“Exam room 2.”

Kyungsoo grabbed the file from the nurse, trying to contain his sigh.

He’d been on clinic duty for the last three hours and his head was positively on fire – not because there were any complications, not because of challenging cases, nothing of that sort.

Sadly.

It was because of the patients  - the walk in clinic of the teaching hospital didn’t exactly have a preliminary round for the people who came to see him.

Now, Kyungsoo was a doctor. He knew not to complain when people came to seek help or counsel for their health – it was his job to give it to them. But some of them were making it so hard.

He pushed the door of the exam room open, eyes shooting up to look at the patient sitting on the edge of the bed. It was a middle-aged man, probably 45, big build, a prominent frown.

Kyungsoo took in a deep breath before forcing his professional smile out.

“Good morning, I’m Doctor Do and you must be,” he looked down to the file in his hands. “Mr. Choi?”

The man mumbled some sort of greeting back, and Kyungsoo vaguely noticed how he wasn’t really looking at him in the eyes. That prominent frown had a hint of panic lacing it.

“What brings you here then, Mr. Choi?”

“I have-...” Kyungsoo blinked not so patiently when the man’s voice drifted off. “Do I have to say this out loud again? I told the nurse everything half an hour ago.”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows a little, before opening the patient’s file again. His eyes raked over the words, scanning the information summarized by the nurse.

Ah.

“You’ve had rectal bleeding.” Kyungsoo said, eyes shooting back up towards the patient whose face was becoming a pale shade of pink. Kyungsoo contained the sigh, before tapping the file. His mouth moved automatically. “No need to be embarrassed, Mr. Choi. This is a hospital. How long has it been happening?”

“Three weeks maybe? A little longer.” Kyungsoo squinted his eyes, ready to grill the man in his spot for not coming to a hospital sooner, but he continued speaking. “Didn’t pay much attention to it at first. But when it got worse I went to my doctor and they told me to come see an oncologist.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows shot up again as he looked down at the file, for entirely different reasons. Some of his colleagues…

“…right.”

“Do I have cancer?!”

Kyungsoo pursed his lips, eyes shooting back towards the information on the file. No family history with cancer. No vomiting or nausea.

“Have you been having any constipation? Any change in the frequency of bowel movements?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Any family history with cancer?”

“Not that I know of.”

“What about itching? Does it feel uncomfortable?”

“Yes,” the man cautiously said. “Is that bad?”

Kyungsoo took in a deep breath, before closing the file.

“No. It’s very good.”

“Excuse me?!”

“You don’t have colon cancer, sir. You have hemorrhoids.”

The man looked at him with an expression of suspicion. Of relief that he wasn’t quite letting himself trust yet.

“How’d you know? You haven’t even examined me.”

Kyungsoo just smiled his tight-lipped smile again. He reached out for his pager, fingers quickly pressing the numbers.

“I am afraid I don’t have the time to examine you right now, but my colleague will be here right away to do that, so don’t you worry.” Kyungsoo mumbled, grabbing a pen and scribbling down the prescription.

In less than a minute there was an urgent knock on the door, before it was pushed open and a tall young man appeared in his sight. His white doctor coat was flying behind him, his brown hair was unruly, his tie was barely hanging on to the clip. He had an alarmed look in his eyes as he scanned the room, before his eyebrow twitched.

“Beeper went off,” Chanyeol said almost breathlessly with his deep voice.

“Yes,” Kyungsoo pushed himself off the wall, walking towards the tall man, handing him the patient’s file and the prescription. “Mr. Choi here is in a need of a rectal exam.”

Hemorrhoids, Kyungsoo mouthed in the same time he saw Chanyeol’s face twisting in realization that he had, in fact, been played.

“Of course,” Chanyeol said somewhat tightly, his eyes squinting at Kyungsoo as he took the file. He leaned closer to him, voice reducing to a whisper. “You said it was an emergency!”

“It is an emergency. It’s valuable medical training, fellow.” Kyungsoo pushed his coat back, hands sliding in the pockets of his slacks as he threw a look back towards the patient on the bed. “Take your pants off, Mr. Choi, get comfortable. And don’t worry. Doctor Park knows what he’s doing.”

The look Chanyeol threw him before he escaped the exam room was priceless.

“You said it was an emergency!”

Kyungsoo didn’t even bother looking up from the tray he was filling with food.

Lunch break. His favourite time of the day.

Not because he got to eat – it was a hospital cafeteria, it was no Michelin restaurant so it wasn’t the food he was excited for. Not even because he got to meet some of his friends while catching a quick bite.

No.

He loved lunch break because lunch break meant no more clinic hours for the day.

Which also meant that even Chanyeol’s complaining was tolerable.

“You can’t always call me to do the things you don’t want to do,” Chanyeol said, grabbing a tray for himself and trailing after Kyungsoo. “I’m also a doctor. I was with a patient.”

“Get over it.”

Kyungsoo decided to ignore Chanyeol’s grumbling as he tried to pick a sandwich. Everything looked equally unappetizing, so he just pointed to the closest one.

They made their way to the open terrace of the cafeteria – the best way for them to soak up some vitamin D before the days became shorter and before winter started.

There were already two people sitting on their regular table, both wearing their lab coats, both eating. Kyungsoo headed in their direction without a second though.

“Besides, why do you never call me in for the interesting cases?” Chanyeol asked. “Why am I always stuck with the ty jobs?”

“First of all, there are no interesting cases in the clinic. Second of all, bloody jobs would have been a better joke.”

“I’ll bloody punch you in the face next time you make me deal with rectums, how’s that for a joke.”

Chanyeol slammed his tray down on the table with a little too much force, just for show.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes at the theatrics when the two other doctors looked up.

“Well don’t you look peachy,” Baekhyun remarked, eyebrows shooting up. “What happened?”

“He made me finger a man.”

“Yeah?” Baekhyun’s eyebrows shot up as his eyes flicked towards him for a second before pinning back on Chanyeol again. He leaned over the table with a sleazy smirk. “You any good at it?”

“We’re eating.” Suho said from the side, an unimpressed tone to his voice. Like he was used to this sort of conversations. Maybe he was.

Then again, everybody was used to Doctor Byun’s antics.

“Anyways I was just telling Baekhyun I finally got to use a magnet stick today,” Suho leaned over the table and Kyungsoo blinked at him. “Some kid had a Monopoly figurine stuck so far up its nose, the forceps wouldn’t fit. So I finally got to use magnets for the first time.”

“What, you’ve never used it before?” Chanyeol asked, somewhat confused. His blinked towards Baekhyun and Kyungsoo for confirmation before continuing. “Come on. You’re a paediatrician. You should be using it on a daily basis with idiotic kids who stick stuff up their noses.”

“He’s right, you know,” Kyungsoo agreed quietly, unwrapping the sandwich with a shrug. “Even I’ve used one before, in the clinic.”

“What for? To take a stick out of your own ?”

Kyungsoo smirked in his sandwich at Suho’s little outburst. It was rare to see the paediatrician get annoyed. Usually, he was all smiles and giggles and overly exaggerated optimism. Maybe because he was stuck working with children every day.

“Can we please not talk about asses?”

“Jesus, Chanyeol, get over it!”

“Can we stop talking about work altogether and focus on me for a second?” Baekhyun interrupted, lifting his fork and pointing it towards each and every one of them, his eyes sharp and inquiring. “I texted you all last weekend about the football game this Friday night and only Chanyeol has bothered to confirm.”

“Of course he did,” Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath, earning himself a nudge from the fellow. He then leaned back in his chair. “You said it starts at 6?”

“Yes, so make sure you’re off work for the night.”

“Alright,” Kyungsoo nodded, eyeing his sandwich with a little more interest than before. Baekhyun’s smile was genuinely pleased, before he turned his accusing fork towards Suho.

“I can’t be sure. What if there’s an emergency?”

“Hence, the ER. There are other doctors in this hospital,” Baekhyun scoffed.

Suho still didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he looked around the table slowly. Kyungsoo shrugged when the paediatrician’s eyes lingered on him for a couple seconds.

For Kyungsoo, it was an easy call to make – he didn’t really get a lot of free time. He was always working. The chance to go out with guys from work for a football game, maybe some drinks and trashy food – it sounded unreal. Somewhat very distant, like he had forgotten what it felt like to just go out and have fun.

He could use the break.

“Oh, come on, you old man,” Baekhyun nudged the other doctor in the shoulder. “Jongdae’s coming too. Maybe some of the residents-“

Baekhyun’s rambles were interrupted by a loud beeping sound. Kyungsoo’s head shot up when he watched the doctor look down to the side, his pitch-black hair falling over his eyes as he checked his emergency pager.

He watched as Baekhyun let out a sigh before shoving the rest of his sandwich in his mouth in one quick bite.

“Gotta go. Duty calls.” Baekhyun stood up from his chair. He raised his eyebrows towards Suho. “I expect a text from you in the next half an hour. I have plans to make, booze to buy. And you!”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows when he realized Baekhyun was looking at him now, a somewhat less playful, more professional, somewhat concerned look in his eyes.

“I’ll come by your office later today for a consult. I got a patient and-…well, long story. I think you might have to join in on this case.”

Kyungsoo nodded slowly and then watched Baekhyun hurrying away with the pager in his hand.

If Baekhyun was saying that he needed a consult, then Kyungsoo was prone to believe that maybe it really was a case for his department. Unlike the case of the guy with haemorrhoids that had just been redirected to the clinic by a family doctor who was probably too lazy to deal with the tests themselves.

Kyungsoo sighed, looking down at his plain sandwich, before leaning back in the chair, absentmindedly listening to Chanyeol and Suho talking about some TV show he wasn’t following, wondering why doctors liked playing hot potato so much.

He had another 8 hours at work to figure out some answer to his own questions.

“Tuberculoma.”

Kyungsoo looked up when Baekhyun dropped the files on his desk. The doctor had his hands in his pockets. A little frown was pulling his lips back.

“Or, at least, that’s what I thought it was.”

Kyungsoo pulled the files of Baekhyun’s patient closer to himself.

His eyes were scanning the page and the charts while Baekhyun seated himself in the chair on the other side of the desk and started talking.

“She checked in the hospital with a 2-day history of vomiting and a week of frontal headaches. She said they were waking her up from sleep and that they’d get even worse in the morning. In the last months others symptoms she’s shown are lethargy, reduced appetite, weight loss and intermittent fevers. And cough. Plus, I was treating her for tuberculosis a few months ago.”

Kyungsoo looked up from the charts with one raised eyebrow.

“You’re sure it wasn’t drug resistant?”

“She was fine.” Baekhyun insisted, slouching back in the chair. “Or so I thought, but she’s been coughing again and, well…”

When Baekhyun pointed his hand towards the folder, Kyungsoo opened it again and pulled out the scans. He could feel Baekhyun’s eyes on his back as he stood up and attached them to the whiteboard.

His eyebrows knitted at the sight of the images on the scans. He threw an almost incredulous look back towards Baekhyun.

The other doctor just sighed.

“The CT scan of her lungs showed nothing out of the ordinary, maybe just some light inflammation, but that didn’t explain any of the other symptoms she’d been showing. So I scheduled a CT brain and it showed multiple ring-enhancing lesions with significant surrounding cerebral oedema noted in both hemispheres which were highly suggestive of an infective process. And she did have a history with tuberculosis.”

“Of course,” Kyungsoo turned his back to the whiteboard. “A doctor for infectious diseases would think it’s an infection.”

Baekhyun crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“I started a treatment for tuberculoma with broad-spectrum antibiotics and steroids.”

“And let me guess,” Kyungsoo turned to look back at the scans on his whiteboard. “It didn’t work.”

“It didn’t.”

Kyungsoo pursed his lips, nodding once.

“It’s a tumor.”

Baekhyun remained silent. Kyungsoo stared at the scans of the patient’s brain, at that solid mass in the picture that was not supposed to be there. He nodded again, mostly to himself.

“We’ll need to run some more tests. Schedule a MRI scan for her tomorrow, and make sure you alert Minseok about this too-“

“A neurosurgeon?!”

Kyungsoo threw a look towards Baekhyun.

“Yes, a neurosurgeon. Did you think the tumor will just jump off her brain and leave by itself?”

“No, but you don’t even have conclusive test results yet.”

“Well if it isn’t tuberculoma, and if it isn’t a tumor, what else could appear as a black mass in the middle of a lovely brain picture?” Kyungsoo set his jaw. “Talk to Minseok and send him a copy of the MRI scan tomorrow. We need to know if he can perform surgery or if he’ll only be able to do a biopsy. In any case, I need to know what he can do before I make plans for radiation therapy or chemotherapy.”

Baekhyun heaved a sigh, before nodding and standing up.

“I’ll go tell management that I transferred the case to you.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo mumbled, eyes trained back on the brain scans.

“Kyungsoo?”

“Hm.”

“There’s family waiting for her. They’re waiting to hear a diagnosis.”

Kyungsoo breathed in deeply, biting his lower lip. A certain heave appeared in his heart – the heave that always appeared in his heart whenever he had to break bad news to already hopeless and desperate people about their loved ones.

He doubted it was a feeling that would ever go away. Even so, it was his job, and even though he couldn’t stop that heavy feeling in his heart, he could get used to it.

He already was.

He breathed out slowly as he reached out to pull the scans from the whiteboard. He picked up the patient’s files, before turning to Baekhyun and nodding briefly.

“Let’s go.”

“You’re late, Doctor Do,” the woman behind the reception of the free clinic mentioned. Sooyoung was it? Sooyeon? He wasn’t sure.

“Bad traffic.”

The look in her eyes indicated that she wasn’t buying it.

“I’ll have to send the report to management, doctor. You’ll need to cover the missed hour next week.”

“Or you can do me a favour and change the hour on the check in sheet?”

Sooyoung or Sooyeon didn’t say anything, just slid the folder towards him for him to sign. He sighed out when he saw she hadn’t changed the hour. Damn snitches everywhere.

That’s why he was questioning himself at least five times a day why he still was working in the teaching hospital. The pay was good, the pay was great actually. He had a lot of patients. His oncology department was getting a lot of funding, their equipment was great, his colleagues were remarkable physicians.

Yet, he was stuck with four hours of clinic duty every day. The routine of clinic duty – that’s something he didn’t look forward to.

Four hours of whining children, people lying they hadn’t had when they were showing symptoms for ually transmitted diseases, self-made doctors with diplomas from Google and teens faking colds just so they could get a doctor’s note to skip school.

“Fine.”

He let out a defeated breath, reaching out to grab the first patient’s file from the Sooyoung or Sooyeon’s hand. She smiled and Kyungsoo tried not to roll his eyes.

“Exam room three.”

The patient was in the middle of chugging down water – almost an entire bottle ever since Kyungsoo passed by him earlier in the lobby. It was a large man, very much so, above middle age.

He had come to the clinic because of moments of blurry vision in the past two weeks.

Kyungsoo threw one quick look towards the file, before closing it and leaning back against the table.

“You’re diabetic.”

“Yes,” the man nodded with a gruff. “Been taking my insulin regularly for the past ten years. What does that have to do with blurry vision?”

“See, obesity is believed to account for over 80 percent of the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Now, I cannot be sure that’s your condition until I run definitive tests but-”

“Type 2 diabetes?” the patient echoed.

“Yes. Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition in which the body becomes resistant to the normal effects of insulin. It’s associated with modifiable lifestyle risk factors.”

“Obesity runs in my family.”

Kyungsoo breathed in to stop himself from blurting out a rather rude reply about nobody running in that man’s fa