chapter 14

                                1People around her were looking at her. She had an extremely fair complexion and black straight hair like other Koreans but still, her looks were Indian. She found the department and went inside. "Hello..", said Zaini to her batchmates.No one responded to her.The head of the department Dr.Park Jae came and everyone bent their head in his respect except Zaini as she was unaware of the ritual.Dr.Park Jae stared at her. Zaini gulped saliva hurriedly and bent down her head.Dr.Park Jae took the introduction of all the interns. They were a batch of 8 students. The batch had 3 boys and 5 girls including Zaini. Dr.Park asked theoretical questions to know who could be his favourite student. One of the students Cha Woo was answering all the questions. Dr.Park Jae looked at Zaini in the hope of getting some answers but she was silent. Then he called her name and asked one question," Miss Zaini, What is the composition of the anaesthetic solution?"Zaini was about to answer but then she remembered that she had to play dumb, so she went silent again.Everyone was looking at her for an answer as the question could be answered by a 2nd-year student. "Miss Zaini, I am asking in the English language as I know you don't understand the Korean language yet. I am expecting an answer as this is an easy question."Zaini looked at Dr.Park Jae. She was looking like a cute puppy. Dr.Park Jae then asked another question."What are the various modes of injecting the anaesthetic solution into the human body?"Zaini again started looking down. Dr.Park Jae was furious at her now. "No answers? How did you manage to grab an internship here? There is always an exam conducted for the students who want to get an internship here and that exam is quite tough and can be cleared by some brilliant students only. Did you cheat as it was an online exam?""No Sir", said Zaini."She is telling lies. If she cannot answer easy questions, she must have cheated on the exam", said Cha Woo."I am not a liar. I have never cheated in my entire life", said Zaini in frustration. "Then answer the questions I have asked. Prove to me that you are capable of earning an internship here", said Dr. Park Jae. Zaini again didn't utter a single word and started looking down. Dr Park waited for a while for Zaini to answer and then he said, "You will not enter my department until you learn the basics! Get out of my department right now!! Other students looked at Zaini and smiled and then they passed smiles with each other. Dr. Park saw it and said, "Should I send all of you out of my department?? What are you guys smiling at?"Everyone zipped up their lips immediately. Zaini's face turned pale. She had not expected this kind of punishment. "What should I do now? Should I answer both questions or should I go out and come back later pretending as if I have memorized it now", thought Zaini.Dr Park got even more furious when he saw Zaini was still standing in front of him."How stubborn!! I will make sure you are expelled from here as soon as possible", shouted him.Zaini was dumbfounded. She looked up at Dr. Park and answered both questions in detail.Other students looked at her in dismay.Dr. Park was surprised by the answers too. He started asking her more questions. Zaini was unstoppable now. She answered every question however difficult it was. "Great!! You are a kind of encyclopedia!! I am amazed. You have grabbed information that I expect from the post-graduates only. I wonder why you were so silent earlier. You sounded so dumb?" said Dr. Park.Zaini breathed out in relief and smiled. Then her eyes fell on her classmates and suddenly her smile faded away. Cha Woo looked most furious as Zaini had stolen his place of being the favourite student of Dr Park. Everyone was assigned some tasks and then Dr. Park went away.The tasks were assigned to three groups. Zaini was paired with Ji Hun and Song Kang. Zaini tried to make eye contact with them to initiate the conversation but both of them kept on talking with each other without letting Zaini buzz in. Finally, Zaini found a quiet place in the department and indulged herself in books. She lost track of time and when she looked up after 3-4 hours, there was no one in the department except for a few nurses.As she was roaming around the department, one of the nurses stopped her and said, "Are you looking for someone?" "No... I mean I am an Intern here and I wonder where have the others gone?" replied Zaini."Oh! They didn't ask you? How rude!! It is lunchtime. You should go and grab something to eat quickly. Dr. Park will come within half an hour and he doesn't like it if the interns are not in the department", said her."Ohh. It's okay. I will eat in the evening. I am vegetarian and I will have to go to my flat and then prepare it too. It will take more than half an hour. Anyways, thanks for telling me all this", said Zaini and smiled."You will find something to eat in the cafeteria or at least something to drink. Go and get it", said the nurse.Zaini liked the idea and came out of the department. She came back within 20 minutes. She was surprised to see her other classmates already sitting and chit-chatting. As soon as she stepped in, everyone stopped talking. She felt weird but she went to the same spot where she was already sitting. As soon as she sat everyone started laughing. Zaini found it weird and she looked back. Everyone started looking here and there by covering their mouths with their hands. Zaini could feel that they were planning something against her as she had become the favourite student of Dr Park. As she looked back on her books, everyone started laughing again. Zaini started feeling anxious.