Until Whenever (Showki fanfic)

Ch. 24: Dire Straits

Hyunwoo

~after his shift~

"Doctor Son, please stop right there," someone calls out to me as I was about to walk into the elevator.

I turned around and saw Nurse Lee speed walking over. "Is there something wrong," I asked.

"There is a patient in your office demanding to see you right now," she says.

"But, I am of- Who is it?"

"Mr. Jo," she replies.

"Oh, okay. I will head over there right now," I replied. She nods  before going back to the nurses' station. As I head over to my office, I recounted what his case was. A sense of sadness washes over me as it reminded me of bad times. Once I had arrived at my office, I knocked on the door once before entering.

"Oh, good. You are finally here. That nurse kept trying to turn me away and kept telling me to make an appointment. But, frankly, I don't got time to wait around," he huffs.

"...Good afternoon, Mr. Jo. Please don't blame Nurse Lee. She was only doing her job. There is a process that needs to be followed to see a doctor....Anyways, what brought you here today?"

"Tsk. I got the results back from my tests. They didn't tell me what was on it and said you will tell me," he says and hands me a thick manila envelope.

"I see," I said and took it from him. I opened it and took out the contents. I read each page carefully. When I got to the final page, I was disheartened by the results.

"Just say it," Mr. Jo says as he probably suspected that the results were not good from my expression as I was reading his results.

"Mr. Jo...there is no easy way to say this. I'll be honest with you. You have been diagnosed with massive hemoptysis," I said slowly while looking into his eyes after setting the documents  down.

"Massive hemoptysis? What is that," he asks with a look of fear in his eyes.

"It is an illness that makes you cough up blood from your lungs or airway. There are various causes for this. I believe the smoking that you have done over the years and possibly the exposure to the elements in the countries that you had vacationed at might have caused this," I replied.

"Is there a cure for this, Doctor," he asks after grabbing onto my hands with his.

"There is. It will involve an extended stay in the I.C.U., intubation, and  surgery. We will have to do this quickly before it affects your internal organs even more than it already has."

"Oh my god! I- I can be saved, right?"

"I cannot make any promises, but  I can assure you that the other staff members and I will do our best. I'll put in the orders right now and get you your treatment as soon as possible," I answered.  

"Thank you so much, Doctor," he says before squeezing my hands tightly then letting go.