Yerim walked into room 491 as quietly as possible, clutching the blood bag to her chest like a frightened child. This patient was in much worse condition than the one in 492; Dr. Park stood with her back facing the diminutive nurse, working on dressing one of the unconscious patient’s many wounds.

    Sooyoung Park was one of the most renowned doctors in the ER. She also happened to be one of the youngest. She was known for her ability to properly diagnose and treat just about any patient, working inhuman hours and still managing to stay completely on top of every little detail of her work. Some speculated that she employed the help of some type of stimulant. She was also known for her no-nonsense pragmatism, and for her contempt for those who she deemed as incompetent. So, naturally, she was the boogeyman to many new hires. And, as Yerim had found out on her first day at Seoul University Hospital, Dr. Park was especially scrutinizing when it came to her, for reasons unknown. Joohyun had claimed it was temporary, and that Sooyoung would soon warm up to her, while others joked that it was because the doctor had a crush on Yerim. In the end, none of the reasons mattered. All that mattered was that Sooyoung was absolutely terrifying.

    Yerim walked forward meekly, her footsteps causing the taller girl to glance over her shoulder, sending her sheet of dark hair cascading around her head. Her intimidating nature was only exacerbated by her beauty.

    “You took quite some time to get that blood bag here.” she said coolly, turning back to the patient.

    “S-sorry, doctor.” Yerim said, sidestepping her superior and beginning to shakily assemble the IV rig.

    “And make sure you don’t have the wrong catheter. I know how you like to waste time by having to go swap out needles.”

    “I have the eighteen gauge,” Yerim muttered, “I made that mistake one time…”

    “One time too many.”

    Yerim wanted to retort, but she thought better of it. There was no use in arguing with Dr. Park. It would only make matters worse.

    “Are you making sure to unclamp the IV, too?”

    “I’ve never made that mistake before, Dr. Park.” Yerim said through gritted teeth.

    “Surprisingly.”

    Thankfully, Sooyoung then paused in her relentless criticism of Yerim in order to inspect the bedridden woman’s burns further. Unfortunately, this allowed Yerim for some time to ruminate on the older girl’s treatment of her. Why did Sooyoung have to be so uptight all the time? Yes, she was an excellent doctor, but that was no excuse to be so rude. And it wasn’t like she treated all the nurses this way either. In fact, she generally avoided speaking to most of the nurses and conveyed her orders through Joohyun, whom she seemed to share a mutual respect for, most of the time. It was also quite unorthodox that Yerim always seemed to be working with the patients that Sooyoung was also taking care of. In fact, all of Yerim’s patients at the hospital so far had been Sooyoung’s as well. Was the doctor specifically requesting Yerim to be her nurse just to torture her?

    Yerim finished setting up the rig and went to insert the catheter into her patient’s vein. As she was moving to do so, a hand wrapped around her wrist. Sooyoung glared down at her, lips pressed into a hard line.

    “What do you think you’re doing?”

    “Inserting an IV.”

    “Yes, but look at the syringe,” Sooyoung said condescendingly, rolling her eyes, “What’s wrong with it?”

    Yerim inspected the syringe, noting that Sooyoung’s hand still hadn’t left her own. When she found that nothing was amiss, she tried to shake off the doctor’s grip, but came to realize that Sooyoung’s hold was vice-like.

    “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s fine.”

    “No, look closer.”

    Yerim squinted her eyes, bringing the syringe up to her face. Sooyoung finally let go at this point, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting patiently for Yerim to figure it out. It was at that moment that the brunette noticed an infinitesimally-sized air bubble right at the top of the syringe, so small that it was almost unnoticeable.

    “Are you talking about that air bubble?” Yerim said in disbelief.

    Sooyoung nodded.

    “It’s not even a tenth of a cc.”

    “It doesn’t matter,” Sooyoung said, shaking her head as if she were speaking to a child, “Any air in there is an embolism risk to the patient. Especially in one as vulnerable as this.”

    “No, no it isn’t!” Yerim said indignantly, stomping her foot, “An air bubble that small has such a minute chance of causing an embolism, no sane doctor would even consider it! That amount of oxygen would probably just end up diffusing anyway! But that doesn’t matter to you, because for some reason, everything I do has to be perfect! If you want it done so perfectly then do it yourself!”

    The younger girl then the IV into the bewildered doctor’s hands and prepared to leave. As she was heading for door, however, a hand grabbed her by the wrist one again. The grip was gentle and light this time, so much so that it caught her off guard. She could have easily pulled away and left, but instead she turned around, surprised at the tenderness of Sooyoung’s hold.

    It was then that Yerim noticed how tired Sooyoung looked. Her normally smooth, full cheeks looked sunken, her bloodshot eyes harbored dilated pupils and was turned down in a scowl that seemed to be from sadness more than anger.

    “You’re right,” she said, “I was overreacting. I’m sorry. Can you finish the IV, please? You’re better at it than I am.”

    Without a word, Yerim nodded and returned to the IV. She glanced over at the doctor every once in awhile, noting the shakiness of Sooyoung’s hands as she went about dressing their patient’s wounds. When she was finished, the brunette bid goodbye to the taller girl, who offered only a short wave in response.

    Yerim shut the door to room 491 behind her, still reeling from the bizarre encounter.

    “You’re better at it than I am.”

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First Joyri chapter. Let me know what you think of this plotline... idk about it yet, I kinda just came up with it on the fly yesterday. The focus will still be Seulrene/Seuldy but Yeri is my bias in the group so she NEEDED to be a main character too (:

Also, I have a poll up about whether you guys want me to include in this story or not. All of my other stories have it and nobody seems to mind but let me know.

Thanks for reading<3