The Patient ✦ Nomin

01

The harsh sound of a door opening startles awake a man with raven black hair wearing a white t-shirt. He sits upright in the stiff bed he lies in and watches as a man in a pale blue shirt with matching bottoms that are loosely fitted flick on the light in the room. He has a retractable badge holder secured to the pocket on his right breast with an ID attached. He was very clearly a nurse that worked there, but the raven haired man did not recognize him. The nurse wanders closer to his bedside holding a black plastic tray in his hands. It appears to have various items on it, including what appeared to be two small paper cups, a carton of milk, an apple, and a small single-serve container of Cheerios. He places the tray down on the man's lap, then clasps his hands together.

"Good morning," he chimes as a small bunny smile forms on his face, "How are you feeling today?"

The man blinks at him, finding himself at a loss for words. His eyes flicker to the ID, finding the name Kim Doyoung displayed on it with a photo of the nurse standing beside him. His groggy brain tries to figure out how he feels, but he's almost instantly distracted by the sound of the door creaking from the other end of the room. He directs his attention to another man with light brown hair who was standing idly in the threshold, holding the thick wooden door open by the handle. He's dressed almost exactly like Doyoung except his ID looks a little different.

"Not yet. He needs his medication first," Doyoung scolds him.

The man at the door looks over to the one sitting in bed. His eyes dance with a sort of eager impatience while his general expression appears to be almost sad.

Doyoung takes up one of the small paper cups and extends it to the man, prompting him to take it. He glances at it and notices a couple blue pills inside. At first, he feels reluctant, but he quickly determines that it's most likely in his best interest to take them. He tosses them into his mouth, and not even a second after, the nurse hands him the second cup. The man takes it and swallows all the water in a single gulp, allowing the pills to be washed down without issue. The nurse promptly takes both cups, placing one inside the other before his eyes flicker back to the man standing across the room. He proceeds to approach them with a sluggish walk, seemingly hesitant to get closer to them. He offers a weak smile, but it is not returned.

"Hello," he greets the man in bed in an attempt at a cheery voice, but it ends up sounding more empty than it does joyful.

He is not granted a response.

His forced smile begins to fall, but he visibly tries hard to maintain some sort of happy expression.

"Do you know where you are?" he asks softly.

The man in bed furrows his brow and stares off into an empty corner of the room. He takes several moments to figure out what he can remember of prior events, but all he comes up with is a black curtain of nothingness preventing him from seeing anything.

"No," he murmurs.

The other man's face lights up. It isn't so much happiness as it is shock, but it was finally a genuine response, nonetheless.

"Do you know how you got here?" he follows up.

"No."

The man pauses a moment as he takes a deep breath. He nods to himself in a sort of self-reassuring way before continuing.

"Do you know who I am?" he utters in a low voice.

The man shifts in his bed and frowns as he stares at the other. Though he can immediately determine that he's never seen his face before, he chooses to examine his face in case it bears any sort of familiarity in it.

His face is slim and his chin comes to a slight point. His eyes are a shade of brown which resembles decadent chocolate, and they sparkle beautifully as if they had stars in them. The man had to admit they were incredibly captivating, but he tries not to stare into them for too long. Still, he can't help but notice that the whites of them appear to be bloodshot. Between this and the dark circles beneath his eyes, it reveals that he most certainly hasn't gotten proper sleep in days. His lips are visibly soft with a light pink tint to them. He realizes that his gaze seems to linger on them just a bit too long for his taste, and he hastily looks away to evade being called out for it.