“She is incredibly lucky that she doesn’t have any lethal injury despite her poor condition.”

Taeyeon, the senior surgeon that Seulgi had not seen for such a long time and honestly thought she would never see again, turned the radiography viewer on and splayed the results of Irene’s CT-scan and MRI out for all of them to see.

“You can see here that she has mild epidural hematoma which, fortunately, doesn’t exceed 30 ml in volume and doesn’t shift the midline of her brain for more than 5 mm. Meaning, she doesn’t require open brain surgery. I’ve given her osmotic diuretics to lower her intracranial pressure which will hopefully reduce her vomiting and headache soon. The nurses will monitor her vital signs closely and we will do CT-scan again in a few days to see if the hematoma is reabsorbed.”

Seulgi’s face remained dark through the entire explanation, still feeling worried despite the rather positive prognosis.

“That’s it? She doesn’t have any other injury? No fracture, no internal organs bleeding?”

“Excluding the awful cuts and bruises on her outer body, yes, she doesn’t have any other significant injury. Some minor organ contusions and a closed fracture on her right forearm but that’s it. Those can be easily fixed with bedrest and arm cast. Although, the cuts are unfortunately going to leave some prominent scars. Especially the ones around her wrists because it seems like she forcefully removed her hands from a handcuff. It’s bad and it has passed the golden period of wound healing because it has nearly been a week.”

Seulgi nodded slowly, her voice seemed to leave her alone to gloom with her thoughts.

Beside her, Joy appeared more optimistic. “So, she is safe now? She doesn’t need to go through any invasive procedure? How about her pneumonia?”

“Her pulmonary infection is under control. I’ve administered strong antibiotics through IV line alongside some other drugs. Her wounds were disinfected and sutured as best as I could too. She should feel better soon. Her fever is already gone.”

Taeyeon smiled and took a breath, offering them both a glance as she leaned back on her chair. “Well, is there anything else you would like to say?”

“Yes. Thank you, sunbae.” Seulgi muttered, lifting her eyes from her lap guiltily to regard the senior she never really paid enough attention and respect to when she was doing her surgery rotation. She did a thing or two wrong, she admitted shamefully.

“Thank you so much for letting us bring her here, to your private clinic, and for letting her stay…anonymous.”

A somber, grateful smile cracked her lips and her head hung low. “Words will never be enough to express how thankful I am to you. I will always be indebted to you. Thank you so much, sunbaenim, really.”

Seulgi bowed her head even lower and made Taeyeon laugh slightly before waving her off with a hand.

“It’s okay, it’s nothing big. Being a surgeon is a terribly taxing job for the body and mind but it pays good for a lifetime. Very, very good. I have more resources than I know what to do with, so it’s actually nice that I can use them for people in need.”

She flicked a glance to the taller intern between the two, smiling at her fondly as she joked. “You should thank your friend over here because she’s such a sweet talker and she knows how to befriend a lot of doctors including me. She’s amazing at up.”

“Sunbae.” Joy whined slightly, feigning her an offended look. “It’s a necessary skill to survive the world, okay. I’m just trying to secure a future for myself.”

“And you will do it brilliantly, I’m sure.” Taeyeon turned the radiography viewer off and stood up from her seat. “Anything else you would like to say?”

“Sunbae, I’m –“ Seulgi paused and hemmed and hawed, looking uncertain before finally deciding to swallow her shame and be a proper grown up about it.

“I’m sorry about the way I acted when I was in surgery and emergency department back then. I was not the best intern to have, I know. I was the worst. I ignored a lot of things and I didn’t pay attention to anyone including you and the patients. I’m really sorry about that, really. I was such a bitter, childish prick who decided to act out against world by being incredibly irresponsible. I’m really ashamed of myself.”

She stood up and gave the older girl a deep bow, Taeyeon watching the action with mild amusement and oddly fond gaze.

“Do you know why I decided to help you out?”

Seulgi quirked a look up to her, not knowing what she was talking about.

“It’s partially because Joy is a very close junior to me and a very good convincer in general, but it’s also partially because of yourself. Because you are somehow, in a way I never expected, no longer those awful words you have just described yourself with. You are no longer bitter, childish, or irresponsible. Surprisingly.”

She curled up a smile, looking at Seulgi with happy face akin to a proud parent. “I once told you before you left my department that I hoped you found something that interested you out there, because at that time, you were so apathetic. You didn’t really care about anything or anyone at all. I’m happy that you have found yourself nowadays and have grown to be a better person, and I know who is behind it.”

She glanced at Joy briefly, smiling. “Your friend here might have shared a thing or two with me about you and Irene but only out of necessity. Else, I would be really confused why a person hunted by police was brought to my clinic. And don’t worry, I’m not a judgmental person about that.”

She quirked a meaningful but soothing smile and took up her messenger bag from where it rested on the desk. “I think that’s all for today. I still need to run to the hospital to lead some surgeries. Tell Irene to stay put on her bed and not move too much, okay? We don’t want her to have re-bleeding in the head.”

Both girls nodded simultaneously, holding the office door open for the surgeon as they walked her out from the building and muttered their endless gratitude.

“I’ll see you around, sunbae. You are really the best!” Joy shouted, waving her goodbye as the older girl left them with light laughter.

-----------------------------------------------

“So…what are you planning to do now?”

Joy questioned as they walked back into the three-stories building on the quieter outskirts of Seoul, Seulgi nearly missing what she asked completely because her mind was busy wandering somewhere else.

“Huh?” She replied slowly, looking at her friend with a confused look.

Joy rolled her eyes. “I mean what are you planning to do with Irene now? You know we can’t hide her here forever. Taeyeon sunbae is nice enough to let us take her here but it’s risky even for her. I don’t want her to get into troubles because of us.”

Seulgi nodded wordlessly again, because lately every word seemed to get stuck in her brain and never succeeded to make their way out.

Because right now, there seemed to be no way out.

“I don’t know, honestly.” She sighed heavily at the end, shoulders sagging. “I know I have no choice but to bring her back to hospital one day but now is just not the time. She barely took her anti-psychotic drugs again two days ago and I really don’t want her to get any unnecessary stress before she can fully grasp herself.”

Joy hummed quietly, agreeing with Seulgi’s consideration.

“The hospital will be packed with stubborn reporters and the angry family of the deceased. It will be one hell of a mess to bring her there. And I probably can’t even stay with her in the mental ward because they will surely lock her up completely and allow no visitor except for direct family member.”

Seulgi ran a hand through her hair in frustration and stopped walking. “I can’t let her be alone, Joy. Not after all of this. I need to be with her all the time. She needs someone by her side until she is ready to stand on her own again.”

Joy nodded slowly. “And she has no one else right now except for you.”

“Sadly, yeah.” Seulgi sighed and looked contemplative. “Seungwan cares about her a lot and will definitely help her if needed but I don’t think Irene is ready to see her again just yet. They have…a lot of unsettled things, and as I said, now is just not the time for her to get any stress. She needs peace and a lot of quietness.”

Joy bobbed her head again and let out a small sigh of her own.

“What a tricky situation you have. Guess you can’t help but be an illegal patient smuggler for a few more weeks. Your dad will totally freak out if he finds out.”

Seulgi laughed quietly and nudged her friend on the arm before proceeding to walk down the corridor to Irene’s room.

“Speaking about patient, how is Krystal doing?”

“Not good, actually. Not good.” Joy’s expression took a darker turn. “I mean, she’s done with the surgery and she has passed the critical state but for some reasons, she is still unconscious. We can only hope that she will wake up soon.”

“Hopefully.”

“Have Irene mentioned to you at all about why…she did this? The whole car accident, I mean.”

Seulgi’s steps slowed down as a conflicted look crossed her face. “No, actually. We have been avoiding this subject. I don’t want to trigger her or something…but I will ask her when it is time.”

Joy nodded. They walked in silence for another minute before she decided to splay out the piece of information she knew on the open.

“You know, I talked with Taeyeon sunbae a few days ago and she might know the reason to this particular…issue between Krystal and Irene.”

Seulgi’s feet stopped padding altogether and she turned to look at the taller girl with full attention. “What do you mean with that?”

“Krystal was a junior intern in psychiatry when Taeyeon sunbae was on her final year of surgical residency. They knew each other, sort of. There was a time when Krystal nearly dropped out of medical school because of financial problem. Her older sister was terribly sick so she needed large sum of money. However, things were mysteriously solved when Irene was brought to the asylum by her stepmother and placed under her care.”

Seulgi’s brows shot up, the creases on her face growing so deep it looked like Joy was talking to her in an entirely different language.

“You mean –“

“Yeah, I mean there might or might not be a connection between Irene’s stepmother and Krystal. They were said to be seen together often at that time.”

Confusion morphing to ghastly expression, Seulgi’s eyebrows drawn together in what seemed to be a hostile line. Her eyes colored five shades darker.

“Are you okay? You look kinda…mad. I mean, if it’s true, it’s a really ty thing to do but I think we need to take into consideration Krystal’s situation at that time.”

“I am not mad, I’m just –“ Seulgi paused and bit her lip, expelling a heavy breath as she raked her hand through her hair again. “This is just so frustrating. How can everything be so ed up? My god.”

She placed a hand on and wandered around absently before turning back to face Joy again with a horrified look. “Do you know what this means? It means Irene trusted Krystal and relied on her for what, a decade? Only to find out that she was lying to her the entire time. I can’t even begin to think how that must feel –“

Joy looked sympathetic. “I know. It must feel really…horrible. Irene has gone through so much, I can’t imagine if I was in her shoes.”

She drew a deep breath and patted Seulgi on the shoulder.

“You take really good care of her, okay? She really needs you right now.”

Seulgi looked back at her with grim but solid determination.

“I will. I need her too. She is not the only one.”

-----------------------------------------------------

It had been days that Irene only lived on small amount of porridge.

She was still too easily nauseous because of her previous intracranial bleeding, but now that the medication had kicked in and her condition seemed to improve rapidly, Seulgi walked into her room to find her attempting to eat a bowl of noodles on her own.

A small, fond smile made way to her lips, because Irene failed to bring the stubborn, slippery noodles into and ended up throwing the chopsticks back into the bowl before frowning at them deeply like they had offended her ancestors.

“It will be hard for me to use chopsticks with my left hand if my right arm is in cast too, please don’t glare at those poor little guys, they mean no offence.”

Irene’s head immediately swiveled to her at the sound of her voice, and in an instant, her entire face seemed to brighten up.

“Hey. I didn’t hear you coming