HOTLINE | j.hoseok

13; cinderella

author's note;
2800 words. Okurrrt. 😂
i owe you guys so here it is.

☎️

Another day to save lives.

Everyone thinks being a Doctor is so great. Helping people. Saving lives. Not really. I mean, yes, we do save lives. Only because it's our job. It's a rare occurrence to find a Doctor whose life purpose is to save humanity. I may have started to think that way when I was young and new in the profession. It's so fulfilling to be called a Doctor. Everything is new and exciting to me but that has all faded away. I see the faces of people I work with. They are tired and most of them are as lifeless as the deceased, like living zombies. We saves live because it's work and we struggle to get by with our monthly paycheck. That's the sad reality.

I was walking towards the elevator, on my way to the Doctor's changing room, when a child who was running bumped into me and cried. She sat on the floor and was crying. I looked around and nobody seems to be looking after the child. Everyone was just busy doing their things and not one single soul is worried about a wandering patient.

I squatted down to the child's level and smiled as she looked up at me with her puffy, red eyes. She had fringes that hung over her forehead so I swept the softly away from her eyes to see her face clearly, "Hello there. My name is Hoseok. I'm sorry I bumped into you. What's your name?"

She looked hesitant to tell me her name as she just stared at me, clutching onto her hospital clothes. "It's okay. You don't need to tell me your name. Why are you alone? The hospital is a busy place you might get hurt."

"My name is Anya." She spoke in a tiny voice which I found very cute. "I'm lost."

"Okay, Anya. First, let's get you up." I helped her to stand on her feet and noticed an AV fistula on her right arm. I was saddened when I saw it. She is too young. "There you go. You can hold my hand and then we will find your room."

*An Atrio-Ventricular (AV) Fistula is kind of like a combination of a vein and an artery. It is made through surgery and it needs to be mature before it can be used for hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is a method of cleaning the blood in the body when the kidneys are severely damaged and can no longer function.

We went inside the elevator together. She was holding onto my hand while I press the floor to the Pediatrics ward. People who came in from the next floor were all smiling when they saw us. They probably think she's my kid. I glanced down at her as she gripped onto four of my fingers because her hand is too small. It's amazing how children can be so unsuspecting and, to think that there are people out there who takes advantage of them with bad intentions, revolts me.

The elevator stopped on the third floor where we got off. I led her to the right hall and turned left towards the nurses station in hopes that she is admitted in the Pediatric ward.

"Hi. Goodmorning." I greeted the middle aged nurse and she greets back but not as friendly as I expected. "I'm Dr. Jung. I found this kid in the lobby and I was wondering if she's admitted here?"

She eyed the child for a second and then looked back at me. "I don't think she's admitted in this ward but let me find out in our system."

Sanya's grip on my hand tightened as she hid behind me when the nurse looked at her again. I sent a gentle smile towards her, "It's okay. She's helping us."

"What is her name again?" The nurse asked with her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. I told her the child's name and she typed it onto the hospital's system. "She's admitted in the Hemodialysis ward."