Unexpected Encounters.
Third Time's the Charm [Discontinued]
“Can someone bring over restraints?!?”
The yell of a desperate intern doctor resonated in the air, cutting through the sound of beeping machineries. A patient was brought in merely seconds ago by paramedics due to anti-social behaviour involving stripping his clothes and jumping onto incoming cars, and he was now being anything but cooperative with the intern assigned to him.
“You won’t get me this time no! I know what you’re up to!” The patient screeched, thrashing around as health professionals attempted to hold him down. “You think I don’t know what you’re up to? You won’t get me this time no!”
“What on earth is this guy on?”
“Suspected drug-induced psychosis,” the paramedic explained to the intern doctor. “There are injection marks on his arms, and a bag of white powder. We injected him with sedative before transport but—”
The poor paramedic was unable to finish his sentence as the patient’s elbow made contact with his jaw, shutting him up completely. Sehun looked up from his station where he was suturing the leg wound of a young student. She was staring at the phone whilst crossing the street and ended up getting knocked over by a motorbike. She had a nasty wound on her head too. A CT scan had been taken, but they were still awaiting results. Sehun sighed heavily, hastening with his task in order to go assist the poor intern doctor.
“Coming through!” A bright voice echoed, signalling to Sehun that all would be alright.
Soonbok marched steadily towards the psychotic patient who was being awkwardly held down by the intern doctor, a paramedic, and a student nurse. She raised her arm and the thick needle of the syringe she held glistened under the lights. With no warning, Soonbok pushed her free arm against the thrashing patient’s thigh and stabbed it with the syringe. The liquid inside the syringe quickly diminished, flowing steadily into the patient instead.
“Fast-release sedative administered,” Soonbok declared as she glanced at those who were still maintaining the restraint position.
The paramedic quickly bowed to the nurse and made himself sparse, returning to his partner inside the ambulance. The intern doctor and student nurse looked at each other in uncertainty. However, feeling the body of the patient go visibly numb, they too released their grip and finally allowed themselves to sigh in relief.
“No time to relax,” Soonbok bellowed at the two junior colleagues. “Bring the patient to bay 5 and make sure to put soft restraints on him. I want a toxicology report and CT scan. Also—”
Soonbok froze as darkness enclosed her. At first an eerie silence blanketed the ER. Machineries were muted and the buzzing fluorescent lights failed to shine. The whole ER was enveloped in an unprecedented and unexpected darkness. Panic quickly aded as patients yelped in fear and staff members entered emergency mode. The back-up generators had yet to kick in, leaving only the emergency lights viable. Soonbok held her breath and glanced at the lifeless computer screen. The life-saving machines were still up-and-running, relying solely on the limited battery-life.
On the other side of the ER, Sehun was taken by surprise as the student he was treating was suddenly experiencing a seizure. This unexpected turn of events resulted in him slicing the patient’s thigh just as he was about to cut the suture thread. Cursing under his breath, Sehun scavenged the area in desperate need of an available nurse. He could only rely on his eyes and the limited lighting offered by the machines to make out a frantic Jongin rushing for the portable defibrillator to a patient who had gone into cardiac arrest. Soonbok’s name rested on the tip of Sehun’s tongue. There was still residual tension from their previous argument, and Sehun wanted to survive at least one week in the ER without needing Soonbok’s help, just to show that he had what it took to work there. Was he being petty? Possibly. Nonetheless, Sehun was not someone who would allow his pettiness impact the livelihood of an innocent patient. Taking in a sharp breath, he was ready to ask for Soonbok’s assistance when a petite figure came into view.
“Injecting 1ml of diazepam,” the seasoned nurse announced confidently. “Also got the CT results for the patient. She had a concussion which was probably the cause of this seizure.”
Sehun’s jaws dropped as he blinked foolishly. Maybe it was the darkness playing tricks on him. The nurse in front of him was slightly taller than Soonbok and her voice was notably different — it held a mature richness and it was a nostalgic voice. Once Sehun’s brain caught up with what was happening, he gasped in utter shock.
“Taeyeon? What are you—”
“I was cleared to return to work today,” Taeyeon gleamed. “Looks like I came just at the right time.”
“Taeyeon, I…”
Sehun was at a loss for words. There was so much he wanted to say yet so little he managed to verbalise. Thus he bit his tongue, not wanting to embarrass himself any further. Taeyeon smiled at the younger male
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