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Lee Minho, by all means, is not an idiot.
He’s far from it, really—he lived on his own at a young age, he knows how to take care of himself. He knows a lot of essential life skills. He’s the only one who knows how to cook a decent meal in his shared home, for heaven’s sake—he is the last person to be an idiot.
Hence he really doesn’t know why he ended up with broken bones and a pounding head in a hospital bed.
The white walls and ceilings of the hospital makes him feel even more nauseous, the various tapes stuck in his skin making it itch. Felix was standing beside his bed, eyes filled with worry like his boyfriend was not the reason behind Lee Minho’s suffering.
“Hyung,” he called out. “You’re awake?”
“Do you want me dead?”
“No, of course not. Don’t say that.”
“Your boyfriend may seem to think otherwise.”
“I don’t want you dead, hyung,” speak of the devil. Perhaps he’s the reincarnation of the devil himself.
“Of course I believe you, Han Jisung.”
“Hyung,” Jisung called out, frustrated and worried. “Calm down. The doctors will check your vital signs soon, you don’t want your blood pressure to rise right now.”
“Fine,” Minho responded, slumping back to the uncomfortable hospital bed, shoulders slumped dejectedly. “But you’re not getting away with this.”
Han Jisung is one of Minho’s housemates. They started sharing a townhouse together with Changbin three years ago—all of them being freshly graduated students looking for jobs and a comfortable home to live in the city. City houses are incredibly expensive, so Minho decides to rent a townhouse for the time being. Unfortunately for him, townhouses will still hurt his bank account, so he decides to look for people to share the townhouse with to split the rent. He found Changbin and Jisung, the all-too-painful to handle duo, and that’s how the townhouse pretty much started.
Jisung, however, had a burst of motivation to clean his room at an unusual hour of the night. Changbin was staying over somewhere else, so he’s not in the house to tell Minho what Jisung is up to. Like a normal, healthy adult, Minho sleeps before the clock hits 12—he works 9 to 5, and that is enough to physically and mentally drain him to be asleep the moment his body his the mattress. Any noise made by a yelling Changbin or a hyper Jisung will fall silent on a sleeping Minho’s ear.
And that is where the problem lies.
Minho was already deep in his slumber but he woke up to go to their shared bathroom that was inconveniently at the second floor of their house, whereas their rooms were at the third. He didn’t bother turning on the lights, he was already well acquainted with the place to roam around with no light.
Or so he thought.
While Jisung was cleaning his room, he moved some of his furniture outside his room to clean every spot in his room. His side table was haphazardly placed blocking the stairs, and sleepy Minho whom had no lights on to guide him did not see it to walk around it.
That’s why Minho’s now rushed to a hospital from falling down the tiled stairs and broken bones.
Minho loathes hospitals, mostly because the doctors and nurses were scary, alongside the horrifying bill that comes after being in it.
Speaking of which, Minho’s poor heart aches at the thought of not being able to finally purchase a new airfryer at his home—he’s been saving up for it, but now his money’s going to go down the drain because of this stupid accident.
Felix rubs Minho’s hand comfortingly, tiny fingers running over the expanse of skin, tapes, and tubes—he had a sad look on his eyes, mind seemingly clouded with worry.
“Is anything too painful for you right now? The doctors are still entertaining a different patient, they might take a while.”
“Nothing that can’t wait for too long. I’ll be fine.”
“If you say so,” Felix nodded. “Do you want anything right now?”
“I want Jisung to be slaughtered.”
“…Aside from that,” Felix sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Food? Water? Something we have to do on your behalf?”
“Please call my boss and tell her that I’ll take a sick leave.”
There goes Minho’s potential extra cash from not taking up any sick or vacation leaves.
“Okay, I’ll call him soon. Anything else?”
“Nothing,” Minho sighed, closing his eyes. “Can we cut off the talk now? My head’s kind of hurting from all the talking.”
Felix hummed in reply. He did stop talking, much to Minho’s relief. He was still there, though, sitting beside him, probably waiting for the doctors to come.
Minho feels drowsy, probably because he hit his head too hard—he was about to be lulled into sleep again, not until he heard a door open and a bunch of words being exchanged.
“Is the patient awake?”
“He woke up a few minutes ago. You can check him up now.”
Minho doesn’t open his eyes, already knowing that it was the doctor who was speaking. He can hear the fiddling of stainless sterilised materials at his side, the nurses are probably getting them ready for Minho’s use.
“Minho? Can you open your eyes for us please?”
Minho almost faints.
Holy shit.
If Minho knew that doctors these days were so hot, then he should’ve continued pursuing medicine instead of mechanical engineering.
“It’s good that the patient is responsive,” the doctor smiled. “Do you have any medical reasons that caused this fall such as strokes or fits?”
“I don’t have any.”
“Can you tell me how the accident happened—oh wait no, please do not sit up. Please keep lying down in case you have any more injuries.”
The ridiculously hot doctor coaxed Minho to lie down again, as the said man tried to sit up while the doctor was talking to him. If Minho didn’t faint from falling down the stairs, he might faint right now if this doctor holds him again. The doctor’s smile showed a bit of his teeth clad with braces. It was small, a friendly, customer service smile, but it made Minho less tense nevertheless—however, he felt more aware of his surroundings, suddenly being so conscious of everything happening. Maybe it was just the amount of eyes staring at him right now.
“Sorry,” he started. “The lights were out and I tried to go downstairs, and I did not see the furniture that my housemate placed that blocked half of the stairs. That’s why I fell and got injured.”
Minho wanted to die. He was really out here, telling an embarrassing story about his idiotic behavior driven by Han Jisung in front of his horrifyingly hot doctor. He had to kiss his chances of bagging a tall and hot man goodbye if this keeps up.
Not that the doctor would give him the opportunity, or something.
“I see. Did you fall from a tall height?”
“Our stairs are not that long, but they are made of tiles.”
“Did you hit your head? Are you dizzy right now?”
Please do not flash a smile or I might be dizzy for real. “I did, but it was not that hard. I’m not dizzy, but my head is quite pounding.”
“I see. Aside from your head, where else do you feel any pain right now?”
“Over here,” Minho motioned over his left and foot, then moved his hand towards the right side of his hips.
The doctor said something to the nurses beside him, something that Minho cannot really hear well from the low volume. He patiently waited for whatever the professionals were going to do next, staring at how they would move.
The doctor kept asking questions to him, nodding whenever Minho gave an answer. Minho felt more of his dignity fly away whenever he’s supposed to say something embarrassing regarding the whole incident, but he then figured out that the doctors probably hear stuff like these everyday, especially in an emergency room. He tried to answer his inquiries patiently with the best of his abilities, trying to give the doctor information.
“Has there been any bleeding?”
“I don’t think there is.”
“That’s good,” the doctor turned to the nurses and motioned over the small rolling table, and they immediately started to fiddle with the items. “Luckily for you, there shouldn't be any serious injuries right now. You’re very much conscious and there’s no bleeding, although there are a few bruises here and there. We’ll just check your vital signs, then we can proceed to having an x-ray so we can check if there are any more fractures,” the doctor explained as Minho felt the nurses check his temperature and his respiration rate. “To be honest, a lot of people come to the ER for the same reasons as you have. Oftentimes, nothing’s too serious—if the patient is unconscious or is bleeding severely for long, then the ER visit is necessary. Otherwise, you can perform first aid in the comfort of your own homes.”
Felix, Jisung, and Minho all nodded, absorbing whatever the doctor was saying. None of them have an expertise in the medical field so they’re glad that the doctor is not saying anything too complicated. Jisung stood beside Felix, a hand placed on his lower back as they watched the nurses do their thing to Minho. Minho awkwardly looked around, avoiding eye contact with both the nurses and the doctor.
“Can you raise your arm for us?” The nurse asked, holding an automatic blood pressure monitor. Minho moved his left arm away from his body as the nurse wrapped the arm cuff around him, pressing a few buttons on the small machine. Minho started to feel the cuff tighten around his arm.
“Oh?” The doctor looked over the small monitor, a slightly confused expression on his face. “Are you having trouble breathing, Minho?”
Minho shook his head. “No.”
“Did you take any caffeine a few hours before?”
“No, I was asleep. The last time I drank coffee was yesterday morning.”
“That’s odd,” his eyebrows furrowed. “Do you have anemia? If not, does your family have a history of anemia?”
“Not that I remember,” Minho replied, equally confused as the doctor.
“Are you nervous right now?”
“A bit, I guess? Not too much though, I think I’ve calmed down for a bit.”
“Your pulse is high. I’ll come back later to check your heart rate again, and if it’s still higher than usual, I might have to take a closer look at it.”
Minho nodded as the medical staff left the room, and he shot a panicked look at Felix, who had no idea why his hyung was looking at him like that.
“I guess it’s not anything serious, hyung, thank god. I hope the x-ray comes out well,” Felix rubbed Minho’s arm comfortingly. “Is anything else bothering you, hyung?”
“Not really,” Minho responded. “How are we gonna get an x-ray?”
“I think there’s an area here that does x-rays, it’s around the seventh floor if I’m not mistaken..”
“Mhm, okay. I want to rest for a bit, Yongbok-ah. It’s like,” Minho squints at the digital clock in the room, “3:30 in the morning. Let’s do the x-ray later.”
“Okay, hyung. I’ll wake you up before 6, me and Jisung have work too so we can’t accompany you any later.”
“It’s fine.”
Felix assisted Minho in lying down, bringing up the blanket up to his chin. Minho closes his eyes, trying to calm down his chest and drifting off to dreamland.
The thing is, it happens again.
Not Minho falling down the stairs, but the alternative is, well… questionable. Embarrassed would be an understatement for Minho.
He woke up the third time that day after a deep slumber from waking up to get an x-ray with Felix and Jisung. It was already the afternoon, his neck hurts from the uncomfortable hospital bed he slept on. He squints his eyes at the obnoxious red lights of the digital wall clock hung in the room, telling him that it was already half past one.
He forgot to bring his phone—he was already too occupied with the aching sensation of his body to remember grabbing it before going to hospital, and it’s not like he has anywhere to store the device now that he’s here.
He lies on the bed dejectedly, staring blankly at the insulated ceiling tiles which reminded him of his college classrooms. The other patients inside the room were all either sleeping, talking with their companion, or eating—Minho raises his eyebrows at that, surprised that someone is having a meal, assumingly from the hospital.
He hears the sliding door of the room open, his head whipping in that direction. The sight of the incredibly hot doctor that attended to him last night made his ears burn—the doctor was still wearing his white coat with a light blue top underneath it, his eyes were slightly tired, probably from working a graveyard shift.
Why am I acting like a desperate teenager whenever I see this man? Maybe it’s just because he hasn’t felt romantic intimacy in a while, Minho assumed. You can’t blame a man working a 9-5 job to find a significant other simultaneously. It’s just hard.
The doctor chatted with the nurses attending to the room at the small counter area, exchanging conversations here and there. The man turned around and saw Minho awake, in which his ears perked up like an excited puppy when he saw the latter.
He approached Minho, and the said man feels his ears burn even more—he feels his heart beat triple times violently in his chest like it wants to pop out.
“Hello, Minho. Were you up for a while?”
“Good afternoon, Doctor…” he squinted at the name embroidered on his coat. “Kim. No, I just woke up.”
“Did you get your x-ray already?”
“My friends and I got it this morning before they left for work. The x-ray will be available in a few hours or so.”
“That’s great,” Doctor Kim smiled warmly, and then he proceeded to put the back of his fingers on Minho’s forehead. Is it possible to be attracted to someone’s hand?
“Do you feel like you’re having a fever, you’re pretty red. Fevers are quite common after a traumatic experience.”
“Oh, I feel pretty fine,” Minho sheepishly said, an uneasy smile plastered on his face.
“Are you sure? I’ll get your vital signs right now so we can confirm and give you medications.”
Before Minho could protest, Doctor Kim swiftly turns his back on him to ask for the nurses for thermometers and the like, carrying them all in his arm. Minho was beyond ashamed at this point, how can he explain to the doctor that he’s red because he can’t handle seeing a hot person up close and not because he has a fever?
Minho lifted his arm again defenselessly, feeling Doctor Kim wrap the arm cuff around his arm to check his blood pressure and pulse again. He saw the doctor furrow his eyebrows in confusion again, looking at the monitor weirdly.
“Are you sure you do not have any cardio-related illnesses? Your pulse rate is higher than normal again, we can run a few tests to make sure.”
Idiot, Minho thought to himself. My illness is Doctor Kim Seungmin.
“No, I’m sure I don’t have any illnesses. I won’t do any tests.”
“Are you really sure? The earlier we have it treated, the better it is for you.”
“I’m sure, Doctor Kim.”
“If you say so,” he shrugged, unwary. He picks up the thermometer and points it at Minho’s forehead “But we can always accommodate you if you want to. We won’t force you, but we can always help. We just don’t want you to have and regrets in the future.”
Oh god, please stop talking.
“Your temperature seems fine, you do not have a fever. I’ll just check your x-ray when it arrives tomorrow since my shift ends in a few minutes, or we can assign a different doctor to accommodate you faster. What do you think?”
Minho should say no.
He has all the reasons to say no—he has work tomorrow, his hospital bills are going to take a bigger toll on his bank, and the bed is uncomfortable to sleep on. Countless reasons pass through Minho’s brain, screaming at him to tell the doctor to get another one instead, but they all fall deaf against a weak man’s heart
“I’ll wait for you. I can until tomorrow.”
Doctor Kim smiled. “That’s great, then. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t hesitate to call on the nurses if you have a concern.”
The other day arrives fairly quickly with Minho being asleep most of the time. It was a nice way to rest, he admits—but he would much rather rest in the comfort of his own home than in a hospital with different other people.
He woke up for a bit when Felix and Jisung arrived, a large sealed envelope in their hands with Lee Minho written using a black marker on the paper. They check it to see what Minho’s bones look like and thankfully, he does not have any fractures. He hopes that he gets discharged tomorrow, but he slightly hopes he doesn’t, too. For resting purposes.
Felix and Jisung also got him a meal—wonton soup and a bao, filling up his stomach for skipping breakfast and lunch in favor of sleep.
He woke up again at 7 in the morning, a time too early to wake up at a day he wasn’t working, if you ask him. Nonetheless, he sat up from lying down as he felt his head and nose feeling heavy. The nurses seemed to see him awake, and so one of them left the room, probably to call on his doctor.
Due to the fact that it was winter, the sun was not out yet. The sun was usually already up or rising during this time, as Minho’s desk at his office had a large window parallel to him. Now it was still dark, most of the patients in the room were still asleep.
The door slides open right again, and Doctor Kim enters with a nurse following behind him. The nurse from the station brought out a familiar large, brown envelope, and Minho assumed that it was his x-ray.
Doctor Kim still looked as handsome as ever with his coat draped on his ridiculously wide shoulders and wire glasses framing his face. He looked over the radiographic film. He saw him nod as he looked over the scans, and he turned around to see Minho already looking at him.
“Good morning, Minho. Did you sleep well?”
“Good morning, Doctor Kim. I slept well last night.”
“That’s good to hear,” he looked down at the paper in his hands. “Moving on, in case you haven’t seen your x-rays yet, you don’t have any injuries. This means that we can already discharge you today—I’ll just write you a prescription today for your injuries, then you’ll be fine.”
Minho nodded, intaking what the doctor had said. “Okay.”
“Alright then, I’ll be doing a few things first, then I’ll give you the prescription shortly. Your friends dropped off your cellphone at the nurses there, by the way. You can just ask for it now if you want to.”
“Noted, Doctor Kim,” he smiled.
The doctor smiled once more, then he stood from the seat beside Minho’s bed to put down his x-rays on the nurses’ counter. Minho carefully tried to stand up, feeling a tiny pain in his foot, but it was not unbearable. He waddled over the counter to claim his phone, a bunch of notifications from his messaging app, social media apps, emails, and calendar taking over his lockscreen. He internally winces at the amount of emails that he received, and decided that he’ll check them once he gets home. He was still on sick leave, but his boss might explode if he lets the work wait for too long.
Ignoring all the email notifications, he went to his messaging app to view texts from Changbin, who was wishing that he’ll get well soon, and a few from his boss and colleagues regarding work and his leave. There were a few missed calls too, but Minho was on sick leave with his phone kilometers away from him to answer them. Pushing back the wary that he felt at the back of his head, his fingers hover over Jisung’s contact number and he eventually pressed the call button.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Jisung-ah. Doctor told me that I’ll be discharged today, so I’ll be home in a few.”
“Really? That’s nice! Do you need someone to pick you up?”
“Yes, actually. But I know you’re all at work right now so I can just take a bus or something.”
“Hyung, you’re injured. I’ll just call Changbin to pick you up, it’s his day off today, anyway.”
“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”
“Take care, hyung.”
Minho stared at his phone, waiting for Changbin’s text to come up and confirm that he’ll be Minho’s ride for today. He text him after a few minutes, saying that he’ll pick up Minho in half an hour. Minho also tells him to bring his wallet to pay the dreadful bill.
Minho sat patiently at his bed, scrolling through his phone to kill time. After what felt like half an hour, Doctor Kim struts in the room, a prescription paper and pen in his hand. He sets in on the counter and seemed to ask one of the nurses to bring out something, and the doctor walked over Minho’s direction.
“Hi, Minho. We’ll just take your vital signs once more, then Nurse Chan will assist you afterwards.”
They go on autopilot again, using the familiar devices on Minho to check his condition. The nurse was checking his respiration level while Doctor Kim took his temperature, jotting down the data on a piece of paper.
This time, thankfully, Minho’s heart rate did not skyrocket as before. It was still beating relatively fast, but not as fast as before—he’s probably used to it seeing Doctor Kim around now, rightfully so. Minho was about to leave and possibly never cross paths with the hot doctor again anytime soon, and he’s trying not to dwell on it too much.
“Your heart rate is a little over normal again, but your respiration rate is normal. You don’t have a fever as well.” The nurse held back a laugh, biting his lips after hearing the doctor’s words. Minho squints at him, trying to analyze his reaction.
Minho heard the door open, and he saw Changbin enter the room. The younger man immediately spotted him, smiling instantly and walking over.
“Hey, hyung.”
“Hey, Bin.”
“Is he your family?” Doctor Kim asked.
“No, I’m Minho hyung’s housemate. I just came to pick him up.”
“Alright, then. You’re all set, Minho,” Minho almost laughs, the phrase reminding him of Waze when he starts to drive. Doctor Kim, on the other hand, was scribbling something on the prescription then tearing it off and handing it to Minho. “Here are the medicines you can take to reduce pain, but it’s over-the-counter so you don’t have to bring the prescriptions in pharmacies when buying. If you feel pain tomorrow, you can apply a cold compress on the areas, but if you feel pain today, you have to apply a hot compress so your blood can flow faster.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it! Please rest well, don't force yourself to walk or run if your left foot feels pain.”
And with that, Minho sadly looked over Doctor Kim who went to the other patients in the room as the Nurse and Changbin coaxed him to stand up and walk.
After paying his hospital bill, Minho sat at the shotgun seat of Changbin’s car, looking over the receipt and his prescription. He asked Changbin to drop by a pharmacy later so he could buy his medications.
Minho scanned over the small piece of paper signed by Doctor Kim Seungmin, reading the generic names and how often he should drink it.
He notices that the paper is thick, and so he notices that Doctor Kim gave him two papers for the prescription, or so he thought.
“Minho,
I noticed that your pulse is high whenever I’m around, so I’m prescribing you this:
A Dinner Date with Kim Seungmin, This Week’s Saturday Night
I hope that this prescription will work for you, dear soul. I also hope that I’m not reading this wrong.
Also, I’m aware that hospital bills are a nightmare, so don’t worry about paying for anything that day.
I hope to hear a positive response from you :)
010-XXX-XXX-XXXX
Signed,
KSM”