i will be your victory -- [1/1]
Her Champion
He arrived on August 12, 2003 at 8:45pm on a stretcher.
Blood was pouring out of his body and he was unconscious. Chaerin couldn't even see his injuries with the amount of blood that covered his body. She looked up at another nurse with wide eyes and the two of them wiped off the excess blood. Chaerin leaned down and into the soldier's ear, she whispered, "You'll be alright, sir. We're going to take good care of you. I promise."
"Page Dr. Kim!" Chaerin yelled to Nurse Lee. Other nurses were scrambling with more injured soliders. The hospital was a hell hole, filled with brave men fighting for not only their country, but their lives.
Chaerin's soldier stirred when Dr. Kim arrived. She leaned down again and said, "Sir, you're going to be alright. We're taking you to surgery right now." She looked up at Dr. Kim and nodded her head. They started moving the bed and Chaerin watched as they took the soldier away so they could save his life.
On August 13 at 7:23am, Chaerin went to check up on the soldier. His surgery was a success, but he was probably going to be in a world of hurt when he'd wake. She picked up his chart and checked on his vitals, making sure everything was okay. She looked down at his face. He was bruised head to toe and his head was wrapped in a gauze. He looked so peaceful that she could hardly believe all that he had been through.
Suddenly, his eyes opened and she was met with piercing chocolate eyes that startled her, causing her to gasp and take a step back.
He coughed but had a hint of a smile on his face. Chaerin handed him a cup of water, which he drank deeply from, and he coughed again. He looked up at her, still smiling.
"Lieutenant Bang," Chaerin said.
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded his head. "You're," he coughed, "you're the nurse with the beautiful voice. I, uh, I heard your voice yesterday and it was the most beautiful," he coughed again, "sound I had ever heard."
"Chaerin," she replied, chuckling.
"Nurse Chaerin," he repeated, softly.
"Lieutenant Bang–" Chaerin started, setting his chart down, but he cut her off and said, "Please, call me," he coughed, "Yongguk." Chaerin nodded her head and continued, "Yongguk, you sustained severe injuries from the bomb blast. Though your surgery was successful, we're going to continue monitoring your vitals for a few days. Dr. Kim will be by shortly to talk to you more about your surgery."
"Will you be there?" Yongguk asked, hopeful.
Chaerin shook her head, a small smile present on her face. "I have other patients, Yongguk."
"Well, that's certainly a shame," he said, quietly. Chaerin smiled at him and turned away from him. When she looked back at him, he was still smiling at her.
At the end of the night, Chaerin walked past his room with her coat and her purse in her hands. He was staring out the window. She stepped inside and lightly knocked on the door.
"Miss Chaerin," he said, surprised. "Please, come in."
"I just wanted to see how you were," she said, standing beside his bed.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Dr. Kim came by and told me that it's a miracle that I'm alive, because that bomb killed everyone in my unit. This is why you can never become close to anyone out here..." he nodded, looking down at his lap.
Chaerin felt sad for him. She instinctively took his hand in hers and said, "I'm so sorry."
"That's war for ya," he said. Then, he coughed. Yongguk suddenly changed the subject by pointing to the book peeking out of her purse. "What're you reading?"
"A Farewell to Arms," she chuckled.
Yongguk raised an eyebrow. "I never heard of it."
Chaerin gasped, dramatically. "Why, it's a classic!"
A smile grew on Yongguk's face and Chaerin, feeling the need to be there for him, sat down in the chair beside his bed and pulled out the book. She opened to the first page and started reading to him, which he let her do, happily, until his medication kicked in and he was fast asleep in his bed.
In the next few days, Chaerin and Lt. Bang Yongguk became very close friends. She visited him everyday, even though he transfered to a different wing and wasn't her patient anymore. They talked about everything. How she was from Seoul, why she became a nurse. He told her a lot about his family, especially his little brother, Junhong.
"Junhongie and I always used to play basketball together. I'm more of a football kinda guy, but the kid has some real ambitions and the height to back it up. He was going to try out for the Bulls when we finished our tour duty..." Yongguk trailed off. She reached for his hand, out of instinct. His brother died in the bomb blast.
"You're from Chicago?" Chaerin asked, changing the subject and leaning back in her chair.
Yongguk nodded his head. "Born and raised."
"I've never been to Chicago. You'll have to show me sometime."
Yongguk smiled. "You bet I will."
Every night, Chaerin would read him a chapter out of A Farewell to Arms until he fell asleep. He loved that book. He made sure she read it to him every night, even after they'd finished it two, three, four times. She thought it was because he was interested in the story, but it was also because he loved hearing the sound of her voice.
"He sure likes you," Nurse Park said after she saw Chaerin leave his room, a smirk present on her face.
Chaerin rolled her eyes. "Everyone is in need of a good friend, Bommie. His entire unit died. His brother died. He needs someone right now."
"Well, I ain't judgin' you, Chae! It's good that you're doing this for him."
Chaerin smiled. "Thank you."
The next morning, even Yongguk questioned her interest in him. She was looking through his chart (despite not being his nurse anymore) when he said, "Why do you care about me so much, Chaerin?"
She looked at him and chuckled. "Well, I don't know! You have some sort of spell on me!"
Yongguk rolled his eyes and coughed loudly. Chaerin noticed his injuries were healing, especially the cuts and bruises. His eyes were still sunken and he did have trouble breathing, but Dr. Kim said it was progress, and after what he had been through, he was doing just fine.
"I'm only kidding," Chaerin laughed. "I don't know, Yongguk. You're someone I'd love to be close with in different circumstances. I just don't want you to be alone when you need someone the most. I'm strangely drawn to you."
"My spell is working!" Yongguk exclaimed. He laughed for a second before it turned into a hacking cough. Chaerin handed him a cup of water and instantly held his hand. He smiled at her and placed his other hand over hers.
On August 16th at 11:47am, Chaerin, after having checked on all her patients, went to go visit Yongguk in his room. She stopped immediately when she noticed his bed was gone and so was he. She spun around and asked, "Bom, where's Yongguk?"
Bom sighed and said, sadly, "He went into cardiac arrest this morning. Dr. Kim is operating on him right now."
Five hours, she waited. She did her work, she tended to her patients, and she even went out to lunch with her friends, but it was eating away at her mind because she didn't know how Yongguk was doing. How could he have gone into cardiac arrest when he was just fine last night?
Yongguk was released from surgery at 5:54pm. Chaerin leaned against the doorframe as Dr. Kim waited for him to wake up. When Yongguk stirred awake, his eyes immediately found hers and his lips widened into a smile.
"How am I doin', Chaerinnie?" he asked, his voice just barely a whisper. He coughed and Dr. Kim handed him a cup of water. Chaerin broke her eye contact and looked away. He looked even worse than before.
"Lieutenant," Dr. Kim cut in, "you went into cardiac arrest this morning and we took you into surgery almost immediately. When we opened you up, it was worse than we had imagined. You had a large tear in your aorta, which we successfully fixed. Your lung collapsed in the middle of surgery, but Dr. Yoo stepped in. It was long and brutal on your body, but your surgery was a success."
"That's good!" Yongguk exclaimed, looking between Dr. Kim and Chaerin. "Right?" he added, questioning.
"Lieutenant Bang, your heart is deteriorating. That machine that's connected to you right there," he pointed and Yongguk looked, noticing it for the first time, "it's what's keeping you alive. We can send you home and put your name on a donor list, but from what I saw today, you need one very fast," Dr. Kim continued. Chaerin watched as Yongguk processed the information.
He was dying.
"Oh," was all he could say.
"The decision is entirely up to you," Dr. Kim said. "I'll come back later today and we can discuss some more." He turned around, nodded to Chaerin, and left. Chaerin stayed frozen in her spot. He was just a boy she had met. She saw death every single day. Why was this one affecting her like this?
"I'll leave you to your thoughts," Chaerin said, running away before Yongguk could say anything.
Chaerin did what she normally did for the rest of the day. She went on with her day, except for that little part of her that was holding her back. At the end of her shift, she stared at A Farewell to Arms and it wasn't until Bom shook her out of her thoughts that she decided she had to go see him.
He was laying in his bed and staring out the window when she knocked on his door. He sat up straighter and said, "Come in." She sat down in the chair next to him and neither of them said anything. Yongguk coughed again and the machine next to him kept beeping. There were too many machines.
That was all she could hear until Yongguk finally said, "I'm not going to do the transplant."
It was like she was hit with a bomb. For some reason, her heart hurt and tears were falling off her face, but she couldn't say anything. Yongguk took her hand.
"I've done all I could have with my life. I'm ready to be reunited with my unit," he nodded his head. "I know that you and I have only known each other for a few days, but I just want you to know that you mean so much to me, Chaerin," he coughed and looked at her. "I thought about you and how I could stay alive just for you, but that would be so unfair to you. We could've had so much together. I wanted to be the person you'd marry and live with forever. We could've grown old together, Miss Chaerin," he smiled, sadly.
Chaerin shook her head, wiping the tears away with her free hand. "No, Yongguk, you're perfect."
Yongguk chuckled. "Would you have loved me some day?"
She nodded her head. "I really would have."
"You're the best friend a person could ever ask for," he let go of her hand and laid against the pillows. "Junhonggie would've loved you, too."
Chaerin cried harder. Yongguk wiped her tears away with his hand and invited her to lay next to him. She rested her head against his chest, letting it all go. All that she didn't know she even had over a single person was bottled up inside her.
"You and your stupid spell," she grumbled. Yongguk laughed and rested his chin on top of her head, closing his eyes.
"Goodbye, Miss Chaerin," he whispered.
"Goodbye, Lieutenant Bang," she whispered back. And just before everything changed forever, she added, "I'll see you in another life."
And that she never lost hope for.
Lieutenant Bang ;D Sounds y, right? Hehe..
Just a few notes to add~ I made Yongguk from Chicago because 1.) he's always wearing Chicago Bulls stuff and 2.) I wanted this to kind of be similar to A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, and in Hemingway's book, Frederic is an American fighting in the Italian army, so I made Yongguk an American-Korean fighting in the South Korean army.
Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this pairing as much as I did c: I might be writing more of these two~ it was a nice change.
Don't forget to comment & let me know what you think :3
[HER CHAMPION] i'm in a mood to write about war. working on the plans for another right now c: it'll possibly be banglo this time, though~
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