Warning: There is a racial slur in this chapter.  I do not condone this behavior - in fact I am critizing it in the story - but for authenticity, I have included the slur.  I apologize for any offended feelings in advance.

Chapter 23

Onew suddenly had more respect for all of the foreigners who came to Korea without speaking any Korean.  When they got sick, they still went to the hospital and saw doctors and took medicine without knowing the language.  Honestly, it was terrifying.  The doctor they saw, the same Dr. Anders that Lex had been seeing since she was sixteen, spoke incredibly fast.  Onew could understand some general English, but at a normal speed, or better yet a slower speed, but he was lost after the first couple of words with every sentence that this man said. 

It was enough to make his head spin…even more than it already was. 

The show had wanted to film the doctor’s visit, but Lex had firmly put her foot down.  She only finally got them to quit badgering when she pointed out that the doctor probably wouldn’t approve anyway, and there physically wouldn’t be enough room in the examination room for the doctor, Onew, her and a cameraman.  And Onew was definitely glad that she was there, at least she could understand what the hell was being said all around them and could translate it for him. 

In fact that had caused some trouble earlier.  While they had sat in the clinic’s waiting room, Onew huddled into himself and shivering with chills as his body endured the fever, Lex had put her arm around him and pulled him closer, apparently not caring that he was sick, in an attempt to warm him up.  It had helped, and so had the blush that had overtaken his face at her action.  He had never been so grateful to be sick in his life, he could blame any color in his face on the fever. 

But some other man in the waiting room had not been feeling the same elation as Onew.  And he had made it known.  With a glare and a sneer the man across the aisle from them had heaved his heavy frame from his seat and stormed, or waddled, his way over to the other side of the waiting room along with his wife.

When he had risen, Lex’s arm had tightened around Onew, and her entire body had tensed up, which Onew could feel since she had him tucked in against her.  Her eyes had tracked him across the room.

Once he had taken his seat again, Onew could still hear the comment that he not-so-quietly made, “God-dammed gook!” to his wife. 

A hush took the waiting room and Lex was practically vibrating from the tension in her frame.  But a young nurse, a woman in her late twenties, had stood up from behind the check-in desk and walked over to the man. “Sir!  That kind of language is not appreciated and I’m going to have to ask you to leave!  This young man is sick and is here to seek medical attention, the same as you.  What does his race have to do with anything?!” 

The man’s wife looked stricken, though more so at the fact that it was becoming a scene than at what her husband had said to start the scene. 

The man was purple in the face, his own anger building.

A cough tore through Onew and the man’s glare turned to him once again.  He took a step towards Onew and Lex, causing the girl to begin to stand, stepping one foot in front of Onew, who she kept in his seat with one hand pushing against his shoulder.  Her eyes were locked on the angry man and her face was blank.

His face turned a deep puce and he spit as he talked, “Fine, side with the mud bather and her path of miscegenation.”

“And what business is this of yours?” A doctor had stepped into the waiting room and glared at the man with a condescending eye. 

The man had sputtered, and instead stormed from the place, his wife scurrying after.

The small waiting room burst into a smattering of applause.

The doctor turned and faced Lex and Onew, “Mr. Jinki Lee, I can see you now.” 

*****

Dr. Anders was an older man, easily in his later fifties, with a thick tuft of white hair atop his head.  He wore the traditional white coat, a stethoscope thrown around his neck.  Underneath the open robe, he wore a pair of time-worn grey slacks and a light blue cotton shirt. 

He quickly got a measurement of Onew’s weight and height before moving Lex and Onew into a room. 

“A nurse will be in, in a moment to get a medical history, I’ll be right back.”

The man stepped out and Onew sat, legs swinging slightly, at the end of the observation table.

“What was all of that about?”  Onew asked quietly. 

Lex sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.  “For all everyone says that we’re free in America – well, it also means you’re free to be a complete and utter .”

Lex didn’t swear often, so he knew she was really shook up to hear her do so. 

“What does ‘gook’ mean?”  Onew coughed lightly, turning his head away from Lex. 

She sighed again, “It’s a derogatory term – something really mean to say about an Asian person.”  Lex couldn’t meet his eyes and was staring hard at a faded flu shot chart on the wall.  Onew felt his insides grow cold in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with his illness.  He couldn’t ever recall a time in his life when he had been judged by his race.  Everyone in Korea was the same, they all looked the same in general, so no one really needed to judge anyone else based on race – well, at least not until foreigners like Lex started to arrive in ernest and decided to stay.  It had made the Korean people have to re-evaluate how they looked at people and they were still really young in the multi-cultural scheme of things, and they weren’t very good at it yet.  But being judged merely because of his skin…Onew shivered, it didn’t feel good. 

“I’m sorry he called you that name.” He said quietly. 

Lex looked confused for a moment. 

Onew sniffed and continued, “He called you a mud…yeah…” Onew couldn’t bring himself to say anything that he thought was hurtful.  “And then there was something…mis-cen…” Onew couldn’t remember the word.  He had barely followed the conversation with how addled his mind was with fever, but that word was beyond him.

“Miscegenation.”  Lex corrected, finally meeting Onew’s eyes.  “It means a relationship between people of different races.”  She paused for a moment, “Some people think that people of different races shouldn’t mingle together…anyway it doesn’t matter.  Like I said, he was an .”

Onew would have continued but the nurse walked in just then and Lex had to translate questions about medical history between the nurse and Onew. 

And then the doctor was back.  He apologized once more for what happened in the waiting room but proceeded with the examination almost immediately. 

After a few exams, Dr. Anders sat down on a little stool.  “You told the nurse that you’ve had a cold recently.”  He began, looking down at the notes he and the nurse had jotted.  Onew nodded as Lex translated.  “Well, it looks like your cold had turned into a pretty bad sinus infection.  That explains the fever, the headaches and general pain, even the bouts of unconsciousness.”

Lex nodded slowly, carefully translating for Onew.  “I didn’t know sinus infections could make you pass out?”  She asked, having had sinus infections before but not ever having been made dizzy or passing out from one.

“More severe ones can.  They cause unusual pressure to build up in your head.  I’ve had patients before who have had seizures and even temporarily lost their vision because of sinus infections.”  The doctor explained. 

He made sure that Onew understood the diagnosis before moving on. 

“I’m going to prescribe you a more powerful decongestant than the one that you’ve been using, and an anti-inflammatory to help keep the airways open.  Basically you’re going to be draining for a while, and that isn’t going to help your sore throat, I would drink honey tea and eat a lot of soups, but you should get well faster if you have lots of rest.”

He handed over a couple of slips to Onew who tried to read them but with a cursory glance he didn’t think that he would even be able to figure out what they said if he had been using English his entire life, let alone as someone who had learned it in school. 

“Lex here tells me you’re a singer.  Well, I wouldn’t be doing too much singing right now.”  He turned a genial smile on Onew, “I can write it as a doctor’s order if you want, but you need to take it easy for a while.  I know you have a long flight in your near future – you should be good to fly, but if the pressure is still an issue it may increase on the flight giving you a killer headache.  Bring some painkillers on the flight with you – and maybe sleeping pills – just sleep through the flight and you can hopefully ignore it until you return to Korea.”

He stood up and held out his hand to Onew.

The singer jumped down from the table and grabbed the man’s hand. 

“Take care of yourself,” and then he jerked his head in Lex’s direction behind them, “and her too, she tends to help others and forget about herself.”

Lex’s snorted, “He’s the same way…” she mumbled unfolding Onew’s jacket and handing it back to him to put on before they braved the November cold again.

“Well good,” the doctor laughed, “so you look out for him and he looks out for you and it should all work out in the end.”