Night duty
You managed to get through most of medical school. Now it was the hardest part left. Clinical rotation at the hospital. Which included night duties. You had to rotate to all the departments in the hospital and took turn to do the night duties. As usual, you had Jinyoung in your group, as well as Jackson and Mark, but if the department was bigger, you got more people in your group. At this point, you would be tested not just on your knowledge, but also on your stamina. You heard from your seniors to take care of your health. Took your vitamins. Got some rest while you could. The first time you finished your night duty, you slept for over 12 hours straight that it scared your mom. But as you got on duties frequently, she understood that it was natural for you to sleep that long to compensate the sleep that you lost while on duty.
This month you rotated to the surgery department. You knew that surgery was no doubt one of the harder department. But it was another story for Jinyoung. His dad is a cardiothoracic surgeon so lots of other doctors in the surgery department knew his dad. That took a toll on him. You could see him on his toes all the time. He lost lots of sleep because he spent his nights off studying and reviewing. His under eyes got darker. Jackson also affected by this rotation. His grandfather was a surgeon so he also felt the pressure even though his family wasn't here.
"Gee guys, let loose a bit," Mark scolded both of them. "It's okay for us not to remember everything. We're still students after all. If you guys got sick, then we're the ones that will suffer as we have to pick up your duties as well." The way Mark said his last sentence snapped something into Jinyoung's mind that he quickly shot a glance at you. Apparently Jinyoung caught the hidden meaning behind Mark's last sentence, which was you who would suffer and not both Mark and you if either Jinyoung or Jackson got sick. You were tired as well, being the only girl in the group, of course you didn't have the stamina as strong as the boys. But you were hanging there. Barely. Jinyoung quickly nodded and the next week he started to loosen up a bit. Jackson also relaxed a bit and everything went back to normal.
"Tonight's menu is craniotomy to remove subdural hematoma and the other OR has plate and screw. Who wants to watch which one?" Mark asked when you arrived and Jackson wanted to see the orthopedic one. Mark went with him so you were left with Jinyoung to see the craniotomy. Honestly, you were reluctant to see any neurosurgery cases as usually the surgery took hours to finish. And the visual field was zero. Aside from the operator and the assistant, no one else got to see whatever they were seeing so it was a bit useless to join their operation. But subdural hematoma was one of the must-know cases for medical students so you dragged your feet as well as opened your notes to find all the clues about it just in case the professor decided to ask questions at you both.
However, suddenly one of the neurosurgery residents commanded you both to follow him to the ER as there was a new case there. You were excited to go to the ER as at least you would do something aside from just standing and watching in the OR. But it was blood bath in the ER. The patient was a traffic accident victim and it looked like his condition was pretty bad when he arrived. When you three arrived in the ER, the ER doctor tried to resuscitate the patient as he was losing a lot of blood. The nurses were running here and there to grab more fluid or blood bag. The neurosurgery resident immediately went over to help them while you two stood in shock. Jinyoung was quick to compose himself and started to offer some help. However, since you were left alone, the patient's family grabbed you and demanded for some explanation. Since you weren't allowed to say anything and you didn't know anything at the moment, you replied as you had been told before. The standard, I'm sorry but right now we're still trying our best. Please calm down and wait in the waiting room. After the patient is stabilized, the ER doctor will explain everything.
But the family was too panic and one of them started to grab your collar, shaking your body and you frantically tried to free yourself, but it was useless. You were afraid that he might punch or kick you, as you felt the rage coming out from him. You kept trying to calm him down but nothing seemed to work. When he raised his arm, you thought he was going to punch or slap you for sure, so you closed your eyes. But then you felt a warm hand on your back so you opened your eyes and saw Jinyoung grabbed the man's wrist and yanked it free. You were free at last. Jinyoung repeated everything that you've said before, but he put both his hands on the man's shoulder, half forcing him to sit down, telling him that he was disturbing other people and warned him that if he didn't comply, then the security guard would have no choice but to escort him out of the building. At that point, he started to understand and calm down. Seeing that the man finally sat down and obeyed him, Jinyoung turned his attention to you. He sighed when he saw your pale face.
"Come on," he grabbed your hand and led you to the doctors' lounge. He sat you down on the couch and then left you for a bit before coming back with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. You guessed he got it from the vending machine for the patient's family and received it gratefully. He sat next to you and buried his face in his palm. You thought he was angry at you for causing trouble so you sipped your hot chocolate in silence. But moments later, you heard him sigh.
"Oh, what should I do about you?" he mumbled into his palms and you didn't know what to say. You didn't know whether he was angry or devastated. You tugged his coat so at least you could see his face.
"Sorry if I'm troubling you, but you don't need to worry. Even though I'm a girl, I can get myself out next time," you tried to be brave since you were worried that he might think that you were a burden. You didn't want them to think that since you were the only girl in the group then they should be responsible for you and thus burdening them. But Jinyoung looked at you as if you just spit some nonsense.
"You think I saved you because I felt responsible for you since you're a girl?" he raised his eyebrow.
"Well, maybe. I don't know," you shrugged and was taken aback when he put his hand on your shoulder and made you face him.
"Do you think I'd stick around just because you're a girl and that's why I feel responsible to keep you safe?" he shook his head and cut you before you had the chance to answer him. "Have you ever seen me protecting other girls? Let me help you. No, I don't give a damn about them. But I sure will..," he stopped abruptly and it confused you as hell because you could see that he looked furious. "Ah, just forget it," he waved his hand and lifted himself off the couch and suddenly left you.
