Me After Meeting You

When Amber arrived at work the next day, she entered with an unintentional smile on her face. The head nurse was surprised upon seeing her expression. “You seem very happy today. Did something good happen?”

“Yes!” As Amber took out a recording device, her voice was light and lively as she replied, “I found this.”

The head nurse inspected it curiously. “What is it?”

“Something that will tell stories.”

“For Elly?” The head nurse

understood Amber’s thought process quite well by now, and she had realized its purpose almost as soon as she saw it. “You really care about her.”

Amber chuckled before entering her office to put her white coat on. “How has she been these last two days?”

“She hasn’t been making a fuss, but she hasn’t been particularly cooperative either. Dr. Camille, are you sure that you want to keep treating her like this?”

Amber’s footsteps, which had been steadily heading out, faltered. “What’s wrong?”

“The department head was inquiring about Elly’s situation earlier today.” The head nurse leaned in closer, and then softly whispered, “It seemed like Dr. Beryl has been talking to him, so … if you have the time, then you should probably go talk with the head.”

Amber thought for a moment and then nodded. “Alright, thanks for letting me know.”

“No problem. Next time, tell you’re mom to teach me how to make that beef jerky of hers.”

“That’s easy! Just let me ask my mom, and we can head over to her place next week.”

The two chatted for a couple more minutes, and then Amber went over to the doctor’s office to prepare for her ward inspections. The doctors did the rounds every Tuesday, and this included all of the experts and even the head. When they reached Elly’s ward, Beryl smiled maliciously at Amber, and, as if on queue, Amber ended up being called out by the head. “This patient has been here for more than a month by now, hasn’t she?”

Beryl gave out a clarification. “A month and twenty days, Chief.”

The department head gave him a severe look from the side. “You know quite a lot about someone else’s patient, don’t you!”

Beryl blushed scarlet red, and the other doctors had to restrain themselves from laughing, either by turning away or by pretending to look down at their medical reports. Amber, on the other hand, lowered her head and stood to the side, waiting for the chief to continue.

As expected, the chief criticized her on the spot. As Amber listened, she sighed. If this had happened to her a few days earlier, she probably would have been so embarrassed that she wouldn’t have come back to work for several days.

But ever since she was punished with a public self reflection, she had found herself much more thick skinned.

After the round of ward inspections, Amber was called into the chief’s office alone. “Why has that patient of yours not shown any improvement even after having undergone treatment for so long? Some doctors have even reported that you’re treating your patients like test subjects.”

Amber had originally held an indifferent attitude towards this talking to, but when she heard these accusations, her expression quickly became serious.

“That’s not true at all. I’m simply trying to determine the best and most well suited treatment plan. Elly isn’t a typical patient. Her illness, the rare Cotard’s syndrome, has few precedents for treatment, and she’s very much unstable herself. If we force her to take drugs, I fear that her illness will only be temporarily suppressed at best.”

“So you want to reject the methods that we’ve developed in modern medicine?”

“No, chief. I only think that we psychiatric doctors can’t rely too much on external symptoms and medicine. If these two things are sufficient to treat all illnesses, then there wouldn’t be so many people with mental illnesses in this world.”

When Amber spoke about her specialty, she was able to do so frankly and with solid confidence, so much so that even the chief wasn’t able to persuade her. Failing to convince her to change anything, the head once again chased her out of his office.

Not long afterwards, everyone in the department learned of what had happened. After Amber finished her clinical duties in the afternoon, a great many doctors sent congratulatory messages. “I heard that you made the chief so angry that he fell ill again, right? Congratulations, you must be the first one to do so in our hospital’s history.”

And then, “Eat and drink as much as you can. It seems like you won’t have any chance of being promoted in the future.”

Amber didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. When Calvin came over with lunch, he too noticed the other doctors strange and ambiguous attitude towards her, asking, “What’s wrong? Have you done something particularly impressive?”

Amber smiled. “I’ve accomplished something never before seen in the hospital’s history. Does that count?”

Calvin was shocked and surprised. “Really?” And then, after thinking about it, he felt like it was something inevitable. “You’ve always been smart, so it’s only normal that you would’ve done something like that.”

Amber laughed boisterously until she couldn’t anymore, and then she opened the lunchbox that Calvin brought for her and prepared to eat. Just then, the head nurse popped her head into the office.

“Are you having lunch?” When she noticed Calvin, her tone became somewhat apologetic. “Dr. Camille, Dr. Susan from the gynecology department just called and is looking for you. She was asking if you’re free.”

Amber blinked. “Dr. Susan?”

“Yes.”

“Right now? Where is she?”

“The gynecology building. According to her, they have a pregnant woman who seems to be suffering from postpartum depression, and they want you to take a look.’

“I’ll head over right away then.” Amber stood up and said to Calvin, “I’m sorry. Something just came up, so I’ll have to eat this later.”

Calvin was very understanding as he considerately replied, “Don’t worry, and go do what you have to. But make sure that you eat once you’re done.” After the head nurse left, he took out a small piece of braised rib and offered it to her. “Why don’t you first eat a few pieces as a stopgap?”

Looking at it, Amber opened her mouth, bit the meat off the bone, and then somewhat unclearly mumbled, “Thanks.” After putting on her white coat, she was about to go when Calvin suddenly pulled her to a stop.

When she turned around, Calvin leaned in close and pecked her lips with his own. “Go, I’ll see you later tonight.”

Seeing his happy face, Amber suddenly felt a very special feeling well up, as if something had hit the innermost part of her heart very, very softly.

And then she said something that spoiled the intimate atmosphere. “Since you’re here, you should go and see Elly. I’ll have someone set it up for you; if she’s willing, you can even try to approach her.”

Calvin looked at her somewhat speechlessly.

Only then did Amber realize that she hadn’t read the mood very well. “Sorry, I’m a bit lacking in social intelligence these days, so don’t mind me.”

Calvin chuckled. “Slightly, yes, so you should be punished.” He leaned in again, pecking her lips once more.

This time, they weren’t so lucky. The head nurse, after noticing that they still hadn’t come out, popped her head inside again right as the two were kissing.

Amber’s face immediately blushed a deep red that spread all the way to the tips of her ears.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The head nurse and Amber went to the gynecology building together, and Calvin walked them to the elevator. As the elevator doors closed, the head nurse didn’t say anything yet because other people were in it, and Amber similarly tried her best to behave seriously.

But once they were alone, the head nurse lightly rapped Amber with her wrist. “You got a new boyfriend?”

“….”

After a moment of speechlessness, Amber gravely said, “No.”