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Everyone had their fair share of bad days. And for Sooyoung, today was one of them.
"Alright, open up, Sooyoung-ssi."
The woman reclined on the chair -- slowly, as to relieve the bruise on her ass (yes, you read that right) from unnecessary pressure -- hands clasped over her stomach, and let out a long sigh. Then, as she was told, opened up.
Just not in the way her dentist, Dr. Son, had expected her to.
It all started with a phone call early in the morning, from her best friend Yerim, asking her if she knew of Seulgi's whereabouts.
"What?" Sooyoung asked in disbelief. "Shouldn't you know the answer to that? Don't you two have a presentation today?"
"Our presentation is in less than an hour, and she's still not here! We should be going through our material by now!"
Sooyoung could sense the worry in Yerim's voice, and would've normally teased the woman because of it, but knew how much her two friends had prepared for this. She sat up on her bed, tousling her hair, and checked the time. "Have you called both her and Joohyun-unnie?"
"Of course, but that's the problem, unnie. Yesterday was their anniversary, remember?"
"Okay...and?" Sooyoung asked. Yerim didn't reply, and Sooyoung could imagine her best friend staring at her blankly. Then, it dawned onto her. She fell back onto her pillows with a groan. "Oh god."
"Unnie?"
"I'll do what I can, okay? Just keep on practicing or whatever you need to do, and I'll make sure Seulgi-unnie gets there as soon as possible."
That was how Sooyoung found herself in front of Seulgi and Joohyun's shared apartment just down the same hallway as hers, five minutes later, still clad in pajamas. She punched yesterday's date into the keypad and stepped inside the unit. Eyes focused straight ahead, Sooyoung marched toward the couple's bedroom door, bracing herself for whatever obscenity that lied behind it. "Kang-"
Halfway to the room, Sooyoung slipped and fell to the floor, her tailbone taking in the majority of the impact with a loud thud. She twisted in pain and looked at her feet, not even surprised when she saw the cause of her tumble. She made a disgusted tsk, and kicked away the black lace underwear as far as she could - which was just about useless when she saw even more clothes scattered all over the place.
What a way to mark two years together.
Before Sooyoung could get back on her feet, the bedroom door swung open, and out came the couple in question, sated smiles on both of their faces that quickly turned into confusion and embarrassment as they saw the woman among their tossed garments.
"Sooyoung?" Joohyun called, her grip on Seulgi's arm loosening and rushing to help the woman off the floor.
"Hey, guys. Rough night?" she joked despite the pain boring on her behind as Joohyun helped her up. Joohyun looked away, flushed.
"I'm guessing Yerim called you?" Seulgi asked.
"Yeah."
"She must be so worried, I feel terrible. I haven't even been able to check my phone yet..." Seulgi trailed off, looking around the floor for her pants from the night before. Joohyun found them first, picked them up with a swipe, and took out the phone slotted inside the back pocket. Seulgi gave a tiny smile to her girlfriend and left a peck on her forehead. "Thanks, Hyun."
Sooyoung could see the worry on Seulgi's face as she opened the phone, likely bombarded with calls and panicked texts from Yerim. "I really have to get going now," she said, putting away the phone inside the bag hanging on her shoulder.
That was when Sooyoung noticed that Seulgi was already dressed for work, in a dress shirt and dark-colored skirt. And realized that her coming here was totally unnecessary. And definitely not worth the bruise bound to form.
"Sorry, Sooyoungie," Seulgi apologized. She must have seen the look on her face. "I know it's your day off."
Sooyoung shook her head, telling her it was okay.
Seulgi kissed Joohyun and hugged Sooyoung goodbye, thankful for the encouragement from both women as she left the room.
"Stay for breakfast, Soo?" Joohyun offered when the door clicked, and it was just them.
"As much as I love your cooking, I think I'll pass this time. Gonna get a few more hours of sleep," Sooyoung replied, stretching both hands above her head.
Joohyun's expression softened, almost sullen. "Sorry..."
"It's fine," Sooyoung said dismissively, looked at the clothes gathered in the woman's arms, and then added with a glint of mischief in her eyes, "Gosh, you two couldn't even make it to the bedroom, huh?"
"Yah!"
Sooyoung laughed as Joohyun turned bright red once again. She headed for their front door and waved to the elder. "See you later, unnie," she sing-songed, stepping into the hallway.
Sooyoung dropped onto her bed dramatically, which she quickly learned was a huge mistake. Her back arched away from the mattress as she let out a girlish yelp. Turning to lie on her stomach, Sooyoung groaned into her pillow. She closed her eyes and assumed a better position on her side to sleep. But not even a minute later, her attempt of rest was thrown out of the window, stomach begging to be fed with a loud growl, and suddenly regretted not taking Joohyun up on her offer. Reluctantly, Sooyoung rolled off her bed and dragged her feet into the kitchen as she fought off the heaviness beneath her eyes.
She let the refrigerator door yawn wide open, her mouth doing the same. Her yawn ended with a low, disapproving sound much like a whine. Save for a few jelly packets and the water and juice bottles that rattled along the door, her refrigerator was barren.
"Shit," Sooyoung muttered before pushing the door shut. She pivoted her body on one foot and flung her pantry open. "C'mon..."
Condiments and a single bag of chips stared back at her insultingly.
She hadn't been able to fetch groceries on the day she'd meant to last week, because of an uncompromising client that prodded, no, pressed her to finish sketches that weren't scheduled to be completed until two weeks after. Sooyoung had worked long hours overtime that day, and by the time she'd driven by their local mart, the employees had already been locking up. All she could do was sigh and head on home, too tired to go to another supermarket. Days passed, and now here she was.
With begrudging steps, Sooyoung returned to her room and grabbed the first hoodie she saw from her wardrobe, deciding to make a quick trip for groceries. She hurriedly slipped it on and took one look at herself in the mirror, figuring that she looked presentable enough, even in pajama pants. As for her sleep-swollen face, it was nothing a mask couldn't fix. Wearing one, she grabbed her things and walked out -- not forgetting to drop by her refrigerator to nab some jelly to somehow pacify her hunger during the trip. Yeah, her stomach might as well punish her for the inane decision later on, but it was better than nothing at all.
Sooyoung pulled over into the nearest empty parking space she could find in the lot, surprised by the amount of people already there. She sipped the last of her jelly packet, tossed it on top the dashboard, and killed the engine. She fixed her mask atop the lower half of her face and stepped out of her car. Sooyoung hoped that this would be just a quick grocery run.
And oh, how wrong she was.
For some inexplicable reason, everything just had to be five times more annoying than usual. The moment she entered, the change was apparent. Of all days, unlucky for her, it had to be the one day Sooyoung just wanted to get through all of this as soon as possible, that the grocery store had undergone renovation.
She'd known where everything was without having to read the signs hanging from the ceiling every other minute, and while it seemed like a small matter, it'd saved her lots of minutes. What's the point of rearranging a grocery store anyway, Sooyoung thought to herself. With a grumble, she pulled a cart into the produce aisle.
That wasn't all though. She had several people unceremoniously bump their carts into hers in under ten minutes, some not even bothering to apologize, the listing prices of her favorite snacks went up by two thousand won, and worst of all, the long lines at checkout moved at the slowest pace. Considering how busy the mart was, one would think that they'd make use of all five lanes, but no, only two were open! God, Sooyoung just wanted to go home already!
After tedious minutes of waiting in line and ignoring the brat of a kid in front who unremittingly made faces at her, the cashier finally looked her way and called her over. Not even that ended well for her.
The cash register malfunctioned with only a few of her items left, moments of wishful thinking that the machine would return to normal passing by, before leaving the cashier no choice but to open up another lane. Much to the benefit of everyone in line behind her, the remaining two lanes also opened shortly after. Sooyoung almost threw a childish fit right then and there.
If Sooyoung had been able to restrain herself inside the grocery store, outside was a completely different story.
All she had to do was walk to her car, place her plastic bags into the trunk, and drive home. Simple, right?
Of course not.
Sooyoung slammed the trunk shut and walked to the driver's door, seconds away from opening it, when she saw a piece of paper clipped beneath her windshield wiper. Tired eyes read over the ticket, as Sooyoung crumpled it in her fist once she was finished. "Fuck!" Sooyoung cursed, her voice a little too loud and attracting the attention of other customers around her.
Her chin tilted upward as she stared at the sign erect in front of her car - a person sitting on a wheelchair. How the hell did she miss this earlier?
Now thanks to her lack of tact, she had a forty-thousand won fine to pay. But that was a problem for another day. Sooyoung had more than enough on her plate already.
Sooyoung sat in her seat with a tiny bounce, cautious of her bruise. She didn't need to see it to confirm it was there, it was there alright. Letting out a deep sigh, she leaned her head against the steering wheel. Could this day get any worse?
The answer came in the form of a phone call.
Sooyoung rushed into her apartment, tearing off her mask and carelessly placing all of her groceries onto the kitchen island. She scurried to the living room, sat down on the couch, and opened her laptop. "Phenomenal timing," she groused.
Yerin, a friend from work, had been the one to ring her in the parking lot, the immediate urgency in the woman's voice a telltale of what was coming next.
"Hayoung has a copy of those sketches, isn't she working today?" had been Sooyoung's confused response to her co-worker.
It was the same pesky client from last week, demanding a copy of the sketches she'd just given to him last week. Did the old man lose them? And why did they have to call her on her off-day when Hayoung was there? Sooyoung took in a breath as she tried her best not to lose patience with her friend on the opposite side of the line. Yerin was simply doing her job.
"No, Sooyoung-ah," came the staticky reply, "He's asking for the ones he initially rejected. Only you have those."
Well, I'll be damned.
"Shit," Sooyoung cursed under her breath, "Now?"
"He said he was hoping to have them emailed by the hour," Yerin had said.
"God, I'm not even at home right now," Sooyoung had mumbled, tucking the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she turned the key into the ignition. "Twenty minutes tops, sounds good?"
"Please don't crash into anything, Soo."
Sooyoung had chuckled. "I'll do my best."
Sooyoung navigated through her files, unsure whether she'd already deleted them or not. She was pretty sure that their client had specifically told them that those drafts were 'not up to par with his standards', and now he wanted them back. If only this old geezer wasn't a personal friend of their boss, Sooyoung would've just said that the sketches were long gone and dismissed the whole problem altogether.
She scanned her recent files, and saw the folder labeled as "jyp". Opening it, Sooyoung let out a sigh of relief. All of the sketches were still there, designs made especially from their client's envisaged ideas to tailor a female idol group under their company.
With no time to waste, Sooyoung quickly composed an email, attached the scans, and clicked send, making sure to send a text to Yerin as well.
When Yerin responded back with a thanks, Sooyoung sank into the cushions, absolutely spent. She looked at her wall clock and groaned. It wasn't even past noon yet!
She closed her laptop and set it down onto the coffee table in front of her as she stretched her legs across the couch. A nap would help her feel better, she'd thought. That is, until her stomach proved otherwise with a growl. Sooyoung cursed under her breath. She'd originally planned on passing by a drive-thru after grocery shopping, but then again, when has anything went according to plan for her today?
Sooyoung walked into the kitchen, greeted by the mess of groceries on her counter. As she filled her refrigerator and pantry with food -- at least that was satisfying -- she also got started on cooking herself a pot of instant ramen for lunch. Later, as she finished adding the flavor packets, Sooyoung heard the familiar ding of her phone. She reached across the counter and flashed the screen on. A short "ah" left her lips, recognizing the reminder she'd set there a while back.
She'd forgotten that she had a dentist's appointment that day, so seeing the way she'd typed out the reminder surely caught her off-guard.
dentist appt with dr son <3
4:00 PM
Sooyoung laughed at herself at that, feeling her cheeks grow hot. She might have had a little crush on her dentist. How could anyone blame her though? Dr. Son was a literal angel, something as simple as her friendly shoulder taps and soft smiles making Sooyoung's heart skip a beat, even for someone she only saw twice, let alone thrice a year. If Sooyoung didn't know any better, she would pick up on Seulgi's junk-food eating habits just to see Dr. Son more often.
She set the phone down and covered her cheeks with her hands. Just thinking about the dentist made her feel shy!
Well, there were still a few more hours to go until the appointment. Sooyoung hoped that her chain of misfortunes would at least stop until then...
Her nose crinkled at the strong scent of ramen seasoning. She turned around and saw the furious bubbling of her now-overcooked meal, aghast. Sooyoung sighed.
...Maybe not.
After a couple bowls of soggy noodles and a warm shower, Sooyoung finally had the time to take a much-needed nap, without forgetting to set an alarm, of course. There was no way she was missing one of the few times she got to see Dr. Son.
She woke up feeling much better than she had in the morning, with just a few minutes before her phone would start ringing. She'd only been asleep for two hours or so, but it felt as if she was waking up to a whole new day. Oh, Sooyoung had a good feeling about this.
Sooyoung stripped her sweats and tank top, changing into a more appropriate outfit, and let her hair loose so it framed her shoulders. She was going to look awkward for the entirety of her dental appointment anyway with her mouth hung open, so Sooyoung always took it upon herself to at least look great whenever she arrived - not so much to impress a certain dentist, but Sooyoung had her instances of catching the woman's subtle glances.
She was in a splendid mood thus far, humming to a random tune as she went out of her apartment unit, riding down in the elevator, and making her way into her car -- even kissing Joohyun on the cheek when she passed by the woman who'd just come from the gym, uncharacteristically nonchalant to the fact that the elder woman was sweating buckets. Joohyun had shot her a questioning look, but Sooyoung had only skipped happily to her car, leaving the other completely baffled.
There was still a bounce when Sooyoung sat down in her seat, but it had been more from giddiness than the pain on her tailbone. Her humming didn't stop even while on the road, to the same cheery tune she couldn't quite put a name on. At the next red light, she leaned back slightly into her chair and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, incoherent phrases from her mouth playing on the melody. She had gotten so lost in her own little show, that she didn't notice that the stoplight had already turned green, the cars behind her honking incessantly.
Sooyoung pressed her foot on the gas pedal, but her car didn't budge an inch.
I repeat, she was in a splendid mood thus far.
"What the hell?" She pressed down harder, double-checked the gearshift, but to no avail. The honks coming from behind weren't helping either, getting more and more on her nerves with each second.
Admitting defeat, she slumped in the driver's seat and pressed the car's hazard switch. The honking stopped shortly afterward, vehicles overtaking hers while she sat there pathetically. When it was safe to come out, Sooyoung opened her door and walked to the front of the car, raising its hood. She stared at the engine for a brief moment before rolling her eyes. Who was she kidding, she didn't know anything about this stuff.
She took out her phone and dialed for towing services.
Right when she thought her day had taken a turn for the better.
It was ten minutes before towing arrived, and another five to haul a cab. Sooyoung swore the meter was tweaked by the time they arrived at the complex where the dental clinic was at...there was no way those rates were reasonable. But she refused to argue, she was already late to her appointment!
Fixing her hair and smoothing down her clothes in hopes to make herself look presentable, she pulled off the best smile she could muster and entered the clinic. The receptionist, a man she remembered by the name Doyoung, acknowledged her with a grin and a raise of his hand. "Ms. Park, good afternoon!"
"Hey Doyoung-ssi, uh, good afternoon," Sooyoung replied bleakly, unable to match his energy. "I didn't mean to be so late..."
"No worries, Dr. Son doesn't have many schedules anyway," he said as he stepped out from behind his counter. "I'll inform her of your arrival right away." Doyoung disappeared into a hallway.
Minutes later, the man came back with the same grin on his face. "She's ready for you, Ms. Park." He gestured to one of the rooms at the end of the hallway, and bowed to the woman before returning to his post.
Sooyoung walked to the room and gave the door a few knocks.
"Come in!"
Sooyoung bit the inside of her cheek at the sound of Dr. Son's voice, to keep her from breaking into a smile. She couldn't believe that she was acting like an adolescent all of a sudden. She paused and took a deep breath, composing herself, before opening the door.
Dr. Son looked up from her desk and regarded Sooyoung with a kind gaze as the woman entered timidly. "Ah, it's so nice to see you, Sooyoung-ssi! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
It's been too long, Sooyoung said in her mind.
Dr. Son's bright smile felt like a ray of sunshine that could split through dark rain clouds, and was enough to bring out Sooyoung's first genuine smile of the day as she returned the greeting. And unlike with Doyoung, the enthusiasm came naturally to her. "Sorry for being late," she quickly added after.
"Oh no, I actually wouldn't have been able to have some lunch had you come earlier, so your timing is perfect," Dr. Son told her sincerely. "I'm sure that Sooyoung-ssi is a busy woman herself, so don't worry."
They've had conversations in passing, just enough small talk in-between transactions and cleanings to get to know the other better than what usually happened within the four walls of Dr. Son's office. Sooyoung was able to pick up on several things they talked about. Like how the woman had grown up in a foreign country, how they both shared a great love for dogs, their opposite tastes in ice cream flavors, and that Dr. Son was in point of fact, a single woman. (It didn't matter how Sooyoung had managed to probe those answers.) So it wasn't farfetched that Dr. Son was also aware of her hectic job as a fashion designer under the world-famous Enclare Group, owned by Jung Jessica herself. For sure, that was what Dr. Son thought had made her late.
If only you knew, Dr. Son.
Dr. Son guided Sooyoung to sit on the blue dental chair, holding her breath when the dentist's soft touch grazed the skin of her nape as she clipped the paper bib around the woman's neck. The dentist pressed a button on the machine attached to the chair, promptly filling the disposable cup beside Sooyoung with water.
"You can drink some of that water, it's clean. Just relax for a few while I get ready, okay? You look a bit tense today," Dr. Son smiled fondly, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
Sooyoung released a nervous chuckle as the latter walked away from her. She took the dentist's word, drinking the whole cup, and sighed. Was she that obvious? Dr. Son wasn't wrong though. Sooyoung felt like she could get muscle knots all over her back from all of the day's stress -- and a broken-down car and bruised ass. She shifted in her seat. Yup, it still hurt.
Sooyoung wanted to vent. To anyone, at this point. She didn't care if she got no feedback in return, she just needed to let off steam before she exploded!
Maybe she could call her friends to grab dinner someplace later in the evening. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea. She was about to send a text to Joohyun when Dr. Son reappeared next to her, seated on her own wheeled stool.
"Everything good?" she asked, wearing a pair of gloves.
Hell no, Sooyoung wished she could say. She simply smiled and nodded, pocketing her phone.
Sooyoung was so tired, and the dental chair was beyond comfortable. So when Dr. Son turned on the light stand above, scooted so close to her so that Sooyoung could feel her body heat, and said the words, "Open up, Sooyoung-ssi" it all seemed like an open invitation. And in that moment, Sooyoung had to admit that she wasn't thinking straight, and only cared about finding emotional release.
Words poured out of her mouth like a waterfall, and before she knew it, Sooyoung was telling her dentist about her entire day, and how tragically unlucky she'd been. She barely missed a detail - the early phone call, the slip and fall, the grocery mishaps, the parking ticket, the irritating client, the soggy ramen, the road breakdown, and the unreasoning cab rate. It was just what Sooyoung needed - to vent out all of the pent-up tension inside her.
"You were the only good thing that happened to me this entire day, can you believe that?!" Sooyoung took a deep breath as she finished her monologue.
When she looked to the side, Dr. Son was goggling at her, looking so innocent with her short brown hair tied up in a ponytail, white mask covering her lips, and a mouth mirror in her hand. The realization struck Sooyoung like lightning, her eyes popping out of her head. Did she just-
Embarrassment heated her face.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I wasn't supposed to- oh god, I just made things awkward, didn't I?" Sooyoung panicked, rising in her seat. "I'll just call Doyoung soon to reschedule and--"
"Sooyoung-ssi," Dr. Son tried to call out to her, pulling down her mask, but the woman kept on rambling. "Sooyoung-ssi..." she tried again, but the latter blabbered on and on. "Yah, Sooyoung-ah."
The casual dropping of honorifics finally stopped her.
Dr. Son grinned, laying a hand on Sooyoung's shoulder to make her lean back onto her seat. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It was unexpected, yes, but I swear it's alright. I could tell you really needed that, you were spacing out just earlier," she told her.
Sooyoung cleared her throat, still embarrassed. "I..."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Sooyoung coughed, going red in the face as the dentist patted her softly on the back. "...Like now?" she asked cynically.
"Yeah, why not? I mean, if you want to, of course."
Is this really happening? Sooyoung thought to herself. This had to be some kind of dream, it was too good to be true -- this was nothing like their past conversations. They talked about the weather, dramas on tv, maybe work problems at most, but nothing like this. If Sooyoung wasn't sure before, she was sure then that Dr. Son was truly an angel.
"I don't want to take too much of your time though..."
Dr. Son grinned. "Oh, that shouldn't be a problem at all," she said, standing from her chair. She walked to her desk and picked up a telephone. "Hey, Doyoung-ah, I don't have any more appointments after Ms. Park, correct?" she shot the woman a thumbs up before speaking again, "Great. And make sure to count me out of any walk-ins starting from now and pass them to the others, okay? Something important came up just now...Thanks, Doyoung!"
She settled back onto her stool and switched off the dental light above them. "So, tell me about this day of yours again, hm? I'm afraid I wasn't able to catch everything earlier," she giggled.
Sooyoung was still unsure about this whole thing, but Dr. Son was looking at her so kindly. "Um-"
"Oh wait," the dentist perked, "Just call me Seungwan-unnie from now on. I think we've known each other long enough, right Sooyoung-ah?"
Sooyoung thought her heart could melt right there. "Sure...Seungwan-unnie."
Sooyoung ended up retelling her story to Seungwan, slower this time, allowing the dentist to make small comments here and there. She appreciated the reactions she got from the woman, who seemed to genuinely care about the things that had happened to her. Seungwan was a terrific listener.
Yet on another note, Sooyoung still had a small crush on this woman. So as Sooyoung's story dragged on, while she was sitting on a reclined chair, Seungwan was without a backrest. And what Seungwan did as a resolution, left Sooyoung's heart in a mess.
She leaned her body over to the dental chair, and placed an elbow on Sooyoung's headrest to prop her head, leaving her face less than a foot away from Sooyoung's. The butterflies in Sooyoung's stomach taunted her relentlessly, seeing how close Seungwan was to her, but she ignored them to finish her story.
"I think you forgot something," Seungwan said when she was done.
Sooyoung's eyebrows quirked upwards, thinking back to what she could've missed. "Oh, really?"
"Mmhm. You forgot the part where you say that I'm the only good thing that happened to you today so far," the dentist joked, breaking into a wide smile.
Sooyoung threw her arm across her eyes and groaned. "I'm embarrassed enough, unnie!"
"I'm just teasing," Seungwan laughed, prying the woman's arm off of her face. "But really though, you had one hell of a day, Sooyoung. I'm surprised you decided to still come here."
And miss the chance of seeing you? Think again, Dr. Son.
"I think it would've been harder to reschedule on another day, so," Sooyoung answered instead.
"Right," Seungwan agreed as she pushed off of Sooyoung's chair and sat up straight. After a short pause, "Umm, how about after our actual cleaning, you and I go out for some ice cream?"
"What?"
"Ice cream, you and me. After this. And maybe dinner if you'd like," Seungwan said, smiling. "Why would I settle with being the only good thing so far, when I could be the best, period. I know we barely see each other outside from here, but I think we’d get along quite well, Sooyoung."
There went the butterflies again. Sooyoung knew that Seungwan was only being her good-natured self, and that she shouldn't read too much into the friendly gesture- possibly an offer of friendship- but couldn't help the warm and tingly feeling in her body.
"And insult each other's preferences again?" she smiled back, gaining more confidence.
"Ah, don't remind me!" Seungwan let out a hearty laugh that Sooyoung came to adore. "So what do you say, Sooyoung-ah? Is that a yes?"
With a twinkle in her eye, Sooyoung answered, "One-hundred percent."
Maybe her day wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all. But one thing was for sure - Sooyoung wasn't going to move on from this crush anytime soon.