Kobe conference

(Kotoko POV)

I woke up early in the following morning. After freshening up I went downstairs to prepare breakfast. When I went back into the room, Irie-kun was already up and was in the bathroom. I quickly changed into my working attire. When he came out of the bathroom he just glanced at me but didn't say anything. Great, he wasn't talking to me. I felt a little sad. To my great relief, he has changed his decision and was going to Kobe for the conference. Although, he didn't seem to be happy about it. I left for work early. Yuki-kun insisted to drop me at work at least. I didn't object. It was fine as long as he doesn't come inside with me.

I went straight to Dr. Ayano to inform him about my allergic incident. He scolded me for being careless and not coming to Hope straight away yesterday. But he immediately started testing me with all the required tests and informed Dr. Shinju about it. Hana and Mio helped them out. After 2 hours everything was done and the reports seemed okay. But Dr. Ayano strictly instructed to keep me under observation. When he was done with giving out all the instructions, he turned towards me.

"Kotoko-san, can I have a word with you?" I nodded and followed him to his cabin, mentally noting his cold voice. When I entered his cabin, I found Dr. Shinju already present there.

"Take a seat." He instructed me and went around his table to sit in his chair. I swallowed and sat in the chair across him next to Dr. Shinju.

"Kotoko-san, you clearly know how your condition is right now, don't you?" He asked me sounding a lot calmer than I thought he would.

"Yes doctor." I replied in a small voice.

"You know that your previous two months therapies didn't go well. And if the next therapy which is scheduled next week doesn't work, you will enter your 2nd stage of Neuroshia. Right?"

"That's right." I mumbled.

"Then why don't I see any progress on informing your family about your condition Kotoko-san?" Dr. Ayano asked me with serious voice. I remained silent looking down.

"Kotoko-san, you promised us you won't take long in informing your family about you when you started your treatment. It's been more than a year already." Dr. Shinju said kindly.

"I know doctor. I will tell them soon. I thought I was doing fine on my own so I kept it a secret."

"You were doing fine, yes. That is why we supported you in this. But not anymore. I have been telling you from the last 2 months that you need to stay in the hospital for longer during your therapy. We need to change your medicines so we need to observe you more. But you don't seem to bother at all. Is it because you are not taking the treatment seriously? Or is it that you are not taking us seriously as your doctors because we are also your colleagues?" Dr. Ayano was angry. I shook my head frantically at him.

"It's not that. Believe me doctor Ayano. I have never for a single moment took my condition lightly and I respect all of you with my heart. It's... just that... it's really hard to break the news to my family." I looked down feeling helpless.

"Well you had your fair share of time to figure that out. I'll give you 3 more days. I'm going out of town to attend a conference in Neuroshia. When I return I want to see your guardian with you. You make sure you do that because if you don't then I will have to contact your father personally. You left his contact information in your admission paper remember."

"Doctor Ayano!" I gaped at him feeling perplexed.

"Kotoko-san, I took that decision as your colleague. You need the support of your family. Do you understand?" He said softly.

I nodded. While I was actually really relieved that he wasn't seriously mad at me, I still felt scared. He was scolding me because he was concerned.

"My husband will return in 4 days and I will tell him soon." I promised.

"I look forward to see him with you in your next therapy Kotoko-san." He said.

"I understand."

"Good. Now go take some rest. You don't need to work today. Also stay careful."

"Thank you doctor." I smiled at them both and went back to the nurse station.

...

(Naoki POV)

I reached Kobe around the mid-day. The conference will start from 4 pm. I checked in at a hotel near the hall where the conference will be held and went to see my professor. We discussed and took some last minute preparations. The conference started on time. The first day of conference was assigned to Neurology, gynaecology and paediatrics. The first two presentations were on brain cancer and Alzheimer respectively.

But what succeeded to grab my utmost attention was the third and final presentation of Neurology. It was on Neuroshia. It was Dr. Ayano Rei, who gave the presentation. I knew immediately that he was Kotoko's professor. He gave a briefing about their patient's condition and treatment progress. The patient was around my age. Her condition was neutral for a few months but since the previous two months some complications appeared. He also compared and differentiated some points with his USA patients. After the end of his presentation, neurology department concluded their discussion and gynaecology department took their place. I started discussing about Neuroshia with my professor. Suddenly I wanted to know more about it.

Our presentation was the last presentation which ended the conference for the day. After the conference we were served with dinner. To my great astonishment, my professor took me with him and joined Dr. Ayano in his table. Apparently they knew each other. They had a small talk and after that he introduced me with Dr. Ayano. We talked about Neuroshia for a while.

"You ore an intelligent young man Irie-san. Glad to know you." Dr. Ayano told me. I smiled modestly.

"He is the best intern I have come across until now and a very hard-working one too." My professor added.

"I would be glad to work with you someday too." Dr. Ayano smiled.

"Same here." I responded.

"He is a great candidate for research work Rei. You can scout him if you need a paediatrician for your research." My professor said.

"Well, actually I do. Our team is short of a paediatrician and I had to cover that work too. If Irie-san is interested then he is more than welcome in my team."

I was surprised to be honest. I didn't know I would actually get this chance. I really wanted to work with Kotoko. I genuinely wanted to help her in her research. I didn't waste another moment to agree.

"It would be a great honour to join you doctor." I told him.

After that we discussed how we can collaborate together. Since I work at Tonan, I will be joining his team as a guest doctor from Tonan. I will need an official permission from Tonan but that wasn't a problem. My professor will get that for me. I felt slightly anxious thinking how Kotoko will take this. If things were like before, then I could have said that she will be absolutely delighted. But now, I'm not so sure. I didn't talk about Kotoko to Dr. Ayano. I could always do that in the next visit. Besides, I wanted to talk to Kotoko about it at first.

...

The next two days passed quickly and suddenly on the fourth day I was on the train returning home. I reached home around 8 pm. Kotoko was still in the hospital. After dinner I went out for a walk. I grabbed a coffee from a store and walked around our neighbourhood. I was thinking about the contents of the book I was currently reading. I have started to acquire the basic knowledge of Neurology.

I was near to our house when I noticed two figures walking ahead of me. They were laughing about something. It was Kotoko with a man maybe of around our age who I have never seen before. Kotoko punched on his shoulder and laughed out loud when he said something. I stopped on my track. My gaze was transfixed on her face. I haven't seen her laughing with so much happiness in ages. One second my heart was warm and in the next, it prickled. That laugh was not directed towards me. I felt slightly bitter. I observed the man next to her. He pushed her through our gate and told something I couldn't hear. She raised her arm in a salute, mimicking a solder, probably agreeing to do whatever he told her. She walked towards the house and he waited until she was inside. Then he turned and started to walk towards me. I was looking down and continued doing that until he walked past me. I stood there for a while immersed into thought. I couldn't help feeling bitter. I sighed and started to walk towards the house in a slow pace.

"I'm home." I announced, closing the door behind me.

"Welcome home Irie-kun." She greeted me. I just nodded and kept looking at her.

"How was the conference?" She asked.

"It was fine." I replied.

"Oh... Glad to know that..." She said and looked around. She was getting nervous under my stares.

"I will get some rest. I'm a bit tired." I said and walked towards the stairs. I wasn't lying about being tired. I was so sleepy. I went out for fresh air just to keep myself awake. I wanted to see Kotoko before I sleep.

I went straight to bed after changing into my pyjamas. I didn't know when Kotoko join me in the bed because I was already in a deep sleep.

A/N: Thank you so much everyone for regularly reviewing the story.. I feel so happy reading each and every one.. I hope you liked this chapter..

You might wonder why Naoki didn't put 2 and 2 together even after the presentation about the Neuroshia patient since he observed all her side effects. That's because A. its totally unexpected and B. the presentation or reports did not gave away the patients identity. The patient was represented as a case in the conference. Besides, Kotoko made sure that he believes there was a separate person who was her patient.