Someone to Love

Thirty

Lucas
Ara Hayden is my girlfriend for six days now and we have only seen each other since I dropped her off in her apartment building and FaceTime and she has been in China ever since.
The attending's lounge were quiet for the first time in a month, and I used to eat lunch in my office but today I didn't want bits of nori and rice on my table so I went to the attending's lounge and eat some gimbap.
I sat down and just stared at some past hospital patients' MRI scans. I'm gonna try to remove a complicated aneurysm and well, I have to review.
This patient of mine has an aneurysm caused by playing football and the scan that I am reviewing is close to his case.
The case that I am reviewing now didn't end well, he was practically dead when he arrived here. He was in life support for a week but then the family decided that it was over. Actually, his organs started to fail one by one, then they decided to pull the plug. He was a football player and quite an athlete, he frequented MGH for some time for sports related injuries.
But then, I was burst out of my bubble by Ara.
"Hey, stranger." I said as I picked up the call.
"Hi, busy?" She said
"No, not really. Just looking up scans, how are you?"
"I'm tired as fuck. Not even af, the fucking whole word. I'm tired. The thing was boring but then I was seated to Jae Kyung the whole time, which made it bearable." She said
I was shocked at first when she told me that she and Jae Kyung have been spending some time together, I mean, I assumed that both of them would be all businessy and stuff but I guess they went past through it and clicked. They have been together before for two weeks, they like each other.
"I guess your closeness raised some eyebrows."
"Oh yeah, my dad is freaking out. Gave me a lecture about S&C is the enemy company and shit like that, but I said Jae Kyung is my boyfriend's brother and we are talking to each other as that. Jae and I made that pretty clear."
"Oy, when do you plan on meeting your boyfriend? It has been six days and well, you left me quite hanging."
"Sorry about that, I really am. If you want to go to Disney World next week-"
"Disney World?"
"Yeah, do boyfriend-girlfriend stuff." She said
"Disney World is a bit far. How about a movie?"
"I was thinking of doing it now."
"While you're in Shanghai and I'm in New York? Watching the same movie in different time zones isn't exactly the poin-"
"Who said I'm still in Shanghai?"
I looked at my phone, and Ara is calling me using her, uh, usual phone number. It's not FaceTime Audio, or Viber or whatever, this is paid.
"You're paying an awful lot just to hear my voice."
"It's worth paying for anyway-"
I was cut off when Mara peered in the door.
"Neuro is being needed-" she said and I just nodded.
"What time will you be arriving tomorrow?" I asked as I walked out of the attending's lounge.
"I already arrived."
"You're in New York?"
"Uh, no. Well, yeah technically."
"You can wait for me at your place, I'll be out in a few hours, your jet lag must be killing you." I said
"Not exactly."
"You still have keys to my place? You can wait there, I guess-"
"No. I don't."
"MVC, three people need neuro consult and-" Mara said as I just nodded.
"Where are you?"
I reached the ER and everybody was busy, in and out of the curtains.
"Patient-" Mara began.
"I'm in the emergency room." Ara said
"I have to go, I'll call you again. I'm on call." I said as I hung up.
But then I entered the curtain area and there sat Katherine with a cut on her head.
"Katherine? What are you doing here?" I said as Mara handed me the charts.
"You know her?" Bernadette said, my resident as she examined her.
I ignored her and grabbed latex gloves.
"We met an accident on the way back and well, here we are." She said
"Let's take a good look at you first, okay?" I said
And I did an initial screening, the usual routine.
"I'm gonna patch this up first, try my best not to leave a scar and get your head scanned okay?"
"Aren't you gonna ask about Miss Hayden?" Katherine said
"No, Katherine. You are my patient and not her, and my patients always come first." I said as I got the thread.
"Well, she is okay. She just hit the seat, I hit my iPad, hence the cut. Keep your iPads in a protective case so that it won't cut you." She said
I laughed.
"Okay, ready?" I said
"Do it, doc." She said and well, it was just three stitches and with proper care, it's gonna heal well.
"Take her up to CT." I said as I stood up.
"You should see her though." Katherine said
"I will, don't worry. I just have to check all patients first."
So I saw Katherine and Charles in the ER but I intentionally didn't pass by Ara because I didn't want to stir some controversy.
"Your girlfriend is here." Rick said
"Yeah, I know."
"You didn't even check on her?"
"I'm on call." I said as I walked away.
I shot Ara a text, I can't see you right now, hope you're okay.
And she replied, I heard you. I'll see you later.
I kept myself busy the rest of the day, fighting the urge to drop by Ara and check on her but I even denied myself access to her charts. Well, I can view it but I just didn't want to.
At about seven in the evening, I received a text message from Ara that she was in a room in the 9th floor. And since I am off duty, I hung my coat and went to the 9th floor.
But then it wasn't Ara's room, it was Katherine's.
"Uh, is Ara here?" I said as I looked at Katherine.
"Hi, Doctor. Uh, are you-" Katherine started but then Ara came out from somewhere in the room.
"Hi!" She said as she hugged me.
"And now my boss is hugging my doctor."
"Sorry, would you prefer that I leave? I mean, we leave?" Ara said
"If you both get mushy in front of me, yes please." Kate said
"Got it. So, are you sure you're okay here?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"She's under great care." I said
Ara frowned.
"But you're her doctor."
"And you own half the hospital so, Katherine is in great care." I said
"I'm going. Don't be shy to call me, okay?" Ara said
"Yes, ma'am." Kate replied
"They call you ma'am?" I whispered as we walked on the halls.
"The same way they call you doc." She said as she held on to my hand.
"How are you?" I said
"I'm fine. I just hit my head on the head rest, there would only be bruising." She said
We stopped walking and I looked at her face.
"Bruising? Yeah, on your T-zone." I said
"Yeah, it's gonna look bad." She said
"We're starting out new memories and you look weird." I said as we entered the elevator.
"I know, do you happen to have ice packs at home?"
"Duh. You're staying over at my place?"
"Can I? I think we have unfinished business." She said
"You should rest first and probably change those ice packs regularly. Do you want a derma consult? It's too pre-mature for plastic surgery-"
"You're overreacting. It's not a concussion and I didn't require stitches. Katherine is spending the night here as-"
"-per doctor's orders. She needs to be monitored." I continued.
"Yeah and Charles also has a concussion. Both of them are here and the car is, I don't know where. I can't sleep because I'm pretty sure I am in Shanghai time right now and I am so close to speaking in Mandarin again." She said
"You can stay over in my place."
"I wasn't waiting for any invitations, actually."
But then Carmichael suddenly entered the elevator, and Ara and I are just talking to each other, with my arm on her shoulder.
"Dr. Seo and oh, Miss Hayden, nice to see you." He said
"Oh, Dr. Carmichael. Nice to see you." Ara said
"Dr. Carmichael." I said
"Going home?" He said
"Yeah, long day." I said
"How are you feeling Miss Hayden?" Carmichael asked.
"I'm fine. It's good to see that everybody is working hard." Ara said
"Yes, working hard." Carmichael said, glaring at me.
We were pretty stuck in an awkward silence from the elevator ride to the moment we entered my apartment.
"He got pretty judgy." She said as she removed her coat.
"Who?"
"Dr. Carmichael. The way he glared at you in the hospital." She said
"Oh, you caught that."
"How could I not?"
"Let him be, I always get those disproving glares of his. He doesn't exactly like me." I said as I went straight to the kitchen.
"Well, he's gonna hate you for this."
"Why? It's not like you dated him."
"He's the chief surgeon and he's probably gonna cut some feathers on that wings of yours." She said
"But he won't be able to clip my wings. Trust me, I am still a doctor and dating the major shareholder doesn't make me less of it." I said
"You should buy out a few shareholders."
"What?"
"Yeah, we could own MGH."
"I'm not that interested in owning it, I just want to be a doctor." I said
"I was making a joke." She said
I looked at her, and her pretty beat up face.
"You look bad." I said
"Wow, thanks boyfriend." She hissed.
I went to the freezer and got her an ice pack.
"You actually have an ice pack."
"Duh, I'm a doctor and I'm sure as hell not handing you a bag of peas." I said as I placed the ice pack on her forehead.
"I talked to your brother a lot this past week." She said
"Figures, he talks a lot and he's out of his game lately." I said
We sat down the couch and she just laid back with the cold compress on her face.
"He's pretty shaken that he's having a daughter." She said
"He told you that?"
"He told me that on the very first day."
"What?"
"Didn't I tell you that? Right, my dad and I were supposed to have dinner with the other attendees of the summit, I knew it was gonna be boring as fuck because I'd be sitting down for say, five hours listening to them talk about some boring stuff while smelling bourbons and scotches and fucking cigars. But then, I haven't even taken my seat yet, Jae Kyung calls me out, he was seated on the table too, pulls me away and takes me to his room." She said
"Jae Kyung took you to his room?" I said
"Yeah, he ordered steaks and wine. And then he talked about his issue."
"Did he give you loads of talk about you and me getting married?"
She frowned.
"Why, is he harassing you too?"
"He's acting like a mom pushing his son to get married to his girlfriend for a month to get married and have a son." I said
Honestly, Jae Kyung is panicking because Ji Hyun is gonna pop soon and when that happens, of course the child would be female and who knows what would happen next? I mean, I would gladly help him out but I can't reverse gestation, I'm not a god.
"I mean, I have proposed to you before and you turned me down, we could have been married now and we probably have a kid on the way, but-"
"If I propose to you know, you'd say yes?"
"You'd have to beat my Rolex."
"You just gave me a-"
"Fucking Daytona." She said
I looked at the watch that I'm wearing and it was only an AirKing.
"Right." I said
"You gotta dress up like the husband of a vice president of a company." She said
"That's what I'm gonna be? A trophy husband?"
"What? No. Your abs are not that great."
"Wow."
"Trophy husband or not, I think what matters is you and I ended up together." She said
"Chill, sister. We only have been dating for a week-"
"-six days." She said
"Okay, six days and we only saw each other personally twice. You gotta chill." I joked.
"But, when you do propose, please wear the watch. It costs a lot and it would mean a lot if you wore it when I say yes." She said
I smiled.
"Regardless of the time, you'd readily say yes?"