A Rose by Any Other Name

Chapter 22

Writer's Note- Remember to vote, or else.

Okay so nothing will happen if you don't vote but yeah just consider doing it.

Unsure about the song, I think something instrumental is nice every now and then. Regardless, it's a sweet one.

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After my stitches had been taken out, and my foot rebandaged a nurse brought me to the outpatient room I'd be staying in for the day.

"So, Derrick we'll just be running some tests today by putting your magix plasma through the centrifuge and a bit of bloodwork. Okay?" The nurse was overtly bright, blinking her heavily lashed eyes at me.

I made a noncommittal noise and she proceeded to poke and prod me for the next 15 minutes while she took blood and plasma. I was supposed to be under observation for the next twelve hours so they'd given me some kind of patient smock. It was green with small white dots. It seemed like a one size fits all kind of thing so it billowed around me almost comically. I had the dignity of my briefs at least, and a pair of slippers the staff had given me.

I was hooked up to a series of machines; one to track my heart rate and another to track any current abnormalities in my plasma. The easiest way to explain it was that it was boring.

After about an hour of me watching tv, staring at a wall and playing on my phone, Dr.Song came in.

He seemed different this morning. His top knot had not a hair out of place, and he looked calm. He opened his mouth to say something and that's when I heard a phone ring. Dr.Song looked flustered before he picked up. He looked down and then to the side, before talking in Korean. His brows knitted together in frustration and he started speaking in English, "Mi-ran, your eomma makes congee just fine, okay? Eat what you're given." Dr. Song turned around, leaning into his cell phone and sighing. "Okay. Okay. Bye, I love you."

Dr.Song turned back to me, slipping his phone on silent and apologizing. "My daughter calls me all the time." He shook his head with a fond smile on his face, "She's ridiculous."

"You have kids?" I said, surprised by how the topic changed the severity of his face to something more open.

Dr.Song seemed reluctant to talk about it. "Yes, Mi-Ran and Minh, a girl and a boy."

"How old are they?"

Dr.Song came over to examine my chart, looking at my heart rate monitor. "Nine, Mi-ran is in her picky eater stage and Minh is obsessed with his guitar." Dr.Song sounded annoyed but he was smiling slightly, too.

Wow, twins. That seemed like a handful. "You and your wife have been together for a while, huh?"

Dr.Song looked increasingly surprised at my questions. "Yes, almost fifteen years now." He fiddled with a band on his thumb, "I don't know if these questions are appropri-"

There was a loud knock on the door before a man entered and I felt odd for a moment with a man I didn't know entering the room. He seemed even taller than Mike somehow, wearing a white dress shirt, dark dress pants, and laced leather shoes. The man could've been another doctor for all I knew but without the lab coat I couldn't be sure.

"Eun-jae-" The man said in a deep booming voice that bounced off the walls.

Dr.Song's voice was tight, "I'm with a patient. Derrick, Dr.Nguyen. Dr.Nguyen, Derrick."

Dr.Nguyen came over to shake my hand. His grip was hard as he squeezed my hand. I looked at him more closely then. He had dark tanned skin, high cheekbones and a closely shaven beard. His appearance was completely different from that of Dr.Song's. Dr.Song had a crisp professional air, whereas Dr.Nguyen was courting on the edge between rugged and unkept.