The Love We Choose

Chapter 26

Back on the emergency room floor, post-surgery, Huan headed up to Mike to get his next assignment.

"Ah, Dr. Zhang. Everything went smoothly in surgery?"

"Yeah, it was pretty textbook for a perforated bowel. The patient should have no complications. I've already spoken with the family."

Mike nodded at him, handed him a new chart, and turned his attention to a young man who had just walked up to his desk.

Heading to his next patient's room, Huan bumped into Marisol as she was exiting the adjacent room. "My apologies. I didn't see you there Dr. Zhang."

"No problem. How have you been Marisol?"

"I've been well. I haven't seen you in a while in the ER."

"I was out sick for a few days a couple of weeks ago when I was supposed to work here last."

"Sorry to hear that. Glad you're feeling better." She gave him a coy smile before continuing, "you know, I would still like to pick your brain about perioperative surgery. Could I pick your brain about it after the shift is over?"

Huan furrowed his eyebrows and thought about it for a moment. "Umm. I'm working back-to-back shifts today, but I have about a thirty minute break between them where I'm gonna grab some food we can talk about in the cafeteria. If that's ok with you."

"Sure that's perfect. I'll see you then." She began to walk off but stopped halfway and called back to him, "oh, your delivery is in the fridge in the doctors' lounge."

Perplexed, he questioned, "I didn't order anything. What delivery?"

"You got food from some Caribbean food place while you were in surgery. I put your name on it. When the delivery girl didn't ask for a tip, I assumed you paid for it all ahead of time."

"Huh. Maybe I did and just forgot. Ok, so I'll see you end of shift in the cafeteria."

"It's a date."

XXX

The end of the shift found Huan waiting for Nurse Marisol. He had found the bag of food from 'Island Flava,' a local Caribbean eatery he had never tried before. "Weird," he mused to himself before he started taking containers out of it. Opening each container he found fungee and pepperpot, callaloo and crab, dumplings, spicy fried plantains, and coco bread. "Ok, so my food fairy knows what I like to eat."

His growling stomach caused him to dig into the callaloo first. He was wiping his mouth, having finished off the first container, when Marisol finally sat down across from him.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Giving report to the night shift took a little long."

"No worries, I just started eating. Would you like anything?"

"No thank you. I wouldn't want to take away any of your food."

"Trust me, I have plenty to share. Here, you gotta try this," he told her as he grabbed an extra plate and fork out of the bag. Dabbing a little of each remaining dish onto it, he passed it over to her. "It would be ungentlemanly of me to eat alone."

"Well, I guess I am a little hungry," she admitted with a warm smile before taking a bite of the dumplings. "This is really good."

"Right? I find life is better when you have good food and can share it with good people. Now, onto your questions about surgery. What exactly do you want to know?"

Twenty minutes later, the two were deep into their conversation when Huan's pager started to go off. "Damn. I've gotta get back," he told her looking at the numbers across the screen. "But I really want to continue this conversation."

"Well, why don't you give me your number and we can continue this at a time where you aren't extremely busy. However, a doctor in a fellowship rarely has free time."

"Free time, that is a concept I have never heard of before, can you tell me tales of it?" He asked her with a laugh as he began to clean up the empty containers.

"It's a wonderful thing where you get to do things like laundry and grocery shopping. Alarms don't exist. And you can even do miraculous things like use a bathroom more than one time in an eight hour span."

"You weave a wonderful tale of this free time, I'll have to try it one day." Grabbing the bag to put the leftovers in, he spied a white envelope at the bottom of the bag. "Hmm. I must have missed this," he murmured as he picked it up. The outside of the envelope was blank.

"Probably has some promotional info or coupons in it," Marisol suggested from beside him.

Not thinking too much of it, he placed it back in the bag next to the leftover coco bread and pepperpot. "Oh. Before I forget, let me give you my number." She handed him her phone and he plugged his number in before grabbing the bag and starting to speed-walk off toward the emergency room. "Just send me a text with your name and I'll let you know when I'm free."

"Oh, I definitely will," she called after him, her eyes never leaving his body as he disappeared around the corner.

XXX

After a relatively easy night shift, which his coworkers had dubbed, "the calm before the Turkey-storm,' Huan was packing up his stuff to go. He had given report and wanted to get home to shower and sleep before he had to come back for the night shift. Remembering the food he left in the fridge, he took it out and grabbed for a piece of the coco bread to munch on, when his hand brushed against the white envelope.

Giving in to curiosity, he opened it and pulled out a small piece of paper with the words "I just wanted to say hi!" on it. Behind it were three new ultrasound photos labeled, Prentice, L. She was his food fairy.

Looking at the photos, it seemed as though their baby had doubled in size since the last appointment. The head was distinguishable and it seemed as though the doctor caught the baby waving its hand. Digging his phone out of his pocket he sent her a text.

H: You dropped by? Why didn't you wait for me? Or have them page me?

When she didn't respond within a few minutes, he sent another text.

H: Ok, I guess you're probably still sleeping or on the road to your parents' house. I'll talk to you later. Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for the food!

Placing his phone back in his pocket, he focused on the photos again. He was beaming from the inside out. He hoped he wouldn't have to miss any more appointments in the future. With a deep sigh, he placed them in his bag and headed off to the subway.

Several hours later, he was sleeping between shifts when his cell pinged. Groggily turning over, he noticed he had several messages. The first few were from Bao and his mother asking if he was coming to the restaurant for dinner, he quickly fired off responses reminding them he was working the night shift so he wouldn't be joining the family. The next was an unknown number with Marisol's name attached to it. He added her to his contact list so he could call her later. Finally, he came across one from Lynne.

L: Sorry for the late reply. Slept like the dead this morning. I was only there for about fifteen minutes. A pretty nurse came out and told me you were busy so I left. It was a flit of the moment idea. And it breaks our 'never bother each other at work' rule anyway.

H: We could've broken it for this. The kid is waving at us!

L: I know, right?! :) Well, I've got to get back to mac and cheese duty. I'll talk to you later.

H: Cool. Please bring some of your sister's dessert when you see me.

L: I'll think about it. Go back to sleep, I know you're working tonight. I'll see you soon. Happy Thanksgiving Huan! I'll try and come by this weekend.

H: Happy Thanksgiving, Lyndy.

Placing his phone back on his dresser, Huan drifted back to sleep with a content smile on his face.

XXX

A/N: Wishing you all an early Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving in the USA!

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