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“Aish, jjinja” Chu Minha cursed to herself as she stands there in her kitchen. There, underneath the counter, a piece of electronics she doesn’t recognize. Took a deep breath, she squatted in front of it, inspecting it closely. It’s a washing machine. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing for her if only it was her old washing machine. This one is brand new, there’s still the stickers and a clear plastic cover in front of the screen. It is definitely a new model, compare to her old ones. She stood up, recalling the conversation she had with her boyfriend two days ago.
It was Sunday, and Minha is doing her laundry while waiting for Seokhyeong. When Seokhyeong arrives, the machine just started the washing cycle for 10 minutes when it suddenly makes a strange noise and abruptly stops. After checking and not finding the problems, she called up a repair man, and they told her they would come on Monday. Monday comes, the repair man comes in during lunch, and she excuse herself that day, so she can be there when the repair man come in. He checks her washing machine, and then tell her that there’s some problem with the cable and the drain hose. She didn’t really understand electronics and just said yes, but then Seokhyeong called her, and asked to talked to him. They talked for a while, and then the repair man tells her to give him Seokhyeong ‘s number because, as he said, there’s several choices for the items and he want to sent him the choices.
When she goes back to Yulje, she asked him about it, and he told her that there are several choices for the drainage hose and the cable to choose, and let him pick it up for her. She already warns him not to buy her the repairment, she’ll buy it herself, and all he said is: “yes, I am just helping you pick the best one”. Later that day, the repair man told her that the replacement will come tomorrow morning, and Minha has a surgery scheduled in the morning, and Seokhyeong, who’s apparently his morning schedule are only a symposium, offer to oversees the repair process.
It's 7p.m and Minha just got back from Yulje, on a rare occasion she can go home on time. She goes inside her apartment and found a note Seokheyong left for her on the counter, saying that the machine already working perfectly like before. He also already told her that when they meet on the hospital this afternoon. She’s just about to load her 2 days’ worth of laundry, including the ones she wears to work today, and have a long shower when she realises, the machine is definitely not her washing machine. She presses the power button and the machine comes to live, with a beautiful melody, unlike her old ones. Sighing loudly Minha is stood there looked at the machine. She felt uneasy, seeing this piece of equipment in her home. Not that she’s not grateful but she specifically told him that she will pay for it. She grabbed her phone and about to call him, when her phone rang. It’s her mother calling her.
“Annyeong, eomma” she answered the phone
“Annyeong Minha-yaa, uri ddal, how are you?” she heard her mother quipped. Putting her laundry inside the machine, she continues to talk to her mother.
“I am fine, I just come home, doing some laundry now” she answered.
“Ah…” Her mother replied. “Is Yang Gyosunim alright?”
Sighing again at the mention of his name, Minha answered, “He’s fine, healthy, happy, he likes your banchan, Eomma” she informs her.
“Ask her, ppalli” she hears her father talk in the background.
“Appa? Wae, what is it?” she pressed.
“Ah, we want to know, could you share Yang Gyosunim’s number to us?”
“Wae? Why, what does Appa needs, Eomma?” she asked.
“Ani, it’s just…” her mother hesitating on the phone.
“We want to thank him!” she hears her father answers. “Thank him? For what?” she pressed again.
“Ah, he sent us some housewarming gift for the guesthouse” her mother said.
“Gift? What gift?” she asked.
Minha sighed loudly. She just finished her call with her parents. Apparently, her boyfriend had sent her parents a new air purifier and a vacuum cleaner for the new guesthouse. Looking at the washing machine, she sighed again. She knows her boyfriend means well, but his initiative making her uneasy. She’s really grateful having someone’s as kind as he is, but she doesn’t want people to think that she uses him. At that moment, her phone’s ringing, and it’s her boyfriend who’s on the night duty today, calling her.
“Annyeong, Minha-ya”
“Annyeong Oppa. Oppa, thank you for manning the repair man, but he said it only need to replace the draining hose, why did my whole washing machine change?” She immediately bombarded him.
“Hm? Ah.. they said it was the from the older model, it has a different latch, the newer model didn’t use it anymore and it will be hard to find, I just thought it was easier just to change the whole machine”
“Wae? It must be expensive, oppa.” she whines a little. Minha knows for sure that Seokhyeong won’t accept her money no matter how hard she tried.
“You let me worry about that, it’s not that expensive, don’t worry Minha-ya”
“Oppa!” she exclaims at him. Haish, are all chaebol like this?? So easy just to replace everything.
“Minha-ya, don’t worry, I just want you to live comfortably, isn’t it neat having a working washing machine? Even before it broke down, it already has some issues, right?”
“Yea, but the machine still works very well and…”
“Minha-ya, we’ll talk later, okay? I have to check Jeon Sanmo” he ends the call.
At the other line, Minha sigh to the dial tone. Still feel burdened by his generosity. She can’t even bring up his gift for her parents. She knew Yang Seokhyeong is a chaebol and a generous man, but being the receiving ends of his generosity somehow makes her uneasy. “Aish, jjinjja.” She said again to herself.
The next day, Yang Seokhyeong walks in to the OBGY station with the hope of seeing Minha, but his girlfriends is not there. Seokhyeong then continued with his morning schedule, but when lunchtime comes, his luck hasn’t meet him yet. He rejects the invitation to have lunch together from the clinic’s nurse and his junior resident, saying he has plans with his friends, while actually he doesn’t. He goes back to the OBGY station, hoping he would meet her but he can’t find her anywhere. The station also looks deserted. He tried calling Minha, but she didn’t answer. He texted her, and decided to wait for her in his office. He's been waiting on his desk for almost 30 minutes, randomly checking his notification, but its radio silence. His door suddenly opens and he swivel with excitement, only to meet a weary Kim Junwan, standing at his door.
“Seokhyeong-ah, let’s go have lunch”
“Aish, why are you here? I’ve eaten, go away” Seokhyeong refused him.
“You’ve eaten? What’s today menu? Just come with me, have some coffee, come on I don’t want to eat alone” he pressed.
“…..I forgot the menu, just go eat, I ‘m waiting for Minha, why don’t you eat with Do Jaehak Ssaem?” Seokhyeong pressed back.
“He’s with his wife, just told Chu Minha Seonsaeng that you’re at the cafeteria, come on, I’m hungry”
Seokhyeong sigh annoyedly, “I've told you, I’ve eaten…” but at that exact moment, his stomach rumbling loudly.
“You sure you’ve eaten?” Junwan asked him, raising his eyebrow. Seokhyeong didn’t reply, he’s contemplating. Still radio silence from Minha, and he is hungry, but Junwan is being annoying. He hasn’t finished his thought when he feels Junwan pulled at his doctor’s coat.
“Come on, just eat again with me” Junwan said as he dragged Seokhyeong from his chair.
They are walking towards the cafeteria, Seokhyeong still grumbling away to Junwan on why didn’t he disturb their other friends instead, when they are approaching the cafeteria and met with a group of women.
“Ah, Gyosunim, annyeonghaseo” chorus them. It’s a group of nurses from OBGY, and amongst them, he saw two of his residents, Myeong Eunwon and Chu Minha, who also politely nodded at him and Junwan.
“Ah…annyeong” he replied softly, eyes especially glued to Minha, who looks nervous, and avoiding his gaze.
“You just taking your lunch Gyosunim?” Eunwon asking him.
“Ah, nde” he answered, retracting his gaze from Minha to her.
“Aah, have a nice lunch then” Eunwon added, smiling at him, then took Minha’s arm and they start walking away from him, while the latter shot him a somehow apologetic looks at him.
Seokhyeong now really believe that there’s something wrong with Minha. Is she pissed at him? Did he do something wrong? He turns around seeing Junwan, who just reached the cafeteria’s ticketing machine.
“Was that Chu Minha seonsaeng? Didn’t you said you were waiting for her?” Junwan asked him.
“Hmmh” he answered shortly, his mind is still preoccupied by Minha’s cold response to him.
Walking away from Seokhyeong, Minha did feel bad for him. He didn’t deserve this, you didn’t communicate Chu Minha, she scold herself in her head while she’s walking back to OBGY station with her friends. She felt guilty, but she’s also still processing how she would approach this situation. She felt even more guilty, when at the end of the day, after the office hour, she still got a message from him:
Minha-ya, I’ll have dinner with my friends tonight. I hope you’re feeling better soon. I’ll talk to you later. Go home safely.
Minha smiles to herself at his attention, but at the same time she wants to cry because she felt guilty. She goes home, have some dinner, take a shower, then sit on her sofa, start to think about how she should apologize to Seokhyeong. She’s writing the draft on her phone, erase it, re-writes it, erase it again, she’s done that for a few times, when she heard a knock on her door. She turns and looked up from her phone.
“Delivery for Chu Minha seonsaeng” a voice called out from behind the door. She sat up straight, looking at her door.
Is that?
“Delivery for Chu Minha seonsaeng, who will be the best OBGY doctor in the world” the voice called out again. Like being electrocuted, Minha jolts up from the sofa and bolt to the door to open it. When she opens the door, she is greeted by a bouquet of flowers with a body and a pair of legs underneath it. The bouquet then moved away, reveal her boyfriend who stood up there, with his bright smiles and warm eyes still, handing her the bouquet of very beautiful hydrangeas, “I hope you feel better” he added as she reached for the bouquet.
Minha felt her vision becomes blurry, and she heard herself sniffles, as she held the bouquet in her arms. The next thing she know, she is inside her apartment, sitting on her sofa, with his arm around her.
“Hey, I am sorry, okay? You still feeling down? Do you need some time? Do I need to go?” Seokhyeong frantically asked her, as she shakes her head.
“No, oppa, I ‘m just… I feel guilty….” She hiccuped a little.
“Minha-ya, what’s the problem? Hmm? Let me help you.” he said as he rubs her back. But that motion makes Minha more emotional.
“I’ve been very mean to you today, I gave you cold shoulder, I ignore you even” she said, detangling herself from him, heaving pretty loudly as she wipes the tears from her face.
Seeing her like this, Seokhyeong looked solemn. “Oh, so it is me” he said somberly, as he pouts a little, his habit when he’s thinking.
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong Oppa, I’m just being ridiculous…, or I’m not, I don’t know” Minha brings her fingers to her forehead, massaging the area between her eyebrows. When she looked up, Seokhyeong still look at her, his face is a mixture of hurt and confusion. Minha took a deep breath before straightening her pose and then took his hands on her. He startled a bit, looking at their interlocking hands on her lap.
“Oppa,” Minha started softly. “I am sorry” she follows.
“For what?”
“For being ridiculous, for being a childish, for not communicating my feelings, and I took it out on you”
Seokhyeong raised hi eyebrows, “So, it’s not me?”
“Well….” Minha looked up to him shyly, and then ever so slightly, she looked over his shoulder, and Seokhyeong follows her gaze. Their gaze falls on her new washing machine. Bright and shiny in her ordinary kitchen.
“You are mad I buy you new washing machine?” he asked her, confusion clear on his face.
“Well, not mad, but they did say that I just need to replace the hose, and the cable, why replace the whole thing? It will take me months to repay you” she whines a little.
Smiling at her antics, he reached for her shoulders again, as he said “You don’t have to Minha-ya”
“But I feel bad, Oppa! You’ve help me plenty, you’re the one who paid for the repairment of the lightning outside my door, you bought my parents present! You don’t have to waste your money like that, I feel bad because I am feeling guilty towards you”
“Oh, you know about that? The present I sent them?” he asked her, surprised with that.
“My parents are very eager to thank you personally, they asked for your number, I don’t know if they’ve called you yet or not” Minha said pouting, eyes and nose still red from all the crying.
Wiping her eyes and nose while smiling warmly at her, Seokhyeong try to reassures her.
“Minha-ya, it’s not waste of money, it’s my pleasure to take care of you, and for your parents' gift, it’s a little gesture for the new guest house, they’ve treated me very nicely during my stay, don’t you worry about it, okay?” he added.
“But I am capable of taking care of myself, Oppa, I have my own money, you really didn’t have to” she said still pouting.
“Minha-ya, I know you're more than capable of taking care of yourself, the guesthouse renovation is the truth! But I like taking care of you, can't I do that?” he said, also pouting slightly.
“Oppa, I don’t want people to think that I am just using you for your money”
“I would love you to use me for my money” Seokhyeong jokes as Minha whines even loudly, her lip even more protruding as her pout become more prominent.
“Oppa!” she exclaims as he laughed. Please at least talk to me first before you do something like that” she added.
“Arasso, so no more surprises then? Since I have to run it by you first?” he asked, grabbing her hand tighter, bringing it upwards as he bends his head down to looked at her more intensely.
“No, at least for something big and expensive like that, or if you want to send my parents something”
“Arasso, arasso” he finally gives in. “So, you really pissed at me because of that?” he asked again.
“I’m sorry, I still feel very embarrassed by that”
“Gwenchana, but seriously, I don’t want you to think that me, helping you, as a waste of my money. I love taking care of you. I know you have your own money, but I want that to only for you, for your parents, let me take care of you” he added.
Minha sighed, “but let me take care of me too”
“Arasso, next time, I’ll talk to you first.” He said as he reached her head and give her a quick peck on the crown of her head.
Minha snuggles into Seokhyeong, as he said “So, no more surprises, then? Well, this is awkward”
“Wae, oppa?” he looked up at him.
“I kinda have something for you” he said as he let go of his embrace on her, now rummaging behind his back as he brings out a brown paper bag.
“What is that?” she asked suspiciously at him.
“it’s something that you request, actually. Also, I didn’t spend a penny on this, so will you accept it?” he asked her offering the paper bag at her.
Minha accepts the bag, and peered at it. She then pulls out the items inside the bag. It is two pieces of clothing. One is green hoodie with the number 1987 across the chest area and the other is a grey sweatshirt, with a purple-teal graphic on the front. Both looked worn and warm. Puzzled, Minha looked up to him, question in her eyes.
“You said you want some of my old hoodie. That’s my old hoodie, you can use it” he smiles warmly to her.
Smiling softly, Minha runs her palms on the fabric as he added: "Per your request, these are my old hoodies, I used it when I was at the university. You can use it around Yulje, if you want, no one will recognise it"
Minha melts at his words, smiling at him, she said:
“Oppa, saranghae. I’m sorry I ‘m still acting childish”
“Nado saranghae, gwenchana Minha-ya” he reached her again into his embrace.
This time, Minha sighed happily into his embrace. She knows her boyfriend is a generous man, and she will learn to live with his generosity.