“Heart rate is...Dr. Wu!”

Looking up from the chart, Joo Hyun’s eyes widened to see the normally composed oncologist rush frantically through the ER towards her direction and coming to a halt by the bed.

“Yifan...I mean Dr. Wu. Can I help you?”

Ignoring her question, his attention was focused on the patient in the bed. “Sooyeon~ah! Sooyeon!! Can you hear me? Wake up and look at me!”

“Dr. Wu..” The nurse who had first noticed his presence tried to pull him away from the bedside. “Dr. Wu, you know this patient...Jung Sooyeon?”

“Yes...” he answered distractedly, his gaze still resting on the figure lying on the bed.

“Dr. Wu, could you come this way then to help fill out some paperwork for her? Dr. Seo needs to finish taking down her vitals.”

Joo Hyun pasted what she hoped was a reassuring smile on her face as her colleague looked across the bed, noticing her presence for the first time. Nurse Choi led him away to the nurses’ station as they resumed with the initial patient assessment.

Finishing up Joo Hyun walked over to the nursing station to place an order for bloodwork and X-rays. His attention focused on Jung Sooyeon, Dr. Wu didn’t see Joo Hyun as they passed each other. Watching him carefully push back the woman’s hair from her face, Joo Hyun was even more curious as to the relationship between the two. “Dongsaeng...? No he never mentioned a dongsaeng.”

Sitting at the computer to put in the order she suddenly thought, “Perhaps...no...he never said anything about a girlfriend...” Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she tried to focus on the task at hand.

“Dr. Seo here is a copy of Jung Sooyeon’s information. I’ve placed everything into a chart.”

Taking the offered paperwork, Joo Hyun scanned the medical history for any prior serious illnesses.

“By the way,” Nurse Choi started, “Dr. Wu filled out all the necessary paperwork...how do you think he’s related to her? Girlfriend? Did he ever mention anything to you Dr. Seo?”

“Uh...” Joo Hyun looked up, startled by the question that mirrored her own thoughts. Trying to act as though the question hadn’t affected her, she quickly looked back down at the file. “Wh...why would you ask me?”

“You seemed close with Dr. Wu...and for him to know all this information about her, he has to be close with Sooyeon-shi.”

“Either way you should be focusing on treating the patient and not what is her relationship to Dr. Wu. I put in an order for lab work so have that done and sent down for analysis. Page me if anything strange appears in the results. I’ll be back to check on her again after I finish my rounds.” Handing back the file, Joo Hyun walked away, pausing at the doorway to sneak a peek backwards. Seeing Dr. Wu clasping the patient’s hand and rubbing her face, Joo Hyun quickly turned back around and left the ER.

“You paged?”

“Yes. Patient Jung Sooyeon woke up.”

“Vitals?”

“Nurse Kim is taking them now. Here are the test results from the labwork and xrays you ordered.”

Grabbing the papers, Joo Hyun scanned them as she crossed the ER.

“Dr. Seo.”

Nodding at the nurse, Joo Hyun stepped to the left of the bed. “Sooyeon-shi? Sooyeon-shi?”

Eyelashes fluttered to reveal a pair of disoriented eyes. “Sooyeon-shi?”

Nodding to acknowledge her name, she gazed around at her surroundings.

“Sooyeon-shi?”

She moved her eyes back to the doctor standing over the bed. “I’m Dr. Seo. Do you remember anything?”

Opening to speak, she recalled being at the office before her memory went blank.

“Yes, you’re at Samsung Medical Center now. How do you feel?”

“Tired and my throat hurts.”

“Other than that, nothing else? Any pain?” Getting a negative, Joo Hyun flipped through the test results. “Your lab work came back negative for anything, xrays reveal nothing out of the ordinary. You just...”

“Sooyeon!”

Startled by the loud voice, Joo Hyun looked up to see Dr. Wu crouching down on the opposite side of the bed and clasp Sooyeon’s hand.

“Yifan~ah...” Sooyeon smiled.

Clearing Joo Hyun was again curious about their relationship.

“Oh Dr. Seo...” Standing up still clutching Sooyeon’s hand, he apologized for his loudness. “Sorry...how is our Sooyeon doing?”

Taking her eyes away from their entwined hands she reassured them both that no irregular test results came back. “Sooyeon-shi seems to be overworked and exhausted. We’re going to give an IV treatment and then she can be discharged. Just take a good rest and don’t overwork yourself.”

Relief flooded through both their faces at the report. Excusing herself Joo Hyun walked to the nursing station, leaving the nurse to handle the IV administration. Dr. Wu followed close behind. Thinking he wanted to speak with her, she slowed her steps.

“Thank you for taking care of Sooyeon.”

“Of course.”

Smiling at her, he turned to a nurse to ask for the discharge forms.

“Aren’t you on call tonight? How can you take her home?”

As he filled out the paperwork he answered, “I switched my shift with someone else. Even if Sooyeon wasn’t discharged I was going to stay here with her for the night.”

Nurse Choi leaned against the counter, nudging Joo Hyun before asking, “So how do you know Sooyeon-shi?”

His mouth curved into a soft smile as he momentarily stopped writing to look at the two. “She’s the woman I love.”