“What are you doing here?!” Irene demands out of outburst.

“Uh… isn’t it a bit obvious?” Seulgi raised both of her hands. “I’m a patient.”

“But- if you’re a patient-” The doctor widens her eyes. “Did you-”

“Yes and no.” The latter smiles.

“You two each other?” Dr. Hwang decides to interrupt their mini reunion.

“Yes, we do!”

“No, we don’t!”

“Okay…” Dr. Hwang looks at them; confused with their separate answers. “So is it a yes or..?”

“A yes!” The patient beams. “And…probably a no at the same time.” She taps her chin. “Does that make sense?”

“Depends on how you explain it to me.”

“It all happened a few weeks ago when I went on a short trip.” She starts. “I went to see the wishing stone and it happens to be at her home!”

“Really? Well that’s interesting.” Dr. Hwang gives Irene a brief glance.

“I know right? I told you, the universe has a funny way of doing things.”

Irene watched as Dr. Hwang and Seulgi’s conversation spiraled with warm atmosphere. “Since there is no need for introduction, I will be taking my leave.” She announces. “I hope you two will get along well. So, Seulgi- no funny business okay? You’ve given Dr. Moon too much trouble.”

“I’ll try.”

“Okay, take care you two.” And with that, Dr. Hwang finally closed the doors and leave them all alone.

That’s probably the last thing I’ll do. Irene says to herself. “And then there’s the two of us.” The doctor couldn’t help but roll her eyes hearing the teasing tone. “You know, I never would’ve thought I’d see you again.”

“I could say the same.”

“You look different.” Seulgi says making the latter look at her. “You know- when you don’t have those rollers…” She says, fighting back the urge to laugh.

Ignoring the remark, she grabs hold onto Seulgi’s chart and start with her review. “Ms. Kang Seulgi.”

“Don’t forget pretty.” Irene shoots her a look. “Pretty is my middle name.”

“Pretty annoying if you ask.” She murmurs to herself and continued with the overview.

“You can call me Seulgi or if that’s too long for you then Seul. Though I only let the people I’m close with call me by that but since this is our second meet, I’ll let this one slide.”

“I’m going to stick with calling you Ms. Kang if you don’t mind.”

“I know what’s going through your mind.” Seulgi breaks her review once again. “You’re probably wondering how did I end up miles away from the hospital.”

“No.”

“Well you see, before I end up being a resident here I-”

“Ms. Kang if you don’t mind?” She says as she lifts the chart.

“Right- silence.” Seulgi nods her head and taps her fingers onto the sheets of her bed. Irene smirks in her head, thinking that she had won the argument but- “Ooh! Are you assessing my progress?”

“No.”

“Checking my history and physical?”

“No.”

“Ooh! I know, I know! You’re checking my lab reports!”

“I’m actually checking how long you have left.” Irene responds as she continues to check her chart.

“You’re not checking positive about me at all?”

“With your condition, it’s better to prepare ourselves for the worst.” She answers without looking at her patient, eyes focused on the chart right in front of her.

“What’s your name?”

“You can call me Dr. Bae. That’s all you need to know.”

“Can I ask why you moved to Seoul?”

“No.”

“Can I ask how did the wishing stone ended up at your house?”

“No.”

“Well then can I ask-”

Irene shuts the chart, creating a noise that stopped Seulgi from continuing. “If you want to ask when are you going to die then I cannot give you a specific date. Base from your chart you’d have about six months left, eight at most seeing you’re doing adequate in your Cardiac rehabilitation.” Finally sparing Seulgi a glance, she tries to give ‘Dr. Stone’ aura. “But I wouldn’t stress your luck, your heart is at a critical condition.”

Assuming that she had the upper hand, she turns around to leave, feeling a sense of annoyance at the coincidence that out of all the patients that would have to be transferred to her care- it would the annoying girl. “So it’s true then…” She says in her weak voice that got Irene stopped from taking one step. “I really am dying huh…”

 

Looking at the latter’s facial features, Irene couldn’t help but immediately look away. The way she sounded matched the look on her face. Defeated and hopeless. For a second there she felt guilty and slightly irritated with the way she handled the situation. She let her annoyance from the past situation took over and it got the best of her.

 

Keeping her sigh to herself, she tries to think of words on how to make up for it when she could hear subtle giggles. “Why are you giggling?”

“I know I’m already dying doctor, everyone in this ward knows that.” She says, without an inch of worry or pain in her facial features. “I know for a fact that my days are numbered, I mean, it’s my body after all.”

“So why did you have to put on that sad girl dying act?”

“I wanted to ask you why do you let people call you Dr. Stone.” She says, still with a smile on her face. “It’s okay if you won’t tell me, I already have my answer.”

 

 

“I hate my patient.”

 

Irene couldn’t believe what just happened.

Above all, she couldn’t believe herself.

She was caught off guard by the same person twice in a row.

 

The same person for the same reason.

 

 

“Hate is a pretty strong word so back it up a bit okay?” Wendy says as she takes bite of her burger.

“Now I know she insists on having pretty as her middle name- it fits her perfectly. So perfect!” She huffs out of vexation.

“Hey, no checking out patients. You know the rules…”

“I’m not referring to that kind of pretty.” Irene rolls her eyes. “I’m talking about how she can pretty easily fool anybody, how pretty annoying she is and how pretty good she is in acting!”

“Okay now I’m really curious.” Wiping off the possible smudges from her delicious meal. She plops her elbows, hands together and places her chin on top of it. “This patient must be something else to irritate you this much.”

“She doesn’t get to me alright?”

“Well try saying that to your own face when you look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you look like some pissed off aged-woman who’s planning her murder.”

“First of all, you could’ve just said woman but thanks for the elaboration semi-aged woman.” She spats. “Second, I am not planning her murder because third- that would be taking the short cut.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s dying.” She says like it was just another day at the office.

“That’s sad.” Wendy’s warm mood was now damped all thanks to the news. “But I still don’t get why you let her get to you?”

“Remember the time when I told you about that two rascals trespassed in our house?” The latter nods in her head in remembrance. “She’s the one.”

“The one what?”

Irene sighs. “The one who called me hag.”

Right away, Wendy’s irises were widened as she slammed her hands onto the table and screamed- “What!?”

“Be quiet!” Irene hisses at her while looking at the people surrounding them with apology.

“Sorry- couldn’t help it.”

“You seriously need to get hold of your dramatic reactions.”

“You’re not joking right now, are you?”

“If I was- I probably would’ve died earlier than her out of laughter.”

Wendy goes back to slumping in her seat. “Wow.”

That one word caused her friend to snicker. “Yeah, you can say that again.”

“Wow.” Irene decides to ignore her friend and went on with her meal. “How in the world did she end up trespassing at your house when she’s an in-patient here?”

“She wanted to tell me earlier but I ended up cutting her off.” She replied. “But no matter, I’m sure being the only child of a business mogul has its perks.”

“How severe is her case for you to conclude that she’s dying?”

“She has HLHS.”

“Oh… the half-heart disease.” Irene nods her head. “What does her chart say?”

“What I already expect… She was diagnosed after four days of being born, had the Pallative Surgery from Norwood to the Fontan Operation.”

“Then that means she must’ve had been able to live outside the hospital.”

“She did, but only for a good number of years. It didn’t take long for her react to start and complicate things again and now she’s been here for five years… The treatment recommended by Dr. Moon is long-term cardiac care and medication.”

“So… Cardiac rehabilitation and tons of Aldactone, Dopamine and Digoxin?”

“Don’t forget Prostaglandin E1 and Potassium Chloride.”

“But they could get a heart transplant right?”

“With her condition, it would be a high-risk of her body rejecting the heart and I doubt that if heart transplant was more realistic, Dr. Moon would’ve recommended it right away.”

“That’s true…”

“Anyway, I am just thankful that she had already accepted her fate way before I gave my opinion.”

“Did you go Dr. Stone mode on her?”

“She was asking personal questions and many questions in general. And, she really talks a lot too.”

“The girl is drying Joo, why be mean on her?” Wendy didn’t even hide her disappointment towards her friend. “The least you could do is just be nice.”

“I am being nice to her, I gave her a rough estimation on her final days.”

“And how long does she have left?”

“Six to eight months.”

“That’s not very long.”

“It’s a rough estimation now it’s up to her how is she planning to spend that time.”

“And what if she plans to annoy you for eight months?”

“I doubt that, with the way I strictly implied to her how I am as a doctor, I’m sure she got the message. Even a kid could understand me.”

“Well I don’t know Joo…” Irene looks at her friend who sounded unconvinced with her ‘Dr. Stone’ attitude. “Something tells me that meeting this Half-heart functioning woman isn’t just a detour.”

“And how do you take it then?”

“I think that you two met on a purpose. Whatever that reason may be, I know you’re going to be in a one crazy and epic adventure.”

 

Irene never saw Seulgi for the rest of the day.

 

That’s because she had a lot of things to do, mostly cater to her appointments and to her other patients that needed her attention. She also had to attend the evening department meeting over a team dinner where various discussions and some didn’t deem to be in the agenda were tackled. It took the meeting for over three hours and just as when she decides to head home and hit the sack, Dr. Lim reminded her of the reports that are needed to be submitted by the end of the week and so with that she makes a U-turn to head back to her office.

 

Despite being busy for the remaining day, Irene couldn’t help but remember what Wendy said to her.

 

“I think that you two met on a purpose. Whatever that reason may be, I know you’re going to be in a one crazy and epic ad