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28 Days

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Summary: He's a doctor. She's a patient who only has twenty-eight days to live.

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Day Zero

Death would always be inevitable. My work can testify to that. Seeing people dying every day had become a daily occurrence for me. They come and go in unexpected ways like my patient. I never got to know his name until he died in his sleep. In my memory, I remember calling him Cancer-Guy. I didn't mean it in an offensive way, I called him that to lighten up the atmosphere. As soon as he was diagnosed with Leukaemia, his family lost their hope for him to live. Ever since I laid my eyes upon him, I knew right then that he was bound to die, but I wanted to save him. Unfortunately, I couldn't.

Kaname Sono, you would be remembered.

I took one last look at the rippled sheets on his bed. I remember seeing him smiling happily as I enter his room. Sadly, starting today I won't. Being with him for almost five years, made me somehow grown attached to him. Sometimes, late at night, whenever I come to visit him I would see him crying in his sleep. When I saw his smiling face at his deathbed, I couldn't help but smile back at him. He looked so... free. He told me a long time ago that his dream was to get out of this hospital which he usually calls his tiny cage. Guess what? That dream came true. I bet he was in Heaven now.

Okay, to tell you the truth, I don't believe in Heaven. I never did and I would never will. I don't believe in Heaven but I'd like to think that all good people would go there. I mean, they deserve to, don't they?

"Doc," A voice called. I turned to the voice. It was Kokoro Yome—a nurse who has been working in the hospital for almost two years. His milky, brown eyes met mine. "You need to go."

I take another last glance at Kaname's room. I never noticed that cobwebs were already doling out in the ceiling. Everything seemed too odd and different without the boy around. He always gives off a warm atmosphere, always making me forget that he was sick with a deadly disease.

I stepped out of the room. I could see the stares that the nurses were giving me, I don't want to mind it anymore. I couldn't care less either.

"Doc Hyuuga," Nonoko called. I turned to her and saw her eyes shifting frantically. "You're needed in Sir Yukihara's office." I growled in frustration and gave a nod. She scurried back to the nurses' desk while I took the elevator for a ride to the 13th floor.


Ting!

I stepped out of the elevator and arrived in a neatly-organized room. Everything was blended in pale brown, even the furniture. Every time I arrived in this place, I felt barfing on how colour-coordinated Doc Yukihara was.

"Welcome." he greeted with open arms, his eyes showed obvious despise. He probably couldn't get over the fact that I've smoked in his patients' rooms before. I just couldn't help myself, I'm a heavy smoker.

"I heard you needed me," I told him, taking a seat on one of the couches. "What do you want?"

He took the seat across mine and threw a folder on the coffee table. I reached out for the file and opened it. I saw a girl's picture—she was smiling brightly, her eyes twinkling in delight—at the upper right corner. I read her information silently, feeling Yukihara's piercing eyes on me.

Name: Mikan Sakura
Age: 19
Sex: F
Diagnosed Illness: Leukaemia

I felt my heart beating nervously. Leukaemia? Again? I couldn't even save Kaname's life, why entrust me with something like this?

"Take this patient," Yukihara suggested—or more like ordered.

"I can't."

He eyed me. "What? Why?"

"I'm not the best doctor in this kind of case." I told him, hoping he would understand. Unfortunately, he did not. How can he? He never handled something fragile as life before. All he ever did was accepted money, accepted patients, and sat behind his desk.

"You are." He insisted.

"I can't save her." I told him honestly on what I felt about the entire matter. I felt his eyes darting on the file I'm holding right now.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed a sly smile crept into his lips. He entwined his hands and leaned back on the couch. "I'm not asking you to save her," he told me, his legs crossed. "I'm asking you to accept this patient."

"What?"

"Hyuuga," he called in a fake bittersweet tone. "All what matters is the money I'll—we'll be receiving from her family. She's bound to die anyway, so the best thing we could do is pretend we're treating her."

"You're insane!" I bellowed as I rose from seat.

The smile was still etched on his lips, his eyes unmoved. "She only has 28 days to live, Hyuuga," he informed. "Only 28 days. Less than a month. There's no hope left."

"I'll save her."

He chucked, amused on what I said. "Gibberish, Doctor, gibberish!" he laughed heartily. "You cannot save her. Just take her admission slip and leave her to rot." I shoved the file to his chest, getting his alarmed.

"You shouldn't toy with people's lives." I warned him.

"Nothing but morals!" he responded as he gestured me to leave his office. I snatched the file back and left the room in an instant, I couldn't stand sniffing the same air he does. He's a cruel man who liked money most.

I took one last look at the file.

Her name echoed in my mind.

Mikan Sakura.

I won't let you die.

To Be Continued

A/N: A new series yet again. Sheesh, I need to finish my other stories first. Please review!