Chapter: XXII
CL's Anatomy
You're always surrounded by people, but usually that's when you feel like you're drowning in solitude.
That type of loneliness can begin to corner and surround you completely.
Lee Chaerin felt that way at the hospital.
She was always surrounded by people, but she knew full well that none of them liked her. And that really didn't bother her one bit.
Chaerin, who did at least three to five surgeries in a day, always requested that there only be three occupying the OR. Herself, the anesthesiologist, and one scrub nurse. She never felt alone in the operating room, and because it was a rule that there had to be more than one doctor in the operating room, Chaerin brought in the one she knew never talked. With everyone quiet, it was the closest she could get to being alone in her favorite place in the whole entire world.
"Chaerin, let me see you do a running whip-stitch. If you can do that perfectly like you used to, I'll sign your release form from physical therapy and you'll be able to go back to being the best heart surgeon in this hospital." The physical therapist announced while fully absorbed by something on the clipboard a few inches from her face.
"Well excuse me Einstein, but how do you plan to evaluate me when all of your attention to a damn clipboard?" Chaerin smirked, picked up the small tool that held the material she's use for the stitch, and began.
Back when she had come to be in her prime, it took her exactly 1 minute and 37 seconds, the fastest out of any of the heart surgeons in the whole hospital. And now that she could actually hold the operating tools, Lee Chaerin was determined to beat her record that she set during a humpty dumpty surgery.
"I just can't get the last stitch." She mumbled under her breath while the tool began to shake gently, "I just need a different angle. Done! Done, I'm done! What was my time?" Chaerin dropped the tool, clanking to the metal loudly.
"1 minute, 35 seconds. I'd say you're ready to go and operate." Quickly jotting down a couple of noted, the physical therapist unclipped a paper and handed it to Chaerin. "You cut some hearts open." Jumping up, Chaerin started to run to the hallway and then to the elevator.
* * * *
An scarlet glazilness set over Seoul, the sun getting ready to give way to the moon. Even though night was quickly approaching, Daeyoung Hospital was still bustling as ever. Doctors running to and fro from the patient rooms or ORs hoping to get in on the best surgeries that day had to offer. And there was never a dull moment.
Except for Lee Chaerin.
Dr. Lee had been back now for some time in physical therapy, and still the chief was treating her as if she was infant opening her eyes to get her first glimpse of the medical field. Chaerin was either sent to the lab(that was place you go if you're being punished and was usually occupied by the doctors who got around) or sent to do meaningless charts meant for interns when she wasn't in therapy. Her days at the hospital were short and boring opposed to her previous long and thrilling days which she missed so.
She'd been back for four months and three days(Chaerin counted each day for it helped her take her mind of Ji Yong who'd been gone eleven months now), and she hadn't seen and OR yet.
And so now that she'd be released and cleared for surgery, Chaerin wanted to give the chief a piece of her mind.
"Hello?! I'm the youngest, most talented cardio thoracic surgeons and you have me sitting on my doing stupid charts?!" Chaerin(who found herself yet again yelling at the chief) was not happy, not at all. Working with hearts all day galvanized her to no end, but now it had become a mocking insult when people called her Dr. Lee as everyone knew she hadn't touched a single heart in months.
"You have quite the set of lungs Miss Lee, as you always seem to have something yell at me about. But, now if you really think you're ready, go and make your way to the administration offices to fill out some paperwork." Dr. Kim Nam-Kyu laughed, turning his throne-like chair back to the enormous pile of files stacked on the large wooden desk. "And please try not to kill anyone. Patient or doctor."
"Thank you." Bowing hastily, Chaerin took off. The girl yanked open the glass door, eyes filled with determination. Her new red heels clicked even louder against the freshly polished marble floors, lab coat that she put on for the first time in almost a year and a half was flowing strongly behind her to give the impression of a superhero ready for their comeback.
Ironically, the chief's office was all the way on the other side of the administration portion hospital, which was way bigger than she had previously thought. Her destination were the offices that deal with new doctors and other things of that matter. To get there, she had to go up the elevator, down a long hallway, and across the catwalk where is first me Ji Yong. With people always running about in the hallways, it too her even longer to reach the right elevator.
And just her wonderful luck, it wasn't working.
"This damn elevator. Come on!" Pounding the button a couple more time, Chaerin sighed and ruffled her hair, and her heel to head for the stairway. Only, there was a certain reason that that elevator wasn't working.
A little reason called Dr. Kwon Ji Yong.
Racing up the stairs like a mad woman, Chaerin just got more and more excited with each step knowing that the second she finished the paperwork, she'd be free to play with hearts to her own heart's content.
Pulling the heavy door open, she was met with and unexpected sight. Although the bright light from the evening sun had made everything almost invisible, she saw it clearly.
Now, Chaerin had always hate surprises. For example, the day of her twentieth birthday, Seung Hyun thought it'd be a genius idea to throw a surprise party. And when she walked in the door, they all jumped out and yelled loudly resulting in Seung Hyun getting punched in the face by accident(which lead to his broken nose).
Standing in the middle of the deserted catwalk was Kwon Ji Yong, smiling with his hands behind his back.
She hadn't seen him face to face for a year. Chaerin had seen him and talked to him over a computer screen, but that was nothing compared to the real thing now. She noticed that his hair had gotten longer, and he looked a tad skinnier. These were little things only Lee Chaerin would and did notice about him. His face was still warm as ever, and his eyes were on the brim of tears, as were hers. Her whole body was frozen from the shock of seeing her loving so sudden after a year of being apart, and she wanted to hug Ji Yong, only her body wouldn't allow her to move.
Kwon Ji Yong caused Lee Chaerin to be completely vulnerable, just like the first them they met.
Just like after that first kiss that Chaerin would never forget for as long as she lived.
"Chaerin-ah, I've been meaning to ask you something." He said, turning a small black box over and over in his fingers nervously.
Ji Yong's face became serious despite his nervousness, got down on one knee in front of his love, and then began with the speech he rehearsed in the OR just a few moments ago:
"I could promise to protect you and to cherish you. I could promise to be with you and never leave in sickness and in health. I could say all of those thing, until death do us part. But I won't. Those words are for optimistic couples, the ones full of hope and joy not matter what. But I do not kneel here nor on our wedding be optimistic or full of hope. I am not optimistic, I am not hopeful, I am sure. I am steady. And I know that you are heart woman. You take them apart and put them back together and you hold them in your hands. You are heart guardian, and I'm just a man. So I am sure about all of this, you are my partner, my lover, my best friend, and my heart. My heart beats for you. And on this day, I promise you this: I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands, I promise to love you even you rip my heart to little pieces, and I promise to kept your heart just as you keep mine. I promise to love even when I hate you, and I promise to never leave you, never run, never go. I promise to be there for you not matter what. I promise you me. Will you please promise you to me?"
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Hello! Thank you so much subscribing and walking through this story with me. It's been amazing to have you guys reading my story and periodically I'll be posting updates on the story(sequel maybe? Hint hint). I hope you loved this story and I love all of you guys!!!! My new story well be starting in a few weeks. Please look forward to it! Bye!
~Author Ren
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