Yuri and The Mess That Is A Barbecue Party

“I'm so sorry, Jake. I'll see you later, okay?”

“No problem, baby. Just drop me that call and I'll be on my way.” Landing a soft kiss on Yuri's cheek, Jake gets onto the Harley Davidson he had parked on the front yard last night.

As the handsome, chiseled man swiftly steers the roaring vehicle to the street, Yuri can only sigh.  Another one of her dates leaves just like that.

“I fell asleep. I had such a hunk in my bed last night and I did nothing but sleeping.” Throwing herself on the wooden platform swing under the birch tree, Yuri glares at Kwon Jiyong as if her dwindling life is all the house owner's fault. “If Taeyeon knew she would have rolled on that flower patch laughing.”

“I bet.” Jiyong snorts, shoveling loose soil into a terracotta pot. “I've been wondering about the lack of noises coming from your room too. Can't say I miss them though.”

“This internship kills me.” Yuri groans, pushing her feet onto the ground to start swinging. “I came home at twelve last night and still has to clock in at eight this morning. I feel like a ing robot. A robot with no life.”

“Congratulations, you're practically Taeyeon now.”

“Thanks for the compliment Ji.” Taeyeon, who just came home from a 30-hours shift, drags her sleepy body through the picket gate. “You know me so well.”

“Sorry.” Jiyong gives Taeyeon an apologetic look. “It's just the two of you seem to work so hard lately. Can't you guys take a week off to decompress or something?”

“A week off?” Taeyeon scoffs. “We robots are lucky to even have twelve-hours of uninterrupted sleep.”

“I don't need 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I want two hours of good old love-making.” Huffing, Yuri swings harder. “ I want to be carefree Yuri. I don't want to slowly turn into you, Tae. You are not fun.”

“I agreed. Being Taeyeon is no fun.” Stopping on the door, Taeyeon stretches her arms over her head and yawns. “But at least I'm off the shift now. I heard there's a mass food poisoning case coming in from the countryside. You're gonna be knee-deep in vomit today, Yuri. Have fun.”

Yuri groans.  Jiyong laughs. Taeyeon simply sways her steps into the house.

“I can't believe there are still twenty-one months of this pain left. Twenty-one months of interning pain and zero social life.” Leaning her head on the thick swing rope, Yuri gazes blankly at the horizon.

“The barbecue plan for this weekend is still a go right?” Carefully, Jiyong moves a geranium seedling into the pot. “I have the ribs marinated already.”

“Oh, it's a go alright. How much do we owe you for the supply?”

“Forty. Taeyeon gave me ten yesterday.” Jiyong glances at the open door. “Didn't you tell her we should chip in at least twenty-five thousand per person?”

“I told her it's ten. I'll cover the rest. Some of our fellow interns will come over with food too. We'll have plenty for everyone.”

“You seem to cover for Taeyeon often. Is she okay?”

Yuri shrugs, stepping down from the swing and kneel beside Jiyong to touch a petal of white rose from the patch by the white fence. “You're so good at gardening, I've never seen roses looking this lively.”

“Yuri.” Jiyong stands up, arranging pots of seedlings into a circle around the little fountain he just set up yesterday. “Is Taeyeon okay financially? Because if she's not, I'm more than willing to change our living arrangement to accommodate her.”

“You're so kind you know.” Yuri stands up too, helping with the pots. “Those tattoos speak nothing about who you are. And that ignorance? I can see that it's barely a facade.”

“Thank you.” Jiyong smiles. “Back to Taeyeon, please. Is she okay?”

Sighing, Yuri gazes at the door. “She's fine. She just anyone to support her.”

“She has no family?”

“Just a little sister she loves so much living in a foster home.”

“Oh.” Jiyong stops moving, following Yuri's gaze. “She can stop paying for food then, I'll cover her part. It's not like she eats a lot.”

“Taeyeon hates blatant financial help. We need to play it smoothly.” Making air quotations with her fingers, Yuri stares at Jiyong. “Why do you care so much anyway?”

“Oh no. Not that look.” Jiyong grimaces, resuming his work.

“What look?”

“Come on. I know you've been trying to shove me her way since day one. This barbecue night is one of your plots to get us together, isn't it?”

“No. It's not.” Yuri shrugs, kneeling to lift a pot of cactus and levels the tiny yellow flower to her eyes. Fragile flower behind thorny stem like this reminds her so much of Taeyeon. “It's an opportunity for your friends and our friends to mingle. If Taeyeon somehow draws closer to you in the process, it's simply a matter of killing two flies in one swat.”

“We're flies to you now?” Jiyong laughs, moving to carry a few bricks from the corner to where the seedling pots are. “She doesn't like me, Yuri. Homegirl doesn't even make an effort to exchange something other than daily pleasantries with me.”

“She's Taeyeon. She doesn't fall easy. You need to earn her attention.”

“Say I manage to draw her close. What if stuff gets complicated after? I'll hate to evict you just because things do not go well between me and Taeyeon.”

“Geez, you're too analytical for a man. Why don't you just grab this opportunity and run away with it?”

“Hey. I'm a man with feelings. Not a player.”

“I know. That's why I've been trying to match you guys.” Yuri puts the cactus back in place and helps Jiyong arranging the bricks into a circle around the rose patch. “It might sound crazy but I can't shake off this idea of you and Taeyeon living happily ever after in this beautiful house. It's like a revelation. The day we first met, when you shook her hand, I swore I saw a halo around you two.”

“That's not crazy. That's completely delusional.” Jiyong rubs his hands on his green gardening overall. “Why do you care so much about Taeyeon's love life anyway? I get it that you two are the best of friends but isn't this kind of intervention a little too much?"

Patting her hands together to get rid of the dirt, Yuri stares at Jiyong. Since day one, her hunch has been telling her that this man is one of a kind.  “I don't want Taeyeon's heart to break once more.”

“Last time I checked, heartbreak is still the biggest part of adulting, Yuri. If we don't learn to take the bitter pill we'll never know the taste of sweet.”

“Thing is, Taeyeon doesn't get much chance to taste sweetness.” Once more gazing at the door, Yuri can feel that old pang of sadness within her heart. When Taeyeon falls, she falls deep. It is nearly impossible to save her from the crash. “She doesn't take bitter pills well too.”

“And it's your job to take care of her feeling?”

“It is.” Yuri nods, walking for the door. “Until she finds someone better.”

“And you think I'm better than the previous heartbreaker?”

“You are.” Yuri turns her head and smiles. “I see a halo around you, remember?”

"This is so exciting. So exciting.”

“Keep jumping and I'll splash your scrub wet, Jackson.” Yuri warns her fellow intern, inwardly jumping with excitement herself. They both are in a small room adjacent to OR 1 where doctors and nurses usually sterile their hands before starting any surgery. Yuri has just begun soaping her hands thoroughly while Jackson is almost done.

“Come on, Yuri. Jumps with me.” Jackson turns to face Yuri, holding her hands up to prevent contamination but still jumping like an excited 5-years-old. “After all that vomiting patients we had this morning we finally have our first surgery.”

“Out first surgery!” Yuri can't help it, springing a little on her neon green sneakers. Things have been going so well for her these last few weeks. Her body finally accustomed to long hours of grueling work. Residents and attending start to treat her and other interns nicer which means more opportunity to learn and practice medicine. Even Jessica gets a little less evil around her and Taeyeon these days. Yuri still does nothing but charting and running labs whenever she's under ice princess' service but there's finally a little eye contact here and there.

She likes it, having eye-contact with the fierce doctor.

“We gonna nail this.” Jackson grins.

“We gonna nail this.” Yuri repeats the affirmation wholeheartedly. She's nervous but this should be easy.

“We're going to nail this!” Jackson jumps up and down again.

“Gosh.” As if summoned by Jackson's childish behavior, Jung Jessica comes into the room and goes straight to the sink to scrub her hands. “It's only an appendectomy. Get over yourself.”

Jackson stops springing, immediately dashes to the OR not even dare to exhale a breath near the fierce resident. Yuri fazes a little but continues cleaning her subungual area with a nail file. She has learned that Jung Jessica feeds on people's fear and she's not going to give her more of that. Not today. Not on her first surgery.

“Yuri. Steps of appendectomy. Go.” Jessica gives Yuri the order without even turning her head.

“Open. Identify. Ligate. Remove. Irrigate. Close.” Spitting the textbook memory out, Yuri finishes scrubbing her hands and stares at Jessica.

“Once more. Slowly.”

“Open.” From where she's standing so close, Yuri has no option but to scrutinize Jessica's side profile. Damn this girl look even more beautiful from this side.

“Identify.” Why does a girl so pretty can be so mean?

“Ligate.” Her skin, it glows like fine porcelain. Her tiny nose, how can it look so dainty?

“Remove.” Red hair matches her so well. The few loose strands that peek from under her scrub cap, Yuri wonders how it feels to run them between her fingers.

“Irrigate.” Her fingers, why do they look so lean and inviting?

“Close.” Yuri draws a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. This is completely unusual. She never looks at a girl this way before.

“Doctor Webber will be observing. Don't ruin this.”

“I won't.”

“Good.”

It might be a daydream but Yuri can swear that she sees a hint of a smile on the corner of Jessica's lips.

A scalpel is not a stranger to Yuri's hands. She held it so many times in med school. Yet the steel blade feels a little heavy this time. Maybe because she no longer dealing with cadaver or anesthetized animals. Maybe because this is her first real surgery. Maybe because she can't stop stealing glances at fierce Jung who stands unmoving across the sedated patient.

Doctor Webber who stands behind doctor Jung whispers something to the fierce doctor and her subtle nod makes Yuri even more nervous. This simple surgery can be the goodbye kiss to her career as a surgeon. There are too many people to impress in this OR room.

“Yuri?” Doctor Shim who leads the surgery calls her out. “Wanna back down?”

“No.” She presses the sharp steel onto the skin, breathing deeply.

“A little more pressure. Don't hesitate.” Doctor Jung's suggestion nearly makes Yuri jumps. She glances up, eye-contact with Jung Jessica only adds more sweat to her forehead this time.

Exhaling slowly, Yuri presses harder. The skin breaks open, red blood seeps out as Yuri inwardly cheering herself.

“Pickups.” She opens her palms toward the scrub nurse, moving fluidly now she has gained confidence. “Clamps.”

A few more moves and she's there. The peritoneum is now open in front of her.

“Good job.” Doctor Shim pats her back. “Jackson come closer. Can you identify the appendix?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Your turn to ligate and remove. Yuri, stand by. You can close later.”

Yuri steps to the side, watching Jackson's every move intently. When he manages to cut out the appendix and put the clamp that holding it into the kidney dish, they both let out a loud yes.

“A little too early to celebrate.” Doctor Shim smiles. “What Jackson need to do next Yuri?”

“Invert the stump into the cecum.” Yuri cranes her neck to see into the cavity. “He has to do it while simultaneously pull up on the purse strings.”

“Like this.” Jackson moves.

Yuri yelps, even from where she's standing she can tell that Jackson puts too much power to it.

“I was about to say careful not to break the strings but you already did.” Doctor Shim grimaces. “What now, Jackson?”

Jackson freezes.

“You ripped the cecum, Jackson. You've got a bleeder. What is the first step to handle a bleeder?”

“Uh...” Jackson stares at his bloodied gloves.

“Jackson...” Whispering in fear, Yuri seriously wishes Jackson to start moving soon.

“The stomach is filling with stool now. You don't have all day long.” Doctor Shim's expression turns stern. “Jackson!”

“I... Uh... “

“Yuri, can you take over or do I have to get my hand dirty this time?”

Yuri moves forward. It's a little nauseating, coming face to face with this kind of emergency. The sight of an open stomach filled with blood and feces doesn't offer much help either. She gulps, taking a deep breath.

“BP is dropping.” Someone informs the whole room from in front of the monitor. All eyes are on Yuri now.

“Suction!” She calls out, eyeing Jessica who has the device ready in her hand. Once Jessica starts suctioning the gooey obstruction, Yuri can see the better into the gaping hole. She looks up at Jessica, now 100% sure that the fierce resident is smiling behind that mask.

“Clamp.” She asks the nurse again, finger carefully digging for the remaining purse strings Jackson has left behind. Upon finding them, she draws another deep breath.

“You can do this, Yuri.” It's barely a decibel above a whisper but Jessica's encouragement boosts Yuri's confidence.

Yuri takes another deep breath, clamping about an inch above the ripped cecum. She can feel doctor Webber's eyes on her.

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