orbits

the end

seonghwa rushed out of the children's ward to the emergency room, his white coat unbuttoned the minute it started to be a hindrance to his long strides. his junior who paced alongside him, panted with his mouth agape but seonghwa could care less. 

"low blood pressure, extremely high heart rate, all other vitals clear!"

"immediate need of attention of open fracture and concussion, showing symptoms of entering hypovolemic shock!"

seonghwa hurriedly pushed his mask up and washed his hands before proceeding into the operating room where they wheeled the patient in and wired him to a heart monitor while cutting open the already soaked trousers to show the gaping wound and the fracture where the bone could be seen protruding slightly out of the skin along the mass of blood and bits of flesh which had been pushed out of. 

"open fracture type 3b!" seonghwa clarified and blinked away the mount of sleepiness which invaded his mind and sighed softly behind his mask knowing it was going to be a long day, considering that his shift hours had just started. 

this was not a normal day for seonghwa. the town he had moved into had very minor cases such as a sprained finger, a fractured arm caused from a fall or a simple cold with fever. a child with major injuries was extremely uncommon, mostly due to the protective nature of the parents and also due to the fact that there was little to no scope of heavy duty accidents occurring on a random wednesday morning. 

after around four hours of surgery, seonghwa left the room after he had checked over the patient who was barely ten years old but looked years older with their cheeks sunken quickly over the past few hours. he needed to get back to the children's ward and do their routinely check-up, chart and then he would be able to get back to his bed to get a few hours of sleep. 

"dr. hwa!" 

seonghwa couldn't help but lift his lips into a smile at the excited yell when he walked in with his ladybugs covered file and his white coat taken off. the children were often reduced to a state of anxiety if they saw anyone in a white coat, just viewing them as a form of authority who they needed to please than someone they could openly state their issues to. 

"hi darling, how are you feeling today?" seonghwa asked one of his youngest patients, jiah. she seemed to be ready to get out of bed and seonghwa almost felt bad because he knew she was recovering from a bad case of pneumonia and was in compulsory bed rest for 3 weeks.

"better! i want to breathe in real oxygen but i am not allowed out apparently." she sulked pulling a cute pout on her face. 

seonghwa chuckled and ruffled her hair while he checked her vitals and made a joke about how the real oxygen outside just made her too hyper for her own good. sealing a promise that she would still stay in bed until she is fully recovered, seonghwa moved to the bed next to hers. 

and the next one after. and the one in front. the one next to them. the one near the door. 

seonghwa wasn't tired. he felt the same as ever, slightly drained and more on the energetic end of the spectrum while he continued to flip over the pages over and over, often scribbling down notes and increased or decreased dosages of antibiotics and painkillers for the children. 

he had chosen the job of being a pediatrician to make his days happier over time as he would interact with children, but he didn't notice the glaring problem which went ignored. there was no guarantee whether he would see the child healthy or on the brink of death. he saved them sometimes and would see them walk around with their hands clasped with their parent's, but he has also carried corpses out of the wards to a stroller to take to the mortuary.