For once, Jongin wasn’t led to the examination room by Nurse Park.

For the first time since he had begun coming to Bright Vision Eye Clinic almost two months ago, Jongin was escorted by none other than Dr. Do Kyungsoo himself.

Although the artist had still been forced to sit in the waiting room for several extra minutes, Jongin almost couldn’t wipe away the expression of surprise that appeared on his usually stoic face when the ophthalmologist called his name and beckoned for him instead of the long-haired nurse, who was nowhere to be seen. Kyungsoo didn’t try to make any small talk with him as Nurse Park usually did, which Jongin was thankful for since he felt it to be completely unnecessary anyway, so the two men silently walked to the examination room that the artist was now too familiar with after several visits. Jongin didn’t need to be told twice to sit down in the black exam chair and made himself comfortable as he waited for the ophthalmologist to check his medical file.

Once he was seated on his ivory-colored wheelie stool, Dr. Do quickly scanned through the written notes he had left for himself after the artist’s previous appointment two weeks ago. After he finished, the ophthalmologist stood up again and placed Jongin’s file on the counter. “Today, you will be taking the Ishihara test, which is probably the most well-known color perception test that is used to detect color blindness and other color deficiencies,” Dr. Do said as he began slipping his white lab coat off of his body.

“What?” In addition to knowing nothing about the Ishihara test, Jongin was also extremely perplexed as to why Kyungsoo was suddenly undressing in front of him. He stared wide-eyed at the ophthalmologist from where he sat in the black exam chair, but Kyungsoo seemed oblivious to the artist’s stares as he shrugged the lab coat off.

“It’s a very easy test and quite accurate in detecting color blindness, so if you do have a color perception problem, we should be able to confirm that with the Ishihara test,” Dr. Do explained while neatly folding the lab coat and then placing the article of clothing over his right shoulder. He picked up Jongin’s medical file before motioning for the artist to also stand up. “My apologies for bringing you here and making you sit down for no reason, but I was busy with other patients and some paperwork earlier, so I didn’t have time to check your file beforehand. You will be taking the test in my office.”

“Why?” The artist obediently stood up, confusion still etched on his face, and began to follow Kyungsoo out of the examination room.

“It’s best to take the Ishihara test in a room that has natural light, but none of our exam rooms have windows. However, my office has fairly large windows that were designed to allow just enough sunlight for such tests to be conducted.”

The conversation died after that as the pair weaved through the hallways. Every so often, other doctors and nurses would pass by them while amicably greeting Kyungsoo, who genially smiled and waved back at each person. Excitement and respect colored their voices as they spoke to Kyungsoo, and their eyes shined like stars whenever they made direct eye contact with him.

Meanwhile, Jongin awkwardly shuffled behind the short ophthalmologist, keeping his head faced towards the floor and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his long blue-gray coat. Some of the eye clinic’s employees glanced at the artist as they passed him and Kyungsoo, but only for the briefest of seconds. They had their own patients to worry about and attend to, and Jongin’s appearance wasn’t flashy or special enough to warrant their prolonged interest.

After a few minutes, the two arrived at the back of the clinic where the offices were situated and they stopped in front of Kyungsoo’s office which had a rectangular, golden nameplate nailed onto the white door. The ophthalmologist pushed down the silver door handle to reveal the interior of his office. “After you, Mr. Kim,” Dr. Do said as he gestured to the open doorway while slightly nodding his head.

The artist walked through the doorway and found himself in a relatively spacious room. The walls were smooth and white, and the floor was covered in a burgundy-colored carpet. Several degrees were hung in golden frames on the right side of the office while various paintings decorated the opposite wall on the left. A dark cinnamon cherry wood bookcase that was packed with various scientific journals and medical books stood to the right side of the door, and a small water dispenser was to the left. A number of potted plants were sitting in the room’s corners and on the sills of the large, square glass windows that were built into the north side of the office. Thin white curtains covered the windows to allow a fair amount of sunlight into the room. Several paces in the northeast direction from the door were two beige leather couches that sandwiched a rectangular table that matched the cinnamon cherry wood bookcase. Towards the northwest corner was a sleek cinnamon cherry wood desk with two large, black-rimmed desktop monitors on top. Various books and files were neatly stacked on either side of the black keyboard and the small black mouse that were in front of the two desktop monitors. A comfy black swivel chair stood against the wall near a white miniature refrigerator that was situated near the southwest corner of the office.

Jongin had to admit that the ophthalmologist’s office was quite nice. The modern, minimalistic style of the room added a subtle aesthetic flair and none of the furniture pieces stood out in a garish way. There was a good balance of black, brown, and white throughout the office with the accents of gold and green from the frames on the right side and the potted plants in the corners, respectively. The paintings on the left side also gave the room a splash of color that Jongin wished he could fully appreciate, but was unable to when all he saw were muted shades.

After shutting the door behind him, Kyungsoo glanced over at the artist and saw the light leave his patient’s eyes as Jongin continued to stare forlornly at the paintings framed on the left wall. Not wanting his patient to despair any further by looking at the paintings, the ophthalmologist gently yet firmly led Jongin to the couch that was closest to his desk. That way, the artist’s back would be to the paintings.

Out of sight, out of mind.

“Please give me a moment to prepare the test,” Dr. Do said once Jongin was comfortably seated. “Would you like some water to drink, Mr. Kim?”

“No thank you,” the artist declined as he leaned back into the couch and began running his fingers over the smooth beige leather.

“If you do feel thirsty later, please let me know.” The ophthalmologist dropped Jongin’s file onto the table and his white lab coat onto the arm of the other couch before heading to his desk. Kyungsoo pulled open several drawers on the right side, taking out a slim silver laptop and a manila envelope. With the two objects tucked under his left arm, he pushed the drawers in and then grabbed a black pen from an indigo-colored cylindrical container that sat in between the two desktop monitors atop his desk. After tucking the pen behind his right ear, Kyungsoo grabbed one more object from his desk and walked back to the couch.

The ophthalmologist placed the manila envelope on the table and his laptop on the couch cushion to his left, flipping the electronic device open as he said, “Please take out the papers in the envelope, Mr. Kim. But keep them face down when you do.”

Jongin duly followed Kyungsoo’s instructions, but his eyes were distracted by the sunrays beaming through the window curtains and glinting off of something in the ophthalmologist’s hand. As he carefully slid the stack of papers out of the envelope, the artist watched Kyungsoo use his left hand to quickly log in to his laptop while his right hand curled up into a fist, resting on his lap. Despite the ophthalmologist’s hand covering most of the object, Jongin was able to discern another glitter as bright sunlight continuing streaming through the white curtains covering the windows.

It wasn’t until Kyungsoo finally unfurled his fist and picked up the object from his right palm with his left hand that the artist was finally able to identify it. And his jaw fell slightly when the item was revealed to be a ring.

As the ophthalmologist slipped it onto his right pinky finger, Jongin found himself staring openly at the ring. Luckily, Kyungsoo was too busy looking at his laptop screen to notice the artist’s strong gaze.

The ring wasn’t very fancy. It was comprised of a golden band that matched the ophthalmologist’s gold-plated watch on his left wrist and a thin, rectangular black onyx gemstone gleamed at the top. It sparkled on Kyungsoo’s pinky finger, indicating that it was in good condition and was polished regularly by its owner. The gemstone wasn’t very large, but it was still captivating in its own modest way.

To his dismay, Jongin was soon forced to tear his gaze away from the onyx ring when Kyungsoo pointed to the stack of papers in the artist’s hands.

“We are going to start the Ishihara test now,” the ophthalmologist began as he plucked the black pen from behind his ear and uncapped it. He then motioned for Jongin to hand him the stack of papers as he went on to say, “All you have to do is tell me what numbers appear on the colored plates that are printed on these pages. I’ll give you a few seconds to look at each number, but no more than three seconds. Some of the plates do not have a number, so you can just say, ‘No number,’ if that's the case. Any questions, Mr. Kim?”

“No.”

“Good,” Dr. Do said with a nod while he looked through the stack for his two demonstration sheets. As he continued leafing through the pages, the ophthalmologist added, “The second half of the test comprises of you using your finger to trace various paths that will be shown on the plates. Quite self-explanatory, am I right?”

“It sounds easy enough.”

“I’m glad you say so. But to completely ensure that you know what the test entails, I have some practice plates to show you.” Dr. Do held up two pages with their blank sides faced towards the artist before he turned the first one to showcase a large twelve made of oranges dots that were varying sizes. The number was printed against a circular background that was also made up of different-sized blue dots.

In a split second, Jongin named the number and the ophthalmologist switched pages to show an orange squiggly line within another blue circle. Once again, the line and the background were comprised of various dots that were all dissimilar sizes.

After the artist correctly traced the line, Dr. Do smiled with satisfaction as he set the two pages on the couch cushion to his right. “Very good. Let’s begin then.”

However, once it started, Jongin, who hadn’t been irritated all day in an effort to uphold the promise he had made to himself, began to feel his annoyance slowly rise as the seconds passed.

This test was abominably easy.

It was like an insult to his intelligence. There was virtually no brainpower involved as Jongin listed off the numbers that Kyungsoo was showing him in quick succession. Even though the artist had been given a three-second time limit for each number plate, he only needed half a second to glance at each number and name it.

“Ninety-seven. Forty-two. Three. No number. Seventy-three. Sixteen. No number. Twenty-nine,” Jongin listed out in a monotonous voice while resting his chin against the open palm of his right hand. It was so glaringly obvious what each number was. They stood out like shining beacons amidst the backgrounds made up of dozens upon dozens of dots that were various sizes. Jongin didn’t understand how such a test was supposed to prove anything when it was clear that the backgrounds and the numbers were as different from each other as night and day were.

This wasn’t a challenge. This was common sense.

The artist didn’t know why Kyungsoo was even bothering with such a pointless test as he mindlessly traced over the squiggly paths that were on the new plates that the ophthalmologist was now showing him. This was such a mundane task and Jongin yawned loudly as he finished perfectly tracing another distinct squiggly line before promptly being shown yet another. It was very difficult for the artist to take Kyungsoo seriously when the ophthalmologist was forcing him to participate in such a pointless activity that didn’t seem to have any connection to his botched color perception. This test was such a waste of time and it took every ounce of Jongin’s willpower to not snap at Kyungsoo for putting him through such drivel.

Instead of this, he could be meeting up with Sehun, who rarely had free time nowadays due to how packed his schedule was. Instead of this, he could be lazing around at home, which honestly wasn’t productive either. But at the very least, Jongin could have been laying on his own comfortable couch at home as he wasted time instead of stiffly sitting on Kyungsoo’s couch, which was admittedly quite comfy with its high-quality leather.

This was the most boring afternoon he had ever spent in his life and considering he had been stuck with Jongdae alone many times in the past, that was saying something.

The last page took forever to finally show itself and the moment after he said, “Fifteen,” the artist exhaled loudly in relief, because the torture was over now.

As he sat in his seat and waited for the ophthalmologist to key in the results of the Ishihara test on his laptop, Jongin let his gaze wander back to Kyungsoo’s right hand. More specifically, his right pinky finger. He had never pegged the ophthalmologist as the type to wear jewelry, even though the onyx ring was fairly unobtrusive compared to other rings that Jongin had seen people wear before.

It wasn’t a statement piece, seeing how thin the golden band was and how simple the cut of the black onyx gemstone was. The artist recognized the style to be the baguette cut, based off of its thin rectangular shape, its sharp corners, and the few number of faces that the gemstone had. It was very similar to the emerald cut, but that style had slightly rounded edges and several more faces that made it somewhat more complex than the baguette cut.

But despite how unassuming the ring was, Jongin couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. He wondered what the story behind the piece of jewelry was. There had to be a deeper reason for Kyungsoo to possess the onyx ring aside from just the aesthetics. The only other accessory that the man wore was his gold-plated watch and considering how most men owned a nice watch, the artist ruled out the possibility that Kyungsoo frivolously spent money on jewelry. It didn’t seem to fit his image, although Jongin also had to admit to himself that he didn’t actually know what the other man was like outside of these eye appointments.

Seeing how the onyx ring wasn’t on either of the ophthalmologist’s ring fingers, it couldn’t be an engagement ring or a wedding ring. It didn’t seem to be a promise ring either, but Jongin admittedly had no basis for that reasoning.

It was just very intriguing to the artist that Kyungsoo was suddenly wearing a ring and Jongin couldn’t help how his curiosity was piqued by the small piece of jewelry. Not to mention, the glistening stark black onyx had a certain pull over the artist like that set of jet jewelry that was sitting in his house did. The gemstone had a hypnotizing aura to it that caused the familiar sensation of black to invade Jongin’s mind once more…

But before he could mull over the onyx ring any further, someone knocked loudly on the door of Kyungsoo’s office. Both men snapped their heads towards the entrance and the ophthalmologist politely called out, “Come in!”

At the invitation, the door slowly swung open as a voice asked, “Are you busy right now, Kyungsoo?”

♈♈♈

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!! Oh my gosh, our friendship is officially a decade old!! We've hit double-digits!! THANK YOU FOR BEING AMAZING AND WONDERFUL AND AWESOME AND FANTASTIC AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! I never knew I could fall down the K-Pop rabbit hole even further (how deep can it get after 8 yrs?!), but I have and I am now #proudcertifiedtrash. Here's to many more Skype sessions as we react to the glory that is EXO. Here's to millions more spammy messages whenever we find stupid videos or cute pictures or funny gifs or dumb memes. Here's to SCREAMING LIKE CRAZY at more concerts and CRYING WATERFALLS, because SO MUCH LOVE for these boys. And here's to MORE COMPLAINING, BECAUSE SOME OF THEM ARE RUDE CHILDREN WHO NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY BUTTON THEIR SHIRTS (*cough bbh cough*). And as is tradition, I gift you this year's collage, which showcases every wonderful facet of the one and only DO KYUNGSOO. All of these are certified #approved pictures that make me (slightly, VERY slightly) question my undying loyalty to BaekChenLay. And now that the ship is setting sail once more, have some bonus Kaisoo too, hehe. ^^ OKAY, I HOPE YOU LOVE IT AND I WILL SEE YOU SOON!!