Yerin stares vacantly at a row of lockers in front of her. Her lips curved into a smile but her forehead frowns. It feels so surreal for her that she is now officially dating her future wife, SinB. It’s not just a dream or even her one-sided hope, SinB admitted that they are together two days ago, when they were in the car and she messed up the whole holding hands and kissing opportunities. SinB even made it clear that they were together that night. Yerin sighs but still smiling. She once again messed up her chance, and judging by the gravity of that night’s situation, the opportunity might not come for quite some time. 

”Yo, my buddy Duckie! What are you staring at? Your hard life ahead?” Sowon slaps Yerin’s back hard making the latter jolted forward.

Yerin turns and stares at Sowon. Not saying a thing, Sowon sits next to her, staring at the lockers and heaves a sigh. The same sigh as the one Yerin lets out before as they both share the same sentiment. Sowon shouldn’t be making fun of Yerin because she was the one causing them to be in this predicament. Hadn’t Sowon joked about finding another girl, they might not be in trouble. Like there is a projector behind them, the scene from two nights ago is playing in front of them.

*

”Jung Yerin!” 

”Kim Sowon!”

Yerin who is holding her phone and Sowon who is on Yerin’s phone screen is startled by the calling of their name, not calling, the screaming of their name. Yerin turned around and at the front door, standing with a pillow in their hands and fuming red eyes are Hwang SinB and Jung Eunha. Sowon quietly whispers to Yerin to retreats or runs away as far as she can as they both saw the passageway to hell is opening in front of their eyes. An angry Jung Eunha is a dark force to be reckoned with, the combination of that petite beautiful angry angel with the angry goddess Hwang SinB is like signing your own death certificate.

For a second, Yerin did consider the option although she knows she is in an apartment, on the tenth floor. She quickly comes to her senses, takes a deep breath for the upcoming stormy night before falling limply onto the couch, followed by Eunha and SinB. Yerin flashes an innocent smile, asking for her new girlfriend some sympathy. It failed miserably. In the years of her life dealing with women, difficult women to be precise, SinB topped them all easily. 

First and foremost, SinB teaming with her ex-girlfriend to reprimand her and Sowon. Oh, by the way, as of last night, SinB speaks to Sowon casually while still keeping the formal title, Dr. Kim. It makes it sound even scarier. Just imagine SinB said this to a person several years older than her who happens to be her senior at work, ”you, Dr. Kim, stays on the line. You and this Jung Yerin here are both in this together. Dr. Kim, hang up the phone and video call your girlfriend, Eunha unnie. I need to use Yerin’s phone.”

Sowon listens and follows SinB’s orders religiously. Within seconds, Sowon hangs up and calls her girlfriend’s phone. Eunha answers the phone with an angry expression, glaring at Sowon without saying anything. She side stares Yerin. Understanding what it means, Yerin takes the phone and holds it out front so the three of them could fit in the screen while SinB fiddles with her phone.

Yerin glances over her shoulder to see what is SinB up to and a smile sneaks in. She forgot that her phone was set to automatically lock after 30 seconds. She unlocks the phone with her forefinger and a few seconds later, she gently takes SinB’s left ring finger and pressed it on the home button three times before passing the phone back to SinB with a smile. SinB smiles back shyly with a streak of pink flashes across her cheeks. Yerin focus back to her task of holding the phone up for Eunha and SinB in silence. To be precise, she is holding the phone for Eunha who is fighting with Sowon who is on the line while SinB still doing things with her phone.

”Dr. Kim, can you add Irene unnie in this call? I need her too for our discussion,” asked SinB in a demanding tone to which Sowon followed like a ruler. 

”Hi Irene unnie,” SinB greets Irene who is now on the screen as well. Eunha follows suit while Yerin just peeked from the side of the phone momentarily and waves at Irene.

”Thank you unnie for joining us today,” said SinB politely at Irene making Sowon cringe that earns her a deadly glare from her beloved girlfriend.

”I’m sorry to bother you at this time of the day. I’ll make it quick,” SinB said, initiating the unplanned conversation. 

”Blame Yerin and Dr. Kim if you want, Irene unnie, Eunha unnie. This is all because of them,” SinB shoots deadly glares at Sowon and Yerin.

”Just call me Sowon, SinB-ssi,” said Sowon. 

SinB nods and smiles flatly. She fidgets with Yerin’s phone in her hand. SinB inhales deeply, mustering a bit of courage to tell her plan to everyone who is years older than her. She wasn’t thinking clearly when she daringly scolded Yerin and Sowon earlier. She acted on impulse, asking Sowon to hangs up her call to Yerin’s phone, then she downloaded messaging apps on Yerin’s phone and created a group message consist of herself, Yerin, Eunha, Sowon and Irene.

And now, when all the raging jealousy feeling has subsided, she is kind of scared. Who wouldn’t be? She is facing those people whom she has the uttermost respect for and she has to tell them what she did, which by the way, is super childish and crazy jealous girlfriend-ish. She mentally slapped herself several times for acting without thinking clearly how to execute it.

All eyes are on SinB, waiting for the youngest’s explanation. After almost a minute of silence, Irene purposely clears just to pressure SinB to say what she wanted to say. It works like a charm. SinB fixes her hair and swallows hard. 

”I made a group message. Yerin. Me. Dr. Sowon. Eunha unnie. And Irene unnie-” SinB starts her explanation, but was cut by Sowon, ”just Sowon, drop the Dr.,”.

”Okay. Sowon unnie,” said SinB annoyingly.

”Why?” asked Sowon.

”What do you mean why? You just asked me to,” answered SinB, clearly annoyed by Sowon’s question.

”I know that. I mean why is there a group message? And I don’t think Yerin has the messaging apps on her phone,” responded Sowon.

”I just installed the apps. And already made the group,” said SinB looking down at Yerin’s phone and hold it up showing the newly made group message at Eunha, Yerin and at the phone’s camera. 

Yerin looks at her phone vacantly, like it is not a big deal to her. Eunha takes a quick glance at the phone then studies Yerin’s expression. Yerin just smiles at Eunha with a blank expression. Everyone except Sowon said something in response. To be exact, Sowin gives a list of questions to why did SinB do that. Everyone just listens to Sowon’s ramble except for Yerin who is lost in SinB’s beauty. Ever since SinB walks into her apartment minutes ago, she hasn’t been focusing on other things except for SinB. The woman looks heavenly beautiful that nothing penetrates her eyes, ears and mind other than SinB. SinB fills her whole being. 

”Yah! I’m talking to you!” Sowon’s scream fills the entire apartment, deafening Yerin’s ears, dragging her out of her trance.

Yerin scoots forward, fitting part of her face in the screen and just stares blankly at Sowon. She just heard her best friend rambling and screaming her name without catching any of it, not even the gist. Sowon’s words just fly through her head. 

”Yah! Yerin! Do you know what this means?” Sowon grunts, staring disbelievingly at Yerin.

”What?” Yerin asks dumbfounded by the question.

Sowon facepalms. Obviously, the woman whose eyes only see SinB doesn’t pay attention to what she said. Sowon explains what is happening to Yerin and exaggerate a bit so Yerin could grasp the gravity of the issue, in her perspective, at least.

”Ahh. So just don’t text anything to the group. Just directly text me as usual, easy-peasy,” Yerin smiles, clicking her tongue while proudly shooting a finger gun at Sowon for the brilliant solution that she came up with, or so she thought it was.

Now, everyone facepalms, shaking their head in disbelief especially SinB. SinB couldn’t believe what she just heard. Yerin just said out loud that they don’t have to use the group message that she just created for them to overcome Sowon’s concern of having to tell everything they do to her which was the sole purpose of her creating the group message. 

”Did you just suggest to Sowon unnie to just not use the group message?” SinB asks, Yerin nods.

”Do you even understand the use of the group message? Do you know why I created the group?” SinB asks, biting her bottom lip trying to hold in her anger.

”Ne. You ask us to report everything in the group. Because you want to know?” answered Yerin casually, still couldn’t fathom why is it a big deal.

”So, you do know? And you still suggested that?” SinB asks. Her anger is already at its peak, waiting for it to explode. Yerin nods her head. 

And, SinB’s anger exploded. 

”Are you kidding me?! Oh my! I can’t believe you just suggested that while fully understand the reason why I’m doing that. It defies the whole purpose. Do you know how hard it is for me? Having you being friends with your exes, close friends at it! And then you were planning to go out to get girls on the same night of our first day together?!” SinB lets out all her anger and frustration.

Yerin looks at SinB disbelievingly. Then she looks at Eunha, Sowon and Irene who are on the screen with the same look. She doesn’t understand why her new girlfriend whom she crazily in love with is feeling that way. Eunha heaves a sigh as Yerin continues to stares at SinB dumbfoundedly. 

”Bi, I’ve been friends with Eunha since high school and Irene since med school. We’ve been friends long before we were lovers. And it didn’t work out for us, so we went back to be friends. They are my closest friends, Bi,” explained Yerin. 

”Do you love them?” SinB asks. Everyone else holds their breath, praying that Yerin wouldn’t answer the question truthfully. 

In a heartbeat, Yerin answers, ”I do.”

SinB slumps against the cushions upon hearing Yerin’s quick, confident answer. Eunha and Irene both shake their head while Sowon loudly says ”pabo-yah” to Yerin. It seems that Yerin is as lost cause as they thought she would be. 

”I love them as my closest friend, Bi. I love you as the only woman I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. You are the love of my life right now, and every single day to come,” Yerin looks straight into SinB’s eyes lovingly.

Everyone is keeping mum. Sowon probably holding in her stomach content that is waiting to be bursting out of . Irene and Eunha probably holding in their ’awww’ so the romantic mood is not spoiled, or perhaps keeping their own feeling of jealousy in. SinB perhaps keeping herself together from melting due to Yerin’s sweet wholehearted confession.

SinB looks at Eunha, Irene and Sowon, raising up her eyebrows as she tilted her head in Yerin’s direction. All four of them heave a sigh. SinB then says, ”so unnies, I know it’s not my place to ask, but... can we make this work? I’m not asking for all the details, just so we know what is our plan and our whereabouts relating to Yerin. Can I count everyone in?”

SinB stares at them with eyes filled with hope. Eunha puts her arm on SinB’s shoulder, squeezes it assuringly. Irene smiles and nods her head willingly. Sowon pouts, looking frustrated as she reluctantly nods her head. SinB looks at Yerin, waiting for her response. Yerin’s eyes and mouth both form an ’O’ shape.

”What? I don’t think it’s a problem. I never oppose it. I was just giving Sowon a solution for her issue,” said Yerin pouting.

”So, you would utilise the group message, right?” SinB asks Yerin once again to get her confirmation.

Yerin nods her head, assuring SinB that she is going to do what she was told to eventhough she still doesn’t get why. SinB smiles and it made Yerin smiles too. She is proud of herself for being a good girlfriend. Yerin then smiles at the camera to which Sowon responded with a finger pointing at them back while smiling mischievously.

”No. That doesn’t mean you get to go out for a night out, picking girls up at the bar. You don’t get to just inform in the group message that you are doing that. No.” SinB glares at both Yerin and Sowon. Eunha backs her up both verbally and non-verbally with a threatening glare. Yerin nods her head understandingly.

***

Ting!

Yerin unlocks her phone and reads the new text message she just received. Immediately her lips curved into a bright smile. Sowon peeks over her shoulder to read the message and squeals happily like a teenager. 

”So, I take that you won’t be having lunch with me?” 

”Nope. My baby is waiting for me,” said Yerin proudly.

Sowon walks alongside Yerin who skips her way out of the changing room with the biggest grin she could curved with her lips. Sowon scolds her best friend, asking her to act accordingly to her position in the hospital as one of the best trauma surgeon, the scariest and most avoided attending in the whole hospital, and one of the disciplinary board members. But, it seems like her words just gone with the wind as Yerin keeps being her childish self.

”Dr. Jung!”

A familiar voice screaming Yerin’s name halting their steps. They stand there in the hallway, waiting for the person calling out Yerin’s name loudly and desperately just now. Tzuyu, one of the experienced trauma nurses jogs towards them.

”Dr. Jung, I need you in the trauma bay now,” said Tzuyu tugging Yerin with her without even waiting for the response.

”Wait! What?! Where’s Dr. Lee? I’m off to lunch. Tzuyu?” said Yerin as she is being dragged towards the trauma bay that she has been spending her two consecutive days there.

Sowon just shrugs her shoulder as she was ignored by Tzuyu who fastens her pace with Yerin on tow. She proceeds with her plan, having a long lunch with her sweetheart, Eunha, Irene and the dreadfully uptight girlfriend, Seulgi. She could never understand the reason why the young woman is always uptight whenever they hang out together but only complains when Yerin started it. As she reaches the cafe, Eunha is already waiting at the entrance. They queue at the counter and order their lunch set. Then they sit at their usual table, that has already been occupied with Irene and Seulgi who is surprisingly happy.

”You look happy. What’s wrong with you, Seulgi?” Sowon asks as she puts down the tray filled with Eunha and her lunch. Eunha elbows her for asking a question that can be considered inappropriate by most people.

”Just happy to be with my lovely girlfriend,” responded Seulgi as she caresses Irene’s hand before kissing it tenderly, causing Irene to blush shyly. 

”Wait...is it because Yerin is now with someone, so you don’t feel threatened any longer?” guessed Sowon to which Seulgi just shrugs her shoulder, smirking a bit. The four munch on their lunches, happily chatting with each other about their day and various interesting cases they came across. 

**

SinB waits for Yerin at their usual place - the bench at the park just outside the hospital’s cafeteria. She already texted Yerin ten minutes ago to meet her here for lunch. She prepared something for them as they hadn’t been able to have lunch together for the last two days. Yerin was working on a 48-hour shift, so they just met briefly when Yerin picked her up for work and dropped her home in the evening. They just have about fifteen minutes to catch up in the car. So, she is really looking forward to today’s lunch since Yerin’s shift ends this afternoon. She misses Yerin even though she never said anything when the woman asked her.

Ten minutes have passed after she received the message from Yerin saying she was on her way out of the change room with Sowon. SinB tried calling Yerin several times but she didn’t answer them. She texted Yerin but received no reply. She said to herself to wait for another five minutes for Yerin but just after a minute, she stands up leaving the bench to go find Yerin. As she steps into the cafe, she immediately turns to look at Yerin’s usual table and spots Sowon, Eunha, Irene and Seulgi, but no Yerin. She looks around the cafe as she walks towards the table, still trying to look for Yerin.

”Dr. Sowon, where’s Dr. Jung? Isn’t she with you?” SinB asks Sowon.

”She was. Tzuyu came and get her right after we left the change room,” answered Sowon without a reservation.

SinB’s eyes open wide upon hearing the name. The name that she never likes to hear together with Yerin’s. She storms out of the cafe angrily leaving the dumbfounded Sowon at the table with three people shooting daggers at her.

”What?” Sowon asks as she could feel her skin is burning up due to the intense staring.

”Why? Why did you say that to her?” Eunha asks, sighing frustratedly.

”What did I say? Tzuyu came and get Yerin?” Sowon asks for confirmation and Eunha nods. ”Because she asked me? And that’s what happened?” Sowon answered with questions as it still confuses her.

Eunha grunts. She shakes her head a few times and pinches Sowon’s arm, making the woman who was just putting something in groaning in pain.

”Why did you have to say that? Can’t you just say she went back to the trauma bay for an emergency? You know how SinB feels. Heck! Even I am not fond of Tzuyu with Yerin,” complained Eunha.

Irene nods her head enthusiastically, agreeing with Eunha before the two high-fiving one another. Sowon looks at them in disbelief, surprised by what she just heard - her girlfriend doesn’t like Tzuyu, one of the senior trauma nurse. And Irene also feels the same. 

”What’s wrong with Tzuyu? She is nice. Kind. Pretty. I like her,” said Sowon. Both Eunha and Irene shoot deathly glare at her. 

”Sowon unnie, repeats back what you just said word by word,” Seulgi finally said something as she is sure Sowon might end up dead if the woman continues to say the wrong thing.

”Did you not know that Tzuyu likes Yerin? She has been ever since she started working here?”   Eunha asks.

”Yes, I do. So...?” Sowon asks back, still confused.

”You and your best friend are just the same. Pabo. Can’t you think how we would feel when Yerin is with Tzuyu? The woman is still in love with Yerin. She works with Yerin almost every day. She takes every chance she has to be with Yerin every single day even when Yerin is not available. Did you still not get it? You were all worked up when Yerin and I went back to my parents’ when we started dating,”explained Eunha.

”It’s about work, Eunha-yah, not personal, why would you girls worked up?”

Just as Eunha about to rebut, her pager went off, followed by Sowon’s and Irene’s. They all check their pagers and the same message was sent to them. At the same time, their faces change to a horrified expression. Not long after, their phone buzzes indicating that a new message is received. The message that the three of them dreaded the most to received, and yet after a few years, they got them again. Sowon, Irene and Eunha read the message and they immediately get up, leaving Seulgi confused as ever. Irene shows the message to her confused girlfriend and kisses her cheek before leaving with Sowon and Eunha. 

Eunha wanted to cry but she pulls herself together. Her steps are heavy yet quick as if she is running in a marathon. She knows there is no use for that but she still does, hoping and praying hard that everything is going to be okay. They reach Chief Bae’s office, panting heavily. 

”What happened?” Sowon the first to catch her breath and asks Chief Bae and the security personnel. 

”Yerin...”

***

”He was shot in the head and right through his heart,” reported Tzuyu.

”You! You are going to save my boss right now. You are going to make sure he is alive. I already gave her time to get you because she said you are the best. So, get to your job now!” 

A man screaming in Yerin’s ears while pointing a gun at her head. Another two armed men are standing closely to Tzuyu, Dr. Park and Umji, pointing their guns at them. Yerin takes a deep breath, calming herself while visually assessing the man on the steel bed in front of her, as well as the wellness of Tzuyu, her 3rd-year residence and the first-year intern who happens to be her girlfriend’s best friend. The girlfriend that she just stood up because of Tzuyu unexpected appearance in front of the changing room, dragging her here to the most dreaded situation ever to be in.

”I’ll try my best. I am no God to make sure he is alive,” said Yerin calmly.

Perhaps it sounded calm and respectful for Yerin but it sounded condescending for the man pointing a gun at her head that he hit her stomach with the back of the gun and kicks her leg. Yerin’s leg gives out as the blow is unbearable that she ended up kneeling on the floor. The same man urges her to get up and starts working on his dying leader. Yerin powers through and stands on her now painful leg and starts putting on a new pair of gloves. She examines the injuries and assesses the extent of the injuries for the appropriate course of action to be taken. 

”Let’s get him a CT scan,” ordered Yerin. 

Dr. Park and Umji start moving but just after taking a step forward, they halted their movement as the men pressed the gun’s muzzle at their chest. The men don’t let them move.

”He needs to be scanned so we can examine any internal injuries. I need to do this to help him,” reasoned Yerin.

”Help him here, just use what you have here. You have the thing to scan pregnant women, just use that,” the man who Yerin assumes the right man of this gangster leader orders her while pointing his finger at the monitors lining up at the back of the trauma bay.

”Then, I need to call someone so I can ask him what do I do,” said Yerin, plotting a way for her to let someone know their situation.

”No.”

As if the man knows Yerin is plotting something, he immediately denies her request. But, Yerin insisted, saying she doesn’t want to make a mistake and she promised not to say anything about their predicament. The man thinks hard on Yerin’s request, weighing on the pros and cons. Yerin keeps on looking at the injured man and the monitors, alternating between the two concernedly making the man agrees with Yerin’s request. 

”Okay. Make it quick, and one mention of us, this young, sweet girl’s head will be blown up,” said the man as he instructed his friend to point the gun to Umji’s head. 

Yerin tries her best to stay calm despite the man’s threat. She nods her head seriously. Yerin takes out her phone and unlocks it, seeing her inbox is filled with messages and tonnes of missed calls from SinB. Yerin tries to text SinB to apologise but the man who has his gun pointing to Umji’s head starts toying with the gun, trailing the muzzle along the young woman’s face. She worried about her safety that she forego the intention and initiates the video call with Chief Bae. As she waits for Chief Bae to answer, the man snatches the phone from her, immediately ends the call.

The man pulls his semi-automatic handgun slide back and presses the muzzle on Yerin’s forehead, while his other hand waving the phone frantically.

”What do you think you are doing?! Why did you video call him?! To expose us?! Huh?! Do you want to die today?!” the man yells in Yerin’s face as he keeps pressing the gun on her forehead. Yerin steps backwards to avoid his spitting as he yelling and cursing her making his yelling intensified and now he is pushing Yerin backwards towards the back wall.

”I need to show him the injuries so he could assess and discuss the plan to save him. I won’t show your face or his face, just his body and head. And no, thank you. I still want to live,” said Yerin tries not to stutter. ”And please brush your teeth once in a while,” Yerin said to herself quietly, finally able to breathe normally as the man stops yelling and spitting on her face.

The man still hold his gun firmly on Yerin’s forehead with his forefinger on the trigger exchanges look with his two comrades. Yerin urges him for a decision upon glancing over at the monitor and sees the oxygen saturation level is dropping faster than before.

”And we need to hurry or the chances of him surviving will be very low.”

The other two men nod their head and the leader gives back the phone to Yerin. He presses the muzzle on Yerin’s side of the body, just an inch above her kidney so he wouldn’t be in sight. Yerin dials Chief Bae’s number again and waits for him to answer his video call.

”Chief, we got an emergency. Can you assess him and recommend a treatment plan?” Yerin immediately asks as soon as the man answers her call. She has no choice but to skip the formal greetings because the man puts more pressure on his gun at her stomach and the other man now has his arm around Umji’s and Tzuyu’s neck.

”This is an emergency, sir. I need your guidance in this case. There are three, oh men, this man has three points of injuries. Can you confirm this? I’ll show them to you. One on the body,” Yerin drops a few hints to Chief Bae of their predicament and then moves slowly to point her phone’s back camera at the injured man’s chest.

”I need you to go closer Dr. Jung, I need a clearer view,” said Chief Bae.

Yerin moves her phone nearer to the man’s chest showing Chief Bae the small wound where the bullet penetrates the man’s chest and probably straight into his heart. The man is squatting beside Yerin, pressing the gun’s muzzle on her side of the body. So, Yerin takes the opportunity to point the camera at cDr Park and Umji who are been held hostage by the two gunmen for a quick second as she moves the phone towards the injured man’s head. As she moves the phone around every angle to show Chief Bae the head injury, she manages to sneak Tzuyu into the frame as well. 

”Turn him around, see if there’s an exit wound,” instructed Chief Bae. 

Yerin follows his order with the help of Dr. Park. They carefully turn the man to his side to check for an exit wound to rule out the possibility that the bullet is still lying somewhere in the body, probably stuck in one of the internal organs. Yerin reports to Chief Bae after checking the man’s back thoroughly and couldn’t find an exit wound indicating the bullet didn’t exit the man’s body.

”Get him to CT, stat! Get a full body scan!” Chief Bae ordered Yerin sternly. Yerin nods her head and ends the call when the man pressed the muzzle on her body harder, signalling her to end the call as Chief Bae just told her to do exactly what she told them to do but was denied.

”No one is going out of this room before he is saved. Use what you have here and stop wasting time. Cut him open, now!” the man yells at Yerin and punches her stomach a few times. He ends it with knocking the corner of Yerin’s eyes with the gun’s handle. Yerin bites her bottom lip to endure the pain.

”Dr. Park, examine the body. Dr. Kim, prepare the ultrasound scan. Nurse Chou, prepare the blades and the drill, I need a retractor too,” ordered Yerin as she regains her posture. 

The three move as quick and thorough as they could following Yerin’s instruction. Umji cuts the man’s clothes and removes them, leaving nothing on the man’s body. Dr. Park palpates and examines every inch of the man’s now body. Turning him to the side with Yerin’s assistance and examines the back once again. He reports that the man’s ribs are possibly broken based on the crackling sounds produced when he palpated the chest’s area. A possible internal organ injuries are also reported by Dr. Park as the result of his visual and physical examination. After Dr. Park is done with the primary assessment, Umji takes over for further investigation of the suspected internal organ injuries. 

Umji smothered the man’s exposed abdomen with the transparent gel and places the transducer on his abdomen, pressing it against the skin carefully to see what’s beneath the skin. The real-life images showed on the monitor confirms that there is liquid in the man’s abdomen due to the laceration of the liver. She scans the heart and finds something in the man’s heart. Umji then was handed a transcranial doppler for her to scan the man’s head. This is the first time she is using it other than that one time she used it in neurology class back when she was in medical school. She is on cloud nine that she finally gets to use it but she is not 100% sure how to and their situation now is not the best time for a teaching session. Seeing Umji is a bit flustered, Yerin takes the linear probe and runs it on the man’s face at several points to asses the intracranial pressure. As suspected, the intracranial pressure is elevated. 

Yerin glances over at the monitor to see the man’s vital signs. She decided to treat the man’s head injury first seeing that he is stable and not in great distress. Tzuyu begins to shave the hair off the frontal lobe of the unconscious man lying on the steel bed in preparation for Yerin to cuts through his skull and takes out the bullet. One of the men tugs Tzuyu’s hand, stopping her from shaving his boss’s head. He yells at Tzuyu, and about to hit her but Yerin quickly blocks him and holds his arm in her hand firmly. 

”Lay your hands on them and let’s see what’s going to happen with him,” threatened Yerin as she turns on the surgical perforator drill. The man who was guarding Yerin signals the man to back away from Tzuyu seeing that Yerin is not joking. 

Yerin nods her head assuringly at Tzuyu, Dr. Park and Umji. She proceeds to place the drill on the skull and begin to drill four holes. Then she cuts through the skull using the circular craniotome, assisted by Dr. Park. They carefully lifted a segment of the skull, exposing the brain in its bare form with liquid mixed with blood oozing from it. Yerin carefully takes out the shattered bullet from the brain and picks up the fragmented bone laying everywhere in the brain as the bullet penetrates the man’s skull and brain.

Yerin treats the man with uttermost care despite being held hostage, with a gun pointed on her temple by the man’s underlings. She tries to salvage the man’s brain as much as possible, just like she would do to other patients who are probably had been harassed by this man and his underlings. As she pulls the last knot, the machine is beeping continuously indicating the man is in a distress. His vital sign drops too low, and his going into a cardiac arrest. 

Without Yerin’s order, Dr. Park already started the resuscitation protocol and when he got the heartbeat back, Tzuyu applies the iodine on the man’s chest waiting for him to be cut open. Tzuyu then handed the scalpel to Yerin for her to cut open the man’s chest. She and Tzuyu had worked side-by-side for years, and they both had handled this type of emergency hundred of times that their movement is like a choreography.

***

”Should we tell her?” Sowon asks.

”No!” both Eunha and Irene scream at once.

”Wae? Shouldn’t she know? She would get her wrong,” reasoned Sowon when both Yerin’s exes don’t agree with her suggestion to tell SinB about Yerin’s situation. 

”Even we, I, don’t like this situation. I hate it when this thing happened. Save that kid’s heart,” said Eunha in a heart-wrenching tone as she keeps monitoring every movement on the small screen displaying almost every angle of  trauma bay 5 where Yerin is trying her best to save a ring leader while being under a gun, literally!

”She would be devastated if we don’t tell her, though. They just got together,” Sowon persuades Eunha and Irene.

”This is the procedure, Sowon. She is not supposed to know just like everyone else-” said Irene sternly.

”But-”

”Bang!”

The sound of a gunshot coming from the monitor stopping Sowon’s further justification. Chief Bae, the chief of security, Irene, Eunha and Sowon stares at the monitor screaming their heart out.

”No!!!” 

***

SinB was going to find Yerin who as she understood from Sowon’s report was following Tzuyu when she was on her way to meet her as promised, but she turns back. She went back to the bench and ate her lunch. She ate them slowly, hoping that Yerin will come which she never did. SinB called and texted Yerin every thirty seconds, but she didn’t get a response. Ten minutes in, SinB finally had it. She puts down her lunch box on the bench, staring at the lunch box she made for Yerin just laying there alone, untouched. 

The lunch she looked forward to for days has been a waste. She made the lunch with care and love and this is the first time she ever cooks a complete meal. She had prepared the ingredients last night, woke up early in the morning to cook them, perfected their taste and look only to be ditched without a warning because of a woman who is known to be in love with her. She studied how to cook three dishes from the net the whole night before so she could cook them for Yerin. SinB doesn’t want to ask her mother because she might ask questions and she is not ready to tell her about Yerin. So, she browses through the net to find recipes with video tutorials so she could follow step-by-step and not messed up, and ends up burning the kitchen down. She can proudly say that this is her first attempt and it’s tasty, the most delicious food she ever cooked and her kitchen survived without getting burned down.

SinB looks at the lunch box and her phone alternately, still hoping for the phone to ring or Yerin suddenly appears and sits next to her, opening the lunch box and eats the food she prepared. The word ’trauma surgeon’ keeps ringing in her ears and she tried to think positively as Yerin is a trauma surgeon and trauma can occur at any time of the day regardless of the plan they have lined out for them. She really did try, but she can’t help but hearing her mother’s ill speech about trauma surgeon and it seems like each one of them are making their appearance. She didn’t like it, not a bit. SinB calls Yerin and she prays hard that Yerin would pick up the call and wash away all the bad things playing in her mind. She hopes the woman that she just started dating a few days ago would calm the green monster in her that is waking up and taking control. To no avail, the call is left unanswered. Tears came rolling down her cheeks as the call got transferred to Yerin’s voice mail. 

It seems like the tears won’t stop falling, but SinB needs them to. She rubs her eyes hard, slapping her cheeks a few times, telling herself to stop crying. It works after a few rounds of sobbing after slapping herself which she immediately regrets afterwards. SinB wipes off the tear from her cheeks. She takes a deep breath, holding the phone firmly in her hand. SinB starts typing a text message, stares at them, taking another long, deep breath before hits the send button. She stands up, looking at the lunch box that she prepared for Yerin on the bench, caressing it tenderly as if it was made of glass, smiling bitterly before leaving. SinB stops after a few steps, turn around to take a look at the lunch box for the last time and leave for her evening shift.

Her step is heavy as if a tonne of rocks is tied to her feet. Her heart too, feels heavy. She couldn’t point out why she feels that way. Probably because she is upset with Yerin for bailing on her. SinB keeps telling herself that she is right to be angry at Yerin given the circumstances, but, her gut feeling tells that this is not anger but worries. However, her angry self is a good talker and persuasive that she finally lets go of her worry and convinced that she did what she is supposed to do and it’s the right thing to do.

***

”Are you freaking crazy?!” yells Dr. Park at the man who had his gun on Yerin’s head seconds ago. 

Dr. Park kneels on the bloody trauma bay’s floor. Umji and Tzuyu had plopped down on the floor when the man pulls the trigger seconds ago. They are both trembling on the floor with fear. His leg was going to give in as well but he managed to pull himself together.

”What’s with you? Crazy? Is he really that important? He is just your boss!” Dr. Park yells at the gunman.

”Yes! I am. I am crazily in love with him. He is not just my boss. He is my life. So, get your up and save him. You guys said he needed a new heart to save him. And now, you have one,” the man said, not showing an ounce of regret for what he had done.

The man had taken someone’s life in a blink, by a simple pulling of the gun’s trigger in a room where there are other people, a room where people usually got saved. Sometimes people died in this room, but never by force like this. The man had just shot someone dead and yet he can still smile while caressing his lover’s pale face. The man without hesitation and regret urges someone to continue working as if nothing happened when everyone in the room except him is shocked by what happened.

At the thought of how inhumane the gunman is, Dr. Park’s legs finally give in. He sits on the floor, his stomach churns and about to throw up. It’s not because of the blood splattered all over the room and some that landed on his face, it is not because of the pool of blood that keeps pooling up on the floor either. He is used to seeing blood, he is a freaking surgeon, a trauma surgeon resident at it. Blood is his everyday scenery. It’s just he hasn’t seen someone getting shot this close except for when he watches the scene in movies or drama. And he never imagined seeing someone so heartless that he could shot someone dead in cold-blood.

”You! Hurry up! Take the heart out and put it in him. Change them! He is not going to die tonight,” the man yells as no one makes a move.

Bang! Another shot is fired. Both Tzuyu and Umji screams in fear and shock. Dr. Park’s lips are sealed due to extreme shock. It’s not certain that if the man missed his aim or he did aim for the bullet to hit his target’s calf because it’s a strange place to shoot someone. Plus, his first shot was amazingly accurate for killing someone.

”You still don’t want to do it? Fine, let's see if you still refuse now,” the man who seems like he already lost his mind grabs Umji by the collar and places his still hot gun’s muzzle on top of Umji’s head.

”I’ll blow her brains out, and I bet you already know that I am more than capable of doing that,” threatened the gunman.

Yerin takes a deep breath and slowly gets on her knees. She squirts some iodine onto the dead man’s chest. 

”Let me take care of your leg first, Yerin,” said Tzuyu.

”It’s okay, we’ll get to it later. Let’s deal with this first. Prepare for a transplant, please. Thank you. And you, you just alerted the hospital’s security team with your gunshots,” Yerin calmly warns the gunman as she slid the man’s skin from just under his throat down to his navel.

The man died instantly when the bullet hits him between his eyes, most definitely due to massive hemorrhage of the brain. His heart should be intact, but they have to be quick if they wanted the organ to be viable and for everyone in the room to stay alive except for the man who had his brain splattered on the floor. Yerin cuts the man’s sternum using the surgical saw and pulls them apart for her to be able to reach for his heart. She carefully detaches the heart and a few inches of the valves so she could attach it in the big boss’s body. 

”Couldn’t get the ice for the donor’s heart, Dr. Jung,” reported Tzuyu. 

”Turns the air con to the max. And Dr. Park, let’s get him ready for the heart transplant quick. Get the bypass machine ready, tubes,” ordered Yerin.

Dr. Park pulls himself together and prepared everything Yerin asked. He handed Yerin the tubes and connected the other end of the tubes to the bypass machine. The blood from the man’s heart is drained out of it and circulated through the bypass machine. Yerin detaches the heart with two damaged valves due to the blast from the bullet penetrating his heart with great care so she could save as much as possible of the intact valves for attaching the new heart.

Amidst attaching the heart in the man’s body, the hospital’s security team arrive at the trauma bay with Chief Bae. The head of security asks the gunmen to surrender. Only the man pointing his gun at Tzuyu surrenders. The man drops his gun on the floor and kneels down. The man who had his gun to Umji’s head then takes the gun and pointed the gun to Yerin’s temple.

”You are too slow. You are letting him die, arent’t you? If he dies, she dies. And you die,” threatened the man.

”Shoot me, and the two die!” the man shouted at the Head of Security who is approaching them.

”Hurry up!” the man presses the muzzle to Yerin’s head, forcing her to quicken her movement in finishing the heart transplant.

”Telling me to do so won’t do anything, and I really hope this is worth your love for him,” said Yerin as he carefully examines for any drippings of blood from the newly attached heart. 

”It is. Everything for my love. I would do anything for him...” said the gunman as he looks at the man’s face lovingly. 

”Don’t come near, don’t! I said don’t come near. I’ll shoot them!” the man threatened as the Head of Security takes a few steps closer to them.

Bang!

***

SinB went through her shift smoothly even though her minds were all jumbled up. Most of the time she thought about Yerin and her decision. Her text that she sent to Yerin keeps playing in her eyes while Sowon’s voice telling her that Yerin went with Tzuyu keeps ringing in her ears. From the surgical ward to the change room, SinB drags her feet that feels like a tonne of rocks hanging onto it. SinB is not thrilled to get back as she had nothing to look for. She texted Yerin hours ago not to contact her, that includes not to drive her back home tonight, so she will be taking a taxi home.

Although she left a voice mail and texted Yerin not to contact her, she still waits for her girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend to at least reply to her text. SinB stares at her phone while waiting for the lift, she didn’t exactly say that they are no longer a couple but the words she used can be interpreted as such.

The lift is full, so SinB decides to use the stairs instead. This gives her a lot more time to think about Yerin and her. She realised that her action this afternoon she just gave way to Tzuyu or any other woman to do as they pleased. The fact just gets to her nerve that she climbs down the stairs for another two level where the trauma bay is located. SinB marches courageously towards the trauma unit. In her head, she begins arranging the words she is going to tell Tzuyu to not bother Yerin as she is taken now. By who? That’s what caught her tongue, to be precise, her thought. She doesn’t want to tell anyone else except Yerin’s close friends who already knew it. Plus, Tzuyu is a nurse and the probability the news gets to her mother is very high that her vague but suggestive message to Yerin might just be realised tomorrow.

SinB’s daring steps grow week as the thought flooded her mind but her feet keep on walking that she doesn’t realise she already at the trauma unit’s entrance. There are a lot of people, that is not surprising, but among the sea of people, they are too many of them in police uniform. And that is strange. If there was a massive accident, usually all surgeon will be paged and she didn’t get any information about it. SinB checks her pager and phone, nothing new. As she gets closer, her heart beats faster. She feels uneasy that her hand automatically rested on her chest anxiously.

SinB manages to pass through the sea of people and then she sees that one of the trauma bay is cordon off. Her heart begins trembling as this is a police scene and it is never good to have a police scene in a hospital. She slowly approaches the site and her eyes are about to jump out of its sockets. Umji is wrapped in a blanket and Yuju is standing beside her hugging her tightly. Tzuyu is there too with a blanket wrapping her body, another nurse is beside her, talking to her, probably consoling her. There is Dr. Park, the only trauma resident that is closest to Yerin. Chief Bae, Sowon and Irene are also in sight.

Even though there are a lot of people there, somehow it is not complete. Eunha and Yerin are missing, making SinB’s heart sank. Obviously, something has happened and if Eunha and Yerin are not here, it must have involved either one of them or both of them. She has grown closer with Eunha for the last couple of months, she doesn’t want anything bad happens to her and of course she hates it if something to happen to Yerin. SinB takes a deep breath, tries to calm herself down as she approaches Irene and Sowon.

”Dr. Kim, Dr. Bae, what is going on?” asked SinB, but before the two got the chance to say anything Umji already screaming her name. 

Hearing her best friend’s wailing, SinB race to her. The three of them hug each other tightly. Umji gives a rundown of what happened to Yuju and SinB while trying to keep her tears in. By the end of her recapping what happened, Umji cries her heart out making SinB and Yuju hugging her tightly, crying together with her. Umji’s sobs slowing down and she looks at SinB concernedly.

”Dr. Jung...”

SinB feels like everything around her is spinning around. Her vision blurs. She can’t see clearly, but her feet keep moving, taking her to a place she is not sure of where. Her hearing is blocked. She can’t hear anything. The only thing in her mind and ears are Umji’s words, ” Dr. Jung...was shot.”

Her world collapsed when she heard that. She can’t hear anything else after that. Her feet starts walking away from the trauma bay heading to where her heart brings her to. SinB checks every trauma bay there is in the trauma unit until she finds Eunha behind the curtain. She is certain that there is where Yerin is. Unfortunately, the person she is looking for is not there. There’s only Eunha and a couple of nurses and a bloody floor.

”SinB! Yerin...”

The sound of Eunha’s voice drifted away as SinB left the trauma bay seconds after Yerin was not in sight. Everything jumbled up in her head right now. She just walks out of the trauma unit to nowhere. Her tears run down her cheeks like a waterfall. Her steps are heavy but they keep moving. Everything she said in her voicemails and Umji’s words ringing in her ears, the words in all the text messages she sent to Yerin and the bloody trauma bay’s are haunting her making the tears run down even faster. 

SinB stops at the cafeteria, hoping that what had happened to Yerin was just a dream, a bad dream. She wants to wake up from this worst nightmare of hers. She might not know if she will last forever with Yerin, even if they are not meant to be together forever, she doesn’t want them to end on a bad note. When the fact hits her mind, SinB begins running frantically towards the end of the cafe where Yerin’s table is located but nothing’s there. No Yerin, no trace of Yerin either. Her heart races. Her legs start sprinting out of the cafeteria when she sees a figure sitting on the bench that she usually sits with Yerin. Judging by how devastated Eunha’s face was when she saw her in the bloody trauma bay, SinB knows it is unlikely that the person sitting on the bench is Yerin, but she still wanted to hold on to the slightest hope she has.

It is dark in the park, only a few dim light posts lighting the park, so she couldn’t see the details on the person’s face. However, she can see the person’s posture and movement. It is exactly like Yerin. The person slightly slouch on the bench, just like how Yerin sits. He or she that is sitting on the bench is eating something and that person sniffs the food before putting into his/. That’s exactly what Yerin does. SinB’s heart beats a lot faster, her feet move as fast.

Could it be?