- 010 -

A shriek of rock song woke Jisoo up that night, it sounded so loud that she jumped in surprise to find it came from the ringtone of Yeonseok’s phone. At the same time the owner of the phone woke up next to her, hissing softly before turning his ringtone into silent mode.

“I’m sorry, it’s the hospital. You go back to sleep.” Yeonseok said with an apologetic on her upper arm. He slid off from the bed and took his call outside.

This wasn’t the first time Yeonseok got a call in the middle of the night, Jisoo had got used for emergency consults at the hour where people should’ve been in deep sleep. But this was the first time the phone rang too loud, looked like he got himself pranked by Changmin’s fad this time. She heard that it was the way both surgeons had a pay-back for getting into each other’s nerves sometimes.

Jisoo turned around and laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her head wasn’t as painful as this afternoon, she immediately fell asleep after taking painkiller and didn’t expect to oversleep until this late. So now her stomach was growling for food, she didn’t get to eat anything yet since this morning. So to cure her hunger, Jisoo decided to get out of bed and go to the kitchen.

Yeonseok was talking seriously as she passed him, he threw a glance to her briefly before continuing his conversation in a low voice while leaning against the pillar looking out the open window.

She poured cereal and mixed it with instant warm cocoa then took a seat on one of the chairs on the kitchen island. She wondered if Yeonseok ate something tonight because she didn’t have time to cook anything for dinner.

“Hello, this is Doctor Yoo Yeonseok from Shinsegae General. Sorry for the late call, but I was just informed that you may have a potential donor for my patient. Can you put me through the surgeon in charge, please?”

She heard Yeonseok made a new phone call, and instantly the senses of her listeners were drawn to overhear as the word donor was mentioned.

“Doctor Park Gongmyung—It's okay, yes, I'll wait.”

Jisoo ate slowly. She turned towards Yeonseok few times out of curiosity, and realized that he’s being watched, Yeonseok crooked his fingers to get her coming to him, Jisoo followed suit.

Her heart was pounding hard as she heard her dad was mentioned for the first time, her mind swell with even greater expectations. Was this good news?

“What is it? Tell me it's good news.”

Yeonseok didn’t answer her question immediately. He only smiled then her cheek,

“Oppa,” she begged.

“It's good news. We found a matched donor for your dad. And if everything goes well, we’re doing the surgery this evening.”

At that time, she had no idea how to react. Actually she had a mix feeling about this. Instead of being happy, Jisoo was actually more relieved, because this meant the end of their waiting. This was a new life for her dad, and this was the fruit of great hope. But on the other hand, the new life meant death for someone in another place. She remembered how that person's circumstance when the donor was given, she couldn’t help but think that if she was happy right now, then she’s happy over the suffering of others. And it didn’t sound right.

Jisoo didn’t know what to say, so she just cried. Crying in relief. And when Yeonseok stretched his arms to hold her, she pressed her head on his chest, seeking for comfort there. At least her sadness in the past day was gone already because of this news, and that was far more than enough.

They went to her dad’s house that morning after breakfast. Yeonseok had made another phone call to the hospital to prepare a transit room so that her dad could rest before the surgery. Jisoo packed some clothes and daily needs that her dad would need, then she called her aunt to let her know about surgery.

The team doctor visited him that afternoon, they put them through the protocol to discuss that evening surgery’s procedures, risk and all details about the operation. Two general surgeons would lead the surgery while the head of cardio surgeon would stand by to monitor if complications occurred, which they hoped would never happen.

“I thought you'll be the one who's going to operate.” Jisoo said to Yeonseok after the team left the room, she kept the question during the discussion because she thought Yeonseok would be the one in the operating room doing her dad instead of another doctor. It's not that she didn’t believe in them, but Jisoo was actually more comfortable with someone she knew well when it came to her dad’s case.

“You know we're not allowed to be involved in family's case.” He explained, and he’s right. She totally forgot about that fact alone. “But they're great surgeons, I assure you. In fact, they're the best we have here. So don’t worry, your dad is in good hands.”

She wanted to trust Yeonseok, so she nodded and let a resident in charge set up her dad for pre-op. When they took him to the operating room, she could not calm down. Yeonseok invited her to wait in her dad’s room so she could rest because it would take a long time before they finished, but Jisoo couldn’t stop fidgeting and passing by in the room. Her aunt saw her restlessness, so she told Yeonseok to take her for a walk to calm down because Jisoo looked like she was going to explode anytime.

Yeonseok might see her unrest, for once out of the room he took her up the elevator for the upper floor. They walked down a long deserted corridor, several nurses and doctors passed them, and Jisoo started to think this place wasn’t an area where civilians could pass freely.

They arrived at a gallery with a large window showing the operating room on the other side. She just realized what the place was, as she remembered to have seen it in some medical dramas. From there they could see the operation from the top. Some people had occupied the long chairs at the back rows, Yeonseok took her to the front row closest to the big screen that highlighted on the operating table to show a closer visualization and details.

“Hey,” Yeonseok greeted Changmin who's already sitting there first.

“Oh, hey, hello Jisoo, they're about to start the operation, you haven’t missed anything yet.” He said as he said hi to Jisoo.

She thought her dad’s operation was running already, because he was taken hours ago. When she asked this, Yeonseok explained that usually surgery wouldn’t start before the patient actually under the anesthesia and it could take about one to two hours before the operation began.

The surgical procedure would take about five hours, if everything went well without complications. Yeonseok and Changmin were more than happy to explain every detail of the incisions and movement of the surgical instruments the doctors did down there, of what they were doing, and why they did that. For the first two hours they both focused on the scene before them. Jisoo observed several people, who seem to be resident and intern watched behind.

Their hands were holding notes and they recorded some of the things that Yeonseok or Changmin mentioned during the explanation. Sometimes some of them would ask questions, and either of both men would answer for them. Sometimes the two doctors alternately gave a quizz to the names of the procedures, their purposes, to the relation to some cases, and the interns or the residents scrambled to raise their hands to answer them—so they could get the snacks Changmin actually had brought to accompany him to watch.

The surgery seemed to run faster and less tense with their interaction, even Jisoo had no longer felt the terrible stress because of them. She had to admit the two doctors looked really cool in that impromptu class session. Now she got why the nurses said they were the interns and residents’ two favorite doctors at the hospital.

When the surgery finally ended, Jisoo could hardly believe the five hours ended quickly. She couldn’t  be more grateful when the doctors in charge told them her dad’s condition, that everything went well and that they just needed to wait for him to wake up in a couple hours. She hugged them tightly between the laughs of their success.

* * *

Her dad’s transplant euphoria still felt so high until the next day. Jisoo didn’t sleep all night waiting for him until he woke up a few hours before sunrise, and was able to really rest and close her eyes after having breakfast.

Her dad was placed in an isolation room at the corner of the ICU hall, a private room supposedly reserved for the VIPs, where he had his own waiting room for families. A sofa bed was held so Jisoo could sleep. And she just woke up about five hours later when her aunt woke her up for lunch.

She her cell phone after nearly two days was left to die for not being touched. And still in this euphoric mood, she didn’t expect to be greeted by the commotion in her study group's chat page, discussing Jongdae who had just involved in a fight.

She could hardly believe it when she first read it. Jongdae wasn’t the kind of person who would fight, although he’s quite vocal, her brother was emotionally controlled. Something must have greatly triggered his anger that people said he 'never looked so out of control' when fighting with—

Oh God, Oh Sehun.

She was like going to collapse again for how unbelievable it was. She watched an amateur video tape showing the two boys having a quarrel in the back of the campus. Sehun with his ‘it's none of your business’ card and Jongdae with his ‘I'm his brother’ act and both felt they had the right to do what they're doing at the time.

Both seemed careless of how many people watched, and it’s maybe something Sehun said—she didn’t really catch so much—that sparked Jongdae's outrage, the shriek of the girls rang in her ear as Jongdae suddenly moved advanced and threw his fist at Sehun's face. Jisoo instantly covered with her hand in shock.

It's like watching a drama on stage. They both didn’t look like she had ever known them. She obviously didn’t recognize Sehun anymore because he really changed from how he used to, but Jongdae? Jisoo really wished he was better than this.

She no longer knew how their fight went on because the video ended when some people interfered to separate them. Reading further comments from her friends, Jisoo didn’t need to guess what the source of the fight was.

Some people regretted Jongdae's attitude, apparently from their chatter Jongdae didn’t really need to interfere because whatever happened between Sehun