*Knock knock*

“Come in!” said a muffled voice from the inside. 

Taking it as his cue, he opened the door. “Good morning. I’m here for my placement appointment.”

The woman stood up and shook his hand. “Ah, you must be Park Jinyoung.” 

“Yes. It’s nice to meet you,” he replied politely.

She motioned for him to sit on a vacant chair. “Congratulations for passing the interview,” she said, giving him what must be the brightest smile he’s ever seen. 

“Thank you. I’m really honored to be a part of this team.”

“That’s good! Now, let’s talk about your placement.” She turned to her computer and typed in a few things before facing him again. 

“I saw in your application that you’re a Kinesiology major with an emphasis in Physical Therapy, is that right?”

He nodded. He’s a third year college student, which means graduation is fast approaching and he needs to prepare for graduate school. He knows he should’ve been doing this ages ago, but he’s a lazy bum who’d rather stay at home and read novels all day long. 

Which is what he’s been doing the past few months. The rest of his friends are out volunteering god knows where and doing study abroad, while he buries himself under a blanket and read to his heart’s desire. He’d gladly continue this routine if not for his mother’s constant reminder that he needs “to get his act together and be active or else he won’t get accepted to any grad school”. 

It doesn’t suffice that he has good (read: excellent) grades, graduate schools also look for community involvement, especially for a major like his. 

This brings him back to his current situation: sitting in the volunteer office of the hospital and currently being assigned to a department. 

“So, how would you like to volunteer in our rehabilitation center? It will be a perfect match for your future profession,” she looked at him with a hint of anticipation. 

It is a perfect match. He’ll be able to observe physical therapists and get a feel for what they do or rather what he’ll be doing in the future. 

“Okay, sure! I’ll volunteer in the rehab,” he said, excitement and nervousness—more so excitement—bubbling up inside him. 

“Great! You’ll love it there.” She gave him another one of her mega-watt smiles. Seriously, who has a teeth that bright? 

He returned the smile, but didn’t say anything back. He just hopes she’s right. He wants to make the next 3 months worth it and memorable. 

—

On the other side of the hospital…

“Good day Mark. How are you feeling today?” the man in a white coat greeted with enthusiasm. 

“Like crap,” he replied curtly. He doesn’t care if he sounded rude. He’s beyond caring at this point. 

The smile in the man’s face didn’t falter. If possible, it grew even wider. Damn it. “Now, now. Just because I’m your uncle doesn’t mean you get to treat me like this.”

The man—his uncle—gave him a disapproving look. “I’m still your doctor, you know.”

Mark sighed. “Unfortunately,” he mumbled under his breath, but loud enough for the doctor to hear.

“Ya! What did you just say? Are you insulting me? Don’t you know I’m the Adonis of this hospital? Everyone here loves me, so you sho—”

He blocked out the rest of his uncle’s rambling and tried to get himself comfortable in the doctor’s office. He was about to lift his right leg up on the coffee table out of habit, but immense pain suddenly spiked throughout his body and he can’t help but let out a loud hiss. 

Only then did his uncle stop talking. “What happened?” 

“Nothing, Adonis,” he rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the dull throbbing on his leg. “Can we cut to the chase please?” His irritation is growing every passing second and what he needs right now is to lay in bed, play video games with his friends, and maybe sneak in a cuddling session with his girlfriend. That is, if she decides he’s more important than hanging out with her childhood friend.

The memory of his girlfriend ditching him since last week only made his mood worse. So, yeah, he really needs to go home, sleep, and wake up to a fully-healed leg and his girlfriend. 

“Are we gonna talk about my leg or what?” he snapped.

“Jeez. Aren’t you a bit impatient today…” his uncle commented. “Meeting someone?”

“…”

The doctor held his hands up in defeat. “Alright! Fine. You’re not in the mood and you want to go home.”

“Thank god he has common sense,” Mark added sarcastically.

Instead of being offended, a smirk appeared on the doctor’s face. “Oh but Markie…you’re not going home today.”

“What?” That statement made him sit up straight. 

“To help with your recovery, your parents and I have decided to put you in rehab.”

His mouth dropped open. Surely, he heard that wrong. “You can’t be serious.”

The doctor’s laugh echoed throughout the room. “It’ll be your new home for the next few weeks Mark. Have fun.”

No freaking way.