5. The Ring

After the shift, I went to my temporary boarding house, located behind the hospital. I was so sleepy that I fell asleep as soon as my body touched the bed while wearing my uniform last night. An hour later, I woke up by Harsya's phone ringing. While holding back sleep, I answered the phone.

"Hello,"

"Hello dear.. still sleepy, huh? surely you stayed up late last night." Harsya laughed at the other end.

"No, really. It's just that last night there was a strange patient who came on duty," I replied.

"Weird?"

"Eh, I don't mean weird, but that's how it is," I corrected.

Harsya laughed. He must have been wondering what kind of patient I had last night.

The dream about last night flashed again in my eyes, so real it made my chest flutter.

"What time will it end? I'll pick you up," Harsya's loving voice woke me up from my memory of last night's dream.

"I don't know yet, at ten o'clock there will be a case presentation, after that we just say goodbye," I answered.

"I'll call you later when you want to go home, and I'll pick you up. See you later, dear," Harsya immediately ended the call without waiting for my answer.

I immediately put my cellphone on the nightstand. I wanted to continue my sleep, but it felt like I had endured. I then rushed to the bathroom, finished taking a shower, and started to organize my clean clothes into the suitcase, books, and other equipment I put in the bag while placing my dirty clothes into the crackle bag to wash in my old boarding house.

Something rolled out of my white uniform's pocket when I folded it. I immediately picked it up, and it turned out to be a ring made of white gold with a unique design. The top of the ring has a half-heart-shaped diamond sprinkled. Maybe when combined with another ring, it will form a heart pattern, a symbol of love.

I stared at the ring, isn't this ring...,,

I remember last night the woman in room nine put this ring on my finger, but I quickly took it off and put it in my pocket as I ran from room nine to the nurse's station. I sighed heavily. If this existed, could it be that last night's incident was real? I felt my head throb, and my breath hitched at the thought. I was interested but asking Ali directly, for me, was an impossibility.

I tried to wear the ring on my ring finger next to my engagement ring. I looked at the ring for a moment, and the ring was stunning. The diamonds sparkled beautifully. After looking at it satisfied, I intended to remove the ring but couldn't. The ring seemed to stick to my finger.

Suddenly my phone rang again, from Tia.

"Zie, hurry to the hall. A lot of people have come here," said Tia at the other end.

"Okay, have you started?" I asked.

"Not yet, just waiting for Mr. Sakti and a representative from the hospital, but Mr. Sakti has come. He still talking to the director of the hospital."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

I rushed to the lobby. They're almost all the students who practiced at Family Hope Hospital had already filled the seats in the lobby. Tia waved at me, and she asked me to sit on the chair next to her, which she had provided for me.

While walking towards Tia, I passed in front of Ali's seat. We stared at each other for a long time until I finally looked down and continued my way towards the chair I was about to sit. Fortunately, this incident went unnoticed because when I passed in front of Ali, the lecturer and hospital leadership entered the hall.

The presentation went smoothly. Ali represented us, gave a persuasive presentation, and wowed everyone in the room. Our eyes met several times during Ali's presentation, but one of us quickly looked away. I saw something strange in his gaze, full of question marks.

After the presentation, we went around all the rooms to say goodbye.

"Sat, last night you sent a patient to the VIP room?" As we walked down the stairs, I asked Satrio who was in charge in the ER last night.

"Yeah, that's what Mrs. Dahlia is..."

"The one before that,"

"No, it was safe last night," said Satrio firmly.

"Around two o'clock?"

"Nothing? Why is that?"

"It's okay, Thanks, anyway..."

"It's strange..." Satriyo muttered, "Ali also asked that question earlier."

"Ali? What did he say?" I couldn't hide my surprise.

"Nothing, just asking if there were patients who came before Mrs. Dahlia's entered the VIP room, right?" Satrio's gaze suddenly became mischievous. He then said, "I heard that in the VIP room, there are often sightings..."

"Ah, really?!"

Satrio laughed at my reaction, and I just pursed my mouth in annoyance. Tia, who was behind me, immediately joined us. She was curious about the conversation between us.

"What's wrong?" she asked excitedly.

***