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Taehyung peeked slowly at the schedule sent via their group chat. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said as he read and saw:
Surgery Department Emergency Room DUTY TEAM - December 19-23: Jung Hoseok, Kim Namjoon, Kim Taehyung, Park Jimin
Anesthesia Department DUTY TEAM - December 24-25: Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin
Of all the days in December that he could be assigned to go on hospital duty, of course, it had to be during Christmas week. Taehyung sighed and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Given, they would have less duty days than their other group members because others were assigned for two weeks before and after the holiday season. Taehyung could not believe that his dream of binging movies, eating lots of popcorn, while wrapped in a comfortable blanket on Christmas eve has gone.
He opened his phone again, copying the schedule into his calendar and slowly getting into terms with his fate. A few seconds after, he received a text from their angel group member, Park Jimin.
Park Jimin: hey, kim. looks like we’d be chill on christmas eve haha
Kim Taehyung: i hope so. sucks to be on duty during the holidays tho
Park Jimin: hmm, we’ll see. some seniors say it’s fun being on duty during the holidays. read that as lots of free food
Kim Taehyung: true, couldn’t say no to that. see you, park. :)
Park Jimin: see you, kim.
🎁🎁🎁
DECEMBER 19-23: Surgery Department
This was their second month in the Surgery department. By now, they were used to the routine amidst the chaos brought by the different cases they attend to. Most of them were abdominal pain. Namjoon as the team leader of the duty team was assigned to interview and examine the patients first before referring to their senior medical resident on duty. Hoseok and Taehyung were designated as the ones who would insert IV lines and give medications once the resident had written their orders on the chart. Jimin was assigned to accompany the patients who need X-ray done and assist Hoseok and Taehyung when the room had gotten more hectic than usual.
These four people were grouped by chance. Before the start of the internship year, the head of the interns made them pick from a bowl with little papers, the letters of the groups written in them. Each of them picked letter B as their group, deciding their fate as groupmates for the whole year.
For the past five months, they completed their rotations on two of the major departments, Internal Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology. They had seen the best and worst of each other. There was an unmistakable and strong bond built after all the fights and the victories they had. Taehyung and Jimin grew from being the interns who argued the most to the ones with the closest bond, even if they retained their habit of calling each other by their surnames.
As medical interns, coffee was a lifeline to survive around 36 hours of hospital duty. Taehyung seemed to take it upon himself to supply Jimin with this, even if Taehyung himself wasn’t a big coffee drinker. This habit came with Hoseok and Namjoon’s teasing, inquiring why Taehyung opt to buy coffee only for Jimin when the two elder group members were there too. Understandably, Taehyung reasoned that he had limited budget and said, “Hyung, I’ll buy you both more expensive coffee when once I start working after getting my medical license. Promise”
As medical interns, sleep was quite the luxury, working at a public hospital with patients coming and going. Over the course of their duty days, the four of them developed a system of alternate sleep schedules, making sure their post was never empty. Jimin and Taehyung were the ones who filled the post during the hours leading up to midnight, as they were used to being awake until dawn. At around 1 AM, Hoseok and Namjoon would wake up from the sleeping quarters and let the younger ones sleep. With the bed in the interns’ quarters being too small for two people and neither one of them wanting to sleep on the couch, Jimin and Taehyung got used to sleeping closer to each other, short of cuddling.
As medical interns, food was divine. And Jimin’s mother was their savior. Throughout their duty days, she had brought home-cooked meals for lunch that they often ate during night time, when there were less patients going to their department. Hoseok did not miss the way Jimin reserved the largest portions of meat for Taehyung, even teasing him one time and Jimin responding that his mom reminded him to “give the large parts to dear Taehyung”. His mom knew how precious Jimin’s friendship with Taehyung had become and made sure that both her son and his best friend “got their tummies full to keep their brains working”.
They fulfilled the number of duty hours from December 19 to December 23, left and right stitching wounds and putting casts on patients with fractures like when a certain famous skater Jeon Jungkook was brought after an unfortunate incident in a competition. The Emergency Department became a little bit more chaotic than usual, with some patient’s relatives trying to get a glimpse of the celebrity. Jimin and Taehyung were the ones assigned to tend to the young skater, quickly giving a little privacy by draping curtains around Jungkook’s bed. Jungkook kept apologizing for the hassle he caused, to which the Angel Park Jimin just shushed and said, “Please, you should stop worrying about others and just focus on yourself for now. We’ll do our best to make the stitches quick and painless. Also the cast. But what’s important is you know you’re not a bother for us.”
Jungkook managed to say, “Thank you”, in his small voice, trying to hold back his tears. Taehyung came after a few seconds with the materials needed for the procedures and tried to calm Jungkook by asking him about the upcoming holidays. By the end of the suturing and casting, they learned how Jungkook would fly to Japan with his family on the 25th and how the younger had not yet started with gift shopping. Their surgery resident doctor advised Jungkook to take pain medications and some sleeping pills for better quality sleep and recovery. The younger bowed gratefully to them before exiting the doors of the hospital.
🎁🎁🎁
December 24 – December 25 morning
Their Anesthesia Department duty schedule was a reprieve from the usual hustle bustle of the Emergency Room – the cases of stab wounds, mauling victims, and patients with abdominal pain. In their curriculum, this department fit their duty schedules in between the surgical departments such as ENT, Surgery, Ophthalmology, and OB-GYNE. Heaven on Earth of some sort.
Near midnight, however, Jimin and Taehyung found themselves holding pans and waiting for instructions from the first year medical residents turned part-time chef Kim Seokjin and Min Yoongi.
“The sauce for the pasta will be done in about 5 minutes. Get ready to mix the pasta, Taehyung-ah,” Seokjin instructed. Taehyung walked near the stove and prepared the pasta, carefully pouring it into the pan when the sauce was done. The duo helped set the table, noting the presence of different kinds of wine.
Few minutes before midnight, the conference room turned dining room for the occasion filled with the residents on duty with their chief resident and some nurses. The fragrance of the food filled their senses.
Taehyung looked over at Jimin and saw how widely the other’s smile was. Jimin turned his head towards Taehyung after a beat and raised his eyebrows. Taehyung’s smile went wide.
When midnight came, greetings were heard all over the room, with plates and utensils being passed around and the medical residents encouraging them to grab some food. Jimin came forward first, Taehyung following him immediately.
Yoongi passed some cups filled with wine to Taehyung and Jimin. The two interns accepted politely. Taehyung whispered, “Never thought I’d drink on duty”. Jimin giggled and nodded as he said, “Me too.”
Around 30 minutes after midnight, their group chat were filled with Namjoon and Hoseok’s messages about their group’s mini gift giving. Jimin and Taehyung asked their residents in the Anesthesia department if they could go to the Surgery department for a while for the said activity. They were given the go signal to leave their current department right away, their seniors having a bit of food coma from the feast.
When they arrived at the Surgery department, there was another set of feast prepared, served with cold draft beer. Jimin’s eyes perked up, the idea of downing some cold beer in the middle of a duty truly enticing. Hoseok and Namjoon waved at them, gesturing to the gifts in their hands.
“I propose making this quick. After the count of three, let’s give our gifts to the one we picked,” Namjoon said. The others agreed right away, remembering that they still have some tasks to do after this.
One.
Two.
Three.
Namjoon and Hoseok literally exchanged their gifts. Same with Taehyung and Jimin. The four of them laughed for a bit before opening their gifts.
Jimin gave Taehyung a long handwritten letter with a bunch of cute little notebooks, knowing well Taehyung liked writing down information and random ideas better than putting it in his phone’s notes app. Taehyung brought Jimin that one merch he briefly mentioned to Taehyung that he’d love to receive as a gift even if he could buy it for himself. Jimin couldn’t contain his overwhelming happiness at the fact that Taehyung remembered something even if this was their busiest and most emotionally draining year in medical school. Jimin held Taehyung’s hand tightly and smiled at him brightly, deviating from the usual surname-calling habit, “Thanks, my Taetae.”
Jimin knew Taehyung was his person, no matter who comes into his life.
🎁🎁🎁
December 25 afternoon
Another day, another duty done.
They had seen so many dark skies but just a few sunsets. The nature of being a medical intern was accompanied with staying beyond the designated time.
Still, there were days when Taehyung waited for Jimin at the door. When they left the hospital at a time when the sky was not yet pitch black.
Both looked ahead as they saw that the sun had not yet set, a rare sight for them. Taehyung took Jimin’s hand in his, feeling warmth spreading to his cheeks.
“I’m glad I have you, Jimin-ah. I could never imagine going through some internship problems without you, for real.” Taehyung said honestly, looking at Jimin.
Jimin looked back, squeezing Taehyung’s hand tighter, “I never would have known comfort amidst all these chaotic changes if it weren’t for you, Taehyung. Thank you, really.”
They walked closer, looking out into the glorious orange shade of the sunset. In the glow and festivities of the holidays, they knew how good the warmth of another person felt like. They knew that they got each other’s back.