Christmas Lights

Chapter 2

The next day was uneventful. Karina spent most of it watching TV and flipping through the terrible talk shows (through which she was displeased to have obtained the knowledge of what a 'Harry Styles' was). She settled on watching Ellen when Dr. Kim stopped by.

They shared small talk as the doctor looked through her charts, then went through the standard line of questioning, ("The pain is at 5 – these painkillers are crazy though, they make me feel like I'm a floating head." "I'll see what I can do about switching you to something less potent.").

A knock at the door alerted them to a hospital staffer with her lunch. The doctor stood back as he set her tray up; she smiled at the staff person as he left.

"Want some?" Karina asked, shoveling peas into her mouth. "I mean, it's not the greatest food, but it's free and I'm a poor starving student so it tastes delicious."

The doctor laughed – Karina realized she loved making her laugh – and shook her head. "I'm fine. It's all yours."

Karina said, "Suit yourself," around a mouthful of ham and cheese sandwich.

"So what do you do with yourself when you're not suffering from broken bones and concussions? You said you were a student?"

Karina nodded, swallowing before answering. "I'm in grad school, getting my masters in philosophy. I've been working on my thesis, which basically means I've been doing everything but working on my thesis. Plus, being here hasn't been helping my productivity..."

Dr. Kim's eyebrows raised – she was clearly impressed.

"Surprised I'm such an intellectual?"

"What? No, it's just...I didn't picture you as a philosophy-type of person."

"Well, Dr. Kim, how did you picture me?" Karina said, winking. The doctor's face reddened and she shook her head.

"Karina, you must get into a lot of trouble."

"I do; it's great." She ate a spoonful of the chocolate pudding then cringed. "Okay, having no money won't even make me want to eat this."

"Not good?"

"I'm not even sure it's food," she answered, poking it and watching it wobble.

The doctor opened her mouth to say something then shut it quickly. She looked like she was evaluating whether to do something, when she nodded to herself. (Karina found this entire silent conversation the doctor was having with herself to be adorable.)

"I'll be right back, Rina," Dr. Kim said, before leaving the room.

No one ever called Karina 'Rina' and got away with it. But she liked it coming from the doctor.

It sounded familiar, close. Affectionate.

This was getting to be ridiculous. She was crushing hard on her doctor, like a twelve-year-old school kid crushing on their teacher. It was kind of pathetic. She shook her head. The doctor was cute. Of course she had a crush on her. But was nothing, just a crush, if that at all. Karina admired attractive women all the time. This was no different. It was nothing, really.

Of course, when Dr. Kim reentered the room, the nagging feeling in the back of Karina's mind that she tried to ignore whenever the doctor was around told her it was definitely something.

She stopped next to Karina's side and draped her arm over the top of Karina's bed.

"Okay, Karina, Nurse Choi will be back later with some less aggressive painkillers. They're not as effective at dampening the pain as the ones you're currently on, but the side affects are less severe. I think you're strong enough to push through, but if the pain becomes too much again, page us immediately, okay?"