Morning Dedication | Chaelisa Ver.

Ch 17: Kiss it better

He's been thorough, Dr. Bae Taeyang. So annoyingly thorough, according to the slightly furrowed brow Lisa's been having on her face since they got here. He's asked her about literally everything, from the day of the accident until today. He's asked Lisa to describe how and where and when it hurts, with all the painful details, and then he's asked about pregnancies and bowel movements and sexual activity and medical history.
Chaeyoung would be annoyed too, if she were in pain.

But she's glad that the doctor is being so thorough with his questions because, as he said earlier, an MRI scan isn't diagnostic. The symptoms and the physical tests and examinations that he's performing on Lisa right now in the next room, are what help Dr. Solomon make a diagnosis.

Chaeyoung is sitting alone in the doctor's office, waiting for them to come out, when her phone buzzes and disturbs the absolute silence in the room.

She takes her phone out of her purse to see that she has a text and quickly opens it, while she still has time.

From Jichu: I want an answer.

Chaeyoung breathes out heavily and bites her bottom lip in thought and worry.

The station wants to talk to her about her contract, and possibly renew, but Chaeyoung is avoiding them and tries to stall for as long as she can.

Because things are not good, they knew they weren't the minute Lisa was done with the MRI scan, three days ago.

At the time, Chaeyoung didn't worry as much for the result of the scan as she did for the fact that even having the MRI was painful itself. Lisa's initial plan was to not take any breaks and go through all three sections of the MRI at once, and be done with it sooner. But they both knew that she wasn't going to make it. Lisa's pain doesn't let her stay still for two minutes and not want to crawl out of her own skin, let alone stay still for almost two hours.

That's because something is clearly wrong.

And that's why Seungri got Lisa an appointment with a spine specialist neurosurgeon, who's actually his friend, without even asking Lisa, making her feel obligated to go to the appointment when she really didn't want to see a surgeon because she feels like seeing a surgeon means that she's going to have surgery, which is not true.

What is true is that nothing else worked for Lisa, and Dr. Bae has been implying surgery since the moment Lisa has said that physiotherapy hasn't helped with her pain and that her symptoms have become progressively worse.

It doesn't take long for Dr. Bae to come out of the room, making Chaeyoung sit up on her chair and throw her phone back in her purse and place it on the floor as she expectantly and curiously watches him round his desk and sit at his chair.

"So, how's Seungri hyung?" He asks, causing Chaeyoung to frown at him for two reasons. Firstly, because she wants to know what's going on with Lisa and where she is and secondly, because no one calls her dad Seungri.

Well, apparently Dr. Bae does. She just doesn't remember this detail from back when Dr. Bae used to come at their house in Busan and had her calling him Mr. Nobody because she was just a kid and liked the mystery.

But Dr. Bae, also known as Mr. Nobody, isn't looking at her right now, he's started scribbling things down.

"He's fine." Chaeyoung answers vaguely, not only because her mind is on Lisa, but also because she doesn't really know if her dad is fine. He's been acting weird lately. "Didn't you talk to him like, two days ago?"

"Yes, I did." Dr. Bae cracks a guilty side-smile, like Santana has caught him that he's trying to get her attention away from Lisa. It's not going to work. "But we didn't have time to catch up, only to tell me a little bit about Lalisa."