"Yeonhwa…?"
Rohanne's eyes widened, did her aunt just recognize her?
"M-Mom… She's not Yeonhwa Unnie" Jin-Ae immediately butted in and distracted her mother.
Seju who was looking at Rohanne was also in shock, Yes, Rohanne really have the same facial features as Yeonhwa, but they're two different people. She knows, because she knows Yeonhwa more than anyone else.
"Yeonhwa!" Mrs. Ahn called again.
Rohanne wanted to hug her; it's the first time ever since the accident that her aunt recognized her. She wanted to assure her Aunt that she's okay, that she's fine, but… Seju was there.
"I-I'm sorry you must've mistaken me for someone" She said and smiled at her Aunt, but the latter was just looking at her intently.
"N-No… You're my niece! You're Yeonhwa!"
Rohanne gritted her teeth, restraining herself; if she doesn't get out of that room she might do something crazy.
"Mom. She's not Yeonhwa Unnie." Jin-Ae said to her mother and blocked her mom's vision of Rohanne and Seju.
Seju wanted to but in too, but Rohanne dragged her out of the room as soon as Mrs. Ahn was distracted by Jin-Ae
"We should give her a low dose of Tranquilizers when we get back" Rohanne said as she wrote it down on the chart that she was holding.
Seju just nodded and followed Rohanne to their next patient.
As soon as their rounds were finished Seju went out to the garden to breathe some fresh air, and the only place she knows that she can breathe and laze around is the garden since there are just a few people who comes and goes in there.
She shut her eyes closed and emptied her head, she tried to relax, but the memory of Yeonhwa's aunt calling Rohanne Yeonhwa keeps replaying in head like it was on a loop.
'She does resemble Yeonhwa… But…'
She recalled her memories of Yeonhwa and compared it to Rohanne's personality.
'There's no way right?'
She remembered the car in the cemetery, she saw the exact same car with Rohanne, but maybe, that was just a coincidence, there are still other people who have that kind of car, not just Rohanne. And she thought about it carefully, that maybe the person who left the flower and food on Seungjae's grave was a close friend of Yeonhwa, or Seungjae's parents.
She was in the middle of daydreaming when she felt her phone vibrate. It was a message from Soah.
From: Soah
Doc. We need you here in ER ASAP
She immediately stood up from her seat and ran to the ER
===
That Day Mrs. Ahn was discharged; Jin-Ae decided that they'd just get a private nurse for her mother. After her shift she decided to go home. Since Rohanne gave her a ride today and she left her car in her apartment, she decided to just take the bus.
'Sejeong probably left a meal for me…'
She was thinking of buying some Ramyeon on the way home and something to drink.
She was happily skipping towards the nearest convenience store when she saw Rohanne inside with Sejeong.
'What are they doing?'
She hid behind a car near the store and started to watch the two. Sejeong was carrying some snacks in her hands and Rohanne have some too, they were happily talking. Sejeong laughing at what Rohanne said and the latter being a blabbermouth.
'When did they get so close?'
Seju doesn't know why but she felt something heavy in her chest, seeing those two happily talking with each other, it makes her irritated. For some reason she doesn't like it.
She was so immersed in her own little world she didn't notice that the Sejeong and Rohanne was about to go out of the store. It was too late for her to move and if she did she would easily be spotted, but if she doesn't she would look like she was stalking the two, so she decided to just stay put where she is and hope that the two wouldn't notice her
"Seju!"
'Damn…'
"Oh hey!"
She casually stood up from her position as if she wasn't doing something suspicious.
"What are you doing there?" Rohanne asked
She looked back to where she was lurking earlier and looked back to the two
"Ah… uhm…"
To be honest she doesn't even know why she hid, she could've just joined the two in buying some stuff.
"I uhh… I dropped something, so I was trying to find it"
"Do you need some help?" Sejeong asked, she was about to place the things she bought down but Seju stopped her
"It's fine; I-It's not that important hehe…" She awkwardly smiled at the two, Sejeong and Rohanne just looked at her with confusion in their faces but they just shrugged it off.
"Okay…" Rohanne said
It became awkward; the three of them were just staring at each other waiting for someone to speak.
"Anyway, I'll get go—"
Seju and Rohanne heard a loud growl from Seju's stomach
"Wanna grab some dinner?" Sejeong offered
"N-no… I was about to go home" Seju declined, she was really just about to go home when she saw the two and decided to stalk them.
"You sure?" Rohanne asked
"Yeah…"
"Too bad, I was about to treat you guys" Sejeong said
"Wait what? You have money?" Rohanne asked while facing Sejeong.
She was the one who paid for all the food they've bought, because Sejeong told her that she doesn't have any money with her.
"Huh? Do I?"
Rohanne just groaned in frustration while Sejeong was just laughing at her. They were absorbed in their own little world. Seju can't help but feel out of place; she also felt like there was something heavy in her chest that she can't seem to get rid of.
"Ha-ha… anyway I'll get going" Seju said and excused herself.
The two just bid her goodbye and went back on their way to the hospital.
===
As soon as she was home, she immediately jumped on her bed and hugged her favorite Stuffed Toy.
She stared at the ceiling and recalled the scene earlier
'What the hell was that...?'
The Ramyeon she bought has been long forgotten, she was recalling the feeling she felt earlier when she saw Sejeong and Rohanne together at the convenience store. Her heart suddenly clenched just at the thought of Rohanne and Sejeong happily laughing together.
"Why am I being like this?"
She hugged her stuffed toy tighter and buried her face on her pillow
===
The next day she was fine, well, her morning was fine, but as soon as she saw Sejeong and Rohanne together her mood turned sour. But she can't let the two know, because she knows they'll worry about her, heck she doesn't even know what's happening with her.
She was in the middle of her break when she felt someone sat beside her in the garden. She looked beside her and saw Rohanne sitting lazily.
"Dr. Baek… What are you doing here?"
"Why? Am I not allowed to rest here?" Rohanne replied as she closed her eyes, she slowly leaned on Seju's shoulder.
"W-What are you doing?"
"Can I just rest for a while… I really feel tired… Seju…"
Again, Rohanne called her by her name for the second time and it still feels like her ears were itching more to hear her name from Rohanne.
"C-Can you say my name one more time?"
"Huh?" Rohanne looked at Seju with a puzzled face, her drowsiness slowly wearing off.
"Just say it"
Even though still confuse, Rohanne blurted out her name
"Seju…"
Seju smiled. She doesn't know why, but it makes her happy—her heart feels happy when Rohanne calls her by her name, it just feels right.
"My drowsiness is gone, and it's your fault" Rohanne said looking at Seju
"Huh? How is that my fault?"
Rohanne ignored Seju's question instead she thought of something
"Because of that you owe me lunch!"
"What?!"
'That is so childish' Seju thought, but she can't help but giggle at Rohanne's childishness. It makes her forget the thing that's been lurking in her head.
"It's your break right?"
Seju didn't answer; the blonde woman in front of her just looked into her eyes, waiting for an answer and when she didn't get an answer she just took Seju's silence as a 'yes'
"Perfect! let's go out for lunch now! I'm starving!"
She abruptly stood up and held Seju's hands dragging the latter to wherever she was going.
"Wait! Wait!"
"What?"
Rohanne asked but she still continued walking not looking at the woman behind her.
"I'm not really hungry. And I can just cook some instant noodles"
"Nah, I insist, I can't let you starve. You don't even know how to cook for yourself"
Seju abruptly stopped, making Rohanne stop on her tracks too; she looked at the brunette behind her with a confused face.
"How did you know I can't cook?" Seju asked with furrowed brows, looking intently at Rohanne.
No one knows Seju can't cook, except for Sejeong, her housemate and Yeonhwa, her best friend. That was the first reason why she wants to live with Sejeong—she can't cook.
"Ah that?"
Rohanne was panicking, she does know that Seju can't cook mainly because she knew her best friend too well, but right now she's not Yeonhwa. She was thinking of an excuse, and she remembered that Sejeong and Seju were living in one apartment.
"I heard it from Sejeong!" She said. She looked at Seju's eyes to make sure that the latter believed her, and thank goodness she took the excuse.
'Sejeong again…'
Seju was quite disappointed at what she heard, she doesn't know why, she should be happy right? Sejeong and Rohanne had some bad blood before when the latter first arrived, but now it seems like they're getting along. She should be happy! She's supposed to be happy… But why does it feel heavy in her chest that the two are getting closer. She felt somewhat betrayed.
"I see…" She replied in a low tone, and looked down.
Rohanne felt bad for lying to Seju, and she felt that the latter was somewhat sad? She doesn't know why though, so she used her left hand to raise Seju's head and looked her straight into her eyes.
"Don't worry it'll be our secret!" She said as she smiled, her eyes looking like a crescent moon "Oh and I'll treat you to lunch don't worry" She added.
'That smile…'
Seju absentmindedly smiled as she remembered Yeonhwa's smile.
'Even their smile… She really resembles Yeonhwa'
As soon as they reached the nearest Food tent the immediately ordered food. The two of them enjoyed the food and while eating they were talking about random stuff. Laughing happily. They forgot that they should be walking back to the hospital. They just remembered because someone asked them about the time and as soon as they saw what time is it they quickly paid for their food and ran back to the hospital.
Rohanne was laughing while they're running.
"We shouldn't be running! We might get stomach ache!" She said in between laughter
Seju on the other hand was laughing too, they enjoyed each other's' company too much to the extent where they forgot that they were still on the clock.
They decided to just take their time walking back and just accept Doah's nagging. Sejeong and the new interns are on shift today so it'll be fine.
While walking they continued where they left off in their conversation.
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Seju asked. She was also curious, she's been working with Rohanne for at least a month and a half now but she haven't seen someone in front of their hospital, looking for Rohanne.
"Actually, I don't have one"
"What? You? For real?"
"Well to be honest I'm not into guys…" Rohanne admittedly said. She isn't really into men.
"Ahhhh I see" Seju nonchalantly said, but as soon as she looked away she secretly smiled.
"And no one's trying to ask me out so, yeah"
"What? They're missing out big time"
Rohanne laughed bitterly
"It's fine, I'm not really finding someone right now"
"Why is that?"
"Maybe because my heart is still not ready?" Rohanne said in an asking tone, she's not sure about what she's saying.
Seju looked at Rohanne, the latter smiling mournfully.
"Why?"
"My heart's been broken into pieces for quite some time now and I'm still picking up the broken pieces… I can't let someone break it again, coz it's hard to glue all the pieces back together..." Rohanne replied while looking at the starless sky.
"It's going to rain…" She mumbled which didn't go unnoticed by Seju.
Seju looked at the sky too and saw that there were no stars, but the moon was present.
"The moon is beautiful isn't it?" Rohanne said while looking at the full moon.
Seju just nodded her head in agreement, enchanted by the beautiful moon. She was snapped back to reality when Rohanne spoke.
"How about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Actually—" She was cut off when someone's phone rang she immediately checked her phone since she and Rohanne have the same ringtone.
"Hello?" Rohanne answered "What?! Yeah… I'll be there"
"What happened?"
"Someone got stabbed… We need to hurry"
They both ran back to the hospital and as soon as they entered the ER they saw one of the Interns was panicking.
"Why are you alone?" Seju asked
"Dr. Kim went to get the patient's x-ray results"
"What happened to the patient?" Rohanne asked while checking the patient
One of the police officers that rushed the patient walked towards them to tell them what happened.
"We received a call from her neighbor that they heard a scream inside the victim's apartment, she was having an argument with her boyfriend that time, when we arrived there, the woman was already bleeding to death; her boyfriend might've stabbed her."
Rohanne just kept nodding at the Police officer's statement.
"She's hemorrhaging heavily. Dr. Lim prepare for blood transfusion" She calmly said. Seju stared at Rohanne in amazement. The Rohanne she was talking with earlier was bubbly and was laughing like a kid, and now it was replaced by a cool and composed Rohanne.
While still amazed Seju looked at the place where the victim was stabbed, it was around the liver and it was bleeding heavily.
"There's heavy bleeding around the liver. There seems to be a further injury than the wound to the ileum and pancreas. Was the culprit taken in custody already?" Seju asked, while she was trying to stop the bleeding.
"Not yet. When we arrived at the crime scene only the victim was there. It seems like her boyfriend already fled the scene. Investigation is still undergoing though"
"Have you contacted her family?" Rohanne asked
"Yes, her brother is on the way"
Seju was about to ask something again but then Sejeong came with some of the interns
"What's the result?"
"There's damage to the liver, internal organs and the duodenum, in addition to hemoperitoneum. Her condition includes infection near the perforated duodenum and peritonitis." Sejeong said as she looked at the results of the X-ray.
"We need to locate the hemorrhage and then stitch up the duodenum" Seju said, Rohanne looked at her and smiled
"Prepare the OR!" Rohanne ordered "Miss first assistant?" She said and looked at Seju
Seju just smiled as soon as she remembered the first nickname Rohanne gave her.
"Yes Doc?" Seju said as they rush the patient to the ER.
===
The surgery went well. They already transferred the patient to a room and her brother was already there.
"Those type of men are irredeemable bastards" Sejeong said. They were resting in the lounge taking a quick break.
"Yeah, and he's still on the run. I hope he gets arrested soon" Seju said.
The police also warned them that the culprit might go to the hospital and attempt to murder the woman again. They already dispatched a bunch of police officers around the hospital for their safety but still they never know.
After a few days the patient woke up. She was questioned by the police and she told them the whole story. Her boyfriend got jealous because she was close with another guy which was her close friend.
"Seriously… Men nowadays are psychopaths…" Sejeong commented.
After checking the patient Sejeong left Seju in the patient's room, she still have other patient's to check so she left Seju to change the dressing on the patient's wounds. She was about to do her thing when she heard a scream outside. She was trying to calm the patient down because the patient was still traumatized from what happened when the door of the room burst open. A guy with a black baseball cap, and hoodie entered the room. He was holding a scalpel that was dripping with blood in his hands.
She peeked outside to see if there are any people to get help from, but none, all she saw were bodies of dead police officers.
"If only you died, then this would be easy… this would've not happened"
The patient was screaming now covering her ears. Seju was frozen in her place. She can't move, it felt like her vocal chords were severed, her mouth felt dry and her palms were sweating. One wrong move and she might die.
The guy shoved Seju away and walked towards the woman, he was about to stab her when Seju picked up the nearest thing that she touched and threw it to the guy; He slowly turned around and stomped her way to Seju and slapped her. The guy raised his hand attempting to stab Seju. The latter just closed her eyes shut scared and nervous. She can't think of anything
"Yeonhwa…"
She stood still, eyes still closed shut. She felt a presence in front of her, and she heard a loud thud. When she opened her eyes, the guy was holding his hand while Rohanne was in front of her. Protecting her.
"Dr. Baek!"
When the guy attacked Rohanne she immediately did a counterattack. She was skilled in fist fights. While they were engaged in a fist fight Seju was just standing there frozen, she doesn't know what she should do.
As soon as Rohanne beat down the guy, she ran to Seju and held her shoulders
"Dr. Park? Are you okay?"
Concern was written all over her face, Seju nodded her head, and her knees were still trembling as she slowly lean on Rohanne for support. Tears started to fall from her eyes. She was still in shock.
She was about to close her eyes when she saw that the guy stood up and picked up the scalpel.
"Dr. Baek behind you!" She yelled
Rohanne turned around immediately but it was too late. The man stabbed Rohanne on her upper right abdomen, she tried to hold the man's hand but he just thrusted it deeper making Rohanne bleed more.
"Dr. Baek!"
When Rohanne didn't have the strength to hold on to the man's hand, the man removed the scalpel on her and smirked. Rohanne slowly kneeled on the floor while compressing her side to ease the pain and stop the bleeding.
"You're next." They guy smirked as he lick the blood in his hands.
At that point Seju knew that the guy has lost all his sanity, he forgot why he was there, and he's just thirsty for blood. He slowly walked the distance between them. Seju didn't move. She stood there frozen in place as she watched the guy close that distance between them.
The man was about to stab Seju with the scalpel, when unexpectedly Rohanne got up, She grabbed the man's shoulder and smacked him with all her might. The man fell unconscious but so did Rohanne. The latter was about to fall when Seju immediately caught her in her arms.
Seju looked at Rohanne's shirt and saw that she lost too much blood. Her hands were shaking as she tried to touch Rohanne's face but the latter caught it, she held Seju's hands and looked straight into her eyes. She smiled. She lifter her arms as she gently caressed Seju's cheeks. Her eyes were slowly closing.
"No… No! Dr. Baek No! Don't close your eyes!"
She just chuckled as she held Seju's hands
"I… told you… to call me… by my… Name…"
Seju was confused but still she can't let Rohanne just die
"Rohanne…"
As if on cue the latter coughed up blood, which made Seju flinch.
"Better…"
"Can you please stop speaking! You're losing too much blood!" Seju yelled, she can't have Rohanne lost any more blood.
Rohanne just smiled at her as if she was contented with her life and then closed her eyes.
"Rohanne!"
Rohanne's grip on Seju's hand became loose, then slowly her hands fell on the floor