"The mother and daughter are named shiina"
Naoki started his explanation, he figured knowing kotoko and her friends, they might be misunderstanding the whole situation.
"The daughter, nami… she's my patient"
"B-but… she seems so healthy"
"It might seem that way now but, she has congenital heart disease. She's already had strokes in the past"
"Her heart…"
"She had a surgery done when she was only five, but the heart is a complex organ.. She needs another surgery now that she's a bit older, and the doctors and i think that now is the best time to do that… but, nami-chan lost her father just a year ago, so she's scared that the surgery might take her life as well…. Her mother is worried too, that's why i was trying to advise them"
"Ah, i see, sorry for disturbing your meeting...i don't think my friends knew that it was work related"
A corner of his lips turned into a curve. Finding it adorable how she was apologizing in behalf of her silly friends
"That's fine. Thank you for letting me stay. I guess we can call it even then?"
"Yeah i guess.." she placed her chopsticks down and started to clean up
"I'll do it, go wash up. You haven't even changed yet"
"Eh? Oh, i didn't even realize" she giggled.
"Idiot, you're still in your uniform. Go, i'll take care of this" he took the bowls away from her hands.
"Okay" she obediently nodded. "Thank you"
Kotoko headed to grab some clothes for herself.
She quickly disappeared into the bathroom and as soon as naoki heard the shower running, he turned on the faucet as well and started to wash the dishes.
Having kitchen experience, he cleaned up fast, despite his tiredness.
After leaving the counters spotless, he walked to where her bookshelf was and examined its contents.
She's been studying alot, it's so easy to tell.
His eyes scans the desk beside it, you can't even spot the table top.
It was filled with books and papers.
Yes, kotoko wasn't academically gifted. Her memory wasn't one of the best either, and she always lacked the knowledge of the fundamentals of any trade.
But she was extremely hard working, dedicated, and will stop at nothing to reach her goal.
He admired how she was still constantly studying for the sake of all her patients.
It was truly amazing how much effort she put into her work.
There were bookmarks on alot of the pages.
Bright strokes of highlights on most pages, and an overwhelming pile of sticky notes on her board.
He also noticed while he cleaned up a while ago,
She had no fresh ingredients in her fridge, probably had no time to go grocery shopping.
He did catch a glimpse of her garbage bin by the kitchen counter.
Packs of empty ramen cups. That was probably what she ate all day.
Despite her father being a chef.
Coming to the house or her father's restaurant was probably the only times she ate decent food.
Her apartment wasn't too dirty.
It was just easy for naoki to come to an understanding that she struggled to have a healthy balance, being in the medical field, their hours get crazy and out of hand.
A gut feeling was bothering him.
'Why can't she just move back'
There was a strong urge inside him, he felt the need, he craved for it. He wanted to 'take care of her' but then again, he realized that he was in no place to tell her how to live her life.
All he could do was sit and watch painfully.
If only he was here, i wonder what he would say…
His thoughts got interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening up.
"Ahhh that was nice" she was trying to dry her hair with a towel.
Kotoko wore her green flannel pajama set.
She sat on the floor next to naoki, who was now pretending to examine her book shelf
He did not dare look at her, fearing that he might stare and blush at the same time.
"Ehhh sorry, i haven't organized them yet"
She unconsciously scooted closer.
"Remember this ?"
She pulled out one of the anatomy books that naoki missed.
Right when she took it out of the shelf, he instantly recognized it
"Why do you have that?"
She giggled. "I stole it from you, when i left"
He raised a brow.
"When you threw them out to hide your dream from your parents...i thought.. 'What a waste' so i kept them, wanna see what's inside?"
"I already read all the content of that book, it's a waste to re-read it"
"Yeah, i guess you're right" she smiled. But her smile was way too big for it to mean nothing. Curiosity got the best of him and he held out his hand
"Let me see it then"
"No, you said you already read it" kotoko playfully pulled away
"Give it now, it IS mine after all"
"WAS" she emphasized. "Past tense"
"I see your english has improved" he tries to pry it off her grip
Kotoko tried to make an angry face while holding in her laugh and pulling away
"no , you said you didn't want to"
Finally he managed to snatch it. He opened the book to a random page.
It was a drawing of a person
"Ah i see, so you got bored and made it into a sketch book"
"No silly! Flip it!"
He looked at her, confused. She then started to flip the pages of the book. And saw the simple animation through the pages of the thick book.
It was a short illustration of a boy that wore a coat, once it was on him, he flew across the city to help a small girl, he then used his 'super stethoscope' to heal her, and all the towns people praised him.
It was a simple story, and the drawings were childish. But it brought a smile on his face
"Is that-"
"You"
"Me?"
"When you told me that night, that you wanted to be a doctor….i was happy for you. I was happy you had a dream you wanted to follow… the more i thought about it, the more it made sense…'it suits him' i thought, your amazing and capable of anything, so i think it's quite admirable that you want to use that smart brain of yours to help people in need. I kind of got inspired"
Naoki sat there dumbfounded, he was in awe of how much faith she had in his abilities.
Even back then, she saw something in him that he didn't see in himself.
She believed in his abilities when he didn't value them.
It was remarkable, how much she supported him, and helped him become the doctor he is today.
"Arigatou kotoko"
"Eh?"
"I never really said it, but thank you for supporting my dream, when nobody else did… even when i myself gave up on my own dream… you fought for it when i couldn't, when everybody was against it"
He sighed as he grabbed the towel to help her dry her hair
"I guess i'm pretty happy that you were the person i told, you were always on my side, no matter what happened"
She smiled broadly at him, accepting the affection he showed her.
"You know i'll always be on your side irie-kun"