Work Text:
Heo Seon-bin stared blankly at the steel doors in front of her.
She was standing inside a moving elevator...but really, Seon-bin could have been transported to the middle of a desert and she still wouldn't have noticed.
Right now, Seon-bin's thoughts were all directed towards Yong Seok-min.
Yong Seok-min, who had been the chief resident. Yong Seok-min, who had been her senior since she joined NS.
Yong Seok-min seonsaeng-nim.
Yong Seok-min sunbae.
Yong Seok-min oppa.
Oppa?
Seon-bin had to snap out of it. What was she thinking? How could she ever see him as anything other than a colleague?
Seon-bin frowned. He never showed any interest in her in all the years they worked together. Sure, he was attentive and helpful. He always gave her advice and he comforted her when things got rough. But Seok-min teased her too. He kept chiding her for always hanging out with Ahn Chi-Hong, asking if they were a couple.
Perhaps he had been jealous? Maybe it had all been a ruse to hide his own feelings...?
Seon-bin had to close her eyes and shake her head this time. She was having crazy thoughts. Crazy thoughts about Yong Seok-min.
And yet...she was blushing. Her cheeks felt hot and her heart was beating faster than it should have.
She couldn't possibly like him...could she?
Her mind raced back to the moment they had just that afternoon. There in the NS office. His sincere expression - the fear in them. His hesitation, along with a gathered strength of determination. He said the words: "Let's have dinner together."
It didn't sound like a casual invitation, not at all. Not to Heo Seon-bin. And certainly not to the medical student Yun-bok, who quickly left the room to give the NS residents some privacy.
There's no mistaking it, Seon-bin told herself. He had asked me out.
And in the surprise of the moment, she could do or say nothing else except agree to dinner together. Dinner with Yong Seok-min seonsaeng.
Seon-bin's stomach was doing flips. She could still picture his face when he asked her out. Somehow, it didn't feel at all uncomfortable...even though it certainly felt different between them. Strange.
When the elevator doors finally opened, Heo Seon-bin had also come to. Her senses were brought back to the world before her - to the lobby of the hospital filled with visitors and staff on their way to their respective destinations.
Seon-bin walked eagerly against the current of a bustling crowd. Suddenly, she felt excited. She felt curious. She wanted to know how it would feel to be with him in the way she never knew she could.
Even when life can be so secretive, so ambiguous...when something's right in front of you and it feels like something worth trying, then there's no other direction to go than right toward it.
Seok-min stood there in the middle of the lobby in his normal clothes, the strap of his bag over his right shoulder. He looked nervous. The look on his face made Seon-bin smile for the first time that day.
Seok-min looked surprised to see her, like he couldn't believe she would really show up there.
"Anyeong," Seok-min uttered.
Seon-bin tried not to laugh.
"Annyeonghaseyo," she replied. He was never nervous around her before.
"Before we go, I-I just wanted to clarify something," Seok-min said, clearing his throat.
"I realized that when I asked you to have dinner, it sounded a little...imposing. But, um, it wasn't meant to be....I mean, I didn't ask you to dinner as your senior resident. I'm not asking my hoobae to have dinner to talk about work or anything," Seok-min could barely look at her. But he tried to. He had to remember to look a person in the eye when he meant to tell them something important. This was important now.
"I asked you to have dinner with me tonight...like on a date. That is...not 'like a date'...but an actual date." What was he saying? This was going horribly.
"So what I'm saying is...you don't have to feel obligated to go out to dinner with me as your colleague. But...I would like to have dinner with you...as a man." Seok-min swallowed, clearing his throat.
"So, Heo Seon-bin seonsaeng," he said. "Seonbin-ah," that sounded better, "do you...want...to have dinner with me tonight?"
Seon-bin's eyes went wide. It's not that she didn't know his intent already...but it was the effort he made to make things clear that touched her. He seemed so resolute in his feelings and his intentions toward her. Had she never known he could be this sweet?
It was time now to find out.
"Yes," Seon-bin replied with a smile. "I would like to have dinner with you tonight, Yong Seok-min seonsaeng-nim."
Oppa, she caught herself thinking. Her heart skipped at the thought.
Seok-min smiled with such relief, it was almost glaring. Seon-bin was starting to get used to the butterflies in her stomach. She suspected she would have them as added company all night.
"Good," Seok-min said, nodding as he grinned. "Good," he repeated, processing the turn of events. He couldn't believe his nervous declaration worked. Prof. Chae Song-hwa was right: just go for it. With matters of the heart, it was always better to try.
Seok-min knew this well now as he walked side by side with Heo Seon-bin, the girl he had liked for years. It had started as a flicker of admiration that grew steadily into an enduring flame of what he suspected could be love.
But for now, they would have to see. They would have to try things out...start small for now. Keep things simple. Slow.
And yet, for Heo Seon-bin and Yong Seok-min, somehow, it already felt like the start of something good.