Not so bad, am I? He murmured, mere inches from her face, eyes searching hers...
"Miss Nam!"
Cho-yeon found herself jolted from her thoughts, hands absentmindedly clutching her patient clipboard in the noisy receptionist hall. Mun-sa tapped her foot impatiently behind a desk, a sigh drawn from her mouth ignorantly as she typed.
" You did not hear a word of what I said, did you? One would think you were daydreaming about a boy with that face! And in the workplace..."
" No ma'am..." She muttered, looking down, embarrassed. Sort of was... no! That is not what happened! She was only processing the night before, that's all. A perfectly normal neurological process.
" You have a new patient, Miss Nam."
Cho-yeon whipped her head up. " How, I have a full chart-when will I- can't Jang mi or-I'm supposed to be home-"
" No. It's you." Mun-sa clarified, with a "it's final" tone. " I'll move Jang-mi to take some of your other patients instead. After this one, you can clock out at your usual time. Room 221."
A new, blank clipboard was shoved into her hands before she could turn. Cho-yeon began to leave.
" Oh, and Miss Nam?"
She pivoted, looking back at Mun-sa, who for once, looked concerned. " Be good."
Cho-yeon blinked in confusion, but Mun-sa had already gone back to her furious typing. Room 218, 219, 220, ah yes, 221! She counted as she walked the blank, sterilized hallway of patient rooms.
She entered the room to find a man and woman bickering endlessly over the patient chair, fingers pointed, veins bulging. The man's face was cherry red, and the woman's heels stamping against the tile.
" Soo-ah, would you just listen!"
" You know, I really can't stand you!"
" Remind me again why we got into this! Oh yeah, your idea!"
" Well no one told me that my wife would turn out to be such a bi-"
" Eugh, eugh! Umm, hello?" Cho-yeon coughed awkwardly, knocking on the inside of the wall to get their attention. The couple froze, looking over at her slowly. The woman instantly stepped back, smoothing her pencil skirt and hair. The man retreated angrily, still shooting glares at the woman's smirk.
" Nice to meet you both." She continued nervously. " And you are?"
" Soo-ah. Song Soo-ah." The woman graciously filled in. " Song Ho-seok." The man barked gruffly.
She blinked. " That can't be right, I must be in the wrong room by last name then! This paper here says I'm due to meet a Song Minju. I'm so sorry, it said room 221! Is that an older relative of yours?"
The woman, Soo-ah, bit her lip. " Well, umm-"
"- I'm Minju!"
She stopped as Soo-ah paled, a small head of dark pigtails bounced out from behind the adults.
" My name Song Minju , but Eomma calls me Minnie, so you should too! Its a pretty name!"
Cho-yeon bent down, looking around the adults to see that a small form did sit on the patient chair, a child with bouncy ebony pigtails and a bright smile.
My god, what? Why had they given her a pediatric case?
" Well, hello there, Minnie. I'm Nam Cho-yeon, your doctor here. "
" Nam. Cho. Yeon. Your name is very long. Hard. I don't like it. " Minnie spoke very clearly, nodding her head on each syllable.
" Minju!" Soo-ah scolded, eyes wide. " I'm so sorr-"
" You're fine." Cho-yeon assured, not taking her eyes off the small girl. " Yes, my name is very long. Instead, you can call me Miss Nam or..." She thought for a moment. ".. or Yeonie. Sounds a lot like Minnie, doesn't it?"
The child thought for a moment, tapping her sparkly red shoes against the crinkly paper of the patient chair.
" May I call you Miss Yeonie?"
She laughed at the combination option she hadn't even offered and nodded as Minnie lit up, a big toothy smile crossing her pink cheeks.
" Well, Minnie, I'm going to look at your chart ok? Let's see why you're here."
The girl nodded enthusiastically, then went back to chattering quietly to no one as her parents shot daggers across the room at each other.
Poor thing with parents like that... wonder why she's here...
Cho-yeon scanned the page, and her breath caught.
Second bout, stage two, rapidly developing-
" Aisshi." She whispered. Now she understand why they wanted her on this case. The girl had stage two leukemia.
" What was that?" Soo-ah asked, apparently having caught her whisper.
" Oh, um, I just meant to ask how old is Minnie?"
The girl grinned, hopping a little in her seat.
" Minju is turning...?" Soo-ah turned nervously, double checking with her daught, who excitedly cried: " FIVE!"
Minnie did not have a notice in the world at her mother's uncomfortableness in not even remembering her child's age.
Five and stage two cancer...
" Oki well, I'm going to go now, this paper says I can't visit again till all the other work, the super special labs come back tomorrow, ok?"
" Ooki! Bye bye Miss Yeonie!" She chirped, looking out the window and instantly chattering off to an absent minded mom and furious further about the pretty blue bird outside her window. Cho-yeon felt nothing but a puddle of dread in her stomach as she clocked out that night, leaving her newest small patient.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jimin's POV:
Red.
" Aishhi!" The remote went flying.
For some reason, he had seen that color on every channel today. It appeared abundantly in front of his eyes, bright and unassuming, yet unmissable.
His fingers tingled, as if remembering the night before and he cringed internally, questioning what had consumed him, had made him so daring as to act as though he knew what he was doing. Yoongi hyung was the actor of the group, not him! He'd probably just entirely embarrassed himself.
Maybe that's why she hasn't come back. Jimin wondered, checking the clock again. It read 12:10, later than normal. He nestled back against the uncomfortable couch. No, she's not avoiding you. She might not even remember. His cheeks pinked with heat just at the awkward thought.
Suddenly, a louder noise signaled a strange arrival. Nam Cho-yeon.
The clash meant she'd thrown her bag to the ground, and the fridge slammed shut as quickly as it had opened. Before he could even move, she'd paced furiously into the living room, socks slipping on the carpet, an unopened soda clutched in her fist.
Does she even know I'm here?
" Aish, stage 2, only five, and those craploads of par- nevermind that how am I- why would Mun-sa..."
Going to go with forgot, though thats better than remembering last night. Isn't it? He tried to convince himself, fingers tingling once more.
" And then there was- those stupid blood tests- why on earth-the packet read tha-"
" Umm, hello?" He blurted sheepishly, tensing up as she stopped, turning to face him. Her eyes went wide.
" Oh-Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be so scatter brained, I forgot you were there, I mean, not that you existed, but that you sat- nevermind! It was just an overstimulating day!"
She walked over towards him and he swung his legs out of the just in time for her to collapse onto the couch, sighing as she cracked open the soda. It was slightly tight and silent as she drunk for a few moments.
" Wait, why is my remote on the floor over there?"
I kept seeing your color. His lips almost parted with those words but he shoved them down, confused by them.
"Oh, oh no- aren't you going to check my injuries? Some of us would like to be able to move again!" He deflected.
Then she choked on her soda slightly, instantly setting it down. " You're right! I am a horrible doctor today!"
He smiled slightly. " You're not horr-"
But then she spun, sitting up on her knees next to him and placing her hands on his chest. He inhaled slightly with the pressure of her fingers nearly flesh against his skin through his T-shirt. They moved lightly along his sides, pushing in certain areas, and even sliding along his lower stomach.
Cho-yeon.
" O-ok maybe you are horrible, what are you doing?"
" Checking for sustained injuries or signs of unhealed internal wounds in the pelvic, abdominal, and upper respiratory areas."
" Basic Korean please."
" You, Hurt, Looking, See, All Good."
" Wow, you're a condescending too! What an excellent doctor you are."
Cho-yeon's eyes narrowed as she continued to search for wounds. " Ya! I am an excellent doctor!"
" Says who? Not even you a couple of minutes ago. Should I add hypocrite to the list?"
" No! Only I can degrade my own skills, thats why I said it! Yours doesn't count!"
" That makes no sense whatsoever."
" W-well when you're smart you don't have to make sense!" She blurted, face pinking. Jimin smiled, unable to keep the snicker back.
" Is that so? Then why do I have to explain everything I do here to you?" He dipped his head, staring at her brown eyes. " Am I not intelligent?"
"Y-you are." She stammered slightly and he grinned at the instant effect proximity had on her. But then she smirked. " But I'm smarter," And shoved him flat onto his back before throwing a rock hard couch pillow onto his head.
" Ya! Cho-yeon!" He sputtered, struggling to sit up as she jumped away, and scampered bunny style a few safe feet away.
" You're a violent doctor too!"
" Nope, doesn't count either! You're fine to walk now, so technically, I'm not your doctor anymore!"
" Fine!" He exasperated in mock shock. " Then you're just violent!"
Still, a smile filled his insides at her words that he was able to walk around again. That he could relieve himself of this couch!
Cho-yeon shook her head laughing, a small beam on her face. It upturned the corners of his lips, just watching hers. That smile was contagious and he didn't understand why.
Suddenly, she seemed to snap out of her stupor and his smile fell instantaneously with hers.
" I, I should go to bed now. And you should be asleep, it's late!" She began to excuse herself.
Jimin's heart dropped to his stomach and a pit formed there as she left. Why? He didn't have an answer.
" It's late for you too, you know..." He muttered quietly.
" What?" Cho-yeon stopped, only half-looking back.
He swallowed hard, realizing he had no plausible answer prepared. " I, umm, had another question!"
" Oh." She turned fully. "Yes?"
He wracked his brain, trying to look everywhere but those curious brown eyes. "I-um, uhh-"
" Jimin?"
His face heated up further. Why did his name sound like that from her!
Finally, it came. A usable question. " I was just wondering your favorite food."
She sighed, shaking her head with a tired little laugh. " You have the strangest questions you know."
" You didn't answer?" He pointed out.
" Jajangmyeon. I like jajangmyeon the best."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------