“J-J-Jong-gin-ah!!”  Misun’s voice came out as a broken whisper as she fell on the asphalt when her knees went weak and refused to support her weight. Her hand hovered over Jongin, wanting to touch him but at the same time struggled to close the distance. His body looked broken and lifeless, his tan skin getting drained of it’s color as his blood kept oozing away from his body steadily, taking his life gradually away with it. what if he is……no no… Misun forced herself to push the horrifying thought away.

He needs help ASAP.

As soon as her brain recovered from it’s dazed state, it realized what to do next- take Jongin to a hospital before it’s too late. Judging by how the asphalt was gleaming red, he has already lost too much blood.

“Some one call 911!” A male voice shouted from behind and Misun heard someone tapping away on their phone from behind. She turned around to see whether it was help they were calling for but  before she could confirm, she felt a comforting hand around her shoulders.

“Is he someone you know?” A plump middle aged woman asked, as she gently pulled Misun up from the ground. Her knees wobbled like jelly and her body keeled sideways but the woman tightened her grip on Misun’s waist and supported almost all of her weight and led her away from the crowd. “Don’t worry dear. Your boyfriend will survive. There is no way he can leave a beautiful girl like you behind.” The woman tried to console but Misun couldn’t process even a single word she was saying.

“Jongin……help…….blood….” Misun mumbled. Why is it that no one is trying to understand the situation?! There is a man in the middle of the road, bleeding crazily, ready to die… why is no one doing anything?? Misun pushed the woman’s hand forcibly away.

“HELP!” She croaked turning towards the crowd.

“It’s okay dear, help is on the way!” The woman tried to get a hold on Misun but this time she moved away before the woman could do anything.

“He is dying! We have to take him to a hospital!” Misun shouted again but her voice came out weak. She moved towards the crowd again, but as soon as she took a couple of steps, her head started spinning and she swayed on the spot dangerously before the same woman from before took Misun’s hand and held her upright.

“Please.” Misun begged and this time, her tears started falling on to her cheeks and everything started appearing blurry. She stopped struggling and went limp in the woman’s hands. After what felt like an eternity, she heard the siren of Korean ambulance service and for the first time in her life, Misun was glad that she did. The van screeched to a halt infront of the crowd and two men on orange uniform jumped out of the back of the van carrying a stretcher. The crowd parted easily away for the men to get to the middle. They gently pulled Jongin up and placed him on the stretcher.

“We need someone to come along with us.” One of them called out loudly towards the crowd.

“I’m his friend.” Misun said quickly and tried to walk as steadily as possible towards the men. Just before she could get on the van, she turned around and bowed towards the woman who had tried to give her emotional and physical support.

“He is losing too much blood!!! He needs an emergency surgery! We don’t have much time left!” One of the residents shouted, who had performed tracheal intubation on Jongin after administering him local anaesthesia.

“Bring the log book and check which OP room is free!” Another resident shouted to the nurse who was accompanying them.

“The one on the third floor is free for today, sir.” She answered back promptly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir.” The nurse replied confidently. She smiled gently at Misun who had one of her hands wrapped around Jongin’s bloody fingers. When they reached the OP room on the third floor, the nurse gently pried Misun’s stiff hand away from Jongin’s fingers that had started becoming cold by then.

“We will take care of him.” She assured before pushing the stretcher through the door, and it closed as soon as she went inside making it impossible for Misun to see what was going on inside. After about fifteen minutes, one of the residents who had gone in with Jongin came running out looking frantic.

“Is everything ok?” Misun asked quickly as soon as she spotted him. whatever hope Misun had about Jongin’s survival evaporated as soon as she noted the look of helplessness on the resident’s face.

“We don’t have a surgeon to operate on him. I don’t have enough experience to operate a patient without a supervisor. The patient is all set for the surgery but there is no surgeon available on this time slot.” The resident said desperately.

“THIS IS SEOUL’S BEST HOSPITAL FOR GOD’S SAKE! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH SURGEONS HERE!” Misun roared and heard crack but she couldn’t care less. It was Jongin behind those doors, struggling to stay alive and she was not going to sit and wait for him to die because help didn’t arrive at the right time.

“Calm down miss.” The resident said in a shaky voice.

“I CANNOT CALM DOWN. NOT WHEN MY FRIEND IS DYING!” Misun shouted again but a part of her mind already knew that shouting was not going to help her much.

“Misun? Is that you?”

Misun cricked her neck in her hurry to turn around at the sound of her name, and saw Kris standing in the middle of the corridor, in his formals, a look of surprise on his face.

“Kris, thank god you are here.” Misun said, feeling giddy with relief. “Jongin met with an accident and he is losing blood. He needs an emergency surgery. You can head the team for the surgery, can’t you?” Misun said frantically as she gripped her brother by the shoulders.

“Jongin who?” Kris asked looking confused and unable to grasp the magnitude of the problem in hand.

“Kim Jongin! Our Jongin!” Misun raised her voice. “He is in the there! He needs help.”

For a brief moment Misun saw anger flash though Kris’s eyes when she had mentioned Jongin’s name for the second time. He clenched his jaw tightly and Misun could already see the battle that was going on his mind. After a couple of seconds, Kris broke eye contact with Misun and let out a small sigh.

“Can I see his chart?” Kris asked, his eyes darting towards the resident.

“I’m not sure Mr.Wu. You don’t work here anymore and you were invited today only to give a lecture on transplantations to our newly appointed residents. I don’t have the authority to give you permission to operate on any patient in this hospital’s premises.”

“IF JONGIN DIES, I WILL SUE YOU ALL AND WILL BRING THIS HOSPITAL DOWN.” Misun shouted. The Resident looked at her with a scornful expression.

“She means it. she really does.” Kris said matter-of-factly. The resident gulped audibly and with shaky hands he handed over Jongin’s chart over to Kris. Misun watched as Kris read though the complete page in a matter of seconds.

“I haven’t done any surgeries in the past few months. So, I don’t know whether I can pull this one off.” He mumbled to himself. “But, Yeah,