The patient | Sunhwa & Seunghwan
It was the end of another successful operation for Sunhwa, when she was notified about the visit of a another patient, one of those idols this happened to be— the reason of the sudden noise in the hospital, which was rather unpleasant for the young doctor’s ears. She got rid of the surgical scrubs and put on her white coat right after before heading towards the cabinet, steps quite rappid. Even though the patient, who was currently waiting for her was an idol, she found the turmoil around her arrival completely unnecessary. A celebrity? And so what? Many people visited the hospital multiple times a day, yet they did not get such a special attention. And Sunhwa surely was not the type to kneel down in front of someone just because of their financial state and the support of some famous company. They had to be treated like each other patient and that was what she intended to do.
The female finally got to the waiting room, eyes immediately fell on a certain male, whose features seemed to have formed a rather displeased expression. With a deep frown, he stood up, arms folded in front of his chest.
“Do you know how long we were waiting for you to come? Our girl’s life is in danger yet you appeared ten minutes later after our arrival! Shame on you, self-proclaimed doctor!”
“Self-proclaimed doctor?”
She rose an eyebrow, lips curling in a warm innocent smile. The most innocent she could give after a fell attempt to hold herself back from slapping him hard. This word was the biggest insult to her and she would be merciless to the male in some other case, in some other life. The etiquette required politeness, no matter what kind of a trouble the doctors faced each day. Bursting out in anger especially at her workplace was something she would never let herself do. Politeness was of a great importance to her and so she decided to keep the nice tone.
“Ah, I apologize for being late, I just finished an operation, I had to make sure the patient will be okay.”
“Make sure the patient will be okay? You had to get here just after being notified about her arrival.”
“I am sorry but all of the patients here are equal. Their health is what is the most important to us. And please, try to not yell here, it’s a hospital after all, the stillness is something cherished. ”
She bowed slightly and walked in the cabinet, brows furrowed deeply right after she turned around. Such an idiot, Sunhwa thought after parting with the other. The doctor walked in, concern immediately appeared on her milky white face— eyes fell on the young girl in front of her, who seemed to be in a terrible condition. She approached the other, amber brown orbs looked deep at her chestnut ones— Sunhwa took her hand in hers, slender fingers lightly pressing onto the skin. Doctor Han grabbed the patient’s file to cast a quick glance at it. — Eyes widen as she gently squeezed the other female’s hand before she took her phone out of her coat pocket and dialled one of her colleagues’ number. — “Son Seunghwan, patient number 2827, she needs to get a X-RAY test immediately. “ — She spoke out loud, the tone of her voice rather appellate one. Sunhwa kept looking at the patient before she leaned closer to gently stroke over her cheek. — “You have a reason to fear, yes, but I promise to give you many more to smile. Please, don’t worry. The white coat should not frighten you— no, in fact, it should help you feel a bit more relieved because it is an evidence that you are in safe hands, at least in our case. I won’t leave you, whenever you feel worse, just squeeze my hand and it will be okay.” —The doctor spoke softly, words pouring out like a river.
Just at that moment a two other nurses walked in to take the other and carefully place her to lay down on a stretcher. Sunhwa gave the manager a rather bitter look as she left the examination room and headed with the others to the radiography room. Slender hands remained wrapped around each other— the elder did not think even for a moment of letting go of the other.
With each passing second, minute, she spent in the examination room on her own, the levels of anxiety rose within her small body. She quite literally found herself trembling, the unfamiliar office belonging to a doctor causing her levels of fear to shoot through the roof. Or so she felt. Her hands fell down into her lap, blunt fingernails digging into her palms as she once again went back to focussing on the one thing she needed to continue doing.
Inhale… Exhale… Inhale… Exhale…
She had to continuously remind herself there was nothing to be afraid of, that they only wanted to help her feel better, but even though she knew this was the case rather than the doctors wanting her to feel worse, she couldn’t get herself to believe the thoughts. She had gotten to a point where she actually wanted the visit to happen. Anything to make it end sooner rather than later. Her hands were dampened, her eyes closed tightly to stop her surroundings from moving too much. Her head lowered slightly as she counted her breaths, every small sound coming from outside the room alerting her nevertheless. She had no reason to be paranoid, not until the yelling of her manager - possibly combined by the yelling of her attending doctor - would set in.
Few minutes passed until it happened, the harsh voice of her manager quickly bringing tears to her eyes, tears which she could only barely stop from rolling down her already damp cheeks. She shrunk into her seat, the fear for the approaching doctor only growing as she was afraid they would take the words - uttered by the male waiting outside to take a healthy Seunghwan back to the practice room, preferably within twenty minutes or less - to heart, letting out the bottled annoyance with her manager out on her. It was silly of her to think so, but she couldn’t help to be afraid.
Footsteps approached as Wendy desperately looked for a way to get out of the room unseen, but when she tried pushing herself up from the chair, she noticed how weak her body was at that moment. She sat back down, whimpering quietly before she looked at the door. Fear was washed over her face. The woman’s appearance only being able to wash away that fear by just a little bit. Wendy’s big eyes stared up at the female before she lowered her gaze, eyes closing once more as a dizzy spell took over, causing for Wendy to grip the armrests of her chair. Only after some moments, she actually got up, shaking on her legs, and bowed. The bow was quick, hasty, just so she could sit down once again. “I-I’m sorry for my manager’s behaviour.” Her words were soft, glossy eyes apologetically looking up at the doctor’s. She hated that she wasn’t in a position to properly apologize, but if she were, she wouldn’t even have had to be in this examination room in the first place.
After she had spoken her apology, she couldn’t seem to look away from the doctor’s gaze anymore. Flushed cheeks caused by the fever running through her body gradually faded, but she didn’t feel any better at all. Fear was taking over, teeth dug into her lower lip… She was a bunny trapped in the headlights of a speeding car. Or at least that’s how the young female felt.
But against all odds, all scenarios Wendy had played in her head in the few minutes she’d gotten alone in the waiting room, Sunhwa approached her, grabbed hold of Seunghwans sweaty palm into her own one and gave her a reassuring squeeze. That’s what Wendy had thought that it was, but she was still not quite reassured. She finally managed to lower her gaze from Sunhwa’s, eyes closing tightly as she swallowed thickly, listening to the other’s phone call, and later to the words spoken to her. Wendy merely nodded in reply before she swallowed once more.
The door opened, footsteps approached, and Wendy’s slender, damp fingers tightened around Sunhwa’s as she glanced up at the doctor, fear evident in her eyes. Yet there was something about Sunhwa - be it the words she spoke to her, the way she handled her manager, or the way she was bound on making Wendy feel at least slightly more at ease - that made her trust the young doctor. As long as she held on to Sunhwa’s fingers with all she had, she’d be okay. No one would be able to harm her. Except the doctor she was holding on to, but Wendy felt like the way Sunhwa’s fingers tightened around hers as she was placed on the stretcher were a silent promise. Sunhwa wouldn’t hurt her, unless it would actually be for the better.
Seunghwan looked straight up at the ceiling, rested in a sea of scattered blue tips, as she was moved out of the examination room, too afraid of having to even exchange glances with the man who would obviously not get her back into the practice room for a while. She didn’t want to face his anger. Just to avoid that, the young idol had taken an interest in the ceiling, but the movement of the plates above her head, caused by the nurses manoeuvring the stretcher through hallways only created a wave of nausea. Her manager’s voice was distant, and he was obviously unhappy. The two factors combined made Wendy dig her dull nails into Sunhwa’s hand, eyebrows knitting together in an evident frown, one that didn’t leave her pale face until the moment the stretcher stopped moving because that was when she was certain her manager would be no where in sight, and she only had to focus on one of her fears rather than two. Her hold on Sunhwa’s hand became less strong, but her grip was still evident, tear filled eyes questioningly looking at the professional as she silently asked about what was going to happen next.