SinB gets off the bus, followed by Umji and Yuju. She is sandwiched by Umji and Yuju and the three of them walk with linking arms towards their apartment. They shared the two-bedroom apartment as it is a bit cheaper that way since it is quite close to the hospital. Yuju shares the master bedroom with Umji while SinB gets the small room.

”I could’ve peed in my pants!” Umji is still ranting on about what happened earlier in the change room.

”But, you didn’t,” SinB said calmly in an attempt to calm her best friend who has been enraged with Dr. Jung Yerin’s action of obstructing her from using the toilet.

”Honestly...just a bit. When I was running,” said Umji shyly but the shyness is gone in a second, changed into a furious, fist-clenching Umji.

”This is all her fault. That Dr. Jung Yerin. She really does live up to her reputation of being a monster.” 

Yuju and SinB just listen to Umji’s ranting about how cruel and evil Dr. Jung Yerin is. Even though today is their first day meeting the trauma surgeon and only interacted with her for not more than a minute, Umji seems to know a lot about the surgeon. Yuju and SinB are a bit confused, so they asked Umji and it turns out that she heard them from other interns. It is shocking for the two that Umji was able to get so much information in merely eight hours.

SinB hears what Umji said but they don’t really register in her brain. Her mind keeps wandering around, thinking about something else but she couldn’t put a pin on what it is. 

”I’m going to give that monster what she asked for. You want some coffee? Okay, I’ll give you one, a really hot one. Just wait for me Dr. Jung Yerin!!!” Umji shouted her resolution angrily. ”Ouch. Arghhh...uh uh uh.”

Umji’s loud screaming followed by a full of pain groaning snap SinB out of her daydreaming. Her gaze immediately focuses on Umji who is jumping up and down while holding one of her foot up. The girl keeps rubbing her big toe while still groaning in pain. SinB realised that Umji had tripped over her own foot and her toe accidentally hit the couch’s leg. Hearing Umji’s painful screaming hits the back of SinB’s mind and she suddenly remembers it. Everything that was fuzzy in her mind just now is clear as the sky after a heavy rain.

That’s right. That’s her.

SinB’s brows furrow. She cannot believe that person is Dr. Jung Yerin, a well-known trauma surgeon. This morning, she was asked to get one of the residents in the on-call room for the first interns-attendings meet and greet. She was told that the resident was taking a nap in the call room because just finished her night shift.

When she got into the room, there was only one person. She, an attending surgeon was putting on her navy blue scrub in a hurry while getting off the upper tier of the bunk bed. SinB’s and the attending’s eyes met for two seconds when she glances over to see her face. Since the attending was obviously not the one SinB was looking for, she just left the room. Just as she closed the door behind her, she heard a loud thump coming from inside of the room but because she is running late for the meeting, she didn’t bother to check.

SinB then joined Umji and Yuju and headed towards the centre stairs. Most of their friends have gathered at a corner, so they were walking towards them. As they were walking through the sea of doctors wearing sky-blue scrubs, they passed three doctors wearing navy blue scrubs suggesting that they were attending surgeons. And she swear she heard heard a man’s voice telling someone to wipe off their bloody nose just as they passed the three attendings. 

She was listening to Chief Bae, the head of surgical division’s speech attentively when the man abruptly stopped. Everyone’s attention including her was directed at one of the first-year interns that SinB is not fond of because he was a bit arrogant and rude who is facing the three attending surgeons she had passed earlier. Chief Bae demanded the intern to explain what was he doing and she is not sure what it was but remembered that he said something about not taking trauma surgery. SinB couldn’t care less about the arrogant intern’s story, so she didn’t pay any attention to   him.

Next thing she knew, Chief Bae was questioning one of the three attendings who were standing among the interns and residents unlike the other attendings who gathered on the stairs with Chief Bae. The attending, Dr. Jung was explaining the reason and SinB couldn’t agree more with her. Of course a surgeon shouldn’t get easily flustered and from her understanding, the intern might have been flustered but not sure why. Since she had the same view as that Dr. Jung, she took a glance over her shoulder to see the attending’s face.

Dr. Jung has a white, almost pearly white, flawless skin. Her face is not particularly long or round, more like the shape of a leaf. A typical flowering plant that is, not the ones that are pointy or branchy types of leaf such as the maple leaves or really broad and pointy at the end like the perilla leaves. Her nose lies perfectly and proportionately with her face, but she might be wrong because she didn’t get to see it clearly because of the bag filled with ice she was holding on her nose. 

Meanwhile, the attending surgeon’s mouth is a bit small, probably because she wasn’t smiling at that time. Dr. Jung ties her brownish hair in a retro side ponytail that makes her looks pretty and elegant, neither too serious for work nor too playful. Although SinB never seen a surgeon wearing their hair like that while working, but she just assumed Dr. Jung wore it like that probably because she is on a break or because she is not seeing patients but attending a meeting. 

SinB didn’t particularly hate or like Dr. Jung’s face and appearance, but she admits that the surgeon is one of many beautiful women she ever met in her life. When she recalls Dr. Jung’s face at that time, she just realises that she must be the one that man told to wipe the blood off her face before the meet and greet started this morning.

Seeing Umji crying in pain made her realised that the person she believed fell from the bunk bed in the call room is Dr. Jung Yerin who happens to be the same person falling off the bench in the change room earlier. That person even had a nosebleed! That same surgeon who said to an intern that he shouldn’t be easily flustered and the statement was supported by Chief Bae, even her and probably 90% of the people in the meeting this morning.

It is unfathomable for SinB that a surgeon specialising and doing both trauma and emergency general surgery in a first level trauma centre and teaching hospital could be that clumsy that she fell twice in a day. 

”SinB, are you even listening?” Umji pouts her lips, asking sulkily. SinB nods her head, pretending to hear Umji, encouraging her to continue.

”I guess Dr. Jung is really poor like what they said. That’s why she asked for the money and coffee? She even sleeps at the hospital, poor her. But, she didn’t take the money.” Yuju said with a sad, sympathetic voice.

The fact that Dr. Jung didn’t take the money caught SinB’s attention. If she didn’t take it, why did she never gets the money back? She is not poor or something, but anyone shouldn’t be wasting money. Even if you are a crazy rich Asian, you shouldn’t be wasting money just like that. SinB stares at Yuju. Her stares screaming ’where is my money?’ and Yuju just smiles sheepishly at her, pointing at the snacks they bought at the convenience store that she insisted on paying earlier. SinB frowns, she wanted to be angry but then she thought that she will probably be the one eating those snacks the most, she just smiles.

”I don’t think she is sleeping at the hospital because she is poor. Didn’t you say something about her shifts are insane, Umji?” SinB asks while grabbing one of the snacks on the table.

Umji nods her head enthusiastically. SinB could sense that she will be hearing a long story about Dr. Jung’s shift with Umji’s additional comments about how that contributed to her claim about the trauma surgeon being a monster. She takes a deep breath to brace herself for the upcoming story.

”She sometimes works 36 hours shift. Sometimes she works for 12 hours and has a break for about four hours before being on-call for eight hours. That’s basically the typical shift for her. That’s why she is a monster,” explains Umji.

SinB tries to follow Umji’s train of thoughts linking the surgeon’s hours of working with being a monster. She still can’t connect those two factors.

”What’s that got to do with being a monster, again?” SinB asks, genuinely wanted to hear Umji’s explanation.

”Okay. Let’s imagine...she works 12 hours straight and within that long hours she does both trauma and emergency general surgery. I heard she sometimes did eight to nine surgeries in a single shift. How long would that take for her to stand, to move her hands, to run, she doesn’t have time to eat and from what I heard she loves eating. People who love eating always lose their temper when they are hungry. She even made the residents to close for her with the interns’ help and take pictures after they are done. Just from those pictures, numbers of residents and interns have been scolded by her. Not only that, most interns usually had their first death count when they are with Dr. Jung. Tell me if that doesn’t make her a monster?” 

SinB stares at the ceiling. She takes in everything Umji had said and somehow it does point to Dr. Jung being a monster. But, she is having a hard time believing that because it can be the opposite of what Umji said. She doesn’t know why the trauma surgeon asked the residents to take pictures and not sure why they got scolded by her, so she can’t judge Dr. Jung for that. It might been their faults that they deserve the scolding.

For the death count, she never has any interest in checking a surgeon’s patient death rates. But now, for some reason, she is intrigued to know Dr. Jung’s. But to put the blame on the attending surgeon for the death of patients and intern’s horrible but inevitable experience of facing failure to save a patient’s life is just wrong. No one is crazy enough to let their patient die just so they could teach a doctor how to handle their first death. 

I mean, how could anyone capable of such monstrosity?

”SinB-yah, you better not fall for her.” Umji suddenly looks at SinB with a serious and concerned gaze, startling her. SinB shoots a questioning stare at the girl.

”I know the way you think SinB. Don’t you dare fall in love with that Dr. Jung.” Umji’s eyes becoming more dark, staring directly into SinB’s eyes.

SinB lifts one of her eyebrows looking at Umji with an utterly discontented feeling, ”you know I’m not like that, Umji-yah.”

”She is the epitome of a player you should avoid, Sin-B. She have that power...? I don’t know...ability? to change that. Yuju, please tell our friend here how many women Dr. Jung has been said to be involved with in the hospital.”

Yuju nods her head as if she is receiving and important order from a king and determined to deliver her very best effort in completing the task. In a documentary’s narrator-like voice, Yuju begins her presentation.

”Dr. Bae Irene. Yes. The beautiful goddess in the hospital, the daughter of surgical division’s chief. She, who used to date Dr. Choi and currently dating Dr. Kang. People said when Dr. Jung and Dr. Irene dated, they were inseparable, when suddenly one day, they broke up. No, that’s not the only woman she dated since she has been in the hospital. She then dated the other Dr. Jung. The cutie Dr. Jung Eunha. Just like her past relationship, they broke up. Next, she dated Dr. Kim, not Kim Sowon but the cheerful Dr. Kim Yong-sun who is a few years older and at that time was already an attending surgeon. I think you saw Dr. Moon this morning. They say she always attend any gatherings involving Dr. Kim and Dr. Jung, so she would not snatch her girlfriend away. Do you think it stopped there? No way Jose. She dated Dr. Kim Seol-hyun, but just like the other women she dated, they broke up.” 

”Not only that. People say Dr. Jung hook up with Dr. Ahn in more than one occasion. And this one, I heard from the nurse in the ER. Dr. Jung slept with her and sneaked out of the room in the middle of the night, left her alone in the hotel. She never called her after that. You know there is an on call-room in level 3, Dr. Jung never uses the room nowadays because that was once her love shack until someone found out about it. And her crazy shifts? That’s because she flirted with one of the managers at a bar, the next day when the woman called to have lunch together at the hospital, she said she didn’t know her. There have been too many interns and residents fell for her and got their heart and dreams crushed by her. So, SinB, I’m telling you now and will always remind you, do not fall in love with Dr. Jung Yerin,” adds Umji.

SinB takes a deep breath. She can feel she would get a headache if the lecture continued. Plus, she has no intention of doing what Umji told her not to. She has never fall in love with a woman, not even a crush. Plus, SinB already had a goal and plans layout in her mind ever since she was in middle school. She wanted to be one of the best surgeons in South Korea just like her father. And dating was never in her plan of becoming a surgeon. It’s not like she vows not to be in a relationship, but she is going to make sure the dream is realised first. After that, of course dating is bound to happen.

”Firstly, you two are gossipers. You should consider stopping because it’s scary that you were able to get all these information in just a few hours, on your first day! Secondly, what does Dr. Jung’s relationship history has got to do with me? And last but most importantly, I have no intention of falling in love or be in a relationship with anyone right now.”

SinB’s response put an end to Umji’s lecturing and ranting about Jung Yerin. They order some late night snacks, shoving them in their hungry stomach without caring how puffy their cheeks will be tomorrow morning and retire to their bedroom. Her response did end Umji’s ranting but it didn’t stop her brain from thinking about it. Typically, she is not someone who cares much about rumours but somehow this time it did. She is intrigued to know if any of the rumours about Dr. Jung Yerin is true. SinB takes a quick shower and changes into her t-shirt and sweatpants. She takes her tablet and throws herself on her bed. 

SinB goes against her brain telling her to just forget about Jung Yerin, and follows her curiosity instead. She types the name and searches on the net while praying something would pop up on the screen. SinB clicks on the results and only one is actually related to Dr. Jung Yerin’s profile. That is just her name, medical registration number, academic qualifications and specialities listed on the hospital’s list of surgeon. The others are articles that she had published in various prestigious medical journals.

Still unsatisfied with the limited information, SinB goes on all her SNS accounts and search for the same name. She diligently clicks on each profile only to find her time and efforts are wasted. 

In this modern, high-tech era, who on earth doesn’t have an SNS account? Well, that Jung Yerin is who.

SinB tosses her tablet on the bed frustratedly, panning about Jung Yerin, the clumsy trauma surgeon that won’t leave her mind. When she realises that she was doing the same thing she asked Umji to stop doing just a few hours ago,  she lets out a frustrated and angry scream. Knowing that if she doesn’t go to sleep right now, she is going to keep thinking about Jung Yerin all night, and she might oversleep, SinB switch off the light and closes her eyes forcing herself to sleep.

***

”Good morning sunshine! Wakey, wakey, you are going to be late.” 

SinB grunts, rubbing her eyes and forcing them to open. With half-opened eyes, she glances at the alarm clock on the side table and the sight of the displayed numbers gets her eyes open wide. She quickly jumps off her bed, grab the towel behind her door and sprints to the bathroom. In her mind, SinB is cursing someone, none other than Jung Yerin. The person that kept lingering in her mind last night that she couldn’t sleep. SinB didn’t know when she finally fell asleep last night. All she knew, Umji was shaking her body and now she is multitasking - brushing her teeth while taking a lukewarm almost cold shower and cursing the cause of her lateness.

Luckily, the bus is on time this morning and they arrive at the hospital with five minutes to spare before the morning meeting. Today they will be assigned to an attending surgeon. They will be in the attending’s service for a week where they will go where the attending told them to, do what the attending told them to do while trying to learn as much as possible. Yesterday was kind of like a school’s orientation day. One of the third-year surgical residents took them for a tour. They learnt every nook and cranny of the hospital where they will be going to spend, hopefully for five years if they didn’t fail and get kicked out of the surgical pogram. The tour includes but not limited to the operating rooms or OR, the emergecy room or ER, the lab, the x-ray and scans room, the wards according to the specialities, the cafeteria, the change room, the on-call rooms, and even the morgue.

SinB thought the last two places were a bit strange for them to visit, but the resident told them that they will be visiting the morgue at least once during the first year and they will be looking for the attending surgeons in those on-call rooms. When she thinks about the on-call room, her mind immediately goes to the section under which room is used by which attendings. And only one name was mentioned, Dr. Jung Yerin. Apparently, she usually uses the one that SinB found her in the morning and never uses the one that Umji mentioned last night, the one that used to be her love shack. SinB told herself she doesn’t have to worry about that particular trauma surgeon because none of the interns are assigned for her service this week. She is probably not going to be in Dr. Jung’s service in another month or so since the first year interns are divided into two groups. The other group will be assigned to Dr. Jung first, then only her group which luckily also consists of Umji and Yuju.

SinB is assigned to Dr. Choi Min-ho this week. Everyone said she is lucky to be assigned to Dr. Choi Min-ho service on her first week which she finds rather strange seeing that cardiothoracic is one of the busiest specialty. She might have to run all over the hospital in her first week. So, what is so lucky with that? Not that she is complaining. Well, running around the hospital is like a first-year intern’s official job. And everyone is well aware of it, so there shouldn’t be any complaints but there will definitely be interns that seems to miss the notice and complaints. 

As expected, she is running around the hospital on her first day. Sending the blood sample to the lab, runs back to the test room, constantly checks the system for the lab’s results, notifying the attending and even the residents, runs to the emergency room to get the patient’s history and assist the resident to do the initial assessment when they paged someone from cardio. It is tiring but SinB is happy that she is doing what she has been working for, for more than ten years. SinB is charting the latest patient that was referred to cardio from the ER at the nurse’s station when she heard some interns talking.

SinB tries her best to focus on her paperwork and ignores them. But, as hardest as she tries her ears are acting like a typical person and eavesdrop on what they were discussing about. What she heard really surprises her because what they said was almost 99% lies. They were talking about the change room incident yesterday. Apparently, in this version of the story, Dr. Jung Yerin, the monster is also a gangster. She was waiting by the change room’s door and demanded that anyone who wanted to use the room pay her 10 dollars. They even say she flicked their foreheads and smacks their heads when they don’t have enough money to pay. One thing that is true in that story is Dr. Jung was indeed in the change room. 

Dr. Jung did asks them to pay to use the toilet but it was only a dollar which the surgeon didn’t even take. That’s what Yuju told her and Umji last night. Yuju got out of the toilet and saw the three dollars are on the bench, so she wanted to give it to Dr. Kim Sowon, the only person who was there while the two Dr. Jungs were not in sight. Dr. Kim was already at the door, about to leave the room.

Since Yuju call out her name, that was when the pediatric surgeon told her that Dr. Jung was just joking about the money and coffee. Although SinB wasn’t there when the conversation exchanged between Yuju and Dr. Kim occurred because she was still doing her business, she believes in Yuju. And she is completely sure that they were the first to use the toilet and change room as the floor was still wet when they arrived.

”I bet Dr. Jung beat up Dr. Bae and that’s why they broke up. Maybe Dr. Kim as well, that’s why Dr. Moon always by her side.”

SinB’s eyes widen, jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe what she heard. Just how did it escalate from asking the intern to pay to use the changd room to Dr. Jung’s exes getting beat up, hence the reason why they broke up. SinB reminded herself again, how scary gossip-monger can be and that she has to try her best to steer clear off them. SinB thought she hides her eavesdropping well, but apparently her head tilted a bit and the nurse caught her in act.

”They are talking about that Dr. Jung Yerin. I’m not even surprised. She ran over a patient’s leg the other day, the boy almost broke his toes.” The nurse that looks like she is probably in her mid 30’s said to SinB and it caught the attention of the interns that were gossiping about the said surgeon. SinB who wasn’t going to be involved in the gossiping and lying-based chatting session, now accidentally is. She has no way to run, so she just listens quietly while finishing her charting as quick as she can.

”And I think she did the same to the cafeteria ahjooma. Yesterday when I had lunch, I ordered the same set as Dr. Jung and when I got mine, there’s no soup with it. So I asked the ahjooma and she said that’s the set, without the soup. When I asked her why did Dr. Jung get one she said, she is a bit special. Huh. I can’t believe how can a surgeon does that. This is a hospital for heaven’s sake. Poor the ahjooma,” the intern said enthusiastically and as soon as he finished, SinB excuses herself and left. She can’t bear being a part of the storytelling session anymore because some of the stories are clearly skewed from the truth too much.

At the end of the day, SinB not only has been running around the hospital but she also learns a few things about Dr. Jung Yerin. Not the thing she wanted to learn, but it is inevitable as it seems like the trauma surgeon has become the talk of the town. Dr. Jung is not only a serial dater, a philanderer, a monster and now she is also a gangster.

”How did people know about what happened yesterday in the change room? Did any of you said anything?” SinB asks Umji and Yuju as soon as they arrive home. 

Yuju smiles nervously indicating she was the one who did it. She apologises for it but she never thought the story is going to be twisted like that. Yuju simply told her friend about what happened when they were fixing their hair in the toilet. Someone must have heard her up to the part the surgeon asked for the money and coffee but missed the latter part where she left the money where it was.

”I hope I didn’t tarnish Dr. Jung’s name,” said Yuju under her breath.

”Don’t worry, Yuju-yah. She doesn’t have a good reputation to begin with.” Umji squeezes Yuju’s shoulder reassuring her which SinB disagrees with but she just keeps it to herself. SinB actually read two articles that Dr. Jung Yerin wrote during her lunch break and they are pretty insightful.

***

This morning, SinB managed to get up as she planned. So, she was able to grab something to eat for breakfast before leaving for work. She hums happily, skipping towards the hospital along with her housemates. Having a full stomach always make SinB happy especially in the morning. She can be a bit cranky if she hasn’t had her breakfast and it’s never a good thing for treating sick people. Another reason for her happiness is today might be the day she could go into the operating room because she saw some patients scheduled for surgeries today. Even though it is not her that will be performing the surgery, just to be able to observe and assist even as someone who holds the clamp is enough for her. For now, on her third day of her first week, being in the real OR with patient who is alive and not a cadaver is something she had been dreaming of.

SinB puts her bag in the designated locker. She wears her white coat, puts her small notebook in the pocket, slips two pens in the chest pocket of the coat and hangs her stethoscope around her neck. She sets with her two best friends to meet up at the cafeteria for lunch and says goodbye to them before they parted way. 

”Ouch, ouch, ouch. It hurts. It hurts. Let go. Let go.” 

From afar SinB heard someone groaning in pain and it caught her attention. She turns to the direction of the sound, and to her surprise, she saw Dr. Bae Irene is pulling Dr. Jung Yerin’s ear and dragging the latter towards the attending’s break room that is not far away from where SinB is. 

Wow! A surgeon getting her ear pulled by another surgeon is not something I expected to see in a hospital. Maybe Umji was right about Dr. Jung being someone of low reputation. Hmmm. 

SinB shakes her head in disbelief and went about her way. After all, it is not her business to know why the two are in that situation which is quite weird in this setting. She meets with Dr. Choi and her lips curls into a wide smile when the surgeon told her she could scrub in and observe in one of his surgery today. But, that was a bit later, for this morning she will go for a preliminary ward round to update on the patients’ condition to prepare for the ward round with Dr. Choi and the rest of the multidisciplinary team which includes other interns, residents, nurses, pharmacist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist. 

The round went as SinB expected it would be. Dr. Choi asking the interns questions about the conditions, the course of treatment, the treatment options, the best treatment they could offer and the reason why, the drugs to prescribe and even the adverse side effects of those drugs. Of course her and the other interns and even a few residents have some difficulties to answer all the questions correctly, but that only motivates her to practice and learn about them even more. As soon as the ward round was finished, she was paged to the ER. A patient suspected of having a heart attack just came in. It is not a serious case, so an intern like her can do the preliminary assessment. 

SinB greeted the patient who is in her early 30’s and complained of chest pain and breathing difficulty. Her local clinic did an ECG and found some irregularity in her heart rhythm. So, the doctor refers her to the ER. She takes the patient’s medical history and wants to do the ECG again. Although she had done it at the clinic, it is part of the procedure. She sets the machine and the patient, and she does the ECG. She compared the two sets of the results and they are different from one another. The one the patient did at the clinic showed irregularity, meanwhile the one SinB just did showed it’s normal. The fact that it is normal, makes it a problem because it changes from showing irregularity. She decides it would be best to do other testings to confirm whether the patient doesn’t have any problems.

SinB consulted a resident for her plan to do a chest x-ray and blood tests to further investigate the patient’s problem. The resident give her a go and she orders a urine pregnancy test to make sure the woman is not pregnant and safe to be x-rayed, a chest x-ray and some blood tests. SinB smiles proudly as she clicks the ’ok’ button on the computer after she keyed in the patient’s history and orders all the tests. This is her first real patient, marking the beginning of her career as a doctor.

Well, she did starts officially working yesterday, but all she did was following the residents’ order and run around the hospital. But now, she did the test, she analysed it first before consulting with the cardio resident and even presented her diagnostic plan to him. He agreed with her and asked SinB to key it in the system under her name and authorised by him. The tests’ results are inconclusive and this is making it more difficult to diagnose. So, the resident plans to keep her in the hospital for 24-hours observation, which Dr. Choi will later endorse his plan after he comes and examine her. Dr. Choi comes and examines the patient and agrees with the resident’s plan. He orders an ECG to be done every two hours and when the patient complains of shortness of breath or chest pain. SinB doesn’t have to wait there as the nurses are trained to do the test. She just needs to come and check on the patient every two hours to analyse the ECG or if there is an emergency. 

SinB glances at her wristwatch and it’s already 1p.m. It’s her lunch break, so she goes to the cafeteria after notifying the nurse and resident at the ward. Dr. Choi’s surgery that she is going to scrub in is scheduled at 4 p.m., so she still has at least two hours after lunch to prepare herself. Of course, she will need to assist the second-year intern and a third-year resident that are also joining the surgery to prep the patient for surgery. She is feeling excited but at the same time nervous too. She cannot wait to share this with her friends who are already waiting for her in the cafeteria.

Yuju spots SinB and waves at her. Because the girls are already in the cafeteria when they called earlier asking her whereabouts, the girls already placed her order. So, SinB goes straight to the counter where Yuju is waiting for their food. She is in luck because as soon as she joins Yuju, the cafeteria’s worker puts down two bowls of noodles in front of them. They say their thank you and headed to the table where Umji is already seated at. Umji is having the lunch set so she immediately got them. The three eat while sharing with each other what they did in the morning. 

”Oh, girls. After this, I’m going to get a coffee for Dr. Jung. I think I saw her sitting at the table in the corner of the far end of the cafeteria.” Umji said as she picks up the last chicken slice and puts in .

Like they are already set in the automatic setting, both SinB and Yuju turns around at the direction that Dr. Jung is supposed to be at. They spotted the surgeon just finished writing something on a paper and picks up a thin bundle of paper, and reading it. The trauma surgeon is sitting at the table alone with only a bottle of water and a few pieces of paper on the table. 

”I’m going to get her a very hot coffee for her to enjoy.” Umji smirks.

”Didn’t Dr. Kim told Yuju that Dr. Jung was just joking yesterday? I think that includes that coffee as well, Umji-yah,” said SinB, suddenly feeling nervous when she saw Umji’s smirk. Yuju nods her head in agreement with her.

”And why very hot coffee?” Yuju asks, confused with the emphasis Umji put on the word ’hot’ just now.

”Well...she is busy with reading. So, by the time she drinks it, it doesn’t get cool down too much,” said Umji as she stares at the trauma surgeon’s direction. SinB could sense a dark aura being emitted from Umji and she knows that is probably not the real reason her friend since high school had in mind. 

”I don’t think we need to buy her that coffee. We should take it as a joke, like how Dr. Kim said yesterday.” SinB still tries to stop Umji from buying the coffee when they are queueing at the coffee counter.

Umji shakes her head slowly, and says in a very low voice, ”no, I’m a woman of my word, SinB.” Umji then places the order. One extra hot double shot americano. Since Umji ordered the coffee to be extra hot, the worker even put a double layered cup so it will not burn her hand. SinB just hopes that Umji is not planning anything but she thinks the girl already is because the coffee is not only bitter, it is also very hot. She carefully walks with the coffee cup that she didn’t put the lid on towards the far end of the cafe. SinB and Yuju follow their friend.

”Hot tteugeo tteugeo hot tteugeo tteugeo hot!!!” 

Umji, SinB and Yuju gasped in shock when the trauma surgeon in front of them abruptly stands up from the chair and sings the song ’Hot’ by a famous old hiphop group 1tym. SinB thought she shouldn’t be taken aback by Dr. Jung’s singing, rather she should be helping her as the coffee that Umji brought spilled on her. Umji was putting the coffee on the table, to be exact, near the edge of the table quietly. As soon as the cup was on the table, Dr. Jung who was focused on reading the article she held up in front of her face, startled and puts down her hands which then hits the cup causing the hot contents to spill onto her lap. That was when the surgeon immediately stood up and sings the famous line of the song.

SinB freezes for a few seconds before she comes to her senses and takes out some tissues from her pocket and starts wiping Dr. Jung’s lap and unconsciously her crotch. She didn’t think much about it because it is not something she is not familiar with. They are all doctors and that should not even matter for them as they have touched almost every part of a human body. SinB is still fazed by what just happen and her heart is beating fast like she is sprinting for a gold medal in 100-meter woman event when once again she was shocked by another unexpected thing Umji did.

Her friend yanks her hand away from Dr. Jung then pushes the trauma surgeon while screaming ”you ert!” at the surgeon. And Umji pushes Dr. Jung with such great force that it caused Dr Jung to sit back on her chair and fall backward. The surgeon’s back lands on the cafeteria’s floor with both her legs are up in the air. SinB although still shocked steal a quick glance at Dr. Jung who is now on the floor, and she could see now the hot coffee that spilled on the chair is now making its way to Dr. Jung’s back. She assumes that Dr. Jung’s sensory on her back side of the body is intact when she saw the woman roll to her side, getting off the chair. Everything happened in merely twenty seconds. 

Right now, Dr. Jung is lying on the floor in agonising pain. Umji stands like a statue. Yuju covers after screaming at the top of her lung while SinB is bending her waist, looking at the woman in a blue navy scrubs with a coffee stain on her pants and on her back. She tries to help Dr. Yerin up, but Dr. Sowon and Dr. Eunha are quicker than her. The two help their friend up and escorts her out of the cafeteria. SinB drags her two friends and follows the three attendings. They end up at one of the bay in the ER. No one dares to say a word and they hold their breath as Dr. Eunha pulls the partition’s curtain after Dr. Yerin sits on the bed.

After a few seconds, Dr. Eunha pulls the curtain back, gesturing her to come and help her while Dr. Sowon leaves. SinB didn’t say anything, rather she couldn’t say anything and just follows the general surgeon’s non-verbal order. Dr. Eunha told her to take care of the burn side on Dr. Yerin’s thighs, legs and back of the body while she examines her friend’s head.

Sitting at the edge of the bed is, pantless Dr. Yerin with her top scrub is folded upwards with its bottom hem tucks in its neck exposing the trauma surgeon in a bright green woman’s brief printed with a cute, sad looking duck at the centre, and a dark blue with the typical plastic duck printed bra.

Duck themed matched underwear?!

SinB screams in her mind as she couldn’t take her eyes off the cute duck on Dr. Yerin’s that covers her woman’s part. As she was staring, Dr. Eunha clears bringing SinB back to reality. She examines the affected area and luckily it is only first-degree burn. The coffee just scalded Dr. Yerin’s thighs including the inner parts that are close to her pubic area, calves, and lower back. And, face? SinB’s eyes widen when she looks up and see Dr. Yerin’s face is red, just like the rest of her scalded skins.

”I think the coffee didn’t get to her face. That’s just pure embarrassment, Dr. ...” said Dr. Eunha suddenly, probably caught SinB with her jaw-dropping staring at Dr. Yerin’s face.

”Hwang SinB. Oh, okay. I’ll clean the scalded area with saline and apply some lidocaine then.” SinB said as she reaches a bag of sterile physiological saline and begins irrigate Dr. Jung Yerin’s lap, who is currently her patient. Dr. Yerin’s frowns a bit as she squirms, letting out a quiet whimper.

”I’m sorry, Dr.” SinB immediately stops.

”It’s okay,” said the half- woman lowly, clenching her teeth.

”Dr. Hwang, you should let the patient know what you are about to do to them so they will not get surprised. Shall we try again?” Dr. Eunha said to SinB softly like a mother teaching her child to do something for the first time. SinB’s face reddened a bit because she knows that, it’s like the basic thing a doctor learned in school but she failed to do it. SinB swallows her embarrassment and nods her head. 

”Dr. Jung...” SinB said as softly and calmly as she can.

”Yes...?” Dr. Eunha responded and looks at her, smiling cutely.

”I mean...Dr. Jung Yerin, I’m going to clean the scalded area with this saline. It’s going to sting a bit, okay?” said SinB as she shows the saline bag to Dr. Yerin and the woman just nods her head slowly. 

”Next, what do you do?” Dr. Eunha asks, sitting on the bed, next to her friend. 

SinB presents her treatment plan including applying some tropical lidocaine at the affected area. Then she will get some neosporin, a topical antibiotic and applies them before covers the scalded skin with gauze. Dr. Eunha smiles approvingly and gives her a thumbs up. SinB just smiles and continues to treat Dr. Yerin. As she was applying the lidocaine, Dr. Yerin suddenly groans in pain. She immediately stop and looks up. Dr. Yerin is rubbing the back of her head as if to relieve the pain of her head.

”Is Dr. Jung’s head okay, Dr. Jung?” SinB asks and realises that it might cause some confusion because she uses both of the attendings’ family name which happens to be identical.

”You can call me Yerin, Dr. Hwang,” said the half- woman with a matching duck underwear sets and smiles at SinB.

”Just a small cut on the back of her head, nothing serious. She most probably have an internal problem in her head, don’t worry,” Dr. Eunha said to SinB and she looks back down at the fair skinned-legs with streaks of red. SinB caught a glance of Dr. Eunha glaring at Dr. Yerin and the latter just smiles sheepishly. Something must have happened but she doesn’t bother to asks.

Dr. Sowon comes in just in time when SinB is applying the last gauze on Dr. Yerin’s back. She brings with her a pair of a navy blue coloured scrubs and hands them to Dr. Yerin. She smiles warmly at SinB when she appears from behind of Dr. Yerin’s back. 

”Thank you Dr. ...” 

”Hwang SinB.” 

Before SinB could tell Dr. Kim Sowon her full name, Dr. Yerin already beats her to it and scream out her name rather excitedly. SinB blinks a few time, finding the trauma surgeon’s behaviour is weird before shooting a warm smile at the tall, beautiful pediatric surgeon.

”Thank you, Dr. Hwang SinB for helping my friend, Duckie.” Dr. Kim Sowon smiles back at her while tapping Dr. Yerin’s shoulder.

”Yah...” 

SinB chuckles as she heard Dr. Jung Yerin’s pet name that the woman clearly is not fond of. She nods her head at the pediatric surgeon and smiles. SinB does the same to Dr. Jung Eunha and thanks her for taking the time guiding her when she treated Dr. Jung Yerin who got injured because of her friend. The cute general surgeon smiles back at her and says, ”we are in a teaching hospital, every moment in here is a teachable moment and I believe we all still learning something new every day, aren’t we?”. Judging from the cute surgeon’s face, SinB knew the words are not entirely meant for her but also to best friend, who currently is still in her duckie underwear holding the new scrubs in her hand.

The tall doctor who is standing in front of her pantless friend look up and down before stopping and stares at the woman’s . Finally come to her senses, Yerin smiles sheepishly and starts putting on the pant and turns away from the rest of the people who are still in the partition before taking off her top and puts on a new one. 

”Are you all done?” a familiar husky voice pierce through their ears and Sowon immediately pull the curtain while Yerin is still pulling down the top, exposing her bare, well-built abdomen.

Chief Bae look at SinB, Umji, Yuju, Yerin, Eunha and Sowon from head to toe with an unwavering gaze. No one said anything and SinB is sure that her two best friends who are standing just two feet in front of the man are holding their breath. The charismatic man in his navy blue scrubs underneath the white coat sighs heavily.

”Thank you Dr. Hwang. I hope you learn one or two valuable lessons today.” Chief Bae still with his serious face thank SinB and she just nods her head and smiles.

”How did Dr. Hwang do, Dr. Jung? Did you get a cut on your head?” Chief Bae looks at Yerin expecting an answer.

”She was very good in managing the scalded skin. She was very gentle and her hands are as soft as silk. And, Eunha did the stitches. Just two stitches.” Yerin explains with a warm smile.

”Yes, she can tell how many stitches without looking at it...” said Chief Bae to the three interns, mouth agape, surprised by Yerin’s words. 

”Well doctors, I believe your break is over. And Dr. Hwang has a patient to prep for a surgery, right? All six of you, please see me after your shift ends.” Chief Bae turns around and leaves them. He suddenly stopped and turn his head, facing the six still standing doctors, ”Yerin, let Mrs. Lee know you are alright, she is worried sick that your injury is bad because the coffee was made extra hot.” Just before he turns back around, Chief Bae stops and stares at Umji for a quick two seconds.

****

SinB regroups with Umji and Yuju near the ER as they have been summoned to Chief Bae’s office. The meeting has been on SinB’s mind the whole time during the surgery that she wasn’t as thrilled as she was before when she first found out about scrubbing in. By the look of the two girls, they probably feel the same way as her. Nervous, and scared of their future in the surgical program that seems a bit fuzzy right now.

This is definitely not what SinB had envisioned her surgical pathway to be. Being summoned to the chief’s office bears the same feeling as you were called to the principal’s office in middle school. SinB doesn’t know how does it feel like though. It’s because she was never a troubled student, so she never had to be called to the principal’s office. But, she thinks this is what it feels like. Heart beating fast, sweating profusely at places she never knew could sweat, she can ever feel and hear her brain is palpating, her heart pumping blood to every inch of her body. Despite being sweaty all over the body, her lips begin to dry and feels coarse making her swallow lumps of saliva every two seconds. 

They exchange a frightened, worried look with one another and takes each other’s hands. With a firm grip, they walk slowly leaving the hectic ER behind. The three’s heavy steps were halted when they spotted a commotion in front of them. An unkempt man in a brown trench coat throwing punches in the air while cussing is the centre of the commotion. As fast as lightning, the man reaches for something in his pocket and throws the object at someone and as soon as the object was off his hand, he got tackled to the ground by two police officers. The man is pinned down by the officers, yet he is still swearing and struggling to get off the ground. A loud thud was heard, followed by frightened screamings from the crowd that is mostly patients and patients’ families. 

The three charged towards the loud thump as an automatic reaction, concern with a possibility of an injured person resulted from the man’s action. True enough, someone did get injured.

”Duckie should’ve ducked. Why didn’t you?” 

For the second time today, they see a tall attending is helping another attending getting off the floor while another one dashing towards them. Yes. Dr. Jung Yerin is on the floor, holding her forehead while getting up with the help of Dr. Kim Sowon. And the one rushing towards the two is none other than Dr. Jung Eunha. Blood flows down from Yerin’s forehead indicating it must have been cut as a result of the object being thrown at her, that is a mini bottle of liquor that has been shattered on the floor. The three attendings walk passed them heading towards the ER, and they follow suit.

SinB and her two best friends leave the security officers and other hospital’s personnel to calm the crowd down. They are ensuring the crowd that the situation is under control and the perpetrator has been apprehended. While the victim, which is one of the hospital’s surgeon is being treated. 

SinB knows she shouldn’t be focusing on it but she can’t help her eyes and mind from thinking Dr. Yerin looks funny when she walks. It must be due to her scalded skin around her thigh that she walks like a gorilla with her legs spread out and a little bendy at the knees. She bites her inner cheek to hold in her laughter from escaping that is already curled into a smile. And for the second time today, the three of them standing facing a bed in one of the bays in the ER that is occupied by Dr. Jung Yerin. The only difference is, earlier, her lower body was covered in coffee and now, her face is covered in her own blood. As if it is a dejavu, Dr. Kim Sowon pulls the curtain leaving the three of them looking at the white curtain in shocked.

”Aren’t you going to sedate me or at least apply some local anaesthesia before you do that?” cries Yerin and to her surprise, Eunha pulls the curtain and three confused looking interns greeted their eyes.

”There’s your anesthetic,” Eunha said with her lips pouted, pointing at the interns. Although she didn’t point at a specific individual, Yerin fully understands her meaning didn’t say any word of rebuttal.

Sowon assisted Eunha by cleaning the blood on Yerin’s face exposing a 1.5 inches vertical cut across the trauma surgeon’s right eyebrow, extended to her eyelid. Eunha prepares the neddle and the suture herself. Her hand moves swiftly but quickly pushing the needle into, and under the skin before she pull it out on the other end, threading the suture to close the open wound. She repeats it for another two times as she is using the simple interrupted stitch’s technique. Both Eunha and Yerin remained composed but the three interns’ face turned blue and that’s when the curtain was being drawn close by someone standing behind them.

”I don’t think you three are ready for that. As you can see, something unfortunate happened unexpectedly. So, I don’t think Dr. Jung is up for a meeting after this. Here, I don’t have a heart to ask her to write the apology letters again. So, take these coffee-stained apology letters. You can go home now, we’ll meet another time.” 

It turns out that Chief Bae has been standing there the whole time. When he saw the interns are on the verge of passing out from watching someone getting stitches without any anesthesia, he drew the curtain close. He doesn’t need any more casualties other than Yerin. This is not the first time the drunkard attacking Yerin, but this is the first time she actually got hurt. The talented and skilled trauma surgeon usually manage to avoid from getting injured. She never responded to the man’s physical attack but she always able to duck his punches. Unlike today, she failed and ends up with a cut on her eyes.

The letters exchanged from Chief Bae’s hand to the three first-year interns’. SinB, Umji and Yuju stare at the paper that used to be white but now are in washed-black colours. They begin to read the letter and the person who wrote them is apologising for blocking their access to the toilet and change room and jokingly asked some monetary incentive for using the facilities. The person asked for their forgiveness and pledge to reflect on her inappropriate behaviour and joking in the future. SinB and Umji exchange a look and then they exchange their letters. The three read each other’s letters and unexpectedly, they are all different but conveying the same meaning.

”I asked her to write you girls the apology letter to apologise for her behaviour yesterday. Seeing how she already got injured, I thought that would be enough for her. I’m not going to give her any other punishment. What do you reckon?” Chief Bae looks at Umji, SinB and Yuju, waiting for their response to which the three nod their head rather enthusiastically. Then, they excuse themselves before leaving. 

***

SinB has been contemplating since this afternoon if she should ask Umji about the incident in the cafeteria. She keeps thinking if her friend planned to hurt the trauma surgeon and she did not accidentally spill the coffee. SinB is well aware that Umji sometimes can hold a grudge but she doesn’t think the girl would be able to go that far, injuring someone. 

”I didn’t SinB-yah... I swear. I just want her to maybe burn her tongue when she takes a sip. Not her lower limbs and back.” Probably she could read minds, Umji clarifies her innocence to SinB as she holds the coffee-stained letter in her hand tightly, on the verge of bursting into tears.

SinB pulls the girl into a hug. It is evident that Umji feels terribly guilty for what happened to Dr. Jung Yerin showing she has no intention of doing so to the surgeon. Ever since this afternoon, Umji has been very quiet. And when they got the hand-written apology letter about an hour ago, she hasn’t let go of it and keeps reading it over and over again. Umji finally cries on SinB’s shoulder. Like a child, she sobs and keeps repeating how she didn’t mean everything to be this bad and how sorry she is. SinB caresses Umji’s back trying to calm the girl down. After a good half an hour of crying, and SinB’s shoulder drenched in Umji’s tears, the girl finally calms down.

Umji repeatedly apologises to SinB and Yuju and promise to take a full responsibility should an action being taken because of the incident. SinB reassures the girl that it was an accident and everyone knows it. Nothing is going to happen to them. Although Umji is still worried, the girl just nods weakly and excuses herself to wash up before they are going to grab some dinner. Seeing Yuju is also looking as bad as Umji, SinB squeezes the tall girl’s shoulder reassuringly.

”The burn was not that serious. She should be okay in a few days. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to check on them every day, okay?” SinB bites her tongue for thoughtlessly making a promise to Yuju to reassure her friend. She never had any intention of doing so because Dr. Jung Yerin is an experienced surgeon, she ought to know how to take care of it herself. But since it carelessly slips through her tongue, she has to then.

The three had dinner at a restaurant nearby. And it has been long since they had an abnormally quiet dinner. Yuju and Umji never ran out of gossip or stories to tell when they are together but tonight, their head hang low, eating the food as slowly as the time can allow them to. SinB had never been the one trying to talk much when eating, so they spend an hour in total silence except for when she asked Umji why did she push Dr. Jung when she was wiping the coffee on the surgeon’s pants.

”She had that erted smile. She closed her eyes and she seems like she was enjoying what you are doing. I remembered that people say she is a ert, so I just pushed her without thinking about anything else. Sorry, I shouldn’t have. Then, she wouldn’t hurt her back and her head.” Umji says lowly, looking like she has taken someone’s life with that action.

’Ohh’ is all SinB can say. She is at a loss of words as she hasn’t noticed the surgeon’s face like Umji told her to and the image of her head was in between that same person’s pantless legs for more than fifteen minutes is sending a cold shiver down her spine. But then, the image of a cute duck pops into her mind makes her at ease. After another round of reassuring her friends not to worry about their future in the surgical program, they all retire to their bedroom.

Unlike her two friends, SinB is not thinking about their future in the program because she believes Chief Bae wouldn’t take such action over a small accident. But, SinB’s mind is fill with the thought about how can she be so unimpressed with someone she just met three times. This is the first time in her life that she found a surgeon that disinterest her.

Ever since she was a little kid, SinB was always getting awestruck and inspired when she met someone in the medical field or at least fascinated by them. But, this particular trauma surgeon is the first to disappoint her in every way. She gave Dr. Jung Yerin three chances to change her first impression of her but every time, the surgeon failed miserably. Dr. Jung never asks her for it and doesn’t know about it, but this is just SinB’s own decision and battle.

The first time they met, Dr. Jung Yerin fell off the bunk bed. Then, on the very same day, the trauma surgeon had a nosebleed whilst in a meeting. On top of that, she once again fell off a bench in the change room. That’s just a physical awkwardness, adding up to all the things she heard about the one and only Jung Yerin making it worst.

How could a surgeon have so many things said about her but everything is related to her ual relationship and barbaric behaviour. It is impossible that Dr. Jung Yerin never heard any of them and if she had which SinB sure she must have, why didn’t she addressed any of the rumours saying that they are not true? How could someone be so oblivious or apathetic about her own reputation? For SinB, letting people tarnishing your name is utterly stupid. A surgeon should be known for her skills, not this monstrous libel.

One thing that makes the trauma surgeon lost so many points in SinB’s eyes is the punishment. Dr. Jung Yerin is a surgeon, why and how on earth does she still received a punishment like she is still in middle school? The surgeon had to write an apology letter to a patient, a self-reflect letter and on top of all that, had to clean toilets and change rooms. She gets the fact that the hospital is a teaching hospital but she can’t seem to justify the punishment. 

Dr. Jung Yerin is the first person in SinB’s world that leaves the worst first impression. Although she still doesn’t know why, but she thought to herself that Dr. Jung Yerin deserved another chance to prove herself to her despite the surgeon doesn’t have the slightest idea about it. Probably if she shares her opinion and concerns with Dr. Jung Yerin, the woman might outright reject her. Nevertheless, she was resolute about it. 

That’s why SinB went to the hospital bearing a high hope that the trauma surgeon proves herself to her. But, she was welcomed with Dr. Jung Yerin got her ear pulled and twisted by another surgeon. The woman is in her thirties but she still got her ear pulled in a hallway. How does that going to help with her image in SinB’s eyes? But then SinB gets her hope a bit high when she saw how serious the woman was reading articles journal in a hectic cafeteria without getting distracted at all. And the cool, knowledgeable image of Dr. Jung Yerin immediately disappear when she saw the duck-themed matched and bra that she wore.

Shouldn’t someone working professionally as a lifesaver dressed a little bit more elegant, and not like a kindergartener? Not that anyone would care what you wear underneath your clothes, but if something like that happened, wouldn’t you be embarrassed that someone saw you in those things? Especially if that someone is an intern who probably look up to you, not SinB of course. Because she already leave a poor image of her in the first place. Plus, when Umji told her about the erted smile, making her impression on Dr. Jung Yerin is in an enfeebled state. 

Unknowingly, Dr. Jung Yerin blew her last chance to impress SinB when she sustained a minor injury this evening. The experienced surgeon who has been walking in the ER for years and had met various kinds of people managed to get a cut on her face because of some drunk man throwing a fit. It’s not like the man punched her, he threw a liquor bottle after acting up for at least a minute. Shouldn’t Dr. Jung Yerin be able to anticipate something is bound to happen or at least ducked when the man throws the bottle at her? She, who can tell how many stitches she got on the back of her head couldn’t see that is coming?

SinB sure it is not against the law if Dr. Jung defended herself by throwing some punches at the drunkard. She is 100% convinced that Dr. Jung Yerin could swing her fist only once to that drunkard and he would go down after the blow. It’s because she saw how well built the woman’s body proving she worked out and no doubt have the strength to knocked down a drunkard. But no, and repeating Dr. Kim Sowon’s words to Dr. Jung, ”duckie should’ve ducked, why didn’t you?”. Exactly Dr. Jung, why didn’t you? 

Last but most importantly, the apology letter that Chief Bae gave her before leaving the hospital. The woman didn’t take their, no, her money yesterday. And she even told Dr. Kim that she was only joking about it. Why did she have to write those letters to first-year interns when what she did was not that bad or have any impact on them. SinB knows had Dr. Jung told Chief Bae what happened, the man wouldn’t ask her to write that letter. The fact that the letters existed showed that Dr. Jung didn’t bother to tell the chief and succumbs to the malicious gossips, earning her unnecessary, somewhat degrading punishment.

Not that anyone care, but SinB is utterly unimpressed with the trauma surgeon, Dr. Jung Yerin or ’Duckie’.

Wait, why do I keep thinking and talking to myself about Dr. Jung Yerin? Why should I bother about her. You need to stop, SinB. You need to sleep.

SinB sighs heavily, cursing her mind that keeps thinking about the trauma surgeon ever since the first day she met her that she loses her precious hours of sleep for three days. Slowly, SinB’s eyelids are getting heavier and the girl finally fell asleep when she only have four hours left before waking up for work.