[The Unlucky Game Master]

Arc 4.2

He grabs his chest while eating, he's only eating a cream cheese pastry, but it's already starting to hurt?

He feels a blocked stifled feeling in his chest with small stabs of pain and doesn't dare to move while holding his chest as he lowers his head while trying to breath as lightly as possible.

He recalls Dr. Charles words when he questioned him while breathing.

It's been so many years and he's still so affected by it.

Ethan used to have friends who cared for him, but they slowly distanced themselves from him as he started to gain weight and was becoming more reticent.

Food, never disgusted him until he started noticing the effects on him caused by it.

He felt disgusted knowing he's only killing himself faster by eating it, when his body was already changed beyond recognition.

His mother gradually started to become more stressed from the bills and only relied more heavily on that man.Even if he told her, she wouldn't believe him or deny it.

He has a feeling that she vaguely knew, but never interfered.

That man helps wash his body even after gaining weight, but he's never touched him again.

He knows that man finds his current body disgusting and only helps to wash him, to agitate him after knowing why he changed.

It's his twentieth birthday in two weeks and he wants to invite Dr. Charles over, but is also afraid of letting him see the house.

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Standing near the wall and looking over a file of papers, he occasionally checks on the patients situation as the nurses assess the patient after the surgery before looking back down again.

He waits until he sees the nurses finish and takes the clipboard with the initial hemodynamic readings handed to him as he walks towards the patient to examine him.

He checks the endotracheal tube placement and air entry, before verifying his oxygen saturation and the ventilator settings.

When he starts to examine for excessive bleeding after checking his heart rates, a nurse walks in to hand him the ABG result.

He walks out only when he is assured that there were no issues after repeated assessments and waits for the patient to wake up from GA for further examination.

He stretches his stiff body lightly, not caring about his image hearing the staff laugh behind him.

"You must be tired Dr. Jacobson."

Finally some sympathy, he thinks as one of the resident doctors look at him with understanding, seeing him stretching after coming out from the ICU.

He's gotten familiar with the staff of this hospital, after attending for a little over a year.

He came here because they were lacking a cardiothoracic surgeon and only planned to stay for a couple months, until their surgeon could come back to work.

It would have been fine if they had doctors skilled enough to temporarily fill in available, but they were all too busy.

Of course the patients of the doctor were uncomfortable with the changes at first, but relaxed with his professionalism, and he assured that it was only temporary with the doctor coming back in a couple of months to attend to them.

He would rather spend his time on his research and attending patients than actively holding seminars.

In the beginning he was exceedingly busy attending patients and researching even with his exceptional reputation in the academics, he started practicing independently when he passed the third level exam.He even visited other hospitals as an attendee rather than starting his own practice, he would advise the hospital staff when performing a surgery in the hospital.

New patients would be assigned to other doctors, but he took up the duty when he saw Ethan and became his sole appointed doctor.

There was just no helping it, Ethans situation took up way too much time that they did not have and was tedious.

Ethan wouldn't be able to afford the costs of such treatment and would have to be sent back.

He only did the most accurate and necessary procedures for Ethan, in hopes of lowering the costs sustained.

He ended up prolonging his stay at the hospital after handing back the patients to the doctor he was filling in for and focused more on Ethans treatment.

While heading to the cloakroom, he feels his phone vibrate in his coat pocket.

Picking it up he looks at the caller ID and slides his finger over the screen, before pressing the phone to his ear as he opens the cloakroom door.

He hangs up his coat and opens his locker to take out his bag filled with his clothes while listening calmly to the sound of breathing coming from the phone.

He heads to a bathroom stall and starts changing out of his light blue scrubs and placing them in the bag as he takes out clothes to wear.

He finally hears static from the phone as Ethan starts talking when he's putting on his shirt.

He pauses when he hears the contents of the message, before continuing to pull his shirt over his head.

"Will that really be alright, Ethan?"

He asks in a level tone, not wanting to scare him after he came to such a big decision.

The phone goes silent as the breathing returns.Walking out of the hospital he greets the staff good night before heading to his car.

He continues talking in soft tones with Ethan while backing out of the parking space and driving on the street.

He never intended for his work to affect him this much, but he can't just watch without doing anything.

He stops his car in the driveway of a traditional style house and opens the door with his keys then takes off his shoes.Putting on the slippers by the door, he presses the button to lock the car, before tossing them on the coffee table.

He never bought a house to live in before and would at most rent something, with how much he travels.

He likes simple things and would never spend his money on something he finds pointless.

Pouring a cup of coffee, he listens to Ethan patiently, even when the phone is frequently left with the sound of breathing.

Walking over to the coffee table, he grabs a Hopkins Medicine magazine to casually leaf through as he sits on the sofa sipping his coffee.

He looks at the time on his watch when he finishes reading the magazine with the empty coffee cup placed on the table and advises Ethan to rest while wishing him a good night.

Hanging up the phone, he tosses it beside him on the couch as he stares blankly at the ceiling of the house.

What is he even doing?

He has never let a patient influence his life so much.