"Dr. Lustre to the nurses' station. Dr. Lustre to the nurses' station," a female's voice came through on one of her patient's bedside speakers.
She excused herself from the family of the patient and scanned her patient's vitals before leaving for the center station.
Nadine's normal work week was 12 hours, Tuesday through Friday, on her feet in the cardiothoracic surgical unit. After Nadine had gotten her nursing license, she knew she wanted to specialize in surgery, so she got her doctorate in nursing to administer anesthetics during and post operation to patients who had to undergo cardiac surgery. She had worked in other departments during her clinicals as a student, but this is where she found the most fulfillment in her career.
She was pretty close to the rest of the staff in her unit and it was rare that they'd call her to the station just as she was going to clock out for the week, so she was curious as to why she was being called. When she neared the desk, Nadine saw why.
Her co-worker, Cynthia, started walking towards the desk with her.
"Hoy, Mars. Mukhang may date ka this weekend, ha?"
They got to the desk where Nadine was greeted by a huge bouquet of red roses. Janice, at the front desk, leaned her head on her clasped hands and smirked at Nadine. Cynthia also had her eyebrows raised at Nadine, who just stared at the flowers.
"Are you going to stare at them all night or what?" Janice asked.
Nadine shook her head, "Who are these for?"
Janice plucked out a card and handed it to Nadine. The front had Nadine's name in James' familiar, cursive writing which caused her to blush. The other two's grins only grew more.
"Sino nagdala?" she asked before opening the card.
"Just read the card, girl. I'm sure the answer is in there," Cynthia said, rushing over to sit next to Janice so they could get kilig together.
So Nadine opened the envelope and took out the card, which read:
Just a small token of appreciation to our Wonder Woman. There aren't enough Thank Yous for all that you do for our family and for others as well. Hope these brighten your day and we'll see you at home.
Love, Sora and James
She smiled at the sight of their signatures, Sora's name in her big letters. She closed the card and held it to her chest.
"Both of them were here?"
Janice shook her head, "Just James. He actually dropped them off in a hurry, but he still dropped them off."
"Nadine! There's something na, ha?" Cynthia teased. "He's dropping off flowers."
"Wala," she rolled her eyes. "We just went on out for dinner last week. Hindi ibig sabihin na kami na agad agad. If he thinks that flowers is going to have me suddenly fall in love with him, he's wrong."
"In fairness sa kanya, kilig ka?"
She scoffed and said nonchalantly, "Who wouldn't get kilig when they get their favorite flowers?"
The two girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes back at Nadine. She shook her head and told them she was clocking out. When she was all ready to go and in the elevator to go down, the doctor on call ran in before the doors closed. He eyed Nadine and the bundle of flowers she was holding and smirked.
"About time he did something."
"Dr. Cho!" Nadine exclaimed.
The reason she was so close to everyone was because the hospital had just been opened when she was hired. Most of the staff, from doctors to nurses' assistants, started around the same time Nadine had there. That and Nadine was the only nurse who loved the surgical unit, so she had never transferred to another department.
