Blinded By The Lights | Sungjoy

Act 2 - Chapter 24: Renew and Restore

Despite all her misgivings, the surgery ended successfully. Joy watched pensively from above as the nurses wheeled the patient out of the operating theatre as the rest of Eunwoo's team began to clear away their stations.

The cold feeling had subsided soon after Joy had felt it and she hadn't felt it again for the remaining duration of the surgery. But what had been the catalyst? Had it been Eunwoo?

Now that she thought about it, this was the first time that she had seen Eunwoo operate since they had graduated from medical school.

No, Joy couldn't fathom the idea that Eunwoo would be the reason for such a cold and foreboding feeling. She had heard many of the other senior professors praise him for his skill, and a fair number of the younger doctors and residents were in awe of him.

No, it was probably something else.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Eunwoo looked up and saw Joy in the observation deck along with his father. Was it just her imagination, or did he look like he hadn't slept well recently? She waved her hand at him, ignoring the increasingly loud whispers from the nurses in the other corner as Eunwoo waved back.

"Shall we go down?" Director Cha said as he motioned towards the door. "You said you wanted to talk with my son, right?"

"R-right," Joy said as she followed him out of the room. They took the stairs down and waited outside of the theatre for Eunwoo to emerge. Joy glanced at the screen beside the double doors. Eunwoo's name was listed as the lead surgeon and a blinking timer indicated that time that the surgery had been completed in.

Curiously, the space where the patient's name should have been was empty. Joy frowned. She had never seen that before.

Before she could ask Director Cha about it, the doors swung open as Eunwoo walked out, his white coat back over his scrubs.

"Eunwoo!" Director Cha said jovially, opening his arms to hug his son. He patted his son on the back as he praised him for his work.

"Thanks, Father," Eunwoo said quietly as he returned his father's hug. He turned over to look at Joy who was standing to the side. "Hey."

"Hey."

Director Cha hit his son on his arm. "What are you doing, being so awkward with Doctor Park, hmm? Aish, I can't believe you," he said, shaking his head. "Doctor Park came all the way here to find you because she wanted to talk to you and all you have for her is 'hey'?"

"Aish," Director Cha shook his head. "I know what this is. You're just afraid of talking to her in front of me." He gave his son one last hug before he left the room.

The tension in the room continued to build until Joy decided to speak up at last.

"Eunwoo, I'm sorry about the other night," she said, surprising her friend. Eunwoo looked up from the ground and saw Joy staring determinedly at him.

"I was really tired, and there was just a lot of things that had happened that day after the surgery," Joy continued to ramble, giving multiple excuses for the way that she had acted, but not once did she ever mention Sungjae.

"... and then I just left you after you wanted to show me the hall," Joy said. "Look, I'm just really, really –"

"It's alright," Eunwoo interrupted her. "Apology accepted."

Joy was startled. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Eunwoo smiled at her, alleviating some of the tension.

"But I still don't think that's enough," Joy protested.