Joohyun was walking on the bridge leading to the Chief’s office while yawning. It had been an exhausting night shift and she still had to wait for the results of a CT to be able to go home. She needed to talk with the chief about the monthly surgeries and the results and overall a general evaluation of the interns on her service.

‘’Where you going?’’ She heard Seungwan ask and stopped in her steps to greet her.

‘’The chief’s, monthly appointment.’’

‘’Seulgi’s inside right now.’’

‘’Neuros appointments are on the 15^th, not the 26^th.’’ Joohyun frowned. They both moved out of the middle to lean against the rail, Joohyun frowning towards the direction of the Chief’s office.

‘’The chief wants her to teach microsurgery to the interns.’’ Seungwan sighed looking at the sunrise. She had just arrived into the hospital having some time left before her shift.

‘’Seulgi won’t accept.’’

‘’I don’t know if she will have a choice now.’’ Seungwan admitted. There was a moment of silence, before Seungwan spoke again. ‘’I feel like since she broke up with Jinyoung she doesn’t get any better. Even with her speech therapy.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’ Joohyun frowned, straightening up her back instead of leaning on the railing now.

‘’I wish Seulgi could find someone, you know.’’ A sigh. ‘’Someone who’s going to understand that she will probably never get better and that there will be days she won’t be able to utter a single word. And Jinyoung knew that and god she loved Seulgi. She just couldn’t take it.’’ She finished tapping her nails against the railing.

Joohyun looked down, her brows furrowed as she thought about what Seungwan said. Seulgi never talked with her about her past relationships as close as they were. They seemed to always avoid the subject, for some reasons it felt awkward to them. And now she wondered if it was worth for her to get involved with Seulgi. She did not want to break her heart later on.

‘’Honestly, it never bothered me. Not that I don’t care, it’s just never caused me problems to talk with her.’’ Joohyun said after a beat of silence putting her hands in her deep pockets.

‘’If I didn’t know better, I’d say you two were dating.’’ Seungwan chuckled. ‘’You guys just have that chemistry. You know like she has with Nurse Choi but with you it’s not only in the OR. But it’s gross of me to say it right? You probably see her as a siter.’’ Seungwan said and Joohyun felt her body grow hot. She did not dare to look at Seungwan and betray herself. To her what was gross was seeing her and Seulgi as sisters. Now, that was weird, considering for the past few weeks they have been making out every chance they get.

‘’You could say that.’’ Joohyun said while clearing . She did not want Seungwan to have any suspicions. She hasn’t even discussed her status with Seulgi. Whether it was just fooling around or something serious.

‘’You look kind of mad today though.’’ Seungwan then said looking at Joohyun who shrugged her shoulders.

‘’Had a threading appointment for my brows, it’s cancelled.’’

‘’They look fine, a week more won’t hurt.’’

‘’Oh, Seulgi’s coming.’’ Seungwan pointed with her chin towards Seulgi. Joohyun turned around and smiled when she saw Seulgi walking towards them.

‘’What did the chief want?’’ Seungwan asked, biting her lip seeing the chief walking out, something that did not go unnoticed by Joohyun. Seulgi shrugged her shoulders, looking through her phone scratching her chin.

‘’So, you will have to teach the interns?’’ Joohyun asked and chuckled seeing Seulgi pouting like a kid at the thought of teaching the interns. ‘’It’ll go well. I’ll come with you if you want,’’ she added and Seulgi softly smiled at that.

‘’The Chief tries to make the best decision. She works hard, you know.’’ Seungwan dragged on, smiling slightly when the chief came over to them.

‘’I’m going to need that summary, Bae. But you had a night shift, you can do that tomorrow. Why aren’t you home?’’ The Chief of surgery asked, looking at the three doctors, Seungwan now standing straight, Seulgi ignoring her. Which was not surprising of her, that’s what she did when she wanted to show someone she did not like their decision.

‘’I’m waiting for the CT of 1256. Tumor had lots of time to grow, I don’t want to delay treatment if needed.’’ Joohyun replied, taking a look at her pager.

‘’Well, see you later. Seungwan, I need a consult, and Kang, I won’t back down from my decision.’’ The Chief of surgery announced looking sternly at Seulgi who squinted her eyes back at her. Then the Chief left, not without patting Seungwan on the shoulder.

‘’You’re ing the chief?’’ Joohyun raised her eyebrows and Seulgi coughed next to her looking at Seungwan.

‘’She’s hot. Leave me alone.’’

‘’What do you see on the CT? Kim 2.’’ Joohyun asked her intern. Since there were lots of people with the surname Kim, she just gave them numbers.

‘’There’s a very large tumor pressing against the diaphragm.’’ The intern, Kim Yerim replied.

‘’Hell, we’re going to need neuro for that one.’’ Sooyoung chirped in.

‘’We?’’ Joohyun asked raising her brows at her sister. ‘’I didn’t say you could scrub in. Or that we’d cut.’’ She finished sitting down on the chair in front the screen.

‘’Should I page Dr. Kang, Dr.Bae?’’ Kim Yerim shyly asked, glancing a bit at Sooyoung. Joohyun kept silent, looking at the CT and playing with her pen. ‘’Yeah, page her. I need to go see the chief real quick.’’ She added before leaving the room.

‘’You think I’ll be able to scrub in for that one? It’s huge.’’ Yerim asked stepping closer to the screen, looking in awe at the tumor.

‘’Depends on my sister.’’ Sooyoung smiled.

‘’Your sister looks frigid, even more than Seulgi- I mean Dr. Kang.’’

‘’Are you acquainted with Seulgi?’’ Sooyoung frowned, stepping closer to Yerim to look at her better.

‘’We talked a few times. She saw me in the practice room.’’

‘’She talked to you? Like talked?’’ Sooyoung crossed her arms.

‘’I mean, no, I apologized for intern’s behavior. And she taught me a few things.’’

‘’Are you just trying to and befriend each one of your boss to get surgeries?’’ Sooyoung huffed, turning off the screen of the computer.

‘’What? No! What makes you-‘’

‘’ up to my sister if you want to scrub in so bad.’’ Sooyoung said and with that left the room.

‘’The right diaphragm is so high, you see how her tissue is completely displaced?’’ Joohyun circled with her pen around the area showing it to Seulgi.

‘’S-spinal c-canal.’’ Seulgi managed to whisper showing it to Joohyun. Joohyun managed to understand that Seulgi meant that if she did not start the surgery, the patient would end up paralyzed.

‘’She’ll die if I don’t take care of the diaphragm. Her lungs will collapse.’’ She said back. ‘’I need to start if we are doing this. But if we are doing this, it’s today. It’s already 10 in the morning.’’ She finished and Seulgi shook her head tapping for the spine once again.

‘’Seulgi she will die if I don’t start.’’

After a moment of silence, Seulgi sighed and nodded towards Joohyun giving her green light. She drew the tumor on a piece of paper trying to visualize the procedure under the intent gaze of Joohyun who was amazed by her drawing skills. Seulgi smiled seeing this and wrote a small note at the end of the drawing. Want to come over after this surgery?

‘’I’d love to. So do I book an OR? Scrubbing in at 12?’’ Joohyun asked and Seulgi nodded with a smile. Joohyun didn’t press for verbal answers today, she could see it was hard for her to speak. So, she relied on her body language to decode what Seulgi meant, after all she knew her long enough

Joohyun was operating on the tumor for three hours already, trying to navigate around to vessels to relieve the lungs of the patient and make way for her neuro, who was observing the surgery silently since the beginning. The gallery was full of interns watching the surgery and Sooyoung was assisting her.

‘’Another unit of blood, she’s losing too much.’’ Joohyun gritted through her teeth trying to see something.

‘’I think it’s good to flip her now.’’ Sooyoung suddenly said, making Joohyun and Seulgi look at her with raised eyebrows.

‘’You don’t think, you assist or you’re out of this OR.’’ Joohyun sternly said. She wanted to make it clear to everyone that she did not favor her sister, resulting in her treating her more harshly than others. Thus, why they did not enjoy having rounds together. ‘’Flip her over, Kang you can take over.’’ Joohyun mumbled after a bit making Seulgi chuckle behind her mask.

‘’Retraction,’’ Seulgi announced once she stepped in Joohyun’s position. She started shaking her head seeing how much blood there was. ‘’Suction,’’ she asked, Sooyoung following her orders. Joohyun could see that this bit would take a long time, but she didn’t want to leave the OR just yet. She loved seeing Seulgi doing her work, how she handled everything with ease. It was also where she could hear more of her voice, so, she wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity.

‘’It’s a race against the pumps of her heart.’’ Seulgi sighed and Joohyun bit her lip behind the mask.

‘’Dr Bae!’’ Suddenly, Yerim entered the OR startling everyone, who quickly got back to the surgery. Joohyun looked at her expectingly.

‘’The patient in 4567, um, I ha- had to-‘’

‘’Had to what?’’

‘’Do a sternotomy bedside.’’ Yerim announced and everyone turned to look at her with a look of horror.

‘’YOU WHAT?’’ Sooyoung almost yelled at her intern for being so irresponsible while Joohyun glared at both of them. Seulgi remained unbothered, going further with her surgery.

‘’There was blood clot. He was in PEA- I had to do it so quickly there was no time.’’ Yerim said a voice full of panic and Seulgi finally looked up from her patient to look at Joohyun and the intern.

‘’It’ll take me hours. Go.’’ She whispered and with this, Joohyun left the OR.

‘’These interns cannot behave.’’ Sooyoung cursed under her breath.

‘’They’re yours.’’ Seulgi answered Sooyoung with a knowing look.

‘’Messy, messy and messy. God, you need to work on your sutures.’’ Joohyun sighed behind her mask, trying to clean up Yerim’s work.

‘’I’m sorry Dr. Bae.’’

‘’He’s alive that’s what matters. Don’t be sorry for doing your job. Do it more cleanly next time. And page me.’’ Joohyun lectured her intern, sewing the patient back. ‘’Unless you were sorry for screwing around with my sister.’’ She nonchalantly added, making Yeri choke on her saliva.

‘’I-I’m n-not.’’

‘’She’ll be reminded of her role as a resident don’t worry. But be smart and end things now.’’ Joohyun sternly announced finishing her last suture and letting Yeri finish taking care of the patient.

Joohyun came back in the OR, and just as she stepped she witnessed a blood vessel popping, covering Seulgi entirely in blood.

‘’, , .’’ Sooyoung cursed repeatedly trying to suction the blood to clear visibility.

‘’What happened?’’ Joohyun asked stepping in to help. Seulgi was still as calm as ever, maneuvering through the blood.

‘’Clamp. I need clamping, not suction!’’ Seulgi exclaimed. ‘’More blood.’’

‘’What did you cut?!’’ Seulgi gritted through her teeth, addressing Sooyoung trying her best to contain the bleeding.

‘’I didn’t cut anything!’’

‘’Arteries walls were too thin, out the way, Park.’’ Joohyun stepped in to help.

‘’Pressure’s dropping.’’ Sooyoung announced and Seulgi cursed under her breath, still in her calm demeanor.

‘’We’re losing her, take this Park.’’ Seulgi suddenly announced giving her tools to Sooyung who tried to contain the bleeding while Seulgi squeezed the patient’s heart to perform CPR.

‘’Where’s the blood?!’’

‘’We are waiting.’’

‘’Press harder Kang,’’ Joohyun lifted her eyes to observe the CPR before going back to the tumor. She concentrated solely on this, knowing she couldn’t afford to think about anything else in these situations.

‘’Come on, come on, we can’t lose them.’’

‘’Flatline.’’ Sooyoung announced after a minute of Seulgi performing CPR. Seulgi looked up at the monitor and took off her glasses, putting her hands on her hips.

‘’Time of death, 15:42.’’ Seulgi announced, out of breath. She looked at Joohyun who finally looked up from the patient.

‘’I’m exhausted.’’ Seulgi whispered once she was behind the wheel of her car with Joohyun on the passenger side. She took in deep breaths trying to regain some energy. Her body was too tired to even think about hunger or anything. She looked to her right, seeing Joohyun who was equally as tired as her, dark bags underneath her eyes. She just wished they could both fall asleep right here and there. She reached out her hand over the stick to hold Joohyun’s.

‘’We don’t have work tonight. Or tomorrow. Or tonight.’’ Joohyun said with a yawn, squeezing Seulgi’s hand in hers. Seulgi nodded her head and leaned over to kiss Joohyun. She got lost in the comfort of the kiss and its lazy pace, feeling finally comforted after a long day of work. A feeling of happiness spreading through her body. Her anxious thoughts about not being able to speak, about someone getting angry at her for it disappearing. She knew Joohyun didn’t need that. That Joohyun had always understood her without words.

‘’I’ll drive. You’re too tired.’’ Joohyun said after a while and they exchanged seats, Joohyun driving them both to Seulgi’s apartment, Seulgi falling asleep during the ride.