With both hands tapping on her knees, Irene found herself on the corner of the hospital lobby, anxious. Just as anxious as when she's about to do something big. Her tapping later on intensified to rubbing, almost setting her knees in flames from the extreme fiction.

"Why would you feel so nervous when you're just here to hear about the results. Come on, it's not like the surgery is happening today!" She convinces herself.

It’s been a week since she made the decision to take another eye examination and receive surgery, also a week after her reunion with her so-called doctor friend, Seulgi.

The ophthalmologist never asked questions upon Irene's abrupt decision to gain her vision back, thinking it might be uncomfortable to ask.

To sum it all up, it was not an abrupt decision to begin with. Irene always wanted to receive the treatment. She just had her fears. The fear that she might not recover and the fear that she might regain those nightmares she suffered from.

But, what more is there to fear when her nightmares returned even before she had undergone surgery? And if she might not recover even after trying, she thought it's pretty much the same as not trying at all.

She snapped back to reality after a few words of encouragement from herself.

Approaching footsteps clip-clopped down the bleached tile lobby. Irene couldn't imagine a doctor wearing such impractical shoes, but she guessed right. As the clattering noise came to a halt, a palm landed on her shoulders as if it's expecting to be welcomed.

"Sai?"

"You're still into that, I see." The woman in a doctor's gown says in amusement.

Irene can only bow her head. "Ohh. S-sorry, I meant Seulgi."

"It's fine. You can keep calling me that if you're more comfortable doing so. Have you been waiting for long?"

Her appointment was set by 9 am, yet her anxiousness brought her there by 7. She shook her head. She can't really blame anyone but herself for coming too early and ended up waiting.

"No, no. I just arrived a few m-minutes ago. Uhh... I wonder how this place looks like right now." Her head lands on her palm. She just realized how lame her way of shifting attention was.

"How the hospital lobby looks like right now? Well... it is designed classy in the most unclassy way possible. It has all the corporate taste for luxurious things with the slightest touch of humility."

Irene blinked her beady eyes a few times. "Wow. That was quite... abstract" She giggles.

"Sorry, I at describing."

"Huh? You're not. You even said that it was your newly discovered talent."

"I... did? I did, didn't I?"

"What's wrong with you today? You keep stumbling over your words— Ahh... I'm about to receive the bad news, aren't I?" Irene tilts her head in a different direction while her eyes conveys disappointment.

The doctor sighed. She couldn't find the right words to describe the situation at the moment. "We should head to my office. I went out for a meal, so I changed into my heels. Now my feet are starting to hurt. I should really refrain from wearing heels on my way here."

No wonder you seem taller than before, Irene thought.

The taller woman grabbed Irene by the wrist, beckoning her to follow. She led her to her office, a few floors from where they currently are.

The doctor's space was built with fresh air and health as a priority. As such, air from the outside arrived in floor vents and left through the ceiling directly above. As if it was designed to lower the dose of any viruses present. It was a different kind of medical supplement to complement other forms of healthcare.

"You can sit here comfortably." Seulgi brings Irene to the sofa dressed up with teddy bear-hued cushions and pastel blankets of wool instead of the usual chair where she consults her patients.

She sat by Irene's side, uncomfortably leaning on the sofa's armrest.

"Uhm, you said you have been tested before, right? Do you remember the diagnosis from your previous doctor?"

Irene raises her head, trying to remember. "I do not remember the exact details, but I do remember being told... I only needed a LASIK surgery. My doctor said it was that simple."

"What? Really?"

"Why? Is the result different this time?"

Just the slight hint of worry on Irene's face was enough to release the breath Seulgi didn't even know she was holding. With a sigh, her shoulders are forced to relax. Her face forcefully lit up for the angelic woman sitting in front of her as she wanted to keep her optimism.

"It's okay, you can tell me about it without pressure. I'll be fine with any results." Irene reaches out for the anxious doctor's hand.

"Uhh, first of all, I wanna tell you how glad I am that you decided to go through some tests. You see... your condition is much worse than we have expected. And if you decided to do it a bit later, it could've been more threatening."

"What do you mean?"

Irene felt a tighter squeeze on her palm before Seulgi continued. "Your loss of vision was not due to natural causes, Irene. You're suffering from a traumatic brain injury. Your serious head injury in the past, its effects are still lingering."

The sigh that escaped Irene's dry lips was slow as if her brain needed that time to process what she's been told. Her eyes remained fixed into thin air.

"Blood is slowly clotting in your brain. If this goes on for too long, then the cells in your brain will begin to die."

Irene tilts her head towards Seulgi's direction. "That... Does that mean there's nothing wrong with my eyes?"

"Yes." Seulgi nods. "There's no problem with your eyes. Your vision can return back to normal if you receive surgery. But it's not me who can do that for you... Irene, I need to refer you to a neuro-ophthalmologist and a neurosurgeon. Would that be okay?"

A part of Irene is hesitant. One of her reasons for deciding to receive the treatment was her belief that Seulgi would do the procedure herself. But who is she even kidding? She's just as desperate as every patient out there.

Her father, who had just gotten out of prison, remained silent. He never contacted Irene, and it's been a week now. But the possibility that he could end up showing himself in front of her whenever makes her more desperate than she could ever be.

"I'm fine with that..." She responds.

A clear sign of relief came to Seulgi's expression. "I'm so glad to hear that. You don't have to worry about anything else. I'll take care of the matter for you. All you have to do is to bring yourself for the remaining tests and... for the surgery, of course."

Gloominess started embracing the room, creeping into both of them. Nobody directly talked about how unfortunate the current situation was, but it was felt in every corner of the secluded place.

"I wanna ask one last question before I get tested again..."

"Sure, what is it?"

"How likely is it that people with the same case as me get better after the surgery? What are the chances?" Irene asks with a frown.

"Uhm, TBI surgery survivors who end up with good recovery... there are patients of about 80 percent?"

"You know doctors shouldn't lie to their patients."

The frown passed on to Seulgi's brows. "Fine... It's 40. It's 40 percent of all survivors who reach a good recovery."

Irene can only remain hushed. She didn't want to, but her pessimism was starting to dominate, and she was about to get submissive. That's not even half the better chances, she whispers to herself.

--

Regardless of her hesitance, Irene pushed through the tests on the same day. She reluctantly went through imaging tests, CT scans, and an MRI.

Never before did she realize how connections in a workplace can come to one's benefit since she had never experienced such. Yet now, she's being treated like royalty, meant to be prioritized before anybody else, thanks to this doctor friend of hers.

Seated beside Seulgi in another secluded room, she waits for her doctor.

An older doctor who had the posture of a soldier walked into the room not long after. You can see her years-worth of experience as every action she took was precise and purposeful. She smiled coldly and distantly as how other professionals do. Her eyes were devoid of make-up, and her hair was in a tight bun, not a strand out of place.

When she got to her seat, Irene kept her head low in anticipation of the doctor speaking to her, but when she raised her head again, the room was dead silent; the doctor didn't even greet them. Irene's reached over to Seulgi's cold hands.

Seulgi had been in the hospital for years, yet she could never relax in such situations. Still, she chose to break the disheartening tension to save Irene from anxiousness. "Dr. Young, is there anything wrong?" She asks

The older doctor, intensely staring at the monitor screen, massages her temples before dropping a burdensome sigh. "How?" She starts off with a whisper. "How did you manage to endure this for years?"

"What do you mean? Just how bad is it?" The worried Seulgi stood up to look at the monitor herself. Only to be left in gasps.

"Dear, how did you put up with such? This level of pain could kill a person. Seriously. Have you been taking painkillers— no! I don't even think painkillers are enough for this!"

Now even Irene wondered. How did she endure it for years? She admits that there are days when she loses every ounce of sleep because of excruciatingly painful headaches. There are days when she felt like she had lost her body as a whole from feelings of numbness and dizziness. But that came occasionally. It's nothing compared to the excruciating pain she used to go through every day.

"Do you believe in immunity?" Irene flashes a faint smile. "I guess that works with physical pain too. I... I've been through the same pain too often, and now it doesn't even bother me as much."

"You need to get admitted right now. I must perform surgery on you as soon as possible. I won't be able to perform any surgery unbothered after looking at this. Dear, I need to see you in that operating room in hours."

The desperation in her voice blew away Irene's last pinch of hope. Is it really that bad? She wondered. To hear a doctor plead just to put her first? That was a new sight. Not everybody gets to experience it... because nobody wants to. Nobody deserves to. Yet here she is.

--

"Hi, Irene? I'm a nurse here, and I'll be in charge of watching over you tonight before your surgery. So, I'm here to give you a briefing, at least, since your procedure is scheduled abruptly."

Irene smiled at the younger woman beside her bed, regardless of not being able to meet her in the eyes. "Thank you."

"Yes, no problem. So... I'll insert an IV on your arm before the procedure starts. You'll receive the medicines you need through this IV. You'll be given heparin, a blood thinner. This is to help prevent new blood clots forming during the surgery." She pauses to reach for Irene's arm.

"Am I getting the IV already?"

"Yes. I understand how flustered you might be, but your case is very urgent, so we have to do things at the speed of light. You'll also be given anesthesia through the IV line. This will prevent pain and make you sleep during the surgery." She starts rubbing Irene's skin with an alcohol wipe.

Irene, however, delicately withdraws her hand. "I'm sorry, but can I ask for a small favor before I have that needle in me?"

"Sure."

"I just want to talk to my friend before I am put into a deep sleep. She's a doctor here..."

Dressed in a sober light blue hospital gown, Irene follows the nurse's lead to Seulgi's. She only wanted to be with someone dear to her, just like every patient would at a time like this. She could feel her own footsteps getting heavier as she moved forward.

"She doesn't seem to be here. You should head inside to wait. I will go and look for her." The kind nurse suggests.

As Irene was alone in the dark room, even the ticking of the wall clock had a relaxed feeling, as if it was a heartbeat at rest. It hasn't been that long. In fact, she was expecting to sit there for at least half an hour because she knew how things at hospitals work.

But in minutes, not enough to be called few, Irene heard a subtle click from the door, unlocked from outside.

She smiled, hearing her friend's assuring voice echoing from outside as the door pushed open.

["No... I understand. I'm trying my best too, but... I don't think I can continue doing this."] Seulgi's usual calm way of talking resonated.

Seulgi failed to notice Irene's presence as she remained facing the door, with her right hand on her phone and the other still holding onto the door knob. Meanwhile, Irene remained silent, thinking it might be rude to interrupt.

["And when would that be if not now?!]

Irene flinched, listening to the other woman. For the first time since their fateful meeting, she actually gets to hear Seulgi raise her voice.

["I told you, I understand. I really do. But still... Who is this Sai she's been hanging into in the first place?"]

["She's in a distressing situation... I can't just tell her I've been lying— Hello? Hey!"]

For a second, Irene wished to have lost all of her senses instead of mere vision. She wanted to spill a thousand questions of why. The minute became one of those moments where her tears had to speak for her because words left her whole being.

She trusted, once again, after years of doubtful encounters. And that trust she had given is now ruined by a single overheard phone call.

"I've only seen this in dramas..."

A/N: Hi guys! To those wondering why I unpublished most of the chapters, that is because I have decided to revise this story. I read it recently and realized I made a lot of typographical errors in the initial version. There were also lines which made no sense at all. Lol. Anyways... for the new readers, how are you liking the story so far? ^^