He drives over speed to the hospital. This time it is really important. He is scared and worried too much. He knows that this time everything is no joke. He is very sure that this is some sort of punishment from God because he knows he is such an ignorant all the time. Or maybe not?
But, what matter the most right now is his sister. He knows this is a reminder from God because he has not been taking care of his sister very well, and God is showing a way for him to do so. He cancels all of his meeting and appointment in the very last minute immediately after he got a call from somebody unknown to him telling him that her sister involved in an accident. He is worried to death, and he is praying hard for her sister, hoping that she will survive.
He already feels sick about this matter, and then he is also told that Minho was involved in the same accident. He swears that this is the least thing he expects to happen in his life, but he has to accept anything that may happen after this. For what he is been told, both of them are still alive. But, he doesn’t know and he is really curious about something else, that he is really afraid to know the answer. Will they survive on his way to the hospital?
Once he reached the hospital, he quickly finds a space to park his car. He needs one for sure, as soon as possible. He just wants to be there in a second, to know the condition of both of them. He blames himself for what had happened to them although it is obvious that he has no business in the accident. His pure heart keeps blaming himself. He rushes to the counter to ask about his sister and Minho.
“Excuse me, missy. May I know where a patient named Emma Lee is? Errr...she is just brought here into the emergency unit,” he explains as briefly as he can, hoping that the nurse will be fast. He cannot wait anymore; this thing is driving him crazy.
“Please, wait for a while, sir. I need to contact the emergency unit,” the nurse says as she picks up the phone. She dials and then she speaks.
“Sir, she is still in the emergency room. You can wait outside the room,” the nurse says politely. Her face shows some sympathy and Onew knows that she has shown that face to many people before him. Hospital is such a solemn place, and that drives him sick. He feels uncomfortable. His stomach is churning, and he feels like fainting anytime; he is too shocked.
He reaches the emergency room, and he is waiting outside the room. While waiting, he thinks about many things. Not only his beloved sister, but also a person that is also important to him, Minho. He feels scared, if he needs to lose them. He loves his sister of course and he loves Minho as much as his own brother. He treats him like a brother already, and losing him will only create a big hole in his heart. He doesn’t want to lose both. He wants both to be alive.
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She looks at her. She is fine. Just a few cuts and scratches. Not really much. She is already treated. Her bleeding is already stopped and she is already bandaged. She feels sympathy for her, for being involved in an accident, a terrible accident in fact. But, she is okay after all. Not much to worry. However, she must feel terrible after she wakes up.
This is because Jessica is thinking about the person lying beside her. She manages to stop his bleeding too. However, he suffers a lot of internal injuries. He has internal bleeding in his brain. That is dangerous but still manageable. Suppose she can do the surgery immediately on him, but for a solid reason, she cannot do that. The reason is because she is not sure about her capability to even start the surgery.
Just by looking at him, she knows that his head and his neck are not attached anymore. Not that they are torn apart, but the bones are already detached. The axis and atlas, the bones that supposed to be attached to the skull, but somehow they are out of the real place.
He is in a real danger. Based on her experiences as a doctor, Jessica knows exactly that he is in a real danger. He is at the edge of death. His spinal cord is stretched, and only by very little movement, he can die instantly. That is the most fearful facts. She needs an expertise in this, to help her to save him. She knows that he is very important to the unconscious girl that is lying beside him. Yet, she knows that the only one that can save the critical patient right now is the one and only best neurologist surgeon she ever met, her own friend.
“Dr. Jessica, what is your decision?” her surgery team is waiting for her answer.
“Surgery done. The girl is going to be moved to the ward but the guy will remain here. We are done for now. But, we need our neuro expert as soon as possible to perform another two surgeries on this guy. The first one is to fix back his skull and backbones. The second one is to remove the blood clotting inside his brain,” Jessica is giving instruction to her team. All of them nod, signalling that they understand her words.
“Are you going to get him, our neuro expert?” asks her assistant. She looks at him and nods. She gives sign, telling them that she wants to leave. She walks out from the emergency room and throws away the gloves. She needs to make a call, between life and death, and she needs him to deal with it. She relies fully on him, the neuro expert.
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Onew stands up immediately after the light off. He waits for a doctor to come out, to tell him her condition. He waits and finally a young lady walks out from the emergency room. She looks a bit shocked, as though she is not expecting anyone to wait here. Onew sure she is the surgeon in charge by looking at the way she moves, it is very professional. He needs to speak to her.
“Doctor, how is my sister?” Onew asks him. She looks a bit relieve. She sighs and then she smiles.
“Your sister, Emma Lee?” Jessica asks sweetly. Onew can see that she is a very young doctor, and Onew wonder when did she finish her education, as far as he concern, it takes a very long time to become a doctor.
“Yes,” he nods. She keeps smiling.
“She is okay. She got a few cuts and scratches. Just that her heartbeat is a bit slower than usual, as the effect of shock takes place. But overall, she is stable and in a good condition,” Jessica says. Onew sighs in relieve. Her sister is safe. How about Minho?
“I know that there is one more guy. How is he? How is Minho?” Onew asks like a madman because he ought to know Minho’s condition right now. He has a bad instinct about Minho.
Jessica knows him, she knows Minho. The one who is in a very critical condition. She wonders if Onew has any relationship with him, but obviously, Minho is someone special to his sister. Jessica tries to find the most suitable words to explain Minho’s condition. She has done this before, briefing the worst condition in the best way to the patient’s relatives. But somehow, she is not confident to do it right now.
Minho’s case is different from others, and this is the first ever in this hospital or exact to say is the first ever since the first time her became a doctor. She sighs and tries her best to decorate her face with her best smile.
“Mr...” she asks for his name.
“Onew, Lee Onew,” answers Onew. He already cannot wait to know Minho’s condition.
“Let’s talk in my room,” Jessica says. Onew hesitates for a while, because he really wants to visit his sister. But, Minho is also like a brother to him and there must be something really important that they need to talk confidentially. He nods after moment thinking.
“I’m sorry. May I know your name?” Onew feels wrong for not knowing the name of the person that has saved her sister’s life.
“Jessica Jung,” she answers shortly while maintaining the smile on her face.
“Dr. Jessica then?” Onew says in a questioning tone, not really sure what to call her. Then, she nods, telling him that people usually call her with that name.
“Let’s go to my room. We can discuss further,” she says with a very sweet voice, somehow calming him down from his anxiety.
She leads the way, and Onew follows her from the back. Onew can feel that his heart is beating strongly inside his left chest, which indicates how terrified he is. He cannot hide it. He continues walking. They arrived in front of a room with Dr. Jessica’s name on the door, together with her position, Head Assistant of ER. She opens the door and invites him in.
Onew sits opposite of her, facing the young doctor. He strengthens his mind, ready for whatever she wants him to know. For a moment, they look at each other. Only their eyes speak. From that, Onew predicts Minho’s condition. Is he dead? His whole body shakes violently to that thought and he tries to think something better than that, although nothing is better for him this time.
“Mr. Onew...” she begins.
“Yes,” Onew says.
“He’s alive...” she says it, as though she is able to read his bad thought about what is happening to Minho. Onew sighs in relieve.
“How’s he then?” Onew is still curious. Jessica sighs again, for only God knows how many times already.
“He is critical and not yet stable. He has internal bleeding in his brain,” Jessica says as best as she can do, because she afraid Onew will worry too much. But, he is obviously shocked, and yet no words coming out from his mouth. Jessica quickly controls the situation, after seeing his face turns pale. She pours a glass of water for him.
“Have a drink,” she says, placing the glass in front of him.
“Then, how can you save Minho?” ignoring the water in front of him, he shoots her with more question.
“Surgery, of course,” Jessica answers him.
“You’ve done it, haven’t you?” asks Onew impatiently.
“I hope so. But, unfortunately not. Mr. Onew, he injures more than you have imagine. I cannot do any surgery on him unless this one thing is solved. And we need an expert,” Jessica explains, hoping that Onew won’t faint, because he looks like he will anytime.
“What makes you unable to operate on him?” asks Onew again.
“His skull is detached from his neck bone. And...his spinal cord is stretched...and...as we know...that organ is fragile,” Jessica says and she doesn’t want to explain the effect of it if it is damaged, because the answer is only death.
“Tell me...tell me his chance of living,” Onew says.
“I’m sorry, Mr Onew. I’m afraid I cannot give you the answer. I’m not an expert in this, thus, I won’t be able to analyse him that well. As I told you, I need an expert to hold Minho as patient and I am trying to contact him,” Jessica explains again. Onew is scared, so scared to death.
“Will that take long?” Onew asks.
“No, I assure you. The expert I’m talking about is really professional. He will be able to attend Minho as soon as possible. And, he will analyse him and do the surgery. He is a specialist neurologist surgeon, and believe me, there’s never been any case of death under him,” Jessica is trying her best to convince him, although she is not that confident herself. The expert is a real expert, but still, Minho’s case is the only one over one million cases in this world. It is rare, and she can tell that his chance of living is really thin, as thin as a cell.
Onew feels incredibly useless, for having nothing to do to help Minho in this situation. The only thing he can do is only praying, prays that Minho will endure everything and be strong. He holds his head with his hand, almost pulling all of his hair off. His brown hair is no longer neat, but he looks totally like a madman. His hair in a mess and his face shows sense of grieve and losing hope.
Jessica feels bad. She doesn’t know how to react. She faces this almost every day, seeing people crying on the patient, but this is the first time she feels sad. She can see how Onew wants him to be alive. Jessica also can see how Minho is needed by his sister.
Onew is thinking a lot. He is sure Emma will feel as bad as him, if she is sitting here with him, or maybe she will feel worse. Minho is only a few inches near death, and Onew will make sure he tries to bring Minho further than death. By how, he doesn’t yet know it. However, he will do the best, because he knows her sister will definitely go mad, if Minho is dead. Whoever the expert is, whoever the specialist is, he is totally depending on him, to save his dear brother.
Onew keeps praying and have faith on the doctors. And Jessica looks at him, trying to give him more strength, trying to keep him calm. Onew wants to leave the room, to give Dr. Jessica chance to call whoever the expert is. And, he really wants to see his sister.
“I’ll visit my sister,” he says. Jessica smiles and nods. Then, he is gone.
Jessica quickly takes his mobile phone out, and search for his number. She hears ringing, and she waits patiently for the person to answer her call. The line is finally connected.
“Hello,” a tired voice answers.
“Hello, Dr. Kim...” and she continues dealing with him, to save this patient, whose life is really precious to somebody else.
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