A Rose Amongst Thorns

Chapter Nine

Phana was in the emergency room when he heard that Dr. Kongpob Suthiluck was coming in with an ambulance. Believing something had happened to his best friend, Phana donned a trauma gown and rushed to the ambulance bay. He paced as he waited for the ambulance to arrive. The rig roared into the bay and the paramedics burst from the rear door. Phana was astonished to find someone else on the gurney with Kongpob in tow. He looked more closely at the patient on the gurney and recognized Arthit. Confused, he took control of the trauma and engaged the paramedics.

"Give me the bullet (see Author's Note below)!"

"Man, in his mid-20s suffered from a panic attack and fainted. We applied IV fluids and oxygen in the field."

The gurney was pushed into the emergency treatment area, so Arthit could be properly assessed. Phana, along with an intern and two nurses approached the gurney and prepared to transfer Arthit to the bed in the ER. Once he had been transferred, Phana began calling out orders to the others.

"Alright folks, let's get a CBC, full chem panel, a CT and tox screen."

"Yes doctor."

Kongpob was standing at the foot of Arthit's bed with his arms crossed and his brows knitted tightly. Phana caught a glimpse of him out the corner of his eye.

"Kongpob, you know the rules. You gotta fall back Kong."

"I'm a doctor Phana. I need to make sure he's okay."

Phana left Arthit to the others, peeled off his gloves and put his arm around Kongpob's shoulders.

"Listen to me Kong. I know you're a doctor, but right now, you're just a concerned person waiting to hear about the condition of a patient. You know as well as I do that the best way to help Arthit right now, is to sit in the waiting area. Is there someone you can call for him? Does he have any family who would want to know what's going on?"

"His best friend came with us in the ambulance."

"Well why don't you go and keep him company? I'm sure he's probably going crazy right now. He could use an update. Take care of that for me, won't you?"

Kongpob shook his head and slowly walked to the waiting area.

Rome was pacing back and forth, nervously biting his nails. He looked up and saw Kongpob walking towards him. He ran up to him and punched him with all his might. Kongpob fell to the floor, his lip bleeding.

"What did you do to him, you bastard?!"

Security guards grabbed Rome and held him, but Kongpob waved them away.

"It's okay. I'm fine. Everything's fine. He's just worried, that's all."

Kongpob stood up and sat down in one of the chairs. Rome stood over him and grabbed his shirt collar. Security took a step forward but didn't come any further. Kongpob wearily looked up to Rome and put up both of his hands, as if to surrender. Rome sighed deeply and sat down next to Kongpob.

"I'm not about to apologize for knocking the shit out of you. Somebody needs to kick every inch of your ass. You know that right? I just need you to answer two questions for me. Number one: how is Arthit?"

"He's being assessed now. My best friend Phana is his doctor. He's the best ER doc I know so Arthit is in good hands. I'm pretty sure the panic attack and the fainting are unrelated, but I can't be sure until Phana gets the results of the tests he's requested."

"Okay. Number two: what the fuck did you do to make him freak out like that?"

Kongpob leaned forward and shook his head.