Strongest

081 | that meeting

Lem is currently on duty at the Emergency Room when a patient was rolled in a gurney. A woman in her early twenties who is unconscious and might be suffering from concussion. He could also see a bleeding wound on her temple that might need stitches.

She was accompanied by worried looking Mikah Daichapanya and a crying girl. Lem gestured for the nurses to have her attended as he approached Mikah.

"Hey Mikah" he greeted. "Were you the one who brought her in?"

"P'Lem, hi" Mikah greeted the doctor. "Yeah, I was the one who brought her in"

Lem led him to one of the chairs, the girl following them. "Can you tell me her name and what happened?"

"She's Ms. Kiragun, our English teacher. I just saw her slumped at the bottom of the stairs with Anya trying to help her and I just brought them here" Mikah explained.

"That was amazing Mikah. Your quick thinking may save her life depending on the situation" Lem told the younger man.

"Anya, is it?" Lem faced the crying girl. Upon getting a nod from her, he proceed to ask, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"She's my older sister. Her name is Tansanee Kiragun. She slipped from the stairs as we were on our way home. I was so scared and was unable to do anything to stop her from falling and rolling down the stairs" Anya relayed as her tears kept pouring.

"Okay. Thank you for telling me. We'll be calling your parents and let them know. Meanwhile, you can stay here while we asses her further" Lem said as he tried to look for Mikah.

He left Anya and asked one of the nurses to bring her a glass of water to help calm her and approached Mikah. "Oi, you could've at least tried to pacify your girlfriend you..." he stopped himself from cursing the boy.

Mikah looked at him flabbergasted. Lem is someone they respect as they treat him like their Uncle or older brother. "Phi, I don't even personally know her. We just met...literally. I just knew her name when I asked her on the way here. She barely talks"

Lem stared back at the young man, wide eyed. "Oh, I thought she's your girlfriend"

"No!" Mikah almost yelled his denial. "Why would you?" He was gaping at his Phi for thinking such a thing.

This made Lem chuckle. "Okay go home you wretched kid. Say hi to your parents for me or better yet, go to your Papa and get him away from work"

Mikah scratched his head. "Might just do that. See you around Phi" he said as he walked away, towards Kit's clinic.

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Lem was finally done in stitching her up. Her parents were unable to immediately go to the hospital and had her brother come and attend to her instead. They will be following after since they will be coming from out of town.

The nurses just finished clearing the things Lem used. He had her ankle wrapped in a bandage for the meantime and stitched up her wound in the head.

She fluttered her eyes open and took a few seconds to be conscious of her surroundings. She looked up at his face and blinked a few times.

Lem smiled at her and asked, "Hi I'm Dr. Lem Darawan, your attending doctor. How are you feeling?"

Annie gave him a wince before sighing. "Like I've been ran over by a truck. Everything hurts"

"What is the last thing you remember?" Lem asked again.

"Ugh, the stairs" Annie groaned. "I was walking down with my little sister when I fell. I tried to hold onto something to stop the fall but I guess I wasn't able to do so since I'm here"

Lem smiled. "Well, you're parents will be here soon. It was your brother who signed the papers. You'll be staying for a while for observation since you've hit your head pretty hard to earn that wound and to see how far is your ankle injury"

Annie deflated at that. "So much for being clumsy" she mumbled.

"Hey, don't worry your pretty head too much. All you need to concentrate on is getting better" Lem said with a smile.

Just then, Bren knocked on the door before slowly entering. He gave Lem's patient a smile which made Annie look between the of them.

"Oh, this is my colleague, Dr. Guiliani" Lem introduced.

Before anyone could speak, the door opened and in came Rich and Anya.

"Phi, you're awake" Rich stated the obvious as he clasped his hands in front of him to give respect to the two doctors.

"Hi I'm Rich Kiragun, her younger brother. Thank you for attending to our Phi" he introduced himself as he kept bowing his head.

Bren smiled, amused. "I didn't do anything...at all. I was just dropping by to check. It was all Dr. Darawan's doing"

Lem rolled his eyes at his Phi and cleared his throat. "Don't mind Dr. Guiliani. He's just indeed checking" he told the siblings.

"I'll get going then. See you Dr. Darawan" Bren bid everyone goodbye and stepped out of the room.

Lem gave a report to Rich and Anya regarding Annie's health. He also told him regarding the prescriptions and advised the times the nurses would be doing rounds. After that, he left the room so the three could have time for themselves.

Once Lem is out the door, Rich and Anya hovered on their Phi. Reassuring themselves she's fine.

"Oh Phi. That was really a bad fall. Please always make sure to be extra careful" Rich said as he combed his fingers through her hair.

"You scared me Phi. For awhile I thought we'd lost you" Anya sniffled as she hugged her sister.

Annie wrapped an arm around their youngest sibling as she tried to keep her tears at bay. She never expected to even see them, moreso have any kind of interaction or conversation.

Both Rich and Anya are unaware of Annie's thoughts.

Meanwhile in the surgeon's office, Lem is being teased nonstop by Bren about his patient. "She's pretty and a teacher. Why don't you try to date her once she's discharged and you could just have a different doctor assigned to her for follow ups" the older suggested while waggling his eyebrows.

Lem snickered. "Phi, why are you so invested in my lovelife? I'm contented with the way I'm living. Thank you very much. I'm surrounded by loveable nieces and nephews and I wouldn't want to change that" he countered as he continued writing on his journal.

"You say that now. How about when our kids grow up and get a family of their own? What happens to you?" Bren challenged.

"Then I'll have them bring me to a retirement home and leave me there" Lem said with finality.

Bren just gawked at his brother. "You are not serious Chalerm!" He growled, clearly distressed at the way the younger is thinking.

"Relax Phi. Whatever happens, will happen okay. Let's cross the bridge when we get there. For now, I'm contented. I was close to dying once and I've learnt to take one day at a time" Lem reassured the older man.

"Starting tonight, it's either you spend the nights at our place or P'Beam's. You are not even allowed to be alone. Hear me? Never" Bren ordered before leaving Lem in his office.

Lem could only shake his head at the older's antics. He was staring at Annie's portfolio and reviewed her details. That is when he saw it.

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TBC
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A/N: four more chapters and then i'll publish the cast pages...3 pages to be exact as they have like a mini description per character