"We've already performed angiography1 many times on this patient but we can't seem to find the vessel involved. Her CT shows SAH2 with thick hematoma3 in the cisterna magna4 and it looks like it has already spread into the ventricles5." Professor Kwon Jun Woo stared intently on the screen, who seemed to be in deep thought about this patient we were discussing on. All of us in the neurosurgery department were gathered in the conference room to tackle about a patient whose case was rare that it was our first time coming across it.

"We performed another cerebral angiography yesterday. We found an irregularity of a small artery over here which was perhaps due to the dissection of the artery." Professor Kwon continued to discuss the patient's CT while the rest of us listened, preparing for questions he might throw.

 

Finally, he turned to me. "Dr. Kang, what further treatment measures can you suggest for this patient?"

 

I took a deep breath and tried to extract all the knowledge I had to come up with a suitable answer. "Considering the interventions done on this patient for the last three days, I think we need to perform exploratory surgery6 to locate the vessel because it seems small to be seen on angiography."

Professor Ahn Do Yun was the one who spoke this time. He turned to Dr. Choi Junghae, my co-resident. "Do you agree with Dr. Kang?"

 

"No, doc. I think we should perform endovascular surgery7," he answered.

Professor Ahn put his fingers on his chin, looking at Dr. Choi for a few seconds before turning back his attention to the screen. "Really? I think she's right, though. Did you even read on this patient? You've only been here for less than a week. Are you slacking off now?"

 

Professor Ahn was known as the notorious one for being harsh on the residents with his words. For him, there was no room for mistakes. We had to be right all the time or else, he would feel the need to embarrass us in front of everyone. I understood the part of having no room for mistakes because we handled lives, but shaming a doctor wasn't really necessary.

 

"I apologize, Professor." Dr. Choi turned his head down in apology and the look on his face can't be painted. It wasn't even a week yet into residency and things seemed to be more stressful than they already were. Nonetheless, people in our department were still super helpful. We were lucky enough to work under doctors who were more than patient to teach us in things we were lacking on. Well, except for Professor Ahn. We only got to see him during case discussions. He was very picky as well with doctors who did surgeries with him.

 

"It's okay, Dr. Choi. Dr. Jeong, get this patient's consent later and prepare to assist me on her surgery on Monday. Dr. Kang and Dr. Choi will be observing. That ends today's discussion." Dr. Jeong Ha Jun was our chief resident.

 

It was a relief for everyone that Professor Kwon was this patient's doctor because that meant everyone will get the chance to work on her rare case. He liked to get everyone involved because according to him, we were the ones who will follow his footsteps so he wanted to teach us everything he can.

 

My 24-hour shift ended with lots of hospital rounds and outpatient visits with Professor Kwon that I was dead tired when I arrived home at 4PM that day. I planned on sleeping until 7, have dinner and go to a coffee shop to work on the case we were observing on Monday.

 

Grandma woke me up just in time for dinner. When I arrived at the dinner table, it was just my brother and I.

 

"Where are they?" I asked upon taking a seat and setting up my utensils.

 

"Dad went to Singapore. Mom and Erin went to Hongkong to pick up some clothes," he answered.

 

"Doesn't she have classes today?" I wondered.

 

My brother looked at me with disbelief and hastily shook his head. "Don't you have a calendar? It's Saturday today."

 

"Ah, right." I must've lost track of the dates because I stayed in the hospital for 24 hours.

 

This got me thinking what kind of clothes they were picking up this time. It wasn't new to me anymore that my mom liked going on a one-day trip to other places just to pick up clothes, shoes, or bags. She did that when the items she liked were sold-out online and only available in certain places. Oftentimes I would just find new stuff on my bed every time she came home from a trip.

 

I told my brother I was staying out late in the coffee shop today to study a case. My driver dropped me off to my favorite coffee shop because I was too tired to drive. I saw that it was packed with students who were probably studying as well but I was lucky enough to find an empty table in the corner. The barista already recognized me because I used to frequent this place even during med school days that's why he already knew what to make for me.

 

"The usual?" he asked at the counter.

 

"Yup," I smiled and handed him my card.

 

I had a thing for coffee shops, really. I liked seeing other people's stressed and cramming faces because that made me think I wasn't alone in this suffering. It wasn't like my room wasn't conducive for studying; I just liked feeling the thrill here because it pressured me to read. Besides, I would just be disturbed by an old man named Aki at home whenever he got bored. That guy couldn't comprehend the sentence "I'm studying. Get lost."

 

When I went back from paying for my drink and cake, I saw a guy setting up his stuff on my table.

 

"You don't mind, right?" he asked after seeing me approach the table. I just nodded at him because I had no choice, anyway. The table had four chairs, so we weren't really close enough for me to be bothered by his presence. He sat across me so I was sitting in front of his things, which was good enough because it provided me enough space in front to lay out my iPad and handouts.

 

I took a quick glance at him and saw that he was kind of dressed up for a study night out at a coffee shop. His hair was nicely brushed back, showing his forehead, and he wore too casual clothes I immediately wondered if he came from an event or something. Whereas I, on the other hand, was wearing an oversized hoodie jacket and a pair of jogger pants and sneakers.

 

He took me by surprise when he suddenly transferred seats–in front of me now– and rested his palms on both sides of his cheeks while intensely staring at me. I paused the song I was listening to and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

 

"I'm giving you the chance to look at me longer. That glance earlier was too short." He gave me a playful smile that made me so annoyed. This man had guts.

 

"I wasn't even looking at you," I denied. I thought he would stop talking to me but boy I was wrong. I barely even landed the tip of my pen on my screen when he spoke again.

 

"Really? Then come look at me now." That annoying smile still didn't leave his lips. Good thing my pager lit up and buzzed so I stood up to get my order from the counter. I met him halfway becaus