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Pyo Ji Soo wheels herself inside a darkened room.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
An unmoving figure sat at the edge of the hospital bed, eyes gazing at Seoul’s evening skyline. Ji Soo maneuvered herself closer, pausing at the side. Her eyes shifted to her best friend’s frozen face, and had to tightly grip the arm of her wheelchair to prevent her own tears from falling as she watched Mo Yeon's features shift, finally losing the battle of holding the weight of her overwhelming emotions.
Mo Yeon never faltered. When Ji Soo met her about a decade ago in medical school, she saw a driven, passionate, and idealistic woman who was shaped by time and experience to become the most promising surgeons of their generation. Mo Yeon never faltered when sleep became a stranger to her with the intense competition during their schooling, nor did she balk when she almost had to live in the hospital during their clerkship and internship days. In their graduation, a self-made woman stood as representative of their batch as the Hippocratic Oath passed their lips, the vow that they had to uphold for the rest of their professional lives. She did not waver when she was not chosen as professor numerous times because she has no connections. She cried her frustrations and fought back indignantly when oppressed, and she lived with it. She survived Urk a changed woman, and Ji Soo has always been so proud of her.
Only one man had to come knocking to force her out of her comfort zone, and Mo Yeon became her strongest.
However, the wall of strength reinforced by Mo Yeon’s relationship with Si Jin has its cracks.
“I lost a patient today,” Kang Mo Yeon whispered. “Male. Thirty years old. Bodyguard to some high-ranking business man. Gun shot wound to the chest. Foul play. Assassination attempt.”
“Oh dear. It wasn’t your fault he died,” Ji Soo attempts to explain, but is silenced by when the tear from Mo Yeon’s eye fell. She wraps a hand on her best friend’s, feeling the coarseness brought by the repeated scrubbing of her hands. Ji Soo knows that Mo Yeon likes her hand creams, but ever since she heard of Si Jin’s death, she never saw Mo Yeon pondering upon which one to use.
Mo Yeon has never worried much about her appearance. Ji Soo knows Mo Yeon pampers herself, as it is part of her professional upbringing. Her best friend has always been beautiful in her eyes, but with Si Jin, she just shone so bright.
She wonders when Mo Yeon will do so again.
“Patients die almost every day. Even my patients die sometimes, but why does it have to be today?”
Ji Soo remembers the Si Jin who Mo Yeon had to save almost two seasons ago, bloody and not breathing as he was wheeled to the operating room. From Chi Hoon, she learned how Mo Yeon had to save him, and how she almost didn’t. She and Chi Hoon had to hold each other for a few moments as the younger man narrated how Si Jin made Mo Yeon cry in devastation and frustration almost at the same time. She saw Mo Yeon hours later, when Si Jin was resting in the same room they are right now, tired but relieved. Mo Yeon never left that night, and with Sang Hyun, Ja Ae, and Min Ji’s help, Ji Soo was able to see how protectively Si Jin held her even with a broken arm until dawn. The three gushed at how sweet the two were at the time, but Ji Soo’s happiness sprung from the peacefulness painted in her friend’s face.
She also remembered how she accidentally saw Mo Yeon crying, with Sergeant Choi bowing in grief when he brought her the new of Si Jin’s demise. Ji Soo couldn’t touch her then, and in the confines of her office, she mourned for a love that ended too soon.
“Tell me what today’s supposed to be,” Ji Soo urges, and she watches as Mo Yeon closes her eyes.
“It’s his birthday today. I…I almost forgot about our plans and had to cancel our hotel reservation.” Mo Yeon wiped her cheeks, laughing bitterly. “I’ve been so immersed into torturing the interns that I forgot. I called his phone right after surgery, but when he didn’t pick up after the nth ring…I haven’t slept since yesterday, maybe that’s why it slipped my mind that he won’t ever answer my calls anymore. I didn’t know where else to go. I don’t feel like coming home, then I remembered this room.”
And when Mo Yeon finally breaks, Ji Soo holds her with the strength she has. She wraps her arm at Mo Yeon’s waist, letting her best friend rest her trembling form over her. Ji Soo caresses her back, aiding in relieving the tension in Mo Yeon’s small frame.
Ji Soo lets Mo Yeon break little by little, in the way that she braces herself for a destructive aftermath. She never hated Si Jin before, but at this moment, with Mo Yeon in her arms, she wants to drag him from whatever hell or heaven he’s resting now.
Mo Yeon pulls back in a few, trying to compose herself. Ji Soo observes as she affectionately patted the bed.
“I know you were snooping with Sang Hyun sunbae the night I stayed over.”
Ji Soo almost snickers in memory, but is only able to muster a lopsided smile. “You were asking for it.”
Mo Yeon laughs, but the mood doesn’t last for long. “I finally spoiled myself to the ending of the movie we never got to finish.”
“And?” Ji Soo asks in curiosity.
“I should have known it’d have a sad ending.”
How fitting, Ji Soo thought. Not every great love story has a happy ending.
“It will be alright,” Ji Soo pats Mo Yeon’s leg. “You will be alright.”
Mo Yeon gazes back at her, and even with tear-filled eyes, she answers. “I have to be.”