Hoseok sighed as the clock ticked quietly in the waiting room.

He’d been like one hour into his vacation when he’d run into problems almost immediately. It was as if God himself didn’t want Hoseok to have a holiday.

This was the first vacation he’d had in years since debut three years ago and honestly, he was really excited to finally be home and see his mom and dad and sister, as well as his baby, Mickey, who was getting on in years.

Unfortunately, the first thing Mickey had done was throw up on him. And he had not stopped. Not even once. Throughout dinner, while he was telling his parents about his adventures in Seoul, the boy had puked at least seven times.

And according to his mum, he’d been doing so for the past week! Not only that, the boy had refused to eat and had abdominal pain.

Mum had urged him to bring him to the vet, though it was like 9pm and honestly, who the hell would open so late at night?! But turns out he was wrong and there were people open to this time, albeit just one.

It was a dingy little emergency clinic, rather small and unassuming. Hoseok hadn’t ever seen it before when he was living in the neighbourhood, so it had to have popped up sometime after he’d left for Seoul.

He sighed and cradled poor Mickey, who was milking all the attention he could get, whining and exposing his belly for tummy rubs whenever possible.

The door to the vet’s office opened.

“Mr Jung Hoseok?” a cute voice called out.

Hoseok looked up. The girl stood to be about… a head shorter than him, with long black hair. She had on oversized spectacles, and was holding a blue clipboard.

“Mr Jung Hoseok, please follow me,” the girl beamed like friggin sunshine at Hoseok, who had to blink to avoid being blinded.

He silently followed behind her as she led him into the doctor’s office.

---

The doctor was a portly old male, and honestly, Hoseok would rather have focused his attention on the girl instead.

She was actually kind of cute, with her look of concentration and the tongue sticking out a little as she handled Mickey expertly, splaying him out for the doctor to observe. The doctor hmm-ed and hah-ed a little, probing here and there, while the girl beamed that light ray of a smile at Mickey, who sat there, panting happily at all the attention he was getting.

The girl expertly turned Mickey around, whispering into Mickey’s ear about “being a good boy” and scratching the area he liked the most: the middle of his back.

“Mr Jung Hoseok,” the doctor coughed, dragging Hoseok’s attention from the girl back to him. “You are understandably worried about your dog, but Mickey is in good hands. Our _____ has been training as a vet nurse since she graduated high school, and is looking to join the Seoul National University veterinary programme next year. She is a fine nurse indeed, and you need not be anxious.”

The doctor had thought he was staring at the girl because he was worried about Mickey?

“Oh no, I was just merely observing!” Hoseok held up his hands in surrender, breaking into his signature grin. “Your nurse is very entertaining when she interacts with Mickey, that’s all!”

Hoseok shot the girl a cheeky wink.

The girl flushed a bright red, the tips of her ears going dark with embarrassment. It was amusing, how comparable she was to a tomato.

“Ah, I see,” the vet chortled heartily before he returned to the matter at hand. “May I ask how many times Mickey is fed, and what sort of food he is fed?”

“Um, once a day with kibbles,” Hoseok recalled.

“I see…” the vet trailed off. “And the vomit is what colour?”

“Yellow-green,” Hoseok replied immediately.

The girl was at all attention, her arms cupping Mickey gently. The dog looked as if he was in heaven. Hoseok decided he wanted to be in heaven too.

“Mickey seems to be suffering from bilious vomiting syndrome,” the vet announced. “Basically, because he’s old, his stomach doesn’t move as much as it used to anymore. So the bile that is secreted into the stomach gets stuck inside, and irritates the stomach walls, causing the dog to throw up.”

Hoseok nodded attentively, but through the corner of his eye, he caught the girl eyeing the doctor in concentration, as if mentally taking down notes.

“I’ll just prescribe some medication to induce movement of the gut so that the bile can come out, and I suggest that you split the meal into two meals: one in the day and the other one at night so that his stomach keeps moving,” the vet smiled at him kindly.

Hoseok couldn’t help the burst of relief in his gut. He knew that the problem wasn’t serious, but it was a relief to know that Mickey would be alright.

“Mr. Hoseok, do you mind waiting outside for a moment?” the nurse’s smile was brighter than toothpaste commercials. Seriously, did she install lightbulbs in her gums or something?! How on earth were her teeth that bright?!

“Mr. Hoseok?” her voice was questioning as drooped, blocking Hoseok from the light source.

“Um, sorry?” Hoseok chided himself for not paying attention to the cute voice.

“We have to take some blood tests, so it’s best if you wait outside,” she smiled again, beaming him with that superhuman light.

Hoseok nodded tightly and made his way out of the clinic.

---

“Mr. Hoseok?” the chipper nurse called him in again.

“The liver and kidney is still working well,” the vet smiled at him. “I’ll just allow ____ to prescribe the meds to you outside and payment can be made shortly.”

The girl held Mickey with one arm (how was that possible?! It took him two to even lift him off the ground!) as she gestured politely for Hoseok to go first.

He settled onto the comfortable seats as she took the medication from the receptionist.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath. “This one is to increase gut motility, so you take it twice a day according to the label. Then this one will decrease acid secretions so the stomach isn’t as irritated as it was before.”

“Don’t worry, you’re doing a great job,” Hoseok nodded encouragingly, as the girl smiled at him gratefully.

“The doctor has written a feeding schedule for you already,” she rummaged through the plastic bag containing the medication and passed it to him. “Two meals a day, one in the morning and one at night. He said to change to wet food as well, because solid food isn’t as easily digestible.”

Hoseok pocketed the feeding schedule, reminding himself to tell his mother.

“And… my sister is a really big fan of your group so if it’s cool can I get a signature from you?” her eyes went wide as her ever shining beam of light from seemed to get even brighter.

She offered him a notebook to sign.

“How can I say no to someone this cute?” Hoseok chuckled and took the notebook.

She took back the notebook and thanked him profusely, but all Hoseok could notice was the reddish tinge in her ears and the blush on her cheeks as she waved goodbye at him shyly, before disappearing into the vet’s office.

Hoseok grinned cheekily to himself as he paid up and left the clinic, thinking about the feeding schedule he had “accidentally” left behind and the phone number he had “accidentally” written into the notebook, and how he would have to come back again to collect his feeding schedule and to ask that cute little nurse on a date.