Chapter Text
20/11 – 1pm
Gyeo Ul had just come back home from work, after spending the last 48 hours on call with multiple traumas and emergency surgeries. All she wanted was a large bowl of spicy ramen to help her destress, and long shower and uninterrupted sleep. As she was punching in the numbers on the door keypad, she heard her phone ring.
*ping*
‘Arriving today: BE: Deluxe version album is out for delivery.’
It was on reading this text message that she remembered that it was also comeback day and she had promised Min Ha that they would meet up later that evening for drinks after listening to the album. She hadn’t realised at the time when they waited for hours online to prebook the album that she would be this exhausted. She had in fact scheduled her on calls so that she could get a day off on 21st to listen and relisten and rerelisten to the album, watch, and rewatch the music video and just indulge in Bangtan content.
While all she could think about was making a hot bowl of ramen and her warm bed, this ray of hope would pull her out of the funk she’d been feeling of late. She was nearing the end of her general surgery residency, she would soon have to defer her clinical duties to Chang Min, and begin preparing for her licensing exams, and also look into fellowship programs. As much as Jeong Won was convincing her to stay on in Yulje and become his fellow, she still had a lot on her plate to think about.
She dropped her bag and coat near her shoes, walked straight into the bathroom, and turned on the shower. She stood under the warm water and hoped that it would wash away her doubts about the future of her career.
Jeong Won had noticed Gyeo Ul leaving the hospital around lunch time. She was last seen having a conversation with Dr Kwon and Chang Min about a post operative patient from earlier that morning, when Dr Kwon had asked her to go home after giving a handover to Chang Min about the new admissions. He still had a few patients to follow up with, and he neither had much time to go up to Gyeo Ul nor enough time to call or text her about how she would get home and what she would do about food. He somehow managed to complete his post op rounds and see his new admissions before heading out of the hospital. His afternoon was free as he did not have any clinic appointments and left instructions with the ER to inform General Surgery resident Dr Shin Chang Min for any emergencies that would come up later that day.
As he was getting off the elevator to the apartment, he saw a delivery man standing outside the door, continuously ringing the doorbell. He was curious as to why he was there, for as far as he was concerned, he did not spend money on frivolous items that required more money to be spent being delivered to him. He carefully began to approach the man, with an intention to tell him that he probably had the wrong address.
‘Oh, excuse me, are you here for…?’
‘Oh thank God. Sir, do you live in this apartment? This is a delivery for a Jang Gyeo Ul, but no one is answering the door, nor are they answering their phone. There is music playing inside, so I know someone is home, but they aren’t answering the door.’
‘Oh is it? Yeah I live here too. Don’t worry, I’ll take it in. Thank you so much.’
He took the package, and entered the apartment after punching in the key code. The delivery man was right, there was music playing, guitar strings playing with a sad tone, with a deep voice singing. He removed his shoes and carefully walked into the apartment to find Gyeo Ul sleeping on the couch with the song playing on repeat, her cheeks tear stained. As Jeong Won continued to listen to the song, he began to understand the meaning of the song, and came to a realisation that maybe this was how Gyeo Ul had been feeling for the last few weeks, with so much going on with her. He felt bad that he could only do so much, as his service was getting busier, and he also was not able to spend a lot of time with her. He paused the music, and had a look at the name of the track that was playing.
‘Blue and Grey, by BTS. Hmm, why have I not heard of this song before? She’s told me about all of their songs, and music videos…’
He had taken off his coat and was going to change his clothes, as he was going through the news on his phone. The first headline he saw was that BTS had a comeback today and their new album had just released. He immediately went onto Melon and began to listen to the album, as he was getting changed and came back into the kitchen. He put in 3 packets of ramen to cook, and began to fry up some eggs on the side. Once the meal was ready, he slowly began to approach Gyeo Ul to wake her up.
‘Come on dear, let’s get some food into you.’ As he passed her bowl of ramen with a fried egg on top, she noticed that there was music playing and it was a more peppy song than the one she was listening to before she fell asleep.
‘Jeong Won-sshi, what song is playing right now?’
‘Oh this? It’s called “Jamshi”. It’s from your Oppas’ new album.’
‘You’ve been listening to the new album without me?! Oh I’m such a dodo head. The album was supposed to be delivered today. Did anything come home?’
‘Oh, is that what that is?’ He pointed to the package on the counter.
She rushed to open it, without paying heed to the bowl of ramen on the table.
‘Ya… You can have your dinner first then open the package!’
‘You’ll never understand….’
She ripped open the wrapping paper and saw the simple white box with black and grey print on it. She began to tear up again.
Jeong Won saw this as his cue to come near her and hold her tight, as she let out all that she had been holding in for so long. He did not utter a word, but silently prayed that things get better soon, and he resolved to be around for her more often as well. He did not pressure her to tell him what was wrong or why she was crying; he knew they would talk about it at a later time.
A while later, Gyeo Ul looked up. ‘I was supposed to meet Min Ha-ssaem tonight, but I don’t think I want to leave right now. Is it ok if we sit like this for a while longer? Oh the ramen is getting soggy, isn’t it?’
‘That’s okay, we can make more ramen if you want to have it later. I don’t mind soggy noodles anyway. I want to be around to do what I can to help you feel better. You know I’m here for you, and no matter how busy I get, you can come to me for anything right? I drag you with me to chicken shops when my patients are doing well and when they aren’t, so you can drag me to make you ramen, or listen to BTS with you, or anything you want. I love you Gyeo Ul, and while I can’t promise to be able to fix everything, I will try my hardest to do what I can to help. Alright?’
‘Thank you. I guess I needed to hear that. There’s just been so much on my mind, that I don’t know where to start, and all the ones I love are working and its tough,’ she sniffled. ‘I love you too, Ahn Jeong Won.’
He pressed a kiss to her forehead as they held each other, with Stay playing in the background. A smile slowly began to form on her face when the beat dropped, and she slowly began to sway to the music. She stood up, and held his hands as they began to dance to the song. Jeong Won smiled, seeing his girlfriend’s bright smile and prayed that she would have more opportunities to smile in the future that they shared together.