Chapter 7
"Eonni.. Eonni!!" I heard Bona's voice..
"oh???"
"Doc! Waaaah!!! You slept for 10 hours!! We thought you've been hibernating!!"
"huh??"
"No clues?? Really?? Doc you fainted after doing the surgery!"
"Speaking of the surgery how's the patient?"
"She's at the ICU and she's doing really well, the cardio-surgery interns took shifts to watch her condition"
"I see"
"Professor Jo suspected that, you fainting, was actually a delayed reaction from the shock that you drove at night from Busan to here…"
"ahhh… I supposed too, because my hands are trembling right now…"
"Why did you have night blindness anyway doc?"
"I thought it was really because my eyes weren't good, but when I went to have a check-up they said it was psychological, well when I was 24 years old I was driving on a highway in the Philippines with a friend of mine, it was supposed to be our day off so we went out of town when suddenly we were called back to the hospital where we were having our internship, we were told to assist on a major operation. There's a part of the highway with broken light posts so it was completely dark when suddenly at a blind curve a huge truck suddenly flashed its lights and I panicked, we went out of the road and the car spun… I didn't have any major injuries though just scratches... the air bag of the car actually helped me, but my friend was injured in the head she was asleep for 2 days when that happened, but she's now totally fine, she's actually my best friend, since that day I never drove at highways, If I do I become tensed and I can't see the road well even with the headlights are on… but driving in the city's fine… it's just---"
*knock *knock
Oh! it's Brix Kim, He's not going to scold me for arriving late right? I'm actually worried he might say things that would hurt me… But why am I even scared??
"ah.. may I.. come in??"
"oh… yes sir…" Bona said…
I looked at Bona and she saw my worried eyes…and she shocked me when she began spurting words out…
"Patient Brix Kim if you're going to scold my team leader for arriving late please this is not the time, she---"
"I'm not here to do that…" he cut Bona
"I'm Sorry sir, that's not what she meant" I said,
"can you leave us for a moment?" he said to Bona
Bona looked at me and I gave her an "It's Okay" look… Then she left the room
"I-I accidentally heard your conversation, I…. didn't know you were at Busan last night and you drove with that condition….. I-I'm sorry for shouting at you last night… I didn't mean to…"
"I understand sir"
"I also came here to thank you for doing the operation, I heard there were no other doctors available, I'm really thankful for the effort you made."
I just nodded, and there was a moment of silence before he spoke again…
"I-I'm sorry for the things I did and said towards you before, it must have given you a lot of hard time since you just moved in here in South Korea…"
"How did you know that I just moved in here?"
"The director, She's actually a friend of my family, and I came to talk to her last night"
"I see…"
"I heard you were a fan of my group since our pre-debut???"
I did not respond things have changed since I came here I kinda still feel hate towards him…
"ummm… I'm sorry when I called you a slut, I didn't mean to say that, it's just that I wasn't thinking clearly… I hope you weren't hurt because of that."
he wasn't thinking clearly?? What a lame excuse! That's why I spoke
"Honestly, I didn't expect my idol to say that to me, and it really did hurt… you weren't thinking clearly? I don't think so…"
"I'm sorry…"
"I hope you won't call your fans 'stupid' again"
I removed my IV and got up out of bed and about to walk out of the room
"I regret we met each other like this…" he said
"I kinda regret spending my youth thinking you were a great person. I regret meeting you this way either."
"I hope I could make it up to you, I hope we could be friends"
I looked at him and he seems serious though… but I think it would take time for me to remove my hate towards him… I walked out of the room and went to my office…
"Professor!! Have you been waiting for me??I'm sorry I just woke up"
"No, it's fine doc Xia, I just wanted to talk to you about the patient we operated earlier"
"Yes, what about her…"
"I'll be going to U.S. for a Seminar today, I'll be there for a week, since you we're also the attending surgeon, I want to pass her on your department to monitor her condition"
"Yes, professor we'll take shifts to monitor her"
"Thank you, Xia... I can just call you Xia, right?"
"Of course, you can professor!!" I smiled at him
"It's just you really seem a daughter to me"
"thank you for thinking of me that way professor"
"No! no!! you could just consider me as your father too, call me like a father, it's fine!"
"oh! you're very kind professor I'll be comfortable with it soon"
I went to our department's office to tell them about what we discussed
"Interns, let's take shifts on monitoring her condition. You'll take 5 hours of shifts each I'll take the remaining 4 hours, the seniors should check the interns from time to time okay? In case that I'll be handling surgeries during my shift one of the interns must do it, you guys decide on who will take the shift okay?"
"yes sunbae!"
"ok dismiss"
I went out to see the patients taken by our department. The number of patients waiting for operation are smaller compared last week. I heard from Bora that Yona will be dismissed 3 days from now. That's why I'll visit her often.
*knock *knock
"Yona-ya I brought burgers from the café… do you---"
"Yona!! What are you doing there??" I was shocked because she was at Brix's bed, maybe he'll get angry----- Wait!! What's this?!? Th-they're playing?!?
"Eonni!! Oppa gave me a color book… He said he'll help me color it… Look!!"
I went near them with a shocked face
"Annyeonghaseyo doc Xia" Brix greeted me with a smile
"a-annyeonghaseyo" I bowed my head
"Yona-ya I brought burgers from the Café do you want to have some?"
"really?!? Wow!! May I have some??"
"yeah, here take this..." I gave her a burger
"ah… I'm sorry but I only bought one for her, d-do you like some? I'll go get one for you..."
"No... no I'm fine…"
I watched her eat the burger
"Yona be careful not to drop some on the bed"
"No, it's okay" Brix said
I'm like 'What's this?!? Why is he suddenly being nice?!?'
"I heard my mom's under your department's watch now."
"Yes, we're taking shifts to monitor her condition"
"Please take care of her"
"We will"
"can I visit her later?"
"yes"
"thank you"
"Oh eonni!! You're not fighing with him today?"
"o-oh??! No… ummm… I… uhh" how in the world would I explain it to the child?!?!!
"I apologized to her earlier, it was my mistake, it will never happen again… so don't be scared at oppa okay??" he explained and pat her head
Ommo?? Is he over with the heartache now?? This is a sudden mood change really!! Is he perhaps bipolar? Or did he create a second personality so he could escape the pain or what??!!
"Yona, eonni will come again soon… I need to go… I have an operation today…"
"yes, eonni!! Drop by often because they said I'll be going home 3 days from now…"
"okay… be good okay??"
"ne!!" (yes)
I faced Brix and bowed my head to say that I'm leaving… He smiled at me which is weird…
I did one operation today and helped on the emergency room for 2 hours. I'll be able to go home today and take home my car…
It's 11 pm when I got home… I cooked my dinner. Yes!! dinner at 11 pm… I ate and went to sleep 'cause I have an early scheduled operation at 6 am tomorrow.
5:30 am I'm at a nearby coffee shop to have my breakfast, I'm studying the X-ray of the patient I'll be operating today, It's not so complicated so I'm expecting it to be done within 2 hours.
I'm preparing for the operation now…
"Sunbae…"
"Oh Donghyun-ah, you want to tell me something?"
"I just want to ask why you became a doctor."
"eh? Haha! Is that it?? I'll tell you later after the operation okay? meet me at the garden later"
"yes, sunbae"
"okay... let's go?"
"ne!"
We finished the operation after exactly 2 hours. And as promised I met my intern at the garden…
"Sunbae!!"
"Oh! oh! just sit..."
"Sunbae I bought some fruit shakes"
"ooh… gomawo!" (ooh… thanks)
"why did you want to know why I became a doctor? Hmm??"
"It's just, at a young age you're already a team leader of a surgery team, you're so smart and dedicated to your work, I just want to know what inspired you, and I learned that, since you were young you wanted to work here, I wanted to be like you too and ask for advice.."
"ohh.. I don't know what to give as an advice, like hey!! we're only 4 years apart!!hahaha!!"
There was a moment of silence before I started to talk.
"Well, when I was a kid, I really wanted to become a doctor, when my father died when I was at the age of 10 or 11? I said to myself I should become a doctor, because of my father's death at a young age I became a lot less energetic and I felt depressed not until I saw a kpop group, well eventually I became an avid fan and restarted my dream again, I said to myself 'Now I really want to become a doctor in South Korea so there will be a chance to meet them.' That's how I came here, I just looked for some inspiration and worked hard more than anyone…"
"was he Brix Kim Hyung you liked as your idol?"
"How'd you know?!?"
"I just guessed sunbae.."
"eyy"
"Honestly, you seemed to be worrying a lot for him just like real fans would do…"
"well I've been a fan since he debuted, so I can't change how I react, but he's changed and it's sad…"
"oh, my phone's ringing…"
"go ahead…"
He attended to the call
"Sunbae, thank you for sharing your story, Bora sunbae is looking for me…"
"is there any problem?"
"no, it's nothing she was just asking for some test results"
"I see… go ahead…"
"Ne!"
I smiled at him as he left. I still sat down on the bench, closed my eyes and stretched my neck facing the sky
"Seemed tired?"
"ne.." (yes..) I opened my eyes and saw his face "oh, aniyo.." (oh, no..)
"I was at the back, when you were talking to your intern, I happened to have listened to your conversation."
"It seems like it has become your habit to eavesdrop…"
"haha!! No, I didn't know it was you…"
"ahhh…"
"I'm sorry to hear about your father…"
"hmm?? Oh… it has been years since that happened, I'm fine..."
"I did change a lot, didn't I?"
"so, you heard everything…"
"yeah... hey! since we're talking comfortably and you're 6 years younger than me, can I just call you with your name?? call me 'oppa' or with my name too, if you like let's not mind our age gap at all…"
"just call me whatever you want, you already did that several times didn't you?" I said with a straight face and an uninterested voice
"a-ah… I'm really sorry about that…"
"yeah… but that doesn't change that a lot of people heard you and they already thought of me that way too"
yeah!! I saw on a discussion section on a famous blog site that Brix Kim called a Doctor on a famous hospital a slut because she was trying to seduce him. I saw it when I was at Busan…good thing it didn't have my picture or my name… but still… it hurt my dignity as a doctor… I was just taking care of him as a physician!!!
I stood up and about to leave when he held my arm… I tried to get his grip of me
"I didn't come to you with a motive and not because I am your fan so I'll seduce you, I've already accepted the fact that us your fans will never be your lover… Of all people I'm very well aware of that!! so don't think I came to you with a motive. It's not my personality to flirt even if you were my idol!"
"I was full of myself, I'm sorry, I'm really trying to make up to you and show how sorry and thankful I am for both saving my life and my mother's… It was actually the last thing me and my mom argued… after she passed out, I realized she was right, can you hear me out a little longer?"
I thought twice but something in myself drag me to sit down again without looking at him.
"I admit, I changed and it was my mistake for not realizing quickly that a girl was ruining me… I felt really sorry towards my fans about it… And….. I'm especially sorry towards you who saved me… I really hope we could fix this and be friends"
"Taking your life because you lost her wasn't a solution at all, I didn't operate on you and saved you thinking of your life like something that is precious more than anything just for you to take it easily without even thinking"
And a moment of silence took place
"make up to your fans and be kind to the hospital staffs, my teammates and interns always brought your medicines instead of the nurses because they're afraid of you scolding them…"
I stood up and turned my back…
"Let's not mind our age gap and that I was once your idol, I hope we could start a new and be friends" he said
"I…" I actually don't know what to say yet, I guess I am still disappointed with his actions recently that's why I completely walked out.
After our conversation, I went to do our routine visit to our patients with the interns.
"Code Blue! Code Blue! ICU patient 11. Requesting Dr. Alizondo at the ICU right away" there was a sudden call.
"ICU patient 11??? That's Brix's mother, right??" I asked while the interns are running along with me
"yes sunbae!"
"Shoot!!! Donghyun!! Call Bora ASAP!! Jiyeon contact the Cardio-Surgery department!"
"Yes Sunbae!!"
I ran with the other two interns until we reached ICU someone grabbed my arm
"a-ah!"
"X-Xia please save her"
"Please get out for a while, we'll take care of her"
"I-I"
"Take him out of the room!! Jihye.."
"The Potassium level is very low, her blood pressure…. Ugh!!! Wait, she woke up 12 hours after the operation, right?"
"Yes sunbae..."
"when was the last time she woke up?"
"around 2 hours ago"
"Did she complain any irregularities on her heart?? Or something else??"
"Nothing"
"If this was sudden… there might have been another subsequent dissection or an aortic aneurysm, Cardio Surgery department! Request for a heart CT ASAP!!!"
"Yes doc!!"
I went out to see Brix to inform him
"Your Mother's in an unstable state now, there could have been a new dissection in a layer of her heart or an aortic aneurysm, I requested for a fast CT scan, if we found any of those things I mentioned we need to conduct another surgery."
"h-huh?! I can't comprehend anything at all..."
"oh…. where's your father?"
"he's still on a business trip abroad"
"did you call him?"
"he said he's taking the first flight in the morning"
"how should I explain this… umm… If we found some irregularities on your mother's heart we should operate on her immediately"
"just please do everything you can…"
"yes… just trust the doctors"
"Doc the CT scan is here…"
"Ok, let's have an emergency meeting"
Next to the ICU room is an Emergency Meeting cubicle…
��ahhhh… just what I predicted, Aortic Aneurysm, let's perform a surgery!"
"But, Doc there's no one from our department who could lead or assist the surgery, we're all interns here" said one intern from the Cardio-Surgery Department
"I'll take the lead, but the assistant has to be from your department, since it's your specialization. Ummmm… there must be a senior intern from any of you right?"
"It's my 3rd year as a resident under the department."
"what's your name?
"Im Haneul, sunbaenim…"
"have you assisted on an operation for aortic aneurysm before?"
"yes I did"
"ok assist me"
"The rest prepare the operating room ASAP!! Move!!!"
"ne!!"
I stormed out of the ICU department to go to the OR lock room
"Xia! Xia!"
"Ne?" I turned around and saw Brix
"what's going on??"
"We need to operate on your mother. I need to prepare… now…" I turned my back and ran
"o-ok I'll trust you!!" I gave him an ok sign through my hand, I know he's very worried I should at least give him an assurance that his mother will be fine.
I saw Brix again on the observation area. His face is really worried… We started the operation and everything's doing very fine…
"Ya! 3rd year Resident Im Haneul!! Are you not going to hold it right?!? Hold the clamp right!!"
"Sunbae…" Bora called my attention
"ok let's fix it now"
The operation went well this time I'm sure there's no further complications in the future I checked the CT scan for several times to make sure that, that was the last problem… they're transferring Brix's mother back to the ICU now
"Haneul!!"
"Sunbaenim"
"I'm sorry I shouted at you"
"That's nothing sunbaenim, I learned a lot from the operation today"
"That's good… you've worked hard today" I tapped his back
"You've worked hard too, sunbaenim"
"mmmm"
I washed my hands after him
"Ah... sunbaenim!"
"you we're really cool today"
"huh??" I let out a laugh
"I'm amazed by how talented and smart of a surgeon you are, anyway sunbaenim I saw sir Brix, he's still at the observation room."
"ok… thank you…"
I finished washing my hand and went up to the observation room. I saw him sitting down with his elbows on his thighs and palms covering his face, he was crouching down. He was really worried to death…
"Your mother has been transferred back to the ICU… you should check on her later…" I said as I sat down on the chair on the other side.
"I was so shocked with what happened, I was watching her and the alarm on the monitor suddenly turned on… I didn't know what to do…"
"This will be the last time she'll be put into danger. right??" he's crying… what should I do???
"uh… oh…"
"right??"
"I made sure this will be the last time she'll be put into danger, you don't have to worry"
I think I should leave him for moment
"Xia…" he suddenly grabbed my wrist and hugged me
"Ah… Sir…" he won't let go
"Sir.." I tried to push him with my arms
"Sir!!!"
"Brix!!!" he still won't move
"Thank you, Xia… Thank you…" then he let go of me…
I gave him a "what was that?!" stare
"ah- ah I'm sorry I just want to thank you…"
"mmmm" I nodded then I left
I decided to stay so I could watch Mrs. Kim's condition. I stayed at the ICU until 3 am in the morning…
"Sunbae… I'll take the shift now, you should rest"
"Oh Donghyun-ah, Report to me if there's even a little fluctuate on her vitals, okay??"
"yes sunbae"
I went out of the ICU center to head back to my office… Oh?? What's that guy doing sleeping outside the ICU??
I tapped his shoulder, I can't see his face well, his hands are covering his face to support his head from sleeping
"ne??"
"oh!! I didn't mean to wake but…" oh it's Brix…
"It's ok"
"I saw you wearing a patients dress, that's why I wake you up to tell you to go to your room… I didn't know it was you"
"Is my mother doing fine?"
"Yes, I just checked on her, I left an intern to monitor her, I'll check her again after an hour"
"Thank you… but shouldn't you sleep too?"
"ha!" I chuckled a little
"I think you should be the one sleeping, after all you're still my patient…"
"ahhh… if I'll go to my room, maybe I can't even close my eyes"
"your wounds are still recovering, I could prescribe a sleeping pill this once, if… you'd like…?"
"ok I should listen to my doctor at least this once, right?"
"hmm" I nodded
I went with him… To make sure he'll rest
"here"
He took the pills
"I'm giving this just this time so you could calm down and rest…"
"thank you"
I nodded, I saw Yona sleeping well and went to her and pat her head lightly before I left their room…