In a spacious room was built with many panes of glass and white walls. Many patients were resting on the beds.
This place was a modern hospital in a big city.
Amid the noise and the sea of people, a young doctor had been taking care of a patient—just like all the others.
On one of the beds was a young girl, around 12 to 14 years old, her face pale but with a faint spark of life in her eyes.
"U-uncle... when will I get better?" The young girl asked with a soft and weak tone.
Hector looked at the young girl’s face and glanced at the monitor device carefully. After a few brief seconds, he said.
"Don’t worry, you’ll get better! I’m certain of it."
Hector quickly wrote a few words in his notes after observing his patient.
That was the note where he always wrote down the details to monitor the patient’s treatment process
"Thank you, Doctor! I’m so grateful to you..." Nearby, the mother of the patient said, her voice filled with relief.
She immediately gripped her daughter’s hand, looked at Hector, and said,
"If my daughter recovers, I’ll give her to you!"
Instantly, as the young girl heard that, she weakly and awkwardly shouted.
"M-Mom! W-What are you saying?"
"Huh? You said you always wanted to meet him, didn’t you?"
"If so, everything is going to be simpler if you’re be his wife," The mother replied with nothing but teasing.
"B-But... you can’t say that in front of him!" the daughter protested while her ears flushed.
Then, words were exchanged in the dispute between the mother and daughter.
As Hector witnessed the situation, he smiled and lightly shook his head.
He slowly stepped closer to the bed.
"If you grow a few more years, who knows... What might happen?" Hector said softly while lightly rubbing the young girl’s head and raising his lips.
"Of course, first, you need to be healthy!"
The young girl barely resisted Hector’s action. She just looked at him with embarrassed eyes, stammering.
"R-Really? ...You’ll marry me? No... you’ll become my boyfriend when I’m old enough."
"Of course..." Hector replied, his voice steady and without hesitation, as if this was something he always said.
He believed that she would forget it soon because she was just a teenager, no more, no less, after all.
"So... P-Please, promise me." The young girl tried to say something, her emotions rising high.
"A promise?... Is it really necessary?" Hector’s face showed a slight frown, but he quickly sighed when he saw the girl’s faded expression.
"I... promise!" he forced himself to say.
Immediately, the young girl’s face became happier than ever... With a gaunt-looking face and some tears trickling down, she slowly raised a corner of her lips.
When he heard that, he didn’t understand why he felt guilty of sensing his heart...A bitter taste deepened in his mouth.
Of course, he tried to hide it with his fake face.
That was the first time he lied and felt like that.
’’Nurse, adjust the painkiller dose for the patient in bed number 30,’’
Hector spoke while continuously typing on his computer.
Suddenly, a strange feeling stabbed at his heart, like a prophecy arriving without warning. He glanced toward the door, sensing something unusual, and absently scratched his chin.
’’New patient?’’ He thought, but no.
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed loudly throughout his hallways of the hospital.
The door swung open, and the nurse’s panicked voice rang out.
"D-Doctor! Your patient!"
"Move aside! Doctor here!"
"Excuse me... move aside!"
Hector rushed through the crowded hallway, pushing past curious bystanders.
Eventually, he reached the room—but it seemed too late.
"I’m sorry... we did everything we could. It was a special case... She suffered from an anaphylactic shock. None of us wanted this to happen," the doctor let breath, lowering his hands after ending the emergency procedures.
"Huh? Hector? Hurry up... That’s your patient..." the doctor said urgently as he noticed Hector approaching, who had to take on the burden of responsibility.
The young girl’s mother clutched her daughter tightly, sobbing in unbearable agony. She looked like a woman who had lost every reason to live.
Hector slowly approached the bed, his eyes filled with countless emotions.
There was nothing he could do now.
"M-My kid... Please, wake up."
The mother was shivering, quickly wrapping her arms around her daughter.
She grasped the young girl’s leg with trembling hands, then hastily pulled the blanket up to cover it.
Slowly, she raised her tear-filled eyes toward Hector, who stood like a statue beside the bed.
"Please... Doctor! Help my daughter..."
Hector froze for a while before he struggled to say by his all power. It was really hard for him.
"I apologize... your daughter... she’s passed away."
"YOU’RE LYING! YOU SAID SHE’D RECOVER!"
Her voice cracked, full of agony, then ... gradually faded little by little.
"Y-You... you lied..."
Finally, she held her daughter tighter, desperately trying to cling to the warmth that was fading.
She whispered, full of sadness:
"G-Get out of my kid... I don’t want you near her."
"Don’t worry. You will be fine. We don’t want this to happen."
"It was just a medical incident... It wasn’t your fault."
The doctor lightly patted Hector on the shoulder a few times, trying to comfort him. Then he returned to his desk and then, scribbled something down on the paper.
"I think you need some time off to recover from the shock. Just stick to administrative work until you feel better."
Hector didn’t respond. He only nodded, his eyes staring blankly at the door.
"It was my fault," Hector murmured as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling with a hollow gaze.
"This feels unbearable..."
Countless emotions clawed at his heart. Every time he remembered that pale but sweet face, pain surged through him.
It hurt—it hurt so much.
He couldn’t erase the image of the young patient from his thoughts.
Her words kept stirring in his memory.
"Damn it! This was my fault!"
Time passed. On the surface, he went back to his duties like any other doctor. But deep inside, he no longer believed in his own ability.
Moreover, he had lost the ability to lie.
The incident haunted him—it affected both his work and his life.
Eventually, he resigned from the large hospital and moved to a small village clinic. He hoped that time would help him forgive himself.
But the memory stayed.
Hidden in a dark corner of his mind, lurking to appear anytime—that was all.