5. A Stubborn Patient

"Sandy, Auntie is here." Aunt Ryu said as a blink dropped her tears.

Sandy shook his head vigorously, not knowing what else was going through him mind. With all the chaos he was in, he removed the IV from the back of his hand very roughly. Aunt Ryu screamed hysterically as she clutched her stuffy chest and tried to breathe as hard as she could.

Rose and her junior resident who had just opened the door to the room were stunned to see Aunt Ryu so weak, they rushed over to the woman who was found convulsing on the floor.

The young resident leaned Aunt Ryu's body on his shoulder, while Rose called the lung specialist to come to the room immediately.

But Sandy didn't care about her astmatic aunt. He now lowered his legs to get out of bed. He even forced his legs, which had not been able to stand up straight due to the broken bones he had sustained in the accident. She continued to force herself to stand up. Yes, he managed to stand perfectly, but when he tried to take a step, his legs couldn't support his tall body, so he lost his balance and fell.

"Mr. Ryu!" Rose shouted in surprise.

But wait, there was a strange sensation there that gave off a warm and soothing sensation. In the next second, he turned his face to the right and found Rose's dark brown eyes. The doctor was supporting Sandy's frail body that was twice Rose's size by hugging her. Now the two pairs of eyes were clashing, making for a very quiet moment. Even their noses were almost touching. Rose's eyes were still faithfully staring at Sandy without blinking, making her throat feel so dry.

"Stop looking at me like that." Sandy's bass voice was like a sting in Rose's heart.

Rose was too clumsy for him. She wanted to push Sandy's body out of the way, but that would be crazy, a man of that height could not even support his own body. Rose tried to find an object other than Sandy's black eyes that were only a few centimeters away from her, while hiding her cheeks that were starting to heat up.

"Huh?!" Rose's eyes rounded along with her mouth opened wide, when she saw a red liquid flowing freely from the back of Sandy's hand, followed by her moaning that had just felt the pain and sting due to her violent removal of the IV tube.

Without this, Rose slowly led Sandy back to her bed. The man just resignedly followed every movement the doctor made to him at the moment, because he was really in pain.

"Argh!"

This time, it was like there was a huge blow to Sandy's head. He felt extremely dizzy, trying to calm it down with one hand free of wounds while waiting for Rose who was still treating his hand wound.

"Mr. Ryu, calm your mind for a moment. You don't need to think too much right now." Rose said as she stopped what she was doing and wiped the cotton swab with alcohol onto the wound.

"Are you crazy?! My head is going to explode!" squealed Sandy unable to bear the pain.

Rose gave her a smile. "It won't take long if you keep smiling."

This woman just made Sandy even more fed up with her soothing words that had no effect on her at all.

One of Sandy's giant fists tapped Rose lightly on the crown of her head. "Don't talk so much! Hurry up and treat my wound!"

Occasionally Rose winced in pain while grumbling a lot in her mind. Frowning one lip as a sign of her annoyance at this strange man, she continued with the final stage of Sandy's hand treatment.

"Where's my aunt?" asked Sandy who only realized Aunt Ryu's whereabouts after trying to take in the whole room.

The plaster had been placed perfectly on the back of Sandy's hand. Now there was no more blood flowing. Then Rose looked at her interlocutor. "Your aunt is short of breath watching your antics."

All those crazy actions had happened spontaneously. Even Sandy just realized it. The man massaged his forehead. "I'm guessing a flare-up of the asthma."

"Does that happen often?" asked Rose.

Sandy just nodded. Because that's what it was. Aunt Ryu's illness always flared up if there was something that really tormented her. Sandy looked down again as she moistened her lower lip in regret that it was all her own doing. Today, he was completely devastated.

Seeing Sandy's increasingly burdened state, Rose did not remain silent. She grabbed one of Sandy's shoulders and gave it a gentle rub that brought calmness. "Calm down, Aunt Ryu has been handled immediately. You don't need to think too much. Now, get some rest."

Instantly Sandy looked into Rose's eyes again with a very cold and uninterpretable gaze. Again Rose could only remain transfixed before him.

To divert the strange sensation that stung Rose, she said while giving a wide smile, "Ah... well, Sir... get ready for the morning. We'll have therapy tomorrow. Good night."

Rose slowly stepped back while continuing to wave goodbye to Sandy until she managed to close the door. Sandy raised one eyebrow, then chose to lie down, wrapping half of her body in the blanket.

"Hufft..." Rose sighed loudly after making it out of Sandy's room. "He's totally crazy."

^^^

It was already too late, almost 1am. When dealing with patients like this, Rose is always short on rest. Especially if there was a surgery scheduled and she still had to prepare for the proposal exam.

She walked down the hallway to where Aunt Ryu was being temporarily cared for.

Rose managed to open the door to the ward. There was only silence in the dark. The girl snorted softly, as it seemed that Aunt Ryu had rested. She decided to close the door again.

"Rose?"

Rose's eyes widened at the call before she closed the door completely, then opened it again to find Aunt Ryu turning on the bed lamp on the nightstand. The short-haired woman raised both corners of her lips, welcoming Rose's arrival.

Rose turned on the main light, to make the atmosphere more comfortable. Placing herself on the chair beside the bed.

"How are you, ma'am?" asked Rose with concern.

"Yes, like an old man," replied Aunt Ryu who was much better than before. "Rose?"

"Yes?" Rose prepared to listen to Aunt Ryu argue.

"You should know. Sandy often mutters Alin's name, so I beg you to always make her not remember that name anymore. You can do it, right?" said Aunt Ryu hopefully.

"A-alin?" Rose narrowed her eyes.

"Uhmm... Sandy always thinks about it, I'm afraid her mind is getting burdened just because of one name," added Aunt Ryu.

Rose didn't answer right away. There were many things running through her mind. Wetting her lower lip for a moment, she asked. "If I may know... who is Alin?"