he felt like he had nothing to offer to a group of doctors who went to Ivy leagues. The two did not interact much after that possibly due to Rafael's reservation. When Rafael is critically wounded in Chapter 14 while helping out disaster victims, he was brought to Edenbrook's emergency room. Harper Emery recognizes her E.M.T and takes Bryce as her second to perform surgery to save Rafael. After the surgery, Bryce meets you at Rafael's ward and informs you that Rafael's vitals are stable and barring any complications, he will recover soon. In Chapter 17 when your friends go to Donahue after your ethics hearing, Rafael will join you and Bryce will friendly greet Rafael saying that he's looking better. Seemingly more comfortable with the surgeon, Rafael replies that he is feeling better even though his supervisor insisted him to take another month off.

Subsequently, Rafael and Bryce's relationship seems to be much closer. They were often spotted together playing basketball in hospital compound, working out with Ethan Ramsey at the hospital gym, and Rafael would join you when Bryce needs some pick-me-up encouragements. When Bryce, Rafael, and Ethan are racing on treadmills, Bryce says Rafael is so bad at trash talking. Towards Book 3, Rafael is more comfortable in passing teasing remarks to Bryce, indicating their friendship seems to have grown closer. In Book 3 Chapter 14, Rafael and Bryce will together bring lunch for you and fellow exam goers to eat in between sessions.

Unnamed Parents
In Chapter 9, Bryce mentions he went to the farthest medical school he could find a way from his parents. When asked what's wrong with them, he says it would be easier to list what isn't wrong with them. In Book 2, Chapter 5, you discover that a large part of their estranged relationship is due to the fact that his parents are criminals. Bryce is still angry at them for how their choices hurt him and Keiki. He describes them as being "total con artists." In Chapter 15, when Bryce saw how Panacea affected Jackie, he reflects on the anger he has been carrying for his parents. He feels he is ready to let go of the anger and get on with his life. When your team flies to Hawaii for Ines's wedding in Book 3, his mother shows up with Keiki at a Poke Up Restaurant, seeking a reconciliation. He initially hesitates, but after some encouragement from Keiki, and possibly your character, he will accept his mother's apology, even though he says there is still a lot of trust to build. But he is willing to try and mend their bond.

Keiki Lahela
Keiki is Bryce's younger sister. In Book 2, Chapter 5, Keiki had run away from home and stays at Bryce's apartment. They are not close and they rarely talk, and Keiki seems to hold a grudge against Bryce for 'skipping out on her' when he left to go to college. Bryce says their parents saw her as their perfect princess. After Bryce realized how bad life was for Keiki with Your Character's help, he allows her to stay. Keiki cares for Bryce as well and even stated that he was the greatest brother better than their parents. Their relationships have a lot of good times and bad times due to the struggles of what their parents had done, but they decided to remain close and never hide any more secrets. In Chapter 14, Keiki notices that Bryce had been adjusting his budget to accommodate her. She felt guilty for weighing down on Bryce, but Bryce convinced her that he wants her here with him. When Keiki expresses her wish to go to a boarding school, Bryce is willing to lower down his pride to seek help from his parents when he couldn't fully afford a good boarding school. In a premium scene where you send Keiki to the boarding school with Bryce, he looks sad that Keiki moved out of his apartment. It is later shown that he still occasionally visits and makes video calls to his sister.

Other Looks

 * -|Book 1=

Miscellaneous

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Trivia

 * He is shown on the cover of Open Heart: Second Year and Open Heart: Third Year.
 * He shares the same forename as Bryce Sterling from Veil of Secrets.
 * The name Bryce is of Celtic origin and means "swift" or "speckled".
 * The surname Lahela is of Hawaiian origin. In the Hawaiian culture, it takes the English names and modified in the Hawaiian version. Lahela is the Hawaiian version of the Hebrew name Rachel (which means "ewe").
 * His family lives in a massive estate in Maui, Hawaii.
 * In Chapter 4, if you go out with him, he tells you that his ex called him a golden retriever - that he sees something that excites him and he goes for it, everything else be damned.
 * He worked through med school as a bartender.
 * In Chapter 9, it's revealed that he went to Stanford University.
 * In Chapter 11, it's revealed that he is a skydiving expert and goes skydiving as often as he can. Elijah even asks him if he is an adrenaline junkie.
 * He is a playable character in Book 2, Chapter 11.
 * His bucket list of things-to-do in Boston is trying to eat oyster, which he thought was gross and slimy.
 * Bryce's career arc throughout the series coincidentally corresponds to the famous Kocher's Rule in real surgical world: "A good surgeon knows how to operate. A better surgeon knows when to operate. The best surgeon knows when not to operate."
 * Book 1: Bryce seizes opportunities to assist and lead difficult surgeries resembling a good surgeon who knows how to operate.
 * Book 2: Bryce handles Kyra's cancer recurrence, convincing her for surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy akin to a better surgeon who knows when to operate.
 * Book 3: Bryce tries hard to convince Henry not to operate due to the risk and complexity of the surgery showing that he knows when not to operate. However, despite knowing the high risks and complications, Henry insisted and fully consented, in which Bryce complied.

Memorable Quotes
(Thank you to the PLL Wikia for letting us use their template for this memorable quotes section!)