Chapter 5

"You haven't come home yet? Are you usually not in the room at this time?"

Erick's reverie, which had remained at his table since Lian left there a few moments ago, was broken when the uninvited guest in his room returned to disturb him as usual. Who else? General doctors who should have a lot of work but for some reason seem to be more unemployed in Erick's eyes.

Ah, maybe it was because Erick saw him when Nathan was just in his room—his automatic job was just to talk to him rambling here and there, tell him about his problems, disturb his rest, and then leave.

"You? Why even come here? Even though you know I'm usually not around at this time."

The man Erick was talking to took a deep breath, choosing to sit on the guest sofa in the room instead of on the patient sofa in front of Erick as usual.

"Arga is throwing a tantrum again."

“What else this time... Why do you think your problem is like that of a teenager? You don't realize how old you are—"

“He asked me to tell my parents about my true sexual orientation. And you probably won't believe what he says after that?”

One of Erick's eyebrows only rose in response, not wanting his words to be interrupted like before by the person concerned without even feeling guilty.

“He asked me to marry him.”

Oh.

“What's with your reaction? You weren't at all surprised by what you heard just now? Or was it because you were so shocked that you couldn't speak?" Nathan looked at his friend in surprise.

Erick rolled his eyes lazily. “Such things are normal to hear from two people who are in a relationship, right? Even though Arga is just about to graduate from university, still those of you who think your relationship is serious will demand something like that. You're the only one who doesn't know yourself, you're already old and you're still in a relationship just for fun. How can your partner not doubt your relationship, huh?” Rising from the chair he was sitting on, Erick stepped over to Nathan and sat down on one of the sofas there.

“Erick—”

“I know that your relationship in our society is still very, very taboo. Even so, you clearly cannot prohibit other people's feelings of wanting to have a complete relationship by demanding an official status. I'm sure Arga also told you that he is ready to move anywhere as long as he can stay with you, right?"

Nathan was speechless, what he wanted to deny was dismissed by Erick before Nathan even said those words to his colleagues.

“This desire must exist in every person, Nathan. No matter how small it is, the person concerned will deny it or not. What is certain is that this kind of desire does not see gender as a benchmark, although perhaps what is often seen in public is women demanding that their partners clarify the relationship they are in."

Silence greeted them when Erick finished his sentence. Nathan's face looked like he was thinking hard, the man even scratched his face. Behind his face which always looks annoying in Erick's eyes, Nathan is still an ordinary human being. The men were tired, with their crazy work, and with personal problems that seemed to have no end.

“I understand, I may have handled this wrong in front of him. But what you said is not that easy, Erick. You know my family background and this matter will never be easy. Telling Mama and Papa would be the same as breaking up our family ties.”

Erick knows very well—that the head of the hospital, who is none other than his best friend's father, will not make this matter easy ever. That's why Erick knows that his best friend will never tell other people about his true identity.

"Sometimes I even feel, maybe it's a good idea for me to follow their wishes to get married."

"Hah?" Erick was surprised because Erick had long heard from his friend that Nathan would no longer follow his family's wishes. “With women?”

“Of course, but not with someone of their choice.”

"So."

Nathan straightened his sitting position, leaning forward slightly with his elbows resting on his thighs. Nathan's two fingers joined together to form a grip on each other, looking at his friend with a very serious look. “I thought about finding someone who could help me through this. Acting as a couple in front of everyone, and being able to keep my secrets pretty much to himself. Of course with the benefit of her being able to ask anything from me, except—”

"Except?"

"Love."

Love. Relationships are based on agreements. That's what Nathan wanted. And like déjà vu, Erick seemed to be reminded that in the past few days, it felt like he had also heard the same statement from—

"I feel familiar with the sentence just now," Erick muttered without realizing that Nathan could hear his words.

“You mean, one of your patients experienced the same thing? Man? Trying to find a woman to marry him just for public status?” Nathan asked, sounding enthusiastic.

Erick shook his head, still trying to remember who and where he heard it from. “No-no, I think I heard it from the woman's perspective... She also has no desire to get married, but her family demands that she build a household. She is a woman with a successful career but is unhappy because of the demands of her family."

Erick was still scratching his head to remember. Of the hundreds of patients who consult each month, who sounds most familiar with that story...

“Oh, of course! You stupid Erick. That's the story of Liana, the woman who just came out of my room before you came. Didn't you two meet outside?"

"Outside? Earlier?" As if getting inspiration or whatever it's called. Nathan immediately got up from the sofa he was sitting on, got up from there, and rushed out so fast that Erick was even able to stop him and realize the mistake Erick had just made.

Erick leaked his patient's information

Erick even shared his patient's privacy problem without realizing it

“N-no, Nathan. That—she came out more than fifteen minutes ago, right? No! That's not the problem Erick! You just violated your work code of ethics!” Erick was confused by himself, looking confused and confused by the mistake he had just made.

This is not the time to think about Nathan, who stupidly chased Liana out even though the woman had left about 15 minutes ago, and had gone somewhere. I don't know what motive Nathan was chasing her with, it's still clearly a stupid act, isn't it?

And let's forget about Nathan because now Erick has to think about his fate. After revealing his patient's privacy to his best friend, what should Erick do? Admit it to Liana? And asked the woman not to make a fuss about it? Or keep this problem to himself, so that Liana doesn't even need to know about it.

But what if Nathan met the patient and revealed that it was Erick who had told him about Liana's problem until Nathan found out about this matter, then from there Liana felt unacceptable and sued him directly through the hospital before even discussing everything properly. with Erick. Erick is finished, his job and profession will be destroyed if that happens.

So... wouldn't it be better to reveal everything to the person concerned first? Instead of waiting for the woman to sue him?

Arghhh!!!

Erick shook his head angrily. How could Erick reveal the patient's story so lightly to Nathan and forget about professionalism and his work code of ethics?!!