Blinded By The Lights | Sungjoy

Act 4 - Chapter 93: Triumphant Return

Sungjae heard a slight stirring noise as the woman lying in the bed in front of him slowly woke up. He stepped away from the wall as he saw her blink, readjusting herself to consciousness before she realized that he was in the room with her.

"Yook Sungjae," she whispered, almost fearfully, as she noticed the hostility that oozed from his body. Sungjae's eyes were narrowed, his arms crossed, and his voice harsh the moment that he spoke.

"Well, everything worked out as you hoped it would, Moonbyul," he informed her coldly. "The surgery was a success."

Moonbyul groped around for her bed's remote control and used it to raise the back of her bed in order to face Sungjae from a more dignified position than lying flat on her back.

"And Eunwoo?" she managed to gasp out, feeling the wound on her chest sear immensely. She glanced around for an IV pole, anxious for the hit of relief from a painkiller but found nothing.

"Dead."

Sungjae's blunt response took her off guard, her pain momentarily forgotten as she turned to face him before she cowered away as a result of the sheer intensity of Sungjae's anger.

"What happened?" Moonbyul asked him, unnerved by Sungjae's attitude. She hadn't realized just how much he had been holding back in front of Joy, or had it been Joy controlling him? Moonbyul shivered as she realized the reason for Sungjae's animosity.

"What happened to Joy?"

"Exactly what I thought would happen," Sungjae intoned, his voice still harsh and monotone. "You put her in danger, and she got hurt.

Sungjae stepped closer towards her, uncrossing his hands as he did so to reveal her much-needed IV pouch in his hands. "You took advantage of the fact that you knew that Joy would want to help," he said menacingly. "You exploited her kindness for your benefit, knowing that I would also be compelled to assist you because of her.

"But you underestimated Cha Eunwoo. We all did." Sungjae hung the IV pouch on the pole beside her bed before he attached the tube to the intravenous catheter that was already fixed onto her arm. "In the end, if it hadn't been for his hubris and unfamiliarity towards synchronization, we might have all died today."

Sungjae twisted the valve, releasing the anaesthetic through the drip and into Moonbyul's body. She crooned in relief, having been barely able to hold back her pain before she looked at Sungjae.

"I did what I had to do," she told him, the smallest hint of an apology hidden in her words.

"I know," Sungjae said tersely. "And you're going to keep your promise to me. This is my last operation as a Fallen Doctor. Mine and Joy's.

"If you ever want me to operate on you again, come find me at Yeoreum."

--

She was back in her office, or was she?

Joy stared down at her hands, now clean and devoid of blood, in a daze. Everything seemed to be in order, she thought as she looked around the room. Her computer, the files that she had left on her desk, even her white coat hanging on the coat rack.

Everything except for one thing was there, Joy realized as she began to frantically search for the missing item.

Where was her stethoscope with the yellow chick doll?

She began to search her desk, pushing aside the files before she noticed something. Joy paused hesitantly before she reached out to take a closer look at the files. Opening up one of the folders, she found herself staring back at a patient that she had last seen when she worked at the Busan campus. Joy picked up a new file. This one featured yet another familiar patient. Tears began to form in Joy's eyes as she tenderly put down the file and reached for the last folder that was hidden at the bottom of the stack, knowing just who she would be looking at.