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"You can close it up now" Dr. Baek said, walking away and removing his bloodied gloves from his hands. Jae-Won immediately got to work and closed up the patient's lower abdomen carefully.
"I know he has been here for almost a year already but I still can't believe how skilled he is" Jang-Mi said, her voice low, the only one who can hear her are Jae-Won and Gyeong-Won.
"Well, that's Dr. Baek to you" Jae-Won replied unamusedly. "By the way, is it just me or is Dr. Baek becoming more distant and colder these days?" He asked.
"Hm, what do you mean?" Jang-Mi replied, confusion evident on her face
"I don't know, he seems like his normal self to me" Gyeong-Won answered impassively.
"Yeah, why are you asking Jae-Won? Did u noticed anything different with Dr. Baek?" Jang-Mi turned the question back to him, of course she would do that—she's the biggest gossiper out of all of them after all.
"No it's just-" before Jae-Won could explain his concern any further, Dr. Baek interrupted him.
"Are you guys just gonna stand there and talk your ass's off forever? Come on we have patients to save!" Dr. Baek shouted angrily at them.
"Yes, Doctor!" they replied in unison.
It's finally lunchtime, Jae-Won and Jang-Mi are eating in the cafeteria together, "Oh my god! I just remembered!!! What were you gonna say about Dr. Baek in the surgery room?" Jang-Mi said while chewing on her food.
"Can you atleast swallow the food first before you talk?" Jae-Won replied, looking half-disgusted. Jang-Mi only smiled cheekily in return, "Anyways, i was going to say that Dr. Baek has been suspiciously distant towards me" Jae-Won said while shoving a spoonful of rice in his mouth.
"Aww man! I thought it was gonna be more juicier than that!" Jang-Mi said while pouting her lips—she really does live for the drama.
"It's probably nothing. You probably just did something to piss him off! Maybe you were too slow tying off an artery, or you were zoning out for too long. It's not like that's the first time" She replied, shrugging her shoulder.
Jae-Won tried not to take the comments to heart. Instead, he focused on replaying every single memory of him and Dr. Baek to see if he did anything wrong or messed up in a surgery, but nothing comes to mind. "No... I don't think so, usually he would just be straightforward and scold me, but this.... this time it feels like he's trying to act like he's not distant, it's like he's trying to hide his real emotions" Jae-Won looked down at the table "It's actually scaring me more, you know?"
"Don't you think you're maybe reading into it? I mean it's not like Dr. Baek is known for showing his emotions and being vulnerable. Maybe he just had a bad week or something" Jang-Mi brushed it off and continues eating her food.
"Oh, speak of the devil" Jang-Mi whispered, her eyes looking to the left. There he was, Dr. Baek Kang-Hyuk, walking towards their table.
"There's a new patient coming in and they said his wound is pretty bad, start running." He instructed, Jae-Won immediately got up and followed Dr. Baek,
"Wait!!! one last bite!" Jang-Mi shouted, shoving rice and chicken in her mouth.
After the surgery had finished, Jae-Won quickly scrubbed his hands and went out of the room to find Dr. Baek. They both usually check on the patients in the ICU together, but recently Dr. Baek has been checking on the patients all by himself—he doesn't even wait for him anymore. If we're going to be honest, Jae-Won is quite hurt by this, what did he even do to make Dr. Baek ignore him? He's been extra aware and has been trying his extra best just to please him. But, nonetheless, Dr. Baek did not care.
He wishes Dr. Baek would just tell it straight to his face so he knows how to fix the mistake he made and try to improve his skills.
He finally found Dr. Baek walking to a patient's room, "Dr. Baek!! Wait up!!!!" He half-shouted to the older man. Dr. Baek turned around, his face unreadable. He continued walking slowly to let Jae-Won catch up to him.
'Well, atleast he waited for me' Jae-Won thought to himself.
Finally he catches up with Dr. Baek. They both didn't say anything while walking, it was pretty awkward actually. Just pure silence.
"Dr Baek, you haven't been waiting for me recently, you know?" Jae-Won broke the silence, honestly he doesn't even know why he said that. That wasn't supposed to be a question, it was just a statement really. The last thing that Jae-Won wants right now is a confrontation.
"It's not my fault you're so slow, No. 1" Dr. Baek replied, hands in his pockets, looking straight ahead.
"Oh, I'll try to be more faster then" Jae-Won said, chuckling awkwardly. Dr. Baek only gave him a side glance and nodded. They both turn to the corner and went inside the patient's room.
Well that went well.
Jae-Won sighs, it's 1:26 AM right now and he just gotten out of a rib fracture surgery that only took 1 hour and 27 minutes, thanks to Dr. Baek skillfull hands. He's not usually this sleepy right now, but truth be told, he hasn't had his coffee at all today. He was trying too hard to please Dr. Baek and be on his good side again.
His visions are fading into black once every 3 seconds, the quietness of the hospital didn't help him either, he feels like there's a sand bag tied to his legs with how much force he needs to lift it off the ground. God, all he wants to do right now is sleep or maybe just get a cup of coffee. He keeps walking slowly until a smell caught his senses. Caramelized, nutty and... chocolatey? He knows this smell a little too well—Coffee. His eyes immediately widen, not only did he smelled it but a cup of coffee is being held right infront of his face.
He looked at the person who was holding the cup, to his surprise, it was Dr. Baek.
"Drink up." the older man said, his deep voice bringing a little bit of consciousness in Jae-Won's brain,
"Oh, thank you" he took the cup of coffee and started sipping. He immediately feels the difference after the coffee had entered his system. "Oh, you really shouldn't have bought this for me-"
"And let you walk around the hospital like a zombie? How are you supposed to perform surgeries if you can't even keep your eyes open" Dr. Baek scoffed.
"Heh.., i guess so... thank you" Jae-Won smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, no problem. After you finish drinking that coffee and freshened up a little, meet me at the rooftop." Dr. Baek said, walking away and presumably—going to the rooftop.
"Mhm, yeah okay" Jae-Won replied mindlessly, "Wait- Huh..? What?... What?" Dr. Baek's words finally registered inside his head "Huh?? Wait- Dr. Baek!! Stop!! What do you mean by that??"
Alas, it was too late, the taller figure had already gotten out of the line of sight.
Oh this is bad—this is REALLY bad.
"Jang-Mi! Jang-Mi! This is bad!!! You need to help me!!" Jae-Won whisper–screamed at her.
"Why what happened? is there a new patient coming in?" Jang-Mi immediately got up from her seat, ready to run.
"No no no, sit back down. Dr. Baek just asked me to meet him at the rooftop. Alone."
"Oh my god, Jae-Won you scared me!" she replied, sitting back down on her seat, "You're overthinking it again! It's probably not even that serious."
"Oh come on! You don't think that it's weird that he has been distant to me and now all of a sudden he wants to talk to me at the rooftop? It's literally 1:31 AM and he wants to just have a little chat with me?"
"Well the worst thing that's probably gonna happen is he's gonna scold you" Jang-Mi said, now resting her head on the palm of her hand.
"You think so? I'm kind of scared-"
"Or, he's gonna beat you up"
"Why would he do that?????"
"I don't know! you're the one who keeps on insisting that he's hiding his feelings or whatever, maybe he's finally gonna let out his anger on you" the nurse replied, shadow boxing Jae-Won to get her point across.
"You're really not helping me right now." the younger one said—wiping away a sweat from his forehead
"Look, I'm just joking. You really think he's gonna beat you up?"
"Well no, but-"
"But you better go now or he'll actually beat you up"
"Well- ugh... Fine" Jae-Won groaned. "Pray for me."
"I will" Jang-Mi winked.
Jae-Won is inside of the elevator, his finger hesitant to press the top floor button. Nonetheless, he pressed it anyways. He immediately started fidgeting with the hem of his coat, rubbing the back of his neck, tapping his feet—doing anything to keep his nerves calm while waiting for the elevator to bring him to his death—well, not really, but it's basically that.
Suddenly, the elevator stops, a ding!' could be heard indicating that he has arrived.
Well, this is it.
He came out of the elevator and immediately looked around for Dr. Baek. He looked to the right and sees a tall figure standing.
Dr. Baek was looking up at the night sky. Jae-Won has never seen him look that calm—It was weird, to say the least.
"Dr. Baek!" Jae-Won waved his hand while walking towards him.
"Oh, you're finally here" Dr. Baek said, his eyes locked onto Jae-Won.
"Sorry, I had to use the bathroom for a minute" Jae-Won lied, it's not like he's gonna tell him that he's been freaking out about all of this.
"Huh, really?" Dr. Baek sounded uninterested.
"Uhh so... Why did you want to meet me here?" Jae-Won asked, Dr. Baek eyes turn to the night sky once again.
"You know..., hearts are delicate like glass" Dr. Baek said.
"Huh...?" Jae-Won replied, dumbfounded.
"yours especially, No. 1" Dr. Baek continues, moving his head to look at Jae-Won's stupidly pretty, big, brown eyes.
"Huh ...? What do you mean by that Dr. Baek? Are you trying to say that I'm unhealthy-"
"I didn't mean it literally, No. 1." Dr. Baek replied, his tone sounded serious but his face, his eyes...—they look soft.
"Well then what do you mean-"
"I'm saying I like you, Jae-Won."
Jae-Won froze. What..? No, it can't be.... right?
"Well, I like you too Dr. Baek! You're so skilled and talented, I'm gonna try to be more like you-"
"No no no no! What I'm trying to say is...." Dr. Baek sighs.
"I love you. Jae-Won." Dr. Baek says, his eyes looking deep into Jae-Won's, full of emotions—love, frustration, yearning, desperation.
It feels like in that moment—he will never look away.
Oh.
Oh.
"I've been inlove with you for the past couple of months" Dr. Baek continues.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't hold it in anymore." He muttered, looking down, running his fingers through his hair.
"I-is that why.... you've been distant with me...?" Jae-Won asked, stuttering.
"Yeah, everytime you were around I would just get distracted. You were always beside me, asking questions and-" Dr. Baek stopped,
"Whatever. Forget it." he blurted, looking back at Jae-Won
"What?"
"I only told you my feelings because i felt like it was messing up our work performance. It's okay if you don't like me, I don't expect you to anyways. Let's just pretend like this never happened" he said, walking away from the conversation.
"Wait!" Jae-Won yelled. Dr. Baek turned around, his brows furrowed.
"I like- I love you too" Jae-Won says, staring at his feet, not making any eye contact.
"I mean- for God's sake, I've been admiring you since the day you came here! Haven't you noticed? How I always look at you in awe everytime you finished a surgery?" Jae-Won finally build up the courage to look at Dr. Baek in the eyes,
Dr. Baek looked shocked, his brows furrowed even more now.
"Oh. So you do like me?"
"Yes!! Obviously!! That's why I was always by your side, asking you questions, I mean- you must've noticed that I keep glancing at you from time to time" Jae-Won's voice sounded desperate.
"Huh, I guess so" Dr. Baek muttered.
For a second, it was silent. Only the sound of the wind could be heard travelling through the night sky. Both of them didn't dare to say a word.
"Well... you don't sound too happy after hearing my answer" Jae-Won was the one who broke the silence.
Dr. Baek started walking towards him, Jae-Won immediately looked down at the ground.
Dr. Baek stopped right infront of him. He places his fingers on Jae-Won's jaw—forcing him to look up.
"Really? Do I need to show you how happy I am right now?"
Their faces are practically an inch apart, he could feel Dr. Baek's breath on his skin.
Dr. Baek is looking deep into his eyes—in that moment, he felt like he could melt under Dr. Baek's gaze.
Well this is gonna be hard to explain to Jang-Mi later.