Ashley was waiting for the anesthetist to give her the green signal to proceed.

The man on the operation table suddenly grabbed her one hand.
She cursed herself mentally for standing so near to him. She'll need to change and sterilized her hands once again before starting surgery now.

He said something with pleadings in his eyes but again, those were jumbled words only.
Ashley felt what he was trying to say.

"It's ok," Ashley held his hands. "It's ok to be afraid. I promise I'll try everything in my power to make you get back with your family."

He again said something and a drop of tear rolled down from the corner of his eye.

Ashley wiped the tear affectionately,
"Trust me. Ok? I'll not let you go this early. You will see your family again."

He nodded desperately with tear and trust in his eyes.

She never makes promises, doctors should never make promises when a life is on the line. But she couldn't hold back for the first time in her life. What will happen if she can't keep her promise? She was tensed this time.

Ashley nodded to the anesthetist and he continued with his work and Ashley went out to change and take the wash once again.

The procedure was long. It took almost six hours to fix the aneurism while supplying blood to the part of the brain where it was obstructed by the clot. And after doing that, she removed the clot from the artery and fixed the skull.

It was a lengthy procedure but she was satisfied after she was done.
The patient was sent to post-operative care where she gave assurance to the lady. This time her son and daughter were with her. They came as fast as they heard the news.
The girl was so emotional and hugged Ashley tight with gratefulness.

Ashley came back to her apartment and laid down after taking a shower. She had no energy to cook so she just ended up having some packed cookies.
She took out her phone only to see few missed calls from Taehyung and she sighed bitterly. She again missed his concert.

Ashley returned the call but no one picked it. She tried few more times but all were in vain.

Probably he was already asleep after that tiresome concert and she decided to call him in the morning and gave in to sleep.

Ashley walked into the Hospital with a tense mind the next day. Taehyung still was not picking up the phone. And from not picking up, it went straight to not reachable after some time. Did something happen to him?

She was greeted immediately after entering her floor by Dr. Han.

"Why did you come today? Today you have no shift!"

"I just wanted to check out on the patient from last night. How is he?"
Ashley asked him.

"His condition is good. Though still unconscious, all vitals are positive and no doubt he'll wake up in no time," Dr. Han complemented. "Very professional, Dr. Ruth. Good job."

"Thank you!" she smiled, flustered with compliments.

"No, Thank you for taking the quick decision. It would have been nasty if he died here last night."

"Heard he is a VIP?"

"Not actually, but hell would have been broken here if the news spread. He is an important person," Nodded Dr. Han.

"I better go check on my patient then," Ashley smiled.

"Sure."

Ashley came into the locker room, changed into her scrubs, and put on her apron coming back to her office. She again dialed Taehyung's number but it was still unreachable. She shoved the phone down her apron's pocket. He headed straight to the post-operative care.

Yuri was coming back from the room hurriedly. Looking at her, she said,
"Your patient is already transferred to the VIP unit. The VIP post-op."

"Oh, ok," Ashley turned towards the VIP area.

"Wait, Dr. Ruth, you can't believe who that man was!" Yuri whispered with widened eyes.

"And this is not your news to spread!" Ashley scolded her mildly.

"Dr..." Yuri started.

"I know you are excited, but they wanted complete privacy and anonymity. You will be in trouble if you break that," Ashley said a little sternly.

"I understand," Yuri pouted.

"Good. Now get your head back from the clouds and get to work." Ashley patted her shoulder.

"Got that, boss!" Yuri gave her a salute and went to her work.

Ashley went where the patient was supposed to be. She saw that lady from last night coming out of the room.

Her face lit up seeing Ashley. Ashley bowed to her, smiling.
The woman took her into a warm hug with pure affection and thankfulness. She was mumbling in Korean and with her little new founded knowledge of Korean as a result of months long-staying here, she figured out words like thank you, awake, grateful, etc etc.

Ashley smiled again and the lady went out probably after a night-long stay here.
Ashley sighed at her departure and went in.

"Hello, I am Dr. Ruth, in charge of him from now on," Ashley bowed down entering the room.

Ashley's voice was stopped as a wide eyed Taehyung was looking at her.

"She is the doctor who performed surgery on him last night," added Dr. Choi. He was there, sitting on the sofa across the bed.
The nurse was scribbling something down on the paper on her clipboard, the man was awake with wide bandages around his temple.

He was connected with all sorts of complex monitors and machinery, with fluids running through the IV.

"I remember you," The man smiled weakly at her.

Ashley still was looking at Taehyung who was sitting on a chair beside the bed holding that man's one hand and looking at her in utter shock.

"Your expression says you know him," chuckled Dr. Choi. "That was a foolish word though. Who wouldn't?"

"Hello," Ashley mumbled, her heart clenched at the sight of his face.

" Thank you very much for saving my father. He is my everything," Taehyung nodded with a hint of sorrows in his eyes.

"I am fine, kiddo," The man pulled him closer and Taehyung rested his head on his chest. The man wrapped his arms around Taehyung and a little smile crept up in Ashley's face at the sight.

The nurse gave her the charts needed and she tried to block out all the thoughts and concentrated on the paper in her hands.

"Time for me to go. Let us know if you need anything." Dr. Choi got up and bowed before going out.
Ashley instructed the nurse on some necessary procedures and looked at Taehyung's father.

"Looks like you will be walking in no time, sir. You are progressing really well!"

"Thank you. It all happened because of you," The man smiled sweetly.

"Please don't say like that!" Ashley was flustered, "I just did my job."

"I remember what you said to me before the surgery," said the man,
"that really gave me strength."

Ashley Bowed and said, "Thank you for trusting me."

The man smiled back.
Ashley avoided Taehyung's intense gaze again and returned the clipboard to the nurse and looked at him, " Can you please come to my office? I need something to discuss with you regarding the patient."

Taehyung looked at his father and asked something, he nodded at him assuringly and released him from the hug.

He got up from the chair and walked out with her. They remained silent the whole way.
Ashley was yanked into a deep embrace just after entering her office.

Ashley hugged him back as his body trembled uncontrollably.

" I was scared, I was so scared!" Taehyung whispered through his sobs.

"It's ok, everything is ok now," Ashley stroked his back slightly until he calmed down a bit.

" I thought I'd lost him."

Ashley held his face in her hands and wiped away the tears with her thumbs, it was her first time seeing this boy cry, it was breaking her.

"He'll be ok. I am here."

Taehyung finally composed himself. Little by little.

Taking a deep breath, he looked into her eyes, "How?"

"I got accepted into SNU for four years P.hd course. Well, I was planning it to be a surprise, just couldn't decide how to break it to you. Seems like I ruined it already!" Ashley smiled weakly.

Taehyung freed himself from her hands and locked the door silently. He pulled her closer again and kissed her hard.

"You didn't. Rather it hit double times!" He whispered between his kisses.

Ashley responded with the same desperation and they ended up in a make-out session until her pager buzzed suddenly.

"Damn!" Taehyung whispered closing his eyes and resting his forehead on hers.

Ashley chuckled a little, "Let me get that."

Ashley took out the pager from her apron's pocket and smiled,
"Emergency."

Taehyung sighed, "I better get back to him. See you around?"

"Yeah," she gave a little peck on his lips, "You go first."

"I missed you," Taehyung tucked a strand of hair behind her ear looking deep into her eyes.

"Me too." Ashley smiled, "Now go."

"Bye!" Taehyung went out smiling at her.

Ashley thumped down on her desk, she took the intercom in her ear trying to soothe her racing Heartbeat, "Dr. Ruth here."

Ok......Double updates this time. Let me know what do you think about it, stay fine and stay safe.