☾┋ 𝔞𝔲! 𝔳𝔞𝔪𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝖉𝖔𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖗

 ➳ 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 2

note: 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.

"Aera, attend to the patient at Room 2004. Copy?" Junho uttered with a serious tone, pointing at the door as he walked past her in the hallway.

"Copied." Aera nonchalantly shrugged at his disposition, walking towards the room. As she entered, she saw an old man in his 50s all pumped up with pomade hair and hazel eyes that gave an eerie aura to her.

"Good morning, doctor!" He said after bowing to the female.

She bows back, a smile plastered on her face as she checks the patient's check-up card before sitting down. "Good morning, Sir Lee Chanhi?"

"I am Dr. Jung Aera, your attending physician. I will be working on your surgery with our head surgeon, Dr. Kim Junho." She added, taking a seat on the revolving chair, swiveling as she positioned himself.

"Take a seat please." She signaled the patient to sit down.

"So what is the problem, sir? Is it what Dr. Junho stated which is that you have had chest pains that lead to a heart attack?"

"Yes. Stiffness in my chest still occur after all the medication and also my stenting after the heart attack." He heaved a deep sigh.

The following symptoms fall under a Coronary Artery Disease. The disease is usually caused by high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. It is a heart disease involving the hardening and narrowing of the arteries. The artery is a muscular wall tube carrying oxygenated blood from the heart to be distributed to all parts of the body. Due to the build-up of cholesterol plaques in the artery causing the hardening of the artery, the body's circulation is affected. Through the Coronary Bypass Surgery, a graft (healthy vein from another part of the body) will be connected to the blocked artery to sustain the flow of oxygenated blood into the body.

"You really need a grafting surgery, sir. It's very risky. Sir, have faith in us and we will help you out!" Her lips pierced into a smile.

"Thank you Dr. Aera. You not only have the brains but also the heart! Not to mention, you look like my wife 30 years ago!" He exclaimed, bursting out of laughter.

"You're very silly and energetic for a man who has a heart disease. " She chuckled.

"No I'm serious. Hmm...look at your pearly white skin." His eyes doted on her hands focusing on her slender long fingers.

"You must be a vampire!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Ah... what?!" His words made her anxious, sweat dripped down her neck.

Dismissing the idea, she uttered "Sir, I suggest you visit a psychiatrist or the neurologist upstairs. I believe that fiction books ate your system." She replied menacingly, her fingers tucking the loose hair on her ears.

"I was just kidding! You look like a vampire- a beautiful version, Of course. They're monsters! What do you think?"

"Well I think they're just creatures trying to coexist in this world." The whole conversation was interrupted as a knock on the door beckoned to them.

"Please head to the operating room, Sir." Junho opened the door slightly, his head popping in as he smiles at the patient.

They all stood up from their seats, heading to the portals leading to the operating room.

Aera catches Junho's pace, walking side by side with him.

"Hmmm...Aera." He looks at her with a dull expression as they walk in the hospital's hallway.

"Yeah?" Her eyes enlarged, pondering on why he wanted to open a discussion.

"You take the lead." He said in a low tone.

"Uh?" She was confused.

"It is your first job in this hospital and as the team manager, I will be evaluating you as early as now. During the surgery, you will deal with it hands on. I will assist you but you will make the decisions on things." With a cocky approach, he uttered.

Breaking the silence she said, "Eh?"

"Copy?" He tilted his head, establishing eye contact purposefully to intimidate her.

"Noted." For awhile, she gapes into his eyes but she looked away, rolling her eyes at him as she heads to the restroom for her to dress up.

Entering the low lit room, she was dressed in her scrubs, with her hair all tied up. She wore her gloves and mask.

Junho was fully dressed in his hospital gown aswell, he instructed the nurses and the anesthesiologist on the protocol. The patient was given his oral sedative. With the syringe on the anesthesiologist's hands, he injected general anesthesia that would put the patient to sleep for the duration of the operation.

As soon as the patient was drowned in complete lumber and sleep, the pre-surgery procedures began.

"Breathing tube." Aera uttered instructing the nurse to hand it to her. The tube was inserted through his mouth into his throat to help the patient breathe.

"Dr. Kim prepare for catheterization." Catheterization is used to drain urine through a tube (catheter) that will pass through the bladder. The catheter will be connected to a drainage bag. Junho, sterilized the equipment and hurriedly inserted a lubricant on the catheter so it  could fully enter the patient's urethra. And then the pre-surgery procedures were done.

"Scalpel." She uttered. The nurse with the petite frame handed it to her. Aera started making a small incision on the flesh over the breastbone, causing the skin to tear apart as blood continuously comes out.

Upon the sight of blood, the rush sent signals to her brain giving her a mental frenzy. Her eyes were slowly transforming into a golden shade of brown, her hands trembling as she loses grip of the scalpel. She was fighting her vampire instincts. She faced back, avoiding to be seen by the medical staff. Their eyes riveted on her, wondering why she stopped half-way.

"Are you okay, Doctor?" The petite nurse whispered to her, handing her a pill. Fortunately, Aera recognized it. It was a Methoracin pill, she forgot to take it before giving the surgery. Aera wondered how that nurse knew about her identity. She took the pill from the nurse's hand and rushed outside to drink it.

" What the hell was that? What type of surgeon stops in the middle of a surgery?!" Dr. Junho yelled in complete rage, his voice made the other medical staff shocked.

Junho decided to continue the surgery as he slowly cooled down. He moved the man's rib cage in order to get to his heart.

"Heart- lung machine... NOW." He spoke in a loud voice.

The heart- lung machine performs the functions of the heart and lungs during the surgery. The nurses handed it to him as he connected the pump machine to the circulatory system of the patient.

Just at that time, Aera entered like nothing happened.She scooted near him, saying "I'll do this."

Junho gave her a bad look, trying to contain himself from saying anything bad as he steps aside for the female to do her part in the surgery.

''Metzenbaum, needles and suture." She said in a monotone voice, referring to the surgical scissors used and the surgical instruments needed for the procedure like the suture which was used for stitching. She sewed the chest vein to the blocked artery, twisting the scissors with the suture to secure it into place.

"Dr.Kim , suture the other graft near the aorta going to the narrowed artery." He followed as said, still in disbelief after what she previously did. He sewed it, securing the graft into place.

"Electrical signals." She instructed the male nurse to turn the machine on to check the pacing of the heart.

"The heart is pumping! The surgery is successful!" The female nurse, exclaimed in happiness.

"Disconnect the heart-lung machine." She ordered, stretching her arms in the air as she is finally done with the hard part of the surgery. A few more hours passed as they performed multiple operations on the body. In the end, the body was stitched back anew and the patient's vital signs were good.

When the post-surgery measures came to an end, all the staff commended her and Junho for the great work and she did the same. As the petite female nurse was about to leave the room, she approached her and thanked her.

"Thank you so much for earlier." Aera pats her back, with a big smile on her face.

"No problem, doctor! Lee Gayoung at your service! I'll talk to you about "it" soon! " She waved at the other female as she was about to leave.

People were exiting through the door and shortly, it was Aera and Junho alone in the room.

Junho was amazed on how systematic she was and how she didn't make any faulty mistakes such as defecting an organ by accidentally cutting it. He was honestly proud. The average time of the surgery was in a span of 3 hours and that was quick for a bypass surgery since it usually lasts from 3-6 hours. However, he couldn't get over the fact that she left the surgery scene midway.

He walked towards the door, shutting it close, locking it so that anyone would not enter. Dazzled like how she always is, Aera clicked her tongue noticing that Junho locked them inside.Her eyebrows naturally raise as she speaks, "So why did you lock us in, sir?"

"Oh so now you call me sir because you know I'm evaluating you. Impressive." His lip started to pull up into that wicked devilish smirk that gave chills to her spine.

He walked around her back and forth as she was standing there -motionless, unable to speak.

"Hmmm... Basically I'm curious about you." Gaping into her eyes, his raspy voice made the tension between them fuel up even more.