Fan Fiction |
by Mimosa
Annie’s ears pricked up as she heard the mention of Qantas Flight 127 from Sydney to Hong Kong… Wasn’t that the flight her brother got back on?
“Mommy, Mommy!” She chirped excitedly “Come and see for yourself!”
Mrs. Lo walked out from the kitchen, bringing three plates of fresh omelet on one hand and a basket of bread rolls in the other. “What’s all the noise about, Annie?”
Annie helped her unload the plates onto the breakfast table “That’s Flora!” She pointed at the TV “That’s Dai Gor new girlfriend!”
“Oh, she is lovely!” Mrs. Lo exclaimed “I must ask your brother to bring her home soon! Where is he? Still not up yet?”
“I’m up, Mommy!” Gallen strode into the room in long energetic steps. He placed his jacket and briefcase down on the side table and took his seat next to Annie “What’s with all the yelling, sis?”
Annie lifted her brother’s chin and forced him to face the TV set. He caught the last glimpse of Flora’s face before she turned and walked away from the cameraman. A tall, grim-looking man took over the screen and said a few words to the reporter. Gallen recognized him, Kelly’s father.
“So?” Gallen’s heart skipped a beat, but he kept a straight face “I saw that piece of news last night already!”
“Isn’t that the same flight you got back on, Dai Gor?” Annie squinted her eyes meaningfully at her brother “Ah, I get it!” Annie threw her utensil down in a bang, causing Mrs. Lo to wince in disapproval.
“Oops, sorry Mommy,” Annie stuck out her tongue and grinned “but I really get it, Mom! They got back to HK together! They might as well have a little rendezvous in Sydney, who knows!”
“Annie” Gallen turned red, he picked up a roll and shoved it into Annie’s mouth “Please eat your breakfast and allow me to eat mine, in peace, would you?!”
“I am so right!” Annie laughed “You should look at yourself in the mirror, Dai Gor.”
“Is it true, Gallen?” Mrs. Lo asked smilingly
“Of course not, Mommy!” Gallen took refugee in his plate of omelet, but not for long. He could feel the weight of his sister and his mother’s stares.
“All right, if you must know it!” He gave in at last “I saw her on the plane, yes,” He looked up and stared back squarely into Annie’s face “And that’s about it, sis! Now I don’t want you to use your fertile imagination on me ever again, got it?”
“I don’t get it!” Annie shook her head stubbornly, and Gallen fell back on his chair, exasperately “I mean, the news reporter said Flora saved Kelly, while you must be right there the whole time! And you’re a physician all right… How could Flora forestall you?”
“What are you implying?” Gallen face turned a shade redder. He grabbed the water glass and emptied almost half of it “Look, sis, I don’t have time, I’ll have to get back to Grantham by 8. May I eat now?”
It wasn’t easy to make Annie drop the topic “If you’re about to say that you were asleep while Flora was saving Kelly, then you’re the lousiest liar in the whole world, Dai Gor.”
“Mom!” Gallen turned to his mother, desperately “Tell Annie to behave, please!”
“Annie” Mrs. Lo intervened with a smile “It’s not nice to say your brother is a liar! But Gallen, I wonder too! It’s not you to just stay out in such emergency”
“Arg!” Gallen rolled his eyes in defeat “Fine, I got there first, and then I went to fetch the Epi kit because Kelly didn’t have one. When I got back, Flora was there…”
“I say he purposely let Flora get all the limelight, Mommy” Annie eyes twinkled, “You are so in love!”
“Mom!” Gallen pushed his chair back hastily “I’m late, I’ll go first!”
“But you haven’t finish your breakfast, son!” Mrs. Lo called after him in concern, but he had disappeared behind the front door.
Five second later, the door jerked open again, and Gallen rushed back in.
“Forgot my stuff” Avoiding the amused glances from the other two, Gallen swept the table for his briefcase and head out as fast as he could “Bye Mom, bye Annie!”
Annie giggled. She had just come up with a very good idea.
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[HKU-Sassoon Road Campus]
[Flora]
Ada didn’t let me go to sleep until 3 in the morning, and it took me such a Herculean effort to get up and be ready by the time Kevin showed up.
Presently we sat on the second row of the same conference room we had been in yesterday. The letters of assignment were being distributed. We got ours at last, delivered personally by Annie.
“Guys” She said, beaming “I got all of you into the best group!”
The glint in her eyes made my radar went up. I opened my letter:
“Woa, Heart!” Ada jumped up excitedly “Where are we going to base?”
“It says right there on the letter” Annie rolled her eyes “What are we spending time typing the letter for, Ada?”
“What do we have a member of the committee as our friend for, Annie?” Ada retorted
“What?” I sprang up and let out a small cry. Kevin immediately got to my side
“Something wrong, Flora?”
“Any problem, Flora?” Annie got to my other side
“Er…” I didn’t know how to open my mouth, just pointed at the second paragraph of the letter
“Ha ha ha” Ada laughed as she caught up to the part I was reading “You work directly for your “nightmare”, how nice!”
“Annie, could you help me to switch with someone, please?” I pleaded.
“Why?” Annie widened her eyes innocently “If you’re in another group, then Ada and Kevin won’t be with you!”
“Switch them all!” I attempted
“I don’t want to switch” Ada said, ignoring my glare “Cardiothoracic is what I always want to work in!”
“You traitor!” I mumbled under my breath, and turned to Kevin “Kevin?”
“Er…” Kevin hesitated “Grantham is closed by, we don’t have to spend time traveling, Flora. We’ll get lots more work done that way!”
“Why do you want to switch anyway?” Annie asked again, still with her dove eyes “This is a great group I try to fit you guys in. You get to work with little children if you choose to. My brother says they’re simply adorable!”
Well, I guessed they all have very solid reasons not to switch to another group. I didn’t want to be separated from Ada and Kevin. That would be no fun at all. And the idea of being able to work with children sounded very nice.
Deep down inside, I guessed I didn’t really want to switch.
“Flora,” Annie chuckled “My brother isn’t that bad! From what I heard, people enjoy working with him!”
“I second that!” Ada nodded “Plus you could learn a lot of “tricks” from him you know. My advisor said he’s the best heart surgeon around!”
“And Grantham has very good facility” Kevin claimed “I did a brief research on it just now…” He produced his Palm Pilot…
“It’s okay Kevin, I trust you” I hastened to stop him from providing us a highly-scientific lecture on the hospital itself. I had no objection to the hospital whatsoever. It was the group leader who made me uneasy.
But then I didn’t really want not to see him again. That was a little confusing… I guessed I secretly longed for another opportunity to see him.
“I’ll just go with the flow!” I sighed.
“That’s the spirit, Flora!” Ada winked, and gave Annie a high-five. I widened my eyes.
“You two!” I stammered “You set me up?”
“What are you talking about?” They laughed and linked their arms to mine “Let’s get going. The bus is waiting!”
They ushered me out of the room. “Hey hey” Kevin called after us “Wait for me!”
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[Hong Kong – Grantham Hospital – Conference Room]
“That would be it, everyone!” Ada’s advisor concluded the brief introduction to the hospital “I would like you to break into smaller groups and follow the nurses. They’ll give you a tour around the facility. We’ll be back here for lunch and you will start on your assignment shortly after that. Is everything clear?”
“Yes, sir!” We replied in high spirit, and got up excitedly.
“What’s the name of our nurse?” I asked Ada
“It didn’t say on the list” Ada shook her head “Maybe we just have to find the way ourselves. There’s a map!”
“Maybe your advisor would give us the tour” I giggled, putting my nose closer to the map.
“Or maybe your “nightmare” would!” Ada giggled back.
I looked up immediately to find him walking toward us. He had on a white blouse over his checked light beige shirt. He looked a bit surprised when he saw me.
“What’s going on, Gallen?” said Ada’s boss as he wrapped his arm around Gallen’s shoulder. I didn’t see him coming toward us.
“Hi Nick!” Gallen smiled “Sorry I couldn’t attend the morning orientation! They called me at the last minute...”
“Hmm, you’d better make it up for them then!” Nick Cheung joked, “How about giving them a tour? I don’t know what happened, but there’s no nurse assigned for this group!”
“Annie!” Gallen looked at his sister reproachfully, as the girl giggled and slipped out the door at the far end. “I can’t believe she made such a mistake!” He turned and addressed us courteously “But it’s my pleasure to show you around. Follow me, please!”
Just as we reached the floor to Cardiac Pediatrics, the intercom buzzed softly but clearly from the speakers overhead.
“Doctor Lo please come to emergency room! Doctor Lo, ER 2!”
“Ready for action, team?” He set his jaw into a determinant line. A very attractive determinant jaw line!
“Yes, Captain!” We replied heartedly, and together, we hurried back to the elevator.
Suddenly, I felt very close to him!
We were a team!
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