Kiss Me, Heal Me

Chapter 6

“Hi,” Reeva greeted the patient in bed 6 of the emergency room. For now, she has been doing rotations in every department—as required by the higher-ups. But really, she had already made up her mind that she wanted to be a surgeon. Last week, she had her duty at the pediatrics, which was surprisingly enjoyable, too. What was not good was she had a weak heart for those children suffering from different illnesses. Just like this emergency patient who was just a nine-year-old boy.

He stared at her; his eyes full of fear. “H-Hello,” he greeted her back.

“I’m Doctor Reeva, and I am going to treat your boo-boo…” She tried to be as jolly as she could, thinking that it might lessen the fear of the child. “Would you mind telling me what happened?” she asked, although she already knew what happened because it was already on their record.

The boy fell off his bike and hit his head on the pavement, causing a three-centimeter laceration near his hairline. His father said the bleeding wouldn’t stop, so they panicked and took him to the hospital. She knew the boy's father. His face was familiar because she had seen him on posters, and sometimes on the news. He was the viral youngest mayoral candidate that has a charming aura to the elders.

“I fell off my bike,” the boy explained. “I hurt my head.”

She nodded. “And it caused you pain?” she asked. Of course, he was in pain. His eyes were still red from crying. She knew that, but she needed to divert his attention from what she was going to do. “Why did you fall off? Were you out of balance?”

She prepared the anesthesia for his head needed to be stitched. Alysson helped her with the sutures.

“There was a kitten, I tried to avoid it,” he causally said.

She widened her eyes comically. “Wow! Did you hear that, Nurse Aly?” she asked Aly, who was handing her the forceps with povidone-iodine-dipped cotton. “You are such a hero! A brave, brave, super-brave hero!” she teased. The boy smiled and then grunted in pain when the muscle of his forehead moved. “Now, I’m going to clean the boo-boo, all right? This won’t hurt.”

The boy nodded; his face still painted with pain.

Nurse Aly smiled with approval at her as she handed her the sutures.

Then, a hand held her arm, making her stop. When she turned her head, it was the mayoral candidate, Mr. Jenkins. She bit her lower lip under her mask.

“Will this come off on its own?” he asked.

“I’m going to use absorbent suture, sir,” she explained, hoping that he would already let go of her arm. But he didn’t. Her toes curled inside her white crocs. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. She wanted to relax, but she couldn’t. Her heart was starting to beat fast as her breathing was starting to become rapid. “I’m just going to prescribe some post-medication for his pain.”

The man still didn’t let go. His hold was firm, and not giving any signs that he was going to let go anytime soon. “Will it leave some scar—”

She forcedly withdrew her arms from his hand, causing the povidone-iodine to get spilled on his feet. “I… I’m sorry,” she said, her lips shaking. Thankfully, it was hidden under her mask.

The man raised both of his hands. “Holy… cheese,” he mumbled. He was calm. There was no anger or anything that could be found in his tone. “What’s wrong with you?” Again, there was no hint of anger or annoyance.

She gulped, and blinked. “I… I’m sorry,” she repeated.

That was when Luxien arrived. “What happened?” he asked, staring at the spilled liquid on the floor.

“I… I might’ve hurt the doctor, I don’t know—” the man said.

Luxien looked at her. “Go upstairs, I’ll handle this,” he said, motioning his head outside the curtain.

She practically half ran and half walked to the elevator.