The Sanctuary

New Beginning (1)

***

Aou knocked on the door of Dr. Ratanaporn's office. The latter called him into her office to discuss something about a patient she wanted him to handle.

"Good morning, Doc!" He greeted cheerfully as always. 

"Oh. . . Hi, N' Aou! Just in time. Thank you for coming as soon as I called you. Sorry if I ever ruined your schedule."

"No, problem, Doc! I will be on duty in an hour anyway, so no schedule is ruined." He said and smiled. "Why did you ask me here by the way?"

"Here." She gave him a file folder with the findings and reports of the new patient he was handling. "And this is Mrs. Mai Jantharaworakarn. Your new patient's mother."

Aou smiled at the woman sitting next to the doctor's desk. He wiped his hand on his pants before he reached for a handshake. "Good morning, Ma'am. I'm sorry for not greeting you earlier. My bad." He greeted the middle-aged woman with the brightest smile he could give. 

The doctor in front of them chuckled at his action. He really was a people pleaser. He could make everyone like him in no time.

"Nice to meet you, young man." Mrs. Jantharaworakarn returned his smile and shook his hand. "Aranya," She said as she looked back to Dr. Ratanaporn. "You're right. I think he's the one."

Aou was confused. He looked at the two women questioningly. 

Dr. Ratanaporn looked at him and chuckled. "Sit down, N' Aou." Aou did as told and she continued. "I told Mai here that you can help her son to recover fast. Not only physically, but also emotionally."

"Uhm. . ." He started as he looked at the patient's file. "How long has it been?" He asked but saw the answer on the file though, "Oh. . . just two weeks? His legs will take six to 8 weeks since according to this, it's just a minor fracture. But we still need to have follow-up tests and x-rays after that to make sure his legs are really getting healed. I hope there won't be any complications that will delay the healing process. Also, it still depends on the patient's will to fully recover faster, you know." 

"That's also the reason why I called you earlier. Usually, we call for the Physical Therapist in charge when the patient is almost healed." Dr. Ratanaporn explained and Aou nodded. "Just like what I told Mai, you could also help her son recover emotionally."

"N' Aou, we live in Ranong. We just moved to Bangkok to seek medical help. He didn't want to talk to anyone except me and his father after what happened to him. We want him to talk again like the usual him. We want him to have someone he could trust again." Mrs. Jantharaworakarn said sadly.

"What happened to him?" He asked hesitantly. "I mean if you want me to be close with him, at least I should know what happened. What made him like this?" The look of concern was there when he asked.

"Of course." She let out a deep sigh before she continued, "Boom has a very close friend since freshman in university. His name is Chet. They did things together, they were always partners in school projects, and they even traveled together during school breaks. Even after they graduated, they still spend their day off with each other. Until one day, that was two weeks ago," She stopped for a while and sighed.

"Here. . . Have some water, Ma'am." Aou offered which she gladly accepted.

She continued telling after she relaxed a bit. "Then. . . they hung out near the beach, got a little tipsy. Maybe because of the alcohol, my son had a little boost of courage and told him that he was in love with him. He didn't know Chet was already drunk and didn't take the confession easily. He got mad at my son and started hitting him. That bastard hit Boom's legs with a bat he had in his car. He even abandoned him on the road and ran away. Good thing there was a patrolling police that time and he was rescued and rushed to the hospital."