Something New

Chapter 1

Beam woke up to the sound of incessant beeping reverberating in his head. He blindly reached over to his bedside table and grabbed his phone to turn off that obnoxious noise. After taking a few seconds, he finally opened his eyes to look at his phone and he opened his twitter by force of habit and his feed was bombarded with a deluge of red hearts and flowers and declarations of love. He was thoroughly confused. "What is going on here", he muttered to himself, while he tried to wipe away the last dregs of sleep. He looked at his notifications and a calendar pop-up said Valentine's Day! He groaned and sat up in bed already knowing that it was going to be one of those days.

Beam did not hate what the day stood for, but he just hated the fact that he didn't have anyone to spend it with. He decided to shake it off and get on with his day. After changing into his running shorts and t-shirt, he set off on his morning run around his neighborhood. It was like he couldn't help but notice all the happy couples young and old, being so in love. This only served to sour his mood further. To him, it felt like the universe was taunting him and having fun at his expense. As he was cursing the universe, and all the happy people, he was completely oblivious to the several appreciative gazes he received from men and women on the street.

Somehow, he managed to get back home physically unscathed, for how distracted he was. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and fixed his hair just the way he liked it before putting on his perfectly ironed pale blue shirt and black trousers. He didn't even know why he bothered doing this because, being a cardio-thoracic surgeon, he'd have to immediately slip into his scrubs as soon as he gets to the hospital. But that's just how Beam was, he liked to have control over all aspects of his life, and he liked things neat, tidy and all squared up and his upbringing, mainly his dad had a lot to do with it. He managed to have just enough time to make himself a cup of coffee, which he then poured it into his trusty travel mug, grabbed his bag and rushed out of the house and into his car to start his workday early.

Beam cursed under his breath when he walked into the hospital after parking his car, because the lobby was covered in red and pink hearts and the reception looked like a flower shop. He rolled his eyes and walked swiftly past the receptionists because he absolutely did not want to have a conversation with anyone right then. Just as he thought he had gotten away; he was abruptly yanked into a room and he almost tripped and fell on his face.

Once he steadied himself, he looked up to see that the offender was his best friend Kit, who had a panicked look on his face. Before Beam could even say a word, Kit started ranting, "Beam, I am actually going crazy planning this damn wedding. Ming is no help at all because all he says is "that looks great" to everything I show him. I swear to God if I have to look at another fabric for the tables and chairs, I'm going lose my shit. And right now, I'm struggling with picking out the right suits for the both of us, like look, there are just too many options", he whined just before shoving his phone up to Beam's face.

Beam grabbed the phone and looked right at Kit and said, "Kitty, you have got to calm the fuck down and breathe, you look like you're on the verge of hyperventilating and I do not want to deal with that today of all days." Beam loved Kit like a brother because they have been friends since grade school, him, Kit and Pha, the three musketeers, they all even went to the same college and ended up working in the same hospital, but his friend could be quite intense sometimes and he just couldn't deal with all that energy today.

Kit soon realized what had Beam in a sour mood because his eyes got an evil glint to them. With just a glance at his face Beam knew what his friend was thinking and tried to get away. Starting to shift away from Kit, he said, "Kitty, I'd love to help you out, but I really can't right now, I have a patient consult to get to in five minutes." But Kit just followed him out the door saying, "Oh okay I'll walk with you then." Beam's response to that was just a dramatic eye roll.

Beam knew what his friend was going to say, even before he started. Kit was marrying his boyfriend of six years, Ming, who was the love of his life, even though he would never say that out loud and he seemed to have made it his mission in life to find Beam a boyfriend. Beam knew that his heart was in the right place and he just wanted to see his friend happy, but he really did not want to go on a blind date.

Meanwhile Kit had already started talking, "I know, today is especially tough for you because it's all about love and you've been painfully single for way too long. So, what you need to do right now is to jump headfirst back into the dating pool and I have just the guy for you. You remember Ming talking about his friend Forth? He's the architect with his own design-build firm. He is smart, handsome and successful..." he didn't look like he was done listing out all of the guy's attributes so Beam knew that had to put an end to this right now, so he stopped, turned around and said, "Kit, I would love to stay and chat some more about this but this is where I'm meeting my patient, so I have got to go" and made his escape leaving behind a pouting Kit who mumbled, "This is so not over Beam Baramee" and started plotting ways to get his friend to go on the blind date.

Beam entered the room and saw his young patient, a 17-year-old named Star, sitting there getting an earful from his dad, Mr. Thiti and he immediately felt sympathy towards the young man, because he'd been there and quite often still is.

Beam, noticing that they still hadn't realized that they had company, loudly cleared his throat before greeting Star with a smile and said, "Hello N'Star! How are you doing today?" Star immediately perked up and grinned at the doctor and replied, "I'm doing great Doc, it's just dad who's stressing out" while looking pointedly at his father. Beam took that as his cue and greeted the father saying, "Mr. Thiti, good morning! Hope you're doing well" and flashed his dimpled smile. Mr. Thiti not only did not smile back, but he also ignored Beam completely and kept glancing at the door, as if he were expecting someone.

So, Beam asked him, "Sir, will someone else be joining us?" to which the man just glared at him and said, "That was going to be my question. Where is the senior doctor? Shouldn't we wait for him to join us?" Unfortunately, Beam was quite used to people underestimating him because he was younger than most of his peers, though it was irritating, he tried to take it in his stride. So, he just smiled at the man and he explained, "No sir, I'm the surgeon who will be performing this surgery and I can assure you that your son will be safe in my hands and I have performed this surgery plenty of times and you can trust me." The man did not seem convinced at all and looked quite irritated.

He shook his head and said "No, no, no, this won't do at all, are you even old enough to be an attending? I cannot believe that this huge hospital is treating their patients so carelessly." Beam, holding on to the last threads of his patience, calmly and confidently told him, "Sir, I have looked at all the tests and reports and in my professional opinion, it is going to be a fairly straightforward surgery. I have no reason to believe otherwise. That being said, if you do not have confidence in my abilities as a surgeon, please feel free to get a second opinion from someone you think is more qualified." The man looked surprised at that.

Beam took this opportunity to turn to his patient and with a gentle smile said, "N'Star, like I said, everything is looking good and I think you're ready for the surgery and I hope we can patch your heart up and ready to run a marathon soon." The boy smiled and said, "you and me both Doc." Beam smiled and turned to the father who still looked mad and asked, "do you have any questions for me at this moment?" The man just shook his head, so Beam said, "Alright then, please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any future questions or concerns, the contact details will be in the patient packet that was handed to you" and gave them a brief nod and walked out of the room.

A/N - Votes and comments fuel my soul! Please and thank you!