Sakaguchi Ayumi cringed at the sound of metal met concrete. It seemed like it came from the room by the end of the corridor, where her newly assigned patient resided. She cursed. She broke into a quick jog.

After bursting through the door, she gaped at the sight. Sushi rolls littered the floor. A smashed mug with its content decorated the periphery. She rushed to her patient's side, her brows knitting in concern. "Takahashi-san, what's the matter? Are you in pain?" she asked hurriedly. According to his medical record, which she was trying to familiarize earlier before making a dash into the room, the morphine drip was stopped a few days ago and her patient had to start relying on oral painkillers. Or was he having a seizure? She did not notice the warning in his medical record. Would you please actually look at me?

The man panted slightly, his breathing labored yet regular.

"Takahashi-san, are you alright?" she said, repeating herself.

He narrowed his eyes. Just what he needed. Another person pretending to give a shit. "Who are you?" he snarled.

"I am Sakaguchi, the new houseman officer assigned for your case. Please, tell me, are you in any sort of pain?" Ayumi responded quickly, her head bent down slightly to listen to her patient's complaints.

He grunted. "No."

Ayumi wrinkled her head in confusion. "Did your hand limp on you or something?" she tried again, finding for a valid answer to the reason as to why the food tray was lying upside down on the floor.

"No."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Alright. But let me check your hand for reflexes and muscle tone, just in case, alright?"

He grunted again, this time louder than the last time. "Don't bother yourself."

Ayumi inhaled deeply. She loved her job and everything but dealing with arrogant and unfriendly patients was not exactly her best forte. "It's not going to hurt, I guarantee you that," she persisted.

"I knocked down the tray myself, okay? Now would you please leave me alone?" he finally combusted.

Ayumi was mute for a second. Even if she was astonished by the man's outburst, she did not let it show. Straightening herself up, she gave him a tight smile. "Very well, sir. Do you want me to bring you a new set of breakfast?"

"Just go, alright?"

She sighed. Pulling out a pen from her labcoat pocket, she proceeded to the foot of the bed to retrieve the patient's worksheet. "Give me five minutes, okay? Let me just take a look at your operation wound and your arterial pulse then you won't see me til this evening. Sounds good?" she compromised.

"It's fine."

"Really?" she replied, her own hands were already assessing the bandaged leg. She palpated the uncovered area of the foot for any infiltration and swelling. Sensing none, she moved to lift the thin blanket to reveal a well-toned calf. She felt around the ankle for a pulse, and smiled when she found one.

Her lips curled into a smile, an autopilot every time her patients were on the right track to recovery. But the smile faltered when her eyes met with the brown ones of this man. He was scowling. Heck, in fact, he was near ripping her head off with the look he was giving her. If only looks could kill, she'd be six feet under by then.

"I told you I'm fine!"

Taken aback, her jaw fell slightly open. "Are you telling me off for doing my job?" she asked, incredulous.

The man stared back at her, surprised at her reprisal.

Deep breaths, Ayumi. Your houseman marks depend on this dude. So, no messing up. "Takahashi-san, I am just doing my job. My job is to get you better. I can't say I know how it feels like to be immobile, but you are going to heal, okay? So please, all I'm asking is for you to understand, I am here to treat you, and a little co-operation would be nice," she spoke calmly, holding the worksheet board close to her chest.

It was silence for awhile. She took the time to analyze her patient's general condition. She knew he was around her age, 23-ish. Had a tall built and chiseled features. If not for the frown that was etched on his forehead, he might be even good looking. Scratch that, the guy was good looking, frowning or not.

She restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Calcaneal fracture sure must hurt like a bitch, but that's not something to be so maniacal of. Sure, he could not exert pressure for a few weeks on his bad leg, but with physiotherapy and good healing, he would be back like brand new. She knew her patient felt like being rendered to the bed was like the end of the world, but really, others had it worse.

Flashing another tight smile, she hung the board back at the foot of the bed. "I leave you alone for now. I'll tell a nurse to help clean you up."

With that said, she walked to the door and exited.

XXXXX

Sakaguchi Ayumi was just another regular girl.

She had always dreamed of becoming a doctor. To heal and to treat came as a second nature to her. She loved catering to her patients and listening to their complaints while she did her best to improve their condition.

But being with the tall man in the last ward for the last five minutes gave her all the indication that medicine sometimes can be the wrong choice for someone as quick-tempered as she was.

Heaving a long sigh, she took a place behind the front counter before grabbing another patient's file.

"Why the long face, Sakaguchi?"

Ayumi shrugged without even looking up. "Nah. Am just tired, that's all," she replied. She pulled a pen from her labcoat and started jotting some vitals on the report.

Kawasaki Jun plopped down on a seat next to his colleague. He grinned as he took a peek on her face. "You never sigh, man. Something's wrong. What you got?"

She shrugged again, shoving a pile of files on to the table to him. "Osteophytes, knee-joint replacement, a broken arm and a calcaneal fracture," she summarized for him as she browsed through another file. "What are you doing here in ortho, man? Is endocrine that free or something?" she inquired, finally lifting her face to him.

Jun raised an eyebrow. "You got a calcaneal fracture," he repeated, trying to reconfirm with Ayumi.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Is the patient's name by any chance Takahashi?"

She wrinkled her nose, remembering. "Yeah, precisely. Your friend or something?"

Jun whistled. He patted her squarely on the head. "Ha, I wish. Don't you have any idea who he is?"

She frowned. "Am I supposed to recognize him?"

"Don't you ever fangirl for once in your life?" Jun asked again, bewildered.

Ayumi laughed, wrinkling her forehead in confusion. "No."

"She's a lost cause, Jun. Of course she doesn't have any idea who Takahashi Ryousuke is," a nurse with a tag read Yamada chirped in as she approached the duty-nurse post.

Ayumi stood up quickly after hearing Yamada's voice. "Hana-san, sorry for troubling you with the mess in Takahashi-san's room," she apologized, bowing her head slightly.

Hana chuckled at the younger woman as she waved her apology off. "Ayumi-chan, you don't have to be so formal. It's my duty after all."

"But he's an infuriating man, don't you think so? Who would waste such a perfectly good breakfast? Kids in Namibia and Angola are starving to death for a spoonful of rice for goodness' sake," Ayumi grumbled, taking her seat back. "He thinks he's in the first-class ward everybody is rendered as his slave? Someone needs a kick of reality on the backside."

"Ne, ne, Ayumi-chan. You need to take a chill pill," Jun said cheekily in a high-pitched girly tone. He slapped Ayumi's back before bursting out laughing. "I believe you're the first girl who labels him infuriating and feels the need to kick his backside. Other girls have different adjective in mind and they definitely have other plans for his backside too," he added, wriggling his eyebrows.

"Chill pill? That was the first time a patient screamed at me and you told me to take a chill pill?" she repeated. "I'll tell you what to do with your freaking chill pill. You can take it and shove it up his ass," she muttered.

Hana shook her head, trying to control her giggle. She had been working with Ayumi for close to two months now, and never once she saw the girl lost her temper in the hospital compound. Most of the patients in the ortho ward loved the young doctor, be it the elderly or the kids.

"Ayumi-chan, you have to understand, that poor guy is indeed in pain," Hana tried reasoning.

"So he felt knocking down the tray would somehow deflect the pain or something?" Ayumi replied, raising an eyebrow. "He's an adult, he can't place the blame on his pain. Some kids walked in with multiple scoliosis and I didn't see you sweeping their ward floor after a breakfast gone wrong."

Jun smiled. "You have a point, chick. But you also have to understand that being in that room means it is some kind of a restriction to him."

Ayumi rolled her eyes. "Oh, he'll live. Calcaneal fracture won't kill him."

"It won't kill him but it will certainly kill his career," Jun replied helpfully.

"What is he? A triathlon athlete or something?"

"You really have no idea, do you?"

"No, I do. I just love faking stupidity when I'm annoyed," Ayumi replied sarcastically, earning a chuckle from Hana again.

"He's Takahashi Ryousuke, one half of the famous Takahashi brothers."

Ayumi stared at Jun blankly.

"The leader of the Project D and Redsuns of Akagi?"

Ayumi chewed her lips.

"Also the first son and heir to the Takahashi Daisuke, the director of the hospital?"

Ayumi gulped. Shit.

XXXXX

Yeah, so he practially owns the hospital but who gives a shit? Ayumi decided as she pushed open the door to the ward 6A.She was contemplating exchanging patients with Mahoto sensei but on what grounds? The patient is an ass and oh yeah, I think he's going to sack my ass anyway for my performance yesterday so why don't we just limit the confrontations to a minimum as to avoid suicide victims being found within the hospital compound?

Right.

She squared her shoulders, determined. Her first strategy was to make amend, although she believed for a fact that she didn't do anything wrong. She looked up to see the man sitting on his bed with a faraway expression on his face. She gulped.

"Good evening, Takahashi-san. How are we faring this evening?" she spoke, trying to sound formal yet friendly.

Ryousuke lifted his gaze from the window and settled it on the young doctor. She really was something else. It was a rare sight to see a woman doctor in pants in Japan. Her labcoat was of the typical cotton material, nothing fancy. It was left unbutton on top of her violet sweater. Her long hair was pulled up in a messy bun held together with a pair of chopstick. A stethoscope dangled from the labcoat pocket and her ID which should be clipped at the neck of the white garment was hanging from her pant pocket instead.

She was breaking a dozen rules in his father's deontology book but she looked like she couldn't care less.

"You didn't come for the afternoon check up," Ryousuke noted.

Ayumi shrugged. "I kept my end of the deal. I promise to stay out of your face til this evening and I thought you'd be happy about it," she replied.

"That's very unethical of you to request for Mahoto's sensei's help to assess me this afternoon. Whatever that happens between you and your patient should be kept professional, don't you think?" Ryousuke sneered, lifting an eyebrow.

Sighing dramatically, Ayumi scribbled away on Ryousuke's personal file. "Well, here in Mabisha General we like to keep our patients' best interest at heart. If my patient requested me to drop out of his sight, I would oblige. But I won't leave without taking the responsibility and assign another temporary doctor for him," she answered.

She pulled out her torchlight and went into the routine checkup of his pupil narrowing ability. He squinted at the light shone in his eyes.

"Now, you would understand that better than anybody since you own the hospital and everything, right?" she continued, looking directly at him.

He looked back, unaffected.

She flashed a forced smile. "How are you feeling? Are you comfortable with your foot position?" she resumed the polite act.

He stared at her.

She waited for any reaction. Sensing none, her lips pulled into a tight grim line. "Okay. As your doctor, I can say that your foot is healing exceptionally well. But I am worried about you being in bed all the time. As a physician you know that being immobile for such a long period of time can be bad for you."

His stare grew colder by the second. "What are you suggesting?"

She walked closer to the bed. "Takahashi-san, you need to move around in order to improve the blood circulation in your legs. Besides, being rendered to the bed like this can decrease your immunity and may lead to nosocomial infection," she spoke, gazing directly into his eyes. "You know this as much as I do, Takahashi sensei."

Her only feedback was a small grunt.

"This condition is not permanent. You are starting physiotherapy in a few days after your operation wound is fully healed. You will undergo a series of intensive physical therapy and before you know it, you'll be back on your own two feet again."

Ryousuke dropped his gaze. This girl totally had no clue.

"I don't mean to intrude, Takahashi-san. I hope you will be strong."

She waited for a response.

Pursing her lips, she clipped the progress sheet back on the board and slung it back into its place. "If you will allow, tomorrow I will help you adapt to your crutches. We will also start with some basic range-in-motion exercises. Oyasumi-nasai, Takahashi-san."

She bowed slightly and left.