Sipping on her third cup of coffee for the day, Yuqi walked towards her office in the Intensive Care Unit.

“Another cup of coffee, Dr Song?”

“I need all the help I need to get through the day, Mark.”

Yuqi walked towards her desk, buried under patient records awaiting her review.

  Sighs.

It has been a long day for both of them. Lucas had to come to work early due to an influx of incoming trauma in the Emergency Department courtesy of a series of car accidents and she has been stuck in the Intensive Care Unit, reviewing the care of acutely deteriorating patients.

Lucas had sent her a series of messages, complaining about the lack of sleep and manpower. Though, this is what they signed up for when they chose to work in the hospital’s busiest departments so Yuqi doesn’t blame him.

Before she could reply with a motivating text, she receives a call from none other than the person she was about to text.

“Hey Yuqi, I need a review for a trauma patient with an extensive abdominal laceration. He is 16 years old but is too unstable to be operated now so I thought it would be better if we observed him in the ICU.”

Yuqi sighed.

Since the series of car accidents, the ICU has been occupied with admissions after admissions and it is especially difficult, when the patient is young.

“Sure, I am coming down.”

“Can’t wait to see you baby.”

“It’s Dr. Song to you, brat.”

“Sure, Dr. Song.” Yuqi could almost hear Lucas rolling his eyes behind the phone call.

-

“Hey.”

“Where’s the patient?”

“What? No hugs for your favourite doctor?”

“Yah. We are at work! Besides, my favourite doctor would be Dr. Minnie.” Yuqi teased, fatigue dissolving as she sees Lucas pouting at her statement.

“The patient is in bed 14.”

Yuqi reviewed the patient immediately and agreed that the patient should be observed in the ICU. An operation now may be holding a high risk that she is unwilling to take.

“Let’s prepare the patient for a transfer then.”

Yuqi called up to the ICU, “Mark, we need a bed for a trauma patient. Perhaps we could assign him to bed 6?”

“Sure Dr. Song, we will prepare the bed and can accept the patient in 20minutes.”

Yuqi nodded and hanged up the phone, picking up the patient’s chart, planning an appropriate care plan for the patient in the ICU.

“20minutes he said?”

Yuqi nodded, eyes not leaving the chart.

“Hey Yuqi, look at me.” Lucas gently taking the patient’s chart away from her hands and left it on the table beside the patient’s bed.

Yuqi stared at him wide-eyed, head tilting to a side, questioning his actions silently.

Lucas looked down at her and gently smiled, pulling her into his arms.

“I missed you today.”

Yuqi blushed, further hiding her face in Lucas’s embrace. “Yah Xuxi, we are at work!”

“Let me stay like this a little longer. Didn’t Mark say we have 20minutes?” Both finding contentment in a simple embrace.

“You should come up with me to the ICU. I will need you to handover to me.”

“Say it Dr. Song.” Lucas smirked.

“What?”

“Say that you want me to come up with you because you want me to accompany you a little longer.”

-

Thank goodness Lucas went with Yuqi.

En route to the ICU, the patient’s blood pressure started dropping.

“Wait.”

Yuqi lifted up the patient’s blanket and observed a patch of steadily growing pool of blood by the patient’s abdomen. She got on the bed and applied pressure on the patient’s abdomen in an attempt to control the bleeding en route to the ICU.

“Alright, let’s move this patient fast everyone. We can control the bleeding better in the ICU.” Lucas ordered as the nurses assisting with the transfer begin to speed up.

Lucas came up to Yuqi and placed a reassuring hand on the small of Yuqi‘s back to support her. “You’re doing great, baby,” words soothing in the chaotic situation.

Before long, the patient reached the ICU and Yuqi knew that she was in a mess. Blood stains over her scrubs, and on the patient’s bed. She smiled in relief when she saw Mark.

Mark is one of the most competent nurse she had worked with and together, they had cared for patients from the brink of death to the road of recovery. He is a comfortable presence in this otherwise pressurised environment.

“Hey Mark! What’s up man.” Lucas greeted, glad to see one of his closest friend in the hospital.

The patient’s arrival set everyone into a flurry of events. Taeyong and Ten started hooking the patient up onto the monitors to monitor the patient’s vital signs, Mark and Kun started documenting the patient’s details and condition onto the patient’s charts. Every action perfectly timed in synchronised harmony, a symphony an orchestra performs together.

“Woah. What do we have here?” Yuta asked as he entered the room with Jaemin after donning on their appropriate equipment.

“16 years old male with an abdominal laceration, bleeding controlled with pressure applied.” Lucas handed over to the fellow doctors in the ICU.

“Says here on the chart his name is Renjun.”

“Alright Renjun, we will take good care of you. Trust us.” Jaemin assured him.

“Alright baby, let’s get you off him. Let’s standby lots of gauze packets and some pressure bandage as well.” Lucas delegated.

Yuqi smiled gratefully. Her arms were getting tired and the feeling of dry blood on her scrubs were uncomfortable.

“Alright everyone, on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.” Yuqi slid off the patient’s bed and Mark and Taeyong immediately took over compressing the wound with gauzes and pressure bandage, in the hopes of controlling the bleeding.

Lucas supported Yuqi as she slowly regains sensations in both her arms and legs, careful not to stain his scrubs with blood. Heaven knows how difficult is it to get rid of blood stains from their scrubs.

“As comfortable and endearing the both of you look, don’t you have somewhere to be, Dr. Wong?” Ten teases the Emergency Department doctor.

Lucas gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I will leave Yuqi to your care then.”

“Don’t worry Dr. Wong, we will take care of your girlfriend AND the patient.” Winwin rolled his eyes and chased Lucas out of the room.

“All the best,” Lucas whispered as he gently pecked Yuqi on the forehead before heading towards the lift to head back to the Emergency Department.

Yuqi nodded, “See you later, now go take care of your other patients!”

Lucas sighed as he waited for the lift. Being in a relationship with an Intensive Care Unit doctor is tough. The unexpected phone calls in the middle of the night for an urgent review and the critically ill patients often pulled Yuqi away from him.

He walked towards the changing rooms in the Emergency Department and opened his locker. A candid picture of Yuqi focusing on a chart at the patient’s bedside greeted him. He unconsciously smiled.

This was what they chose.

During their last year of residency, Yuqi decided to pursue a career in the Intensive Care Unit, citing her sense of satisfaction in seeing patients recovering from a critical illness while Lucas decided to purse in the Emergency Department, where he prefers to interact with people from all walks of life daily.

Grabbing a chocolate bar, he willed himself to clear his mind before continuing to review other admissions. Only a few more hours to ending work.

-

Yuqi walked unsteadily towards the changing room in the Intensive Care Unit. Renjun, their new admission, has stabilised and was planned for an operation to control the bleeding internally later. Though, that was a job for her colleague later and her job here has been done.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror, the weary eyes, the unkempt hair and stained scrubs. Oh, how she wished that she could discard this pair of scrubs, although thinking about the piling laundry she has to complete, she started scrubbing the stains off her scrubs.

When the stains were fairly removed, she changed out of her scrubs into her comfortable home clothes, awaiting for Lucas to pick her up in the Intensive Care Unit.

-

Lucas walked up to a drowsy Yuqi, sitting on the sofa in the Intensive Care Unit changing room.

“Baby.”

Yuqi looked up at the deep voice, eyes sparkling, all traces of fatigue seemed to disappear.

Slowly, Yuqi started tearing, the weight of the events today crashing down on her. The overwhelming situation, all focus was on saving Renjun, so much so that she had forgotten about herself.

Lucas pulled her into an embrace, his heart broke. “Hush. He’s fine now, you did great.”

“Today has been hard on you but you had an amazing team by your side and Renjun is stable now under good care. I am here for you no matter what alright?”

-

The next day, the cycle of admission, transferring and discharging patients happens again all over.

Yuqi walked towards Renjun’s bed, reviewing his chart overnight.

“He’s stable, Dr. Song, the operation was uneventful and he’s probably going to wake up soon.” Mark mentioned, as he approached Renjun to administer his medications.

After leaving Renjun’s bed, Yuqi headed to the reception, sipping on yet another cup of coffee.

“Go home Yuqi-ah. We got it covered. Isn’t today your 3rd year anniversary?” Taeyong reminded.

Yuqi gasped. She has completely forgotten about their anniversary and Lucas was kind enough to not remind her about it. She had found it weird when Lucas told her he requested a day off today while she was preparing to come to work.

I am such a terrible girlfriend, Yuqi thought to herself.

She opened the door to their apartment but to her dismay, Lucas wasn’t at home. She changed into his favourite jersey, removed her jeans and slid into bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

-

“Yuqi-ah.”

Yuqi was gently stirred awake. She rubbed her eyes to see Lucas sitting by their bed, a fond smile on his face.

“Hmmm?”

“I prepared a meal for you, come outside.”

“No.” Yuqi refused quietly, as she snuck her arms around Lucas’s waist and pulled him down to lie beside her. Lucas chuckled, what a cute sight. He returned the hug, grip reassuring and firm around Yuqi’s tiny waist.

“5 minutes and you have to get up.” Lucas nuzzled Yuqi’s neck.

“Nooooooo.”

“I prepared a meal for you and this is how you repay me back?”

“Precisely, because it was you who prepared the meal, I am scared now.”

Lucas bit Yuqi’s cheek playfully, “How dare you?” before leaning down and whispered in her ear, “My jersey looks good on you.”

He pecked her forehead lightly and Yuqi turned to kiss him properly as she straddled him, “I am sorry for forgetting about our anniversary.”

“It’s fine, I knew you were worried about your patients.”

  That’s what I love about you.

Lucas was warm so she snuggled back into his embrace, a warmth that is an alluring sense of comfort, that keeps her safe and grounded.

This is home. Nothing else mattered if Lucas was with her, bracing the storms of life together.