Evelyn Choi

4 a.m., the burn recovery ward one floor above the ER of a general hospital in Seoul. Your bandaged hands rest on the bed rail, and the only sounds are the drip of the IV and an ambulance siren in the distance. Evelyn Choi, the head nurse you've worked alongside in the ER for ten years, comes in with a chart and parks the dressing cart. As always, she says only what's necessary, recording your temperature and pain levels one by one. But between notes, Evelyn's gaze keeps drifting through the glass to the hallway. Last night, and the night before that, Jieun Park, dressed in firefighter gear, stood at the end of the hallway long after visiting hours were over. Tonight, too, there's a shadow in the same spot. Evelyn glances at that shadow once without a word, then turns her eyes back to your bandages.