A does of salt • jjk + pjm

Chapter 1: protocol

"I didn't get any sleep. I was up all night. The sleeping pill didn't even work," Suji frowns looking at Jimin. Suji was one of Jimin's longest patients—never a good thing when you've had a patient for too long. Unlike other instances in life, the best reward for a doctor was never seeing your patient again as it meant they were healthy and well. "Can I please get another dose, Dr. Park? I'm so tired. I'm completely exhausted. I just.. want to sleep," she starts tearing up from frustration.

The room is still dark as the curtains are still drawn and he didn't turn the light on when entering as it was still very early in the morning. Jimin watches the monitor for a few seconds to observe her vitals. He knew of that hell: not being able to fall asleep when you were utterly tired and exhausted. Mix that with wheezing, chest pain, coughing, beeping sounds, and wires connected all over your body? How could anyone get a proper sleep here?

"Another rough night, huh?" Jimin says regretfully now facing Suji when speaking to her. "You look good though right now, your vitals are stable. Coughing kept you up again?"

"Yep. I just... I just want to fucking sleep." She's crying by now. "Can you please give me something doctor? Please," she pleads with desperateness.

Jimin smiles at her empathetically, "it's morning now, and the rest of the team will want to see you for rounds and talk to you-"

"It's..." Suji looks up at the clock and says, "not even 6am yet. You guys never come around till like 9. Sometimes later. I can get a few hours of sleep if I can manage to fall asleep now so can you please give me something. Stronger than what I got last night. I am so tired, Dr. Park. Please." Tears fill the 22 year old's eyes.

Jimin wonders every single fucking day if he's working in the right field. Sure, he has the brains of a genius and he's renown in the medical world after one of his groundbreaking scholarly article on congestive heart failure was published. And his magical hands full of precision and meticulousness have saved so many lives in surgery. Really, his CV was outstanding by the young age of 31; he was a medical prodigy.

But he was far too much of an empathetic person and wonders when the desensitization affect will kick in for him in his career. He's already been working in this field for years and still, his heart hurt with each and every single one of his patients.

Jimin would always come into work a bit earlier before his shift so he could make his unofficial rounds alone to check on all his patients, chit chat with them a little, see how they were feeling, even though he'd make his rounds officially with the whole team. He's been doing this ever since he was an intern, which is understandable since as a junior being on the bottom of the hierarchy you'd want to go above and beyond. But he never stopped this practice even during his residency and now as an attending, he still made his informal quick visits before he started his work shift and sometimes even after on his way out if he still had any energy left. He was that kind of doctor. The kind who genuinely cared about his patients as humans and not a mere patient ID number. Dr. Park Jimin is not only an expert cardiothoracic surgeon, but because of his empathetic heart, he really embodied the definition of a physician.

And right now, Suji's tears were breaking his heart.

"How about this, I'll put in orders for another sleep aid and I'll put you at the bottom of our morning rounds list. I'll tell the nurse to try to get your labs done right now as soon as I leave so they don't wake you up later." he smiles with a small smile. "Sound good?"

Suji sniffles and nods, wiping her nose with the loose end of her hospital gown short sleeve. Jimin walks over to the sink and grabs some tissues for his patient. "O-okay. Thank you doctor..."

"Suji... I know it's hard. I know you're frustrated. But hang in there, okay?" Jimin gently touches her shoulder and gives a small, encouraging nod. "We'll get through this. I'm gonna let you sleep now. I'll go put the orders in for the Ambien right now, okay?"