The Stars In Your Eyes

The cafe in this hospital seems to change some of their potted plants. The green leaves of the philodendron in the cubicle pot reflecting the sunlights fall upon them. Bai Yutang frequently visited this cafe. Sometimes he asked about the plants to the owner. The owner of this cafe was a middle aged woman who loves gardening.

This time the owner told him about the magic of philodendron. Its heart-shaped leaves and trailing vines not only looked good to put as decoration, but also had the ability to purify the indoor air. It emits oxygen, humidity, and negative ions which remove dust, mold, and bacteria from the air. Bai Yutang made a note to himself that he wanted to buy some to put it inside their apartment.

Bai Yutang was not only waiting for his lover's Saturday round to be done, but also waiting for the two residents which agreed to give him some insight about geriatric needs and care. Last night when he and his lover had dinner together, he asked about it to his lover. 

"I think you'll get better information from the geriatrics.. I'll contact the residents in the geriatric division to help you. It will also help them with their study."

Bai Yutang blushed to remember how his lover groped his waist and butt while saying those words. It was funny how contrast to compare his lover's gentle tone with his mischievous hands. 

But his lover didn't go all the way, saying that he doesn't want to hurt him. They just rubbed each other just like they used to until they reached climaxes. After tasting how it feels to have his lover's member shoved in his tiny hole, somehow Bai Yutang felt something missing from just rubbing each other. He admired his lover's strong will to reject his offer to fuck him, because he himself a little bit frustrated to feel that pleasure again. It's embarrassing to realise that he was such a pervert.

"Hello.. Bai Yutang, right?"

Bai Yutang startled awoken from his lewd daydreaming. How come he was thinking about that in the middle of the day? The voice came from a skinny man standing in front of him. The man was wearing a blue shirt with the white doctor's coat on top of it. 

Bai Yutang abruptly stands and greets the man. "Yes I am. Doctor Xu, right? I'm sorry to bother you, and thank you for your time."

The man nodded and shook his hand. "Yes, i'm Xu Liang. It's my pleasure if I could help you. Wen Yang is still on his way, he'll join us later."

"What do you want to drink, Doctor Xu? Let me order it for you." Bai Yutang gave the menu to the man who took a seat in front of him. After he ordered a cup of hot americano for Xu Liang, Bai Yutang took his tablet out and look at the list of his questions.

Not so long after that, Wen Yang joined them. Wen Yang is one year above Xu Liang, both of them are junior residents in the geriatric division. They receive the order to help this young man, a relative of Doctor Jian, just this morning. The order comes from their senior, which was ordered by their consultant. Even though they just managed to sleep four hours yesterday, they won't dare not show up this noon nor showing a grumpy face.

They basically don't know what this young man needs. They were surprised when Bai Yutang asked questions and questions about geriatric needs and quality of life. At first they thought that this young man was a fresh graduate doctor who wanted to apply for internal medicine residency here.

"I'm sorry, Yutang. Why do you ask these questions? Maybe we could concentrate our explanations to cater your needs." Wen Yang can't help to ask.

"Oh I'm sorry. My fault for not explaining the purpose of these questions. I'm an architecture student. I plan to design a retirement house for my final project. This will serve as a merge of health facilities and residential, thus I need to put the medical perspective. I asked Doctor Jian, and he referred me to asking these questions to you."

Wen Yang suddenly remembered the gossip circulated around the hospital lately. Some said that the handsome Doctor Jian was gay, that's why he didn't married nor have girlfriend. Is this the legendary Saturday boyfriend of Doctor Jian? Wen Yang shook his head. This young man must be Doctor Jian's nephew or cousin. A man as handsome as Doctor Jian won't choose a man as plain as the young man in front of him as his boyfriend.

"Okay, i understand now. Then I may give you some pointers for geriatric daily life. First, the medical facility doesn't need to be advanced. It would only need two small rooms approximately 3x4 meter. Since we talk about geriatric, we need to be mobile when checking on them, so the room for examination was not really necessary. I suggest the housing needs to be built near the hospital."

Bai Yutang hurriedly made some notes. Wen Yang explanation was direct to the point, easy to understand. Bai Yutang likes this man's way of speaking. It was in firm tone, with clear intonation. It seems this man's way of giving explanations was similar with his lover.

Bai Yutang learned from Wen Yang that geriatric or old people were sensitive to changes around them, so it was better if the room and housing design was a flexible standard design to mimic their old environment. He also learned that the bathroom and kitchen also need modification to minimise the accident. Geriatric tend to fall, and most of the bone fractures lead to disability in geriatric due to fall in the bathroom and kitchen.

Bai Yutang also learned about the need for big spaces of park and recreational area for the family visit. One of the prominent causes of depression in geriatric are lack of family visit, or the reduced time to spend with their friends. Along with age, friends with similar age were reduced by nature. Death will call their friends and families one by one.

Bai Yutang suddenly remembers his own grandparents which he rarely visits. It made him want to visit them again before his term started. At least he wanted to call them this afternoon. The last time he called their grandparents was one week ago.

The interview lasted for 40 minutes. Bai Yutang thanked both of these two young doctors again and again. He knew that these two residents must be sparing their precious time for him. He wanted to pay for their lunch, but was rejected. He only managed to pay when he said that this is Jian Kang Lu's request.

When these two young doctors walked away from him, Bai Yutang noticed that both of them had dark circles under their eyes. He then reminded his sister who will walk the same path as the doctors here.

Medical faculty is one faculty that is so different with others. They need to go for 5 years of study including one to two year of internship. Interns are not allowed to take care of patients, they will only follow the residents or consultants when examining the patients. 

They will also do administration tasks to help them familiarize themselves with the medical terms and how to work in clinics or hospitals. Interns only allowed to ask questions and do physical examinations to the patients under the residents or consultants's supervision.

After that they will graduate as doctors, and can choose whether they will work as doctors in the basic health facilities or going through residency. Some of them choose to work in pharmaceutical companies, or even as medical assessor in companies.

Some doctors who had opportunities to take specialties will apply in big hospitals and do two until four more years for residency. As for top doctors like his lover, they still need to take subspecialty again for two or three more years. During residency, they will work and study at the same time. It was a tough path, and never ending studying. The resident's salary is low, and the work is tough. His lover only become nephrologist after more than 10 years of studying.

For architects, they only need to do five years of studying, finish their final project and thesis, then graduate. They only need two years of working experience to get their architect license. Then they can choose whether they want to take a master degree or not, it doesn't really matter. It matters if they want to step up the game in their field of work.

But doctors need to renew their license every few years and it needs many requirements. Before doctors can open their private clinic, they need five years of experience. These varied in each country, unlike other jobs. That's why it was difficult for doctors to work outside their countries, since other countries will have different requirements for allowing doctors to tend their patients.

Bai Yutang was just grateful that his sister never complained too much about her studies. He sure that it must be hard. And it will only get harder and harder in the next few years. Bai Yutang suddenly wants to call his sister.

"Hello, gege?"

"RenRen, what are you doing?"

"I'm at home, ah. But I will have a group discussion with my study group later on. Why do you call me, gege?"

"I just miss my little sister. Can't i call without something to discuss?"

"Woah, are you sick? Why suddenly you cling to me? Have no friends to play with?"

Sometimes Bai Yutang really thinks his sister is the devil's incarnation. She will pester him if she wants to buy something, but act so cocky if she doesn't need money. 

"You little brat. How's mom? I might visit home again next month before my classes begin. Let's visit grandpas and grandma too."

"Mom is okay, she is still at the restaurant. Jian Ge allows you to come here? He won't deduct your salaries?"

"I haven't told him. But i don't see why i can't come to visit my ugly sister, and he won't deduct my salaries."

"Why don't you come here with Jian Ge? If you come alone, you won't bring me anything. Dragged Jian Ge here, ah. Mom missed him too."

Bai Yutang is thinking about that, and it seems like a good idea. Later he needed to talk with his lover about that. He talked with his sister and listened to his sister talking about her last anatomy class last semester.

This is also one thing he admired from doctors. Last time his sister and his lover met they were also talking about anatomy classes. Bai Yutang can't imagine how it feels to look and dissect a human's dead body. The medical students call it cadavers, and call them their teacher. 

Bai Yutang thought his sister would be afraid, just like regular people, just like himself. But all this doctors complaints is how their nose and eyes sting and hurt from the formalin. His sister worshipped his lover when Jian Kang Lu bought her the lavender aromatherapy oil mix with menthol. His lover suggested smearing it on the mask for Bai Yuren to wear during the anatomy practical class.

Sometimes Bai Yutang still feels inferior with himself, that's why he still refuses his lover's invitation to go with him to his lover's Sunday family lunch. Even coming along to the parties and gathering with his lover is enough to give him an unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling. 

Among his lover's circle, only him who is still studying and not working. Not mentioning when he came to the occasion filled with doctors, he can't follow their conversation, and he felt like some stupid person with no qualification. He knows he doesn't need to feel that way, but he just can't help it. He felt like an outsider. 

Bai Yutang was still staring and arranging his interview results with the two young doctors when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder, and a familiar voice called him.

"TangTang.."

His lover's voice dragged him back to reality. Bai Yutang curved his lips, put on a smile when he saw his lover's face. That handsome face looked a bit tired, and his temples glistening from the thin layer of sweat, a result from the hot summer weather. 

"Have you finished, gege?"

"Mm, let's have lunch outside, shall we? Have you done your research?"

"Yes, Doctor Xu and Doctor Wen really give me excellent material for my research. They also give me some notes and files on geriatric quality of life to read later on. I can't thank them enough."

Jian Kang Lu smiled to see his kitten's brightened face. The face who wipes his tired mind and refreshes his energy. The face that filled his day with a lovely tone, painted his world with soft colours of affection. He made a note to himself to personally thank both of those junior residents.