Whisper In Her Ear - Winrina

17 - Break Out

"Doctor Bae! Thank god you're here!"

Irene stalled at her office's doorstep, Mrs. Lee rushing to her side like a wild bird fleeing from forest fire.

"What's the matter?" She fixed her woolen scarf self-consciously, clutching at the material firmly to hide the grotesque nail marks on her neck from any possible spotter.

"It's about Karina! The nurses found her earlier this morning with a bloody wound down her head!" Mrs. Lee sounded full-blown panic. "They tried to take her to the ER but she started throwing things at them so now nobody can go near her."

Irene's face darkened at the mention and she walked over to her desk with slow, unfocused footsteps.

"Doctor Bae?" Mrs. Lee readdressed her with worried tone, panic and trepidation still clear on her face. "What should we do with her? Should we administer sedatives on her forcefully?"

"No." Irene blurted out faster than she could consider, and at Mrs. Lee's confused expression, she withdrew her answer shamefully. "I mean yes. Yes, you should. No, actually, get some male nurses to do it. You can't get hurt. Ask them to put her to sleep so we can bring her to ER."

Mrs. Lee nodded once the order was given and dashed out from the room without second thought.

Irene fell to her padded chair and clamped a hand to her forehead. It slid down to her still tender neck and she swallowed.

Reaching out for the office phone, she punched in the numbers she had thought of calling since last night and readied herself.

"Hello." Her dry voice creaked and she wetted her throat anxiously. "Can I speak to Chairwoman Yu, please? My name is Irene Bae and I'm the doctor who tends her daughter."

***

"Minjeong."

"Minjeong, that syringe is empty."

Minjeong snapped from her daze at the second call, her eyes flicking forward to see her younger friend frown at her with distaste.

Ningning's gaze moved to the level of her hands, and Minjeong gasped when she realized that the syringe she was using to inject drugs to one of the comatose patient's tube was already empty. For God knew how long.

"You can't work like that, seriously." Ningning exasperated, as Minjeong withdrew the needle from the Y injection port and closed the opening quickly.

"You can't go around zoning out while you are injecting people! What if you make a mistake? These people are dying enough with their stroke and they don't need you to make it worse!" She half yelled, half whispered.

Minjeong put the needle away, peeled off her latex gloves and ran a hand over her face in frustration.

"You are right. I'm sorry. I should have concentrated better."

"You really should." Ningning finished her own job shortly after and looked at her friend with concern. "Just — maybe don't do serious work for a while until you clear your head. You can go and help Eunchae read the CT-Scans in the ER instead. She's been whining about being the only neurology intern there today because Jeno is sick."

Minjeong nodded dejectedly and without any word, shuffled out from the neurology ward with low spirit.

She arrived in the partially empty ER shortly after. It was quite a calm day there.

"Hey." Eunchae jogged over to her, carrying a stack of black and white papers which undoubtedly came from the CT and MRI room.

"Why are you here? I thought you were assigned to the ward."