Viya's POV
Fall and winter were peak seasons for illness, and I'd been seeing patients non-stop for three days straight before the flood of walk-ins finally began to subside.
"Thank you, Dr. Lockwood. You always make time for me even when I don't have an appointment," Mrs. Reynolds said gratefully as I carefully inserted acupuncture needles along her meridian points.
She was nearly fifty, one of my regular patients with severe kidney disease. Her life circumstances were difficult—she'd lost her only son in his prime, and her mate was a complete jerk who'd never supported her.
Every visit required her to leave home before dawn, taking two bus transfers and three subway lines from the outskirts of the city just to reach my clinic.
Perhaps it was medical compassion, or maybe
