The Winter Clock

CHAPTER 30 – HIDING SOMETHING

“Cut” Vander said after tying the last thread professionally, closing the patient’s chest. “Good job, everyone.” He added with a big smile plastered on his lips. Reina felt happy seeing him like this. Finally, the real Cardiothoracic Surgeon of T.H. is back after Natalie died. “Let’s wrap everything up.”

“Yes, Doctor!”

The head nurse removed the green surgical drape, and right after she did, Reina stopped. Her head tilted quizzically. She heard it again. The ticking of the clock. Reina felt as of her ear was about to burst because of the loudness of the sound. Suddenly, she felt her body turn cold. Where was the sound coming from?! He checked the patient’s forehead a couple of minutes ago, and it was clear so she was confident to assist Vander. She scanned her colleagues’ forehead but saw nothing.

Suddenly, an eerie sound filled the whole Operating Room. The sound made everyone panic. “Doctor, his blood pressure dropped!” Reina shouted and injected something into the hose. The sound became louder. She quickly checked the man’s forehead, and her hunch was correct.

“What?!” Vander quickly checked the chest.

“D-Doctor, it-“

“Scissors. Let’s snip the stitches.” Vander ordered swiftly, and his assistants quickly put the green surgical drape, and the head nurse handed him the scissor. Reina felt her insides tremble, but she managed to ignore them. Vander is a good surgeon, and this is his specialty. Everything will be alright. That’s what she thought.

As soon as every stitch was removed, Vander’s eyes widened, and Coleg, his assistant, became pale.

“T-The heart exploded….” Coleg murmured and looked at the vital monitor. Impossible. How come Vander did not notice it? How come Vander made a mistake?

“No.” Reina blurted out and quickly injected something into the hose again. Seeing her reaction, Vander remembered Jenny. He froze. “Dr. Vander!” He flinched when Reina shouted, making him come back to his senses. He shook his head and gently but swiftly pushed his hand inside the man’s chest.

“D-Doctor? What are you-“

“I’m massaging his heart.” Vander cut Coleg and gently massages the heart. Coleg’s eyes widened. Massage? The heart just exploded!

“Will his heart rate come back?” Coleg asked again, unable to fully comprehend Vander. Vander frowned and looked at the vital monitor without minding Coleg, who was starting to panic. “Doctor, will-“

“Just think about saving him for earth’s sake!” Vander retorted, making Coleg partially tremble. The patient’s blood pressure is still low. Vander hissed.

“Please come back.” Reina silently prayed as the ticking sound made her partially deaf. Coleg felt his lips tremble. Vander was not using the proper procedure, and he felt uncomfortable.

“Doctor… shouldn’t we use the step-by-step procedure?” Coleg asked, full of confusion, but Vander only rolled his eyes and focused on massaging the patient’s heart.

“What’s the use of procedure if the patient is in a trauma state? What he needs is salvation, not a program. Learn to read the situation, Doctor. Not only books.” Reina answered calmly. Coleg is a freshman, so he is not yet familiar with how their team destroys programs. “If the patient’s in a critical situation, you need to act accordingly. Procedure one is not what he needs tonight. Doing that will only kill him.” She added and checked the vitals. It improved but was still critical.

“He’s back!” Reina announced and released a deep sigh of relief. She checked the time of the man’s forehead. It was prolonged. But that’s the problem. It was only prolonged, and the time was still there for today.

“Arrhythmia,” Vander whispered and removed his hand inside the chest. “Defibrillator! 250, charge!” The man leaped from the table and became still. Suddenly, Reina’s ear started to become clear, but not fully. She stopped and blinked a couple of times. “Vitals?” Vander asked.

“H-His blood pressure is back to 100 and 80,” Reina announced in a low voice. Vander looked down, releasing a profound breath. “Dr. Rein, tell me, how many hours?”

Reina’s eyes widened as she looked at Vander, whose gaze was calmer than a while ago. “H-Hours?” She asked for confirmation, and Vander nodded.

“You’re good at reading the situation, right? You gave us sixty minutes during the accident a few months ago. Well, you always give us the exact time.” Vander reasoned out, feigning innocence. Hearing his remarks, Reina’s eyes dropped, and her breathing became normal. Seriously? She thought she had dyspnea for a moment.

“A-Ah, yeah. Yeah… reading of situation….” She stuttered and faked a chuckled. “Three hours. Please check his heart more-“Reina stopped when blood started to splash from the patient’s chest, staining Coleg’s face, making him stagger back. Vander’s eyes quickly transferred from Reina to the patient.

“Hemostat forceps, please,” Vander asked calmly, and the head nurse quickly gave him the hemostat forceps. Vander clamped the area where the blood was splashing.

***

“Cheer up, Doctor. He won’t die.” Reina uttered and patted Vander’s shoulders. “His condition was critical, but you managed to make the operation successful,” Reina added.

After the six hours of open-heart surgery, finally, the two can take their rest. Coleg chose to sleep on the Doctor’s quarter, but Vander and Reina went to the break room.

Vander’s eyes transferred from his palms to Reina sitting opposite him, drinking her cold coffee. His eyes narrowed, not because of his face blindness, but because of the weird things that he started to notice to Reina since Natalie died. Vander stopped. Is it only after Natalie died? Or is Reina always being too perceptive, it’s mysterious?

Sensing his gaze, Reina stopped drinking. “What’s wrong?” She asked and looked at the clock. Ryther was still operating by now.

“Dr. Rein, please tell me the truth,” Vander asked firmly, sending goosebumps to Reina’s body. He never used this tone to her.

“W-What?”

“Are you hiding something?”

Reina felt the cold crept from her feet to her fingers. Did he notice it? No, did she make things obvious for him to notice?

“You said it’s Doctor’s guts or woman’s guts. But I don’t think that’s the only reason.”

Reina gulped and felt her palms start to be sweaty. Will she say it?

“How come you can say if our patients will die tonight or live?”

~ Not all the times we follow programs. Learn to read situations, not just books. ~