Lisa with her dark blue scrub walked with Jisoo to the left wing of the hospital. Jisoo had caught her up on what the caused of her 'supposed to be in law' admitted to the hospital.
Jisoo showed her to his room.
"The first class is full so he'd be here till we get him another room," Jisoo stopped at the nurse station. Lisa turned her head as she increased her brow. "Jennie is there too. Don't hurt her more than you already do," she walked to the opposite direction.
Lisa sighed. She put on her game face and slipped her injured hands on her pocket and marched her way into the room- it divided by a curtain into two parts. There was another patient beside Mr. Kim.
"Hey, daddy. How are you feeling?" She asked as soon as he saw her.
"My child!" He greeted her. "I'm all better now," he smiled kindly. "Kind of sleepy but good nonetheless."
Lisa acknowledged all people in the room- her parents, Mrs. Kim and the used to be her other half. Lisa did smile towards Jennie but she didn't look at her. It was only for their parent's sake.
They chit chats bit and Lisa explained to them what cholelithiasis (gallstone) meant and the treatment he'd received.
All head turned towards the door where a second year resident holding a lab coat.
"Dr. Manoban, it's yours. You left it in the OR," she said.
"Put it there," she pointed the armchair with her eyes. The resident quickly set it at the requested place then left. Not long after, Dr. Lee- the doctor in charged for Mr. Kim came in. He was Lisa's teacher since she was a reed student.
"Dr. Manoban? Why do we own the pleasure of having you here?" He softly touched her back, in fatherly way.
"This is my father in law, sir." It was awkward to have her hands in her pocket, it wasn't polite at all to do that when you're facing your teacher. She carefully took out her un-bandage hand- the bruised was noticeable.
Jennie could easily spot it. She bit her lower lip as attempted to cairn herself- both because of Lisa's injured hand and also she said that her father was her father in law.
"You're married? How come I don't know about it?" He surprised.
"Uuh, we're not married yet but hopefully soon," Lisa smiled.
Lisa might be able to fool everyone but not Jennie. Jennie knew her better, Lisa's eyes were dim- vacant. She was hiding her true feelings.
"Aah, who's the lucky person?"
"I am, sir." Lisa answered still smiling. Now her eyes were sad, it broke Jennie's heart.
He chuckled, "I mean your partner," he affirmed his intent.
"Oh, yeah of course. Here she is, doctor. Jennie Kim," for a split second their eyes met. Lisa gulped trying to control herself before looked away. Jennie bowed to him and greeted him politely.
"You are indeed the lucky one, she's so pretty!" He laughed. "Congratulation then, I'll be waiting for your wedding invitation," he patted Lisa's shoulder lightly.
Everything went blur after the conversation about marriage and Jennie. Her body was there but her mind drift apart to somewhere else. Being in the same room with Jennie somehow made her sentimental.
She missed her, she missed holding her in her arms, she missed her scent, she missed Jennie's smile more than ever. Her rock heart was eaten her up from inside. It drove her nuts yet she couldn't do anything.
"Dr. Manoban can stay with you throughout the surgery. You don't have anything to worry about." Dr. Lee finished examine Mr. Kim, he said the surgery would set whenever Mr. Kim was ready. Lisa ushered the older doctor out and thanked him.
"I'm glad you introduced Jennie to your colleague as your fiancee," her now smiled approvingly. Mr. Kim was already fallen asleep due to the medicine.
"Isn't that what I am supposed to do?" Lisa replied flatly. There was harshness in her tone that didn't go unnoticed by Jennie. Her heart crushed as if it wasn't already shattered.
"Young lady I-" Young lady was the nickname her mom gave her if she did something rebelliously- she rarely used that. Assuming that she called her like that, she was pretty sure her now was enraged at her.
"Excuse me doctor," a low male voice made she lifted her head. It effectively shut her mom. She nodded at the resident who was entering the room as he bowed a little. He was checking up on his patient- Mr. Kim's neighbor who was just done his surgery this morning.
She observed her resident doing his work- he was writing the vital sign on his patient's chart. She narrowed her eyes at the drainage before the monitor alarm went off loudly.
"There's active bleeding inside!" Lisa acted quickly. She punched the emergency button- wrong move.
"Darn it!" She cursed out loud, she forgot about her hands. She groaned in pain. A few nurses dashed in carrying the equipment, one of them rushed the family outside.
"Lisa-ah!" Jennie out of nowhere appeared beside her in the chaos. "Are you okay? What happen with your hand?" She asked worriedly.
"Miss, we really need you to get out now." the guy nurse tried to push her.
"Hey! Hey! Easy there," Lisa glared at him. "Out, Nini. Now. I'm fine."
"But-"
"Just out, please. I'm fine." She assured her, Jennie finally did as she told. "Someone page general!" She yelled.
Lisa slide in and watched her resident opened his patient up. He got in his arm into the abdomen to find the bleeding source.
"You got it?" She asked as she looked at the monitor closely. His vital sign was starting to stable.
"Yeah, I got it," he climbed on the bed and fixed his position. The tall nurse covered the wound with sterile linen.
"Book an OR," she ordered as she helped to unbuckle the bed's wheel.
She smiled encouragingly to the resident until they disappeared into the elevator.
Lisa sighed tiredly. She was thankful that Mr. Kim was still fast asleep despite the mess. She stroked her hand, regretting why would she punch the innocent tree in the first place.
She was stood up at the doorstep when Dahyun approaching her.
"Dr. Manoban, I want to report to you Chung Yeong,4 y.o., the heart transplant with the mitral valve replacement patient- oh her EF fall to 25%, we scheduled the surgery tomorrow."
Lisa brushed her hair wearily. 25% wont do, a lot of scarring to get through, the risk was too big.
"Cancel it, no more surgery," she shook her head.
"What do you mean no more surgery?"
"We've done the replacement twice, her body is rejecting it. With the EF down to that score, the chance for her to die on our table is- I don't know, 92%? So no, no more surgery."
"So we're not going to do anything about her? She's dying, doctor. She needs help. Your help."
"Her parents will have more time with her without the surgery. I'll talk to them later," she started to walked away.
"We've come this far and you're just going to give up now? She's your patient even before she was born. Her parents still want to fight, why wont you?" That stopped Lisa at her track. "There's still 8% of success, we can count on it."
She turned back to face Dahyun.
"Dr. Kim, I'm your attending and you will do what I say. It's over, let it go." She turned around her heels, rubbing her tired eyes softly.
Lisa spotted Jennie sitting near the nurse station by herself. Her parents and Jennie;s mom were gone somewhere. Jennie slowly stood up and smiled nervously at her.
"Lisa-"
"Not now, Jennie." she walked pass her without a second glance.
*****
It had been three days since Mr. Kim got the surgery. Lisa checked up on him whenever she had time and spent all her free time to chat with him. She lied to the old man when she said she was going to go home at night because she obviously didn't. Jennie also didn't speak a word about their fight to her parents.
Mrs. Manoban sensed something went wrong with her kids but she knew better than to interfere them now. Jennie's puffy eyes was too evident to see whilst Lisa's quietness was too loud for her to hear that something bothering her daughter. Lisa and Jennie were totally different from the dinner they had on Jennie's birthday.
It was yet another lunch that Jennie skipped. She was too anxious she couldn't digest anything. She lost weight in no time. The dark circle on under her eyes was beginning to visible as the result of sleepless night. Lisa said she needed time to think, but how long? Jennie was already suffered and she was exhausted. She saw Lisa everyday without her looking back at her. Even if they talked, it was a short conversation and Lisa's eyes was set on the floor then after she finished, she'd act like Jennie wasn't even there. She completely ignored her.
She sipped her drink slowly. Jisoo and Seulgi set their tray and sat.
"Jennie, you don't eat?" Seulgi bit her potato fries.
"No, I'm not hungry," she smiled tiredly.
"How's Lisa?"
"She's okay," Seulgi replied. She's not, actually. She's miserable but that dumb is stupid and stubborn I can't even crack her head.
"Does she eat?" Jennie asked again. "Does she sleep well?"
Jisoo sighed inwardly as Seulgi replied the lawyer. Lisa was her best friend and she loved Lisa with all her heart. She acknowledged that she was afraid to the max-to the extent she'd be literally crazy if Jennie ever done the same thing with what Yeri did to her. But Jisoo can't imagine this girl- who sat before her would ever do something that awful to Lisa.
The only thing Jisoo could do was assuring Jennie that Lisa just required time and space for herself for the time being.
Jennie wasn't even at fault but she acted like one. She yielded for Lisa's comfort yet Lisa didn't scorn to care to Jennie's need.
Jennie kept on asking Lisa's well being and Jisoo let Seulgi answered all the question.
"I heard she's seeing someone, Dr. Manoban I mean." Jisoo turned her head a bit to the voice source.
"That's just rumor, okay? Have you seen her with someone? No right? So case closed, she's single." the other said.
"Why are you no defensive? Even if she's single she wont date you anyway." a laughed.
"What's so fascinating about Dr. Lisa Manoban anyway, unnies? A lot of people in this hospital talk about her."
"Have you seen her? She's a cardiothoracic surgeon for one, she's tall, she's pretty, she's cool, she's badass! I heard she's so good too in bed. Oh! And her lips is so...ugh" a giggled.
"Her skin is no white and soft!"
"How do you know?"
"I have my way, being the nurse in cardio floor does have it perks," she flipped her hair.
"She's so pretty, when she smiles I get weak on my knees, she can melt me and I wouldn't mind!"
"Guys, I think... she is seeing someone," a new voice participated, it was low but loud enough for the eavesdroppers.
"What?!" They said together.
"She's here at night. I have night shift and I see her recently sleep in on call room for a few days and I just... I thought I-I," she stuttered.
"Wh- are you trying to sleep with her?" Someone pressed a squeal.
"No! It's not me! It's the- you know the nurse from the left wing? The one with black shiny hair."
"And big butt?"
"Yep, the big butt one."
"Big butt? Seriously?"
"Yeah that one, people said she had history with Dr. Manoban. I was just passing the on call room where Dr. Manoban rested in and I heard them talking. Wait, I think Dr. Manoban kind of shouted at her."
"What did she say?"
"She says she's in love with someone and she's actually engaged with her and what that nurse did is inappropriate," she explained. "I never see her so angry like that. She slams the door and I don't see her for the rest of the night."
Another tears fell on Jennie's cheeks.
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if this chapter gets '25 votes', i'll update the next chapter 🤙