Chapter 5

"Doc? Are you fine" Bora asked while washing our hands and preparing for a 6-hour operation.

"Who? Me?"

"I'm fine"

"I changed Sir Brix's dressing earlier"

"That's good…"

"Yona??"

"Yona's fine she insisted to keep her dressing she wanted you to change her dressing for her, but doc if you don't want to go to her room, I'll just change it sneakily later"

"no, I'll do it, it'll be very unprofessional of me if I'll let you do my job, let's start"

I did a briefing for the operation and at 6:00 pm sharp the operation started. We encountered excess bleeding and arrests during the 6-hour period of the operation, removed damaged tissues to revive a part of the lung, connected veins, and finally it came to an end.

"sugohasseo yeoreobun!! Please finish up"

"Yes doc!"

It's 11:58 pm I went out immediately without changing my scrub suit and headed to Yona's room thinking she could still be awake so I could change her dressing.

"She's asleep"

"Yona~" I tried to wake her up

"Yona~~"

"oh! Eonni!!!"

"Shhhh!! You might wake the other person up, keep your voice down."

"Eonni! I'm really scared of what happened earlier"

"You don't need to be scared he won't hurt you anyway, let's change your dressing, hmm??"

"okay"

I changed her dressing and kept telling her stories so she won't mind the pain as I clean her stitches.

"There you go… I'll check on you tomorrow okay?"

"uhhh eonni!"

"hmm??"

"can you tell me more stories until I fall asleep? Like fairytales?"

"Fairytales?? It's already 12:20 in the morning dear and I just came out from a 6-hour operation and I don't know a lot of fairytales though."

"Ahhhhhh~~ahhh" she begged me and I felt sorry

"Shhh!! ok let me search on the internet"

I found one interesting story and started telling it to her and imitated the movements the character would do, she was having fun and giggling like any other child does until she fell asleep. I fixed her blanket and took my phone to leave. Oh! Brix was awake and he was watching us… I bowed only my head as If I don't want to even do it and left the room. I now felt that I kind of hate him for being a jerk and calling his fans stupid.

It's pretty late or should I say it's so early in the morning. It's 1:21 on my watch when I entered my office. I sat down on the massage chair and let myself fall asleep still wearing the scrub suit. I'm too exhausted to even change.

3 days went by normally, my team's been busy doing operations and rounds with the interns of our team, quite hectic but we're having fun.

*knock *knock

"Yes! please come in" I said still looking at the X-ray of the next patient we will be operating...

"Good morning, please take a seat, what can I do for you sir?"

"Good morning I'm a representative from W entertainment, I'm Mr. Choi"

"Nice to meet you Mr. Choi" as I reached out my hand to give him a handshake

"Nice to meet you too, I'll get to the point so I wouldn't be wasting your time because I know you're busy, we would like to release an official statement regarding Brix's condition because his fans are going frenzy to know his condition and the reporters would like to have an interview with his doctor, since you are the attending physician and the one who operated on him, I think it would be best if you do it, only if it's ok with you."

"ah. W-well…"

"Please doctor Xia…"

"okay…"

"well then thank you Dr. Alizondo"

"just Xia"

"Ok Dr. Xia, they'll have a live interview later around 1 pm in the afternoon at the hospital's lobby, I hope you could make time"

"Yes Sir"

He then left the room, a part of me doesn't actually want to do it and a part of me says I have the obligation to let his fans know about his health condition.

It's already 1 pm and the reporters are here.

"We'll start in 1 minute!!" Mr. Choi shouted

And truly within a minute we started

"Good Afternoon everyone this is Dr. Xia Alizondo Brix's Attending Physician, she was the one who operated on Brix" Mr. Choi introduced me

"Good Afternoon." I said nervously

"Brix is involved in a car accident and received a major operation and was 50-50 that day, how true is that?" the first reporter asked

"He came in the hospital with glass shreds punctured mostly on his chest area, one shred punctured deeply almost cutting his Superior Vena Cava which is a vein connected to the heart it was actually a critical operation considering his chance of surviving the operation because one wrong move of the surgeons could cost his life"

"How was his recovery so far???" the second reporter spontaneously asked

"After the operation his recovery is really excellent, but he needs to rest so his wounds would heal and regain his health and energy, I believe he's doing everything to faster his recovery, you'll be able to see him again soon"

"Excuse me Dr. Alizondo but we heard Brix made a fuss in the hospital after his secret Ex-girlfriend broke up with him and injured a doctor while trying to stop him, is there a truth behind this story?

"Mr. Brix Kim is a very kind person and even if a situation like this would happen, he wouldn't act out, there are no doctors or any hospital staffs were harmed, he's a good patient. Regarding the Ex- girlfriend issue, we don't know any of it." I can't believe I still lied in behalf of him…

"We heard you're a fan of his group especially Brix that's why you came to the country after becoming a doctor, is that true Dr. Alizondo?"

"I believe I came out to answer questions regarding my patient's condition and I'm only bound to answer those questions, thank you"

"Thank you everyone! Those are the official statements regarding Brix's condition"

And finally, the interview came to an end.

"Excuse me Mr. Choi but I have a meeting to attend"

"Ok! Ok! Thank you so much Dr. Xia"

I bowed and left him. I went to our department's office to have a meeting regarding a major operation we'll be doing tomorrow. The meeting went for 1 hour

"The interns will be observing the operation and I want you guys to write everything that you have observed on a journal I also want you to write the possible complications that might happen during and after the operation"

"Yes Sunbae!"

"Dismiss! Wait! Interns follow me"

We left the room to visit several patients scheduled for operations and I kept asking them questions. After giving them a hard time with my questions. We went to drop off to visit Yona.

"Yona~~!" Donghyun excitedly came to Yona

"Oppa!~~"

"ahem! Since when did you get close with each other?" I asked pretending to be jealous

"Sunbae, we played a lot when you asked me to watch her when you were busy doing operations."

"oh right! Gomapda Donghyun-ah" (Thank you Donghyun)

"hmmm… Yona let me check your stitches okay??"

"yes Eonni!"

"They're healing so fast!!! What a good girl!! You'll be able to go out of this hospital soon!" I told her with a smile

"ummm.. Dr. Xia??" I heard something from behind

"oh. Mrs. Kim…"

"may I talk for you for a minute?"

"Omma!!"(Mother!!) Brix shouted at his mom

"don't mind him"

"Ok ma'am let's talk outside"

We went to the garden of the Hospital and sat on a bench

"Dr. Xia"

"Yes ma'am.."

"Thank you for covering up for my son"

"hmmm??"

"I saw the interview"

"oh.. I didn't cover up for him I did it for his fans, I don't want his fans to be hurt" and I thought 'because I already know what it feels like'

"I'm sorry and thankful, I know he shouted and humiliated you when you tried to calm him down when his Ex visited here. You're his doctor and all you did was to help him recover and did your job, I'm actually very ashamed to face you, you no longer call me comfortably and I know the reason why behind that"

"ma'am…"

"omma!!!" we were shocked to see Brix on a wheelchair behind us

"Adeul!! Why did you come out?"

"Omma!! Please leave!"

"Ya!! You tried to cover up for me so you would come pleasant to my eyes??!! Do you think I'd really come to like you just because you did that?!!? What are you?? a slut?!!?"

Calling me a slut is too much and without even knowing I was crying

"Don't be too full of yourself sir! I didn't do it for you!!! I did it for your fans so they won't get hurt knowing their Idol became a jerk and tried to kill himself because his girlfriend left him, and for the record I'm no longer one of those you called stupid fans because I'm too tired!!! I wanted to keep being a professional but you went overboard!! I didn't become a doctor just to be called a slut because I took care of a patient and worried for his recovery"

I took the medical record I was holding earlier and began to leave the garden I walk past his mother

"I'm sorry ma'am I lost my temper" I bowed and left

I went straight to my office and fixed myself. I called Bora.

"hey Bora.."

"Yes doc?"

"I'm going home for a while call me if anything comes up"

"yes doc, but you sound off… is there anything wrong?"

"yeah, that's why I'm going home I kinda feel sick"

"I'll take care of the things here please rest…"

"thank you, I'll hung up"

I hung up the call and went home to rest. I felt so tired that's why I dove right into my bed and slept.

I woke up around 6 pm. I opened my TV and watched shows while I tried to cook for my dinner. Thinking that I was living here by myself feels so empty and lonely especially when you're going through problems at work…

"ommo!!" I was startled when my phone suddenly rang.

"yeoboseyo?? Director Jung!"

"ummm Doctor Xia, I heard your having troubles of handling your patient Mr. Kim, I heard he gave you a hard time and said mean things to you, this might have stress you out"

"You shouldn't have bothered yourself about that ma'am, I'm fine, I just took a rest today, i'm going to report tomorrow morning"

"No doctor Xia you have been a lot of help to the hospital even though it was still set to be your holiday, you're supposed to start this week's Monday, right? But you went to work days earlier, that's why I'm giving you 3 days off from work, so you could rest."

"But director there are a lot of work left and I should attend to my patients and guide the interns"

"Don't worry about that your first assistant will take charge, I told her already"

"Well if it's been settled, I should be thankful for the 3 days off from work..."

"I just called to tell you that, see you after 3 days doctor Xia"

"Thank you, director."

And the other line was cut off…

With the 3 days off given to me, what should I do? I don't know even a single person in this Country apart from my team and the staffs in the hospital…

"ah… this is depressing…" I said as I put down the bowl of food in the table at my living room.

I sat in front of my TV and ate the food I cooked while watching shows…

Time went by so fast It's already 12:19 am

"Enough TV for the day, I should sleep"

I found myself really pitiful as I talk to myself, I maybe living a luxurious life here because I became a precious surgeon of a Top Hospital but I really can't deny my longing for my friends and family. Am I starting to regret my decision to come here? After all, the first thing that pushed me to study hard, leave my family, and work here is so that I could see my idol. But now that he's changed, I should find something that will motivate me to stay here so that my efforts won't be put into waste… For now, all I can see is my work, I should dedicate myself into it even more.