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Rumour has it that the new cardiac surgeon is handsome.
Like very very handsome, like Song Joong Ki handsome. And Seongwoo feels threatened because he will no longer be the main topic of discussion for the nurses here.
He wasn't really bothered at first but after hearing that Jonghyun, their hospital's best anesthesiologist, will be moving over to the new doctor's surgical team and won't be able to help Seongwoo's team anymore, he feels betrayed. He likes Jonghyun, the man is good company and is the best at his job and Seongwoo didn't want to share.
There's Jaehwan but he's still lacking compared to Jonghyun, everyone is lacking compared to Jonghyun.
He makes it a point to iron out his coat properly, making sure there aren't any creases, and checking his hair in the mirror every five minutes.
"If you look into the mirror one more time I will spray water onto your hair and mess it up."
Seongwoo turns around to glare at Daniel who's lying on Seongwoo's office chair, trying to sneak in a nap before his 12 hour shift.
"Get out of my office your brat." Seongwoo finally walks away from the mirror on the wall and sits down on his office.
"Then I don't have anywhere else to sleep." Daniel sits up and pouts. Daniel's a year younger and only a resident so his office is shared with others, he could always use the common room with bunk beds for the doctors to crash in but he exploits his boyfriend's professor status and office space. He's been in here so much he can basically call it his own.
"Have you seen the new surgeon yet?" Seongwoo tries to ask nonchalantly. Daniel rolls his eyes, knowing where this is going "No, I heard he's coming in tomorrow."
"What's his name? How old is he?"
"Hwang Minhyun I think, he's the same age as you, he's also of the same position."
Seongwoo absorbs the information carefully. Same age, same position, he's competition for Seongwoo.
"Hyung, why are you so bothered by the new doctor, it's not like he's competing with you or anything." Daniel says, unwrapping a pack a gummies he had left on Seongwoo's desk.
"You never know what kind of person he may be, he could be nice, he could be an asshole, it's a threat to us Daniel-ah. The prettiest ones are always bitchy."
"But you're pretty- oh wait it makes sense." Daniel laughs as Seongwoo throws a pen in his direction.
Daniel finishes off the gummies in the packet and rolls his eyes. He stands from his seat and moves to leave. "Bye hyung, I'm off for my shift, do your work and stop thinking about useless things."
Seongwoo ignores him, instead turning on his computer and searching Hwang Minhyun on the search engine.
When the page is loaded, he finds the doctor's profile page on his previous hospital's website.
Hwang Minhyun, cardiothoracic surgeon, bachelor in surgery, bachelor in medicine, the website states, Seongwoo scrolls down the page until he reaches the photo.
"Fuck."
-
When Seongwoo actually sees him for the first time, it's not at his best. Seongwoo had missed the welcome ceremony, he was busy in a 6 hour surgery for a patient.
Right out of the surgery, he was outside the room, washing his hands, with slightly blood stained scrubs and disheveled hair.
He sees the light from room next door indicating the end of the surgery too.
The doctor walks out the room, strolls to the sink beside Seongwoo and peels off his face mask.
Seongwoo eyes, widen, if he thought he was handsome from his photo, he was more handsome in real life.
The photo on his page was one of those cooperate photos that usually make you look ugly. Seongwoo's of course turned out great, but so did Minhyun's.
That's not how you're supposed to look dressed in the hospital's ugly blue scrubs with crocs, right after finishing a surgery, Seongwoo thinks.
He admits defeat, simply staring at the man washing his hands. Even washing his hands is attractive?
"Hello," he greets the taller male, fox like eyes turn to his direction, "I'm Doctor Ong Seongwoo, neurosurgeon. You must be Doctor Hwang Minhyun."
A smile forms on the other man's face, "It's nice to meet you Ong Seongwoo-ssi, I heard a lot about you, I am honoured to be able to work with an excellent doctor like you."
Oh. Oh.
Seongwoo decides maybe Hwang Minhyun isn't so bad after all.
-
Seongwoo was signing a slip for a patient at the main desk when he hears the nurses gossiping.
"He's married, didn't you see the ring?"
"No? Are surgeons allowed to wear rings?"
"He has it on a chain on his neck, what a shame, the whole hospital was pining after him."
Seongwoo takes in the information slowly, Hwang Minhyun is married? He should've expected it, the man was indeed handsome, had a good background, a big catch, but as far as he knew, he had never seen Minhyun leave the hospital compound for more than a few hours, the man was so busy he's been sleeping in his office the past week. Seongwoo's used to that lifestyle too but he's wondering how would a married man be able to cope with such schedule.
Seongwoo walks past the break room and he spots Jonghyun resting and drinking coffee in there.
He goes in and sits beside the other male.
"Hey, how's it going, haven't been seeing you around much." He clasp a hand on his shoulder.
Jonghyun smiles at Seongwoo, "I've been busy, other than my main team, I had to help out Youngmin's team because Daehwi was ill. It's a surprise I haven't passed out yet."
Seongwoo laughs, "You should come back to my team, I missed you."
Jonghyun's phone vibrates on the table and he opens it in front of Seongwoo. It's a text from his boyfriend. Seongwoo has never met him but they have been going strong for ten years, they met back when in medical school when Jonghyun did an exchange to Busan, they've been going strong even with the long distance, Seongwoo admires them for that.
From: Min❤️
Bugi-ya
Have you eaten lunch?
Seongwoo sees the smile on Jonghyun's face and it warms his heart, it's as if Jonghyun didn't just go through an eight-hour long surgery and isn't at all tired from just one text message.
Seongwoo can't help but wonder who is the one that could call Kim Jonghyun, top anesthesiologist doctor, admired and role-model of many, a cute nickname like 'bugi' and make him smile like that.
Jonghyun types in a reply, smile never leaving his face. But come to think of it, Jonghyun does look brighter these few weeks, he's already bright but nowadays whenever Seongwoo looks at him, he seems to be glowing.
Seongwoo suddenly remembers the conversion he heard awhile ago.
"Oh, Jonghyun-ah, you know Hwang Minhyun, the new doctor you're working with, is he married?" Seongwoo asks curiously.
Jonghyun looks up from his phone and his expression stiffens. "Hwang Minhyun? Married? Where did you hear that from?"
"I heard the nurses gossiping earlier, they said they saw him with a ring." He shrugs his shoulders, "I figured you might know since you're working with him now."
"Ah," Jonghyun's face eases with a smile, "he's not married."
"Then what's with the ring everyone's talking about? The one he wears as a chain on his neck." Seongwoo asks in confusion.
"Hm," Jonghyun stands up, ready to go start his shift, smile never leaving his face "maybe it's his boyfriend."
Seongwoo ponders, would Hwang Minhyun be gay?
-
Seongwoo sees it for himself a few days later. As they're both of the same position, their offices are coincidentally near each other's. Seongwoo was just casually walking past Minhyun's office to get to his own when he hears it, the door is slightly ajar, and he peeks in.
He seems to be in the middle of changing his clothes for surgery. He's wearing his scrub pants and is without a shirt, his back turned to Seongwoo.
Seongwoo almost wolf-whistles at the sight, broad-shoulders and well formed arms.
Daniel's are better, he thinks, but he's probably being biased.
He's currently on the phone with someone, and by the sound of his laugh it must be someone very dear to him.
As he's ending the call, Seongwoo manages to catch the last bit.
"Bye, love you J-ah."
Minhyun turns his body and he manages to see Seongwoo by the door.
"Oh, hello," he smiles at the other.
Seongwoo pretends he hasn't been spending the last ten seconds ogling his colleague and listening on his conversation and casually slips into his office.
"I hope you don't mind me asking but, was that your boyfriend?"
Minhyun breaks into a smile, it reminds Seongwoo of Jonghyun's glow. "Yea, it was." His fingers go up to touch the ring from the hanging off his neck.
It's pretty, Seongwoo notices.
"Are you engaged?"
"Ah, no, not yet." Minhyun looks a little flustered, he proceeds to put his top on. "It's a promise ring, kinda cheesy but, you see we used to be long distance so we wanted something to connect us."
Seongwoo swoons, that was the most adorable thing he'd ever heard.
When he leaves Minhyun's office and into his own, he attacks Daniel on the sofa, awakening the younger from his sleep.
"Yah, let's get promise rings," He says, pecking the other on his cheek.
"You can't wear a ring in the operating room." Daniel yawns but still leans into Seongwoo's touch, wrapping his arms around him.
"We already have matching shoes hyung." Seongwoo looks down at their shoes.
Oh. That's fine, they're already cute enough.
-
Jonghyun is panicking. And that's unusual because Jonghyun never panics.
Seongwoo spots him outside the operating room, in his scrubs, probably just out from a surgery, nervously bitting his lip. He's scanning the walkway, making sure no one's around.
When he's sure that there's no one in sight, he turns and bends to dig through the bin.
Seongwoo looks around and confirms that no one is there and approaches him.
"What are you doing?"
Jonghyun shrieks and knocks his head at the side of the bin, startled.
When he sees its only Seongwoo, he heaves and sigh of relief and pulls Seongwoo down to whisper in his ear.
"I lost my boyfriend's promise ring. I clearly remember putting it in my pocket before the surgery but now it's gone."
Seongwoo's eyes widen is disbelief. "I'll help you find it." He looks around the area outside the operating room while Jonghyun continues to dig through the bin.
"I found it!" He exclaims and jumps up, ring in hand. "It was in the pocket of the operating gown!" He kneels by the floor and holds the ring between his fingers. He looks as if he just lost ten years of his life.
Seongwoo looks at the ring, it's pretty, just like Minhyun and his boyfriend's. The design is very similar, he can't see the details from afar but they both look identical from where he's standing.
-
Seongwoo and Daniel tap into the operating room, preparing for their next surgery. When the glass door opens, they're greeted with Minhyun, kneeling on the floor, crying, his scrubs have blood stains on them and his hands are limp by his side, and there's Jonghyun, embracing him, one hand around Minhyun's waist pulling him to him, and the other on Minhyun's head which is buried on Jonghyun's shoulder.
"It's not your fault Minhyun-ah. You couldn't do anything it was too late."
Jonghyun pats him on the back slowly, letting the taller cry into his shoulder.
Oh, Seongwoo knows what's this about. The guilt whenever they fail to save a patient, he's been through that before. Having to tell the heartbroken family members, watching their hopeful expressions turn into disbelief and sadness. It hurts, but they learn to accept it over time.
They don't notice Seongwoo and Daniel by the door, and the pair leaves, letting them have their own space.
-
Minhyun's laugh is so distinctive Seongwoo could tell who it was even from outside the door. He wonders who he's with, the laugh sounds like when Seongwoo had overhead the other time, full of love and affection.
He opens the door to the break room, and sees Jonghyun and Minhyun together. They're sitting beside each other, Minhyun has an arm propped over the back of Jonghyun's chair, he's listening to Jonghyun explaining about a manga called yureka or something, he can't hear properly. Minhyun doesn't look one bit interested in what Jonghyun is saying but he's just nodding along, responding when he can, giving all his attention even though he's not interested.
That's nice, Seongwoo thinks, they look like very good friends already.
-
Jonghyun and Minhyun are cuddling.
You see, Seongwoo was just minding his business for once, when he was walking past Minhyun's office, he noticed the door was slightly open and he wanted to close it but right as he approached the room. He saw the pair, cuddled together close on Minhyun's sofa, sleeping. Jonghyun's face is tucked nicely into Minhyun's chest, while each other's hands are wrapped around each other.
They have the perfect height for each other, he thinks, what a shame.
But it's bugging him.
What about Jonghyun's long distance boyfriend?
What about Minhyun's boyfriend?
Each of them have their own promise rings, cute nicknames, and Jonghyun's relationship has been going on for ten years.
Seongwoo tries to brush it away when he slips out of the office. They're just friends, this is completely normal for platonic friends, this isn't cheating.
-
When Seongwoo receives the invitation card, he screams.
He should've known it, he should have.
"Hwang Minhyun and Kim Jonghyun would like to cordially invite you to share in their happiness as they are united in marriage."
"Wh-what? You two? Together?" He looks up in disbelief at the pair holding hands in front of him.
"B-but how?" Jonghyun tries to hide a laugh behind his palm but his smile is showing everything.
"Wait Jonghyun, what about your boyfriend? You've been together for ten years! What about you Minhyun, the promise ring.
Jonghyun and Minhyun look at each other with amused smiles on their faces, before pulling out their rings, Jonghyun from his pocket and Minhyun from the chain under his shirt.
Seongwoo looks closer and oh, they're identical.
It all clicks suddenly. Jonghyun suddenly switching teams, looking brighter and even starting to glow when he got busier, the name he saved in his phone, "Min❤️" was actually Minhyun, the nicknames, bugi and J-ah, Jonghyun does look like an onibugi, the affectionate gaze and laughter, the cuddling and the breakdown in the operating room.
It all makes sense now and Seongwoo just feels so stupid.
"Why did you keep it a secret?" Seongwoo asks; exasperated.
Minhyun shrugs, "We weren't, we just didn't mention it, I assumed you'd know, heck even Hyunbin knew."
Seongwoo feels embarrassed and he feels like digging a hole and burying himself in it.
But when he looks up at the couple, he can't help but smile, they really do suit each other.