Jongin searches the upper level of the cardiac department. The whole evening, after Gloria left, Jongin tried to look for Gaeul but she was nowhere to be found. He first checked her room, but only Solbi was there, glaring at him with furious eyes. She usually looked at him with twinkling eyes, but today was different. When he asked her where Gaeul was, she just clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. In the end, he left the room without any answer but with sass-filled attitude.

“Have you seen Son Gaeul?” Jongin asks the nurse at the main desk. They shrug their shoulders and continue with their work. No one around here seemed to give a damn that Gaeul was missing! He closes his eyes as he tries to take a deep breath to calm himself down. He searched this massive hospital, and he couldn’t find….

Realizing that he missed the emergency stairs, Jongin runs down the hallway and opens the door to the emergency staircase.

“Gaeul!!” He shouts for her in the silent space. He runs down the stairs and scans for Gaeul. And just like the day he cried, Gaeul was sitting at the same spot crying.

Realizing Jongin has found her, Gaeul shouts “Go away!” With her head deeply buried in her arms, she has wrapped her body close to herself like a ball.

Jongin takes a sigh of relief. “Found you.” He whispers gently and takes a seat next to her. “What’s wrong?” He asks her in his soft voice.

“I told you, don’t act like you care about me!” Gaeul tells him angrily with her head still buried within her arms and legs.

Jongin purses his lips as he tries to think of an answer. “I may be good-looking, smart and perfect, but the only thing I lack is acting. So you can be assured I’m not acting.” He explains honestly. To him, everything he told Gaeul and every way he acted towards her was completely sincere.

“Then what do you want from me?” Gaeul asks.

Jongin shrugs. “I want you to be happy? I want you to look at me and tell me what’s wrong? I want many things, but I don’t think you are prepared to tell me.”

“I think I like you.” Gaeul blurts out loud. Her head refused to say anything, but her heart, broken as it was, just couldn’t keep a secret.

Jongin’s eyes widens. He glances at Gaeul who has kept her head buried. He didn’t know how to answer, and what his answer was. It wasn’t the first time he received a confession, in fact it was close to the hundredth time. However, he felt different. He wasn’t sure whaHit his emotions were, but he knew they were different and new. His heart beat quickened, and his head became blank. It was different to the way he felt when he was with Sohee. With Sohee, he was felt like clenching his heart and sewing it back into pieces. But with Gaeul, it felt fragile, but it felt strong at the same time.

“Are you seriously not going to say anything?!” Gaeul demands with her eyes closed tightly. She was not ready to face Jongin and although her confession was brave, she still needed some protection from facing reality.

Jongin chuckles. She had the courage to say something, but she didn’t have the guts to even look at him.

“Cannot believe you are laughing at me in this situation?!!” Gaeul’s anger level rises as she notices Jongin enjoying himself, while she is just about to burn herself alive. With her anger, Gaeul regains the courage to face Jongin again. She removes her arms and raises her head to stare straight at Jongin. A strong crease planted in the middle of her forehead, Gaeul glares at Jongin furiously.

“Hi there.” Jongin finally replies.

“Hi…there?? You call that an answer?! I just confessed to you and that’s all you have to say? Maybe you could just downright reject it, and we can pretend we never even talked to each other! Like at least do something so I can make my wretched heart stop beating because of you-“

Jongin gently grabs Gaeul’s chin with his hand, and pulls her face close to his. They are so close to each other that they can feel each other’s breath. With her breath stolen away, Gaeul stares at Jongin with anger and confusion and surprise.

“My answer is…” He speaks softly with his delicate breath embracing Gaeul’s lips. He pulls her chin closer, and gently lands his lips on top of hers. His lips tenderly envelop her soft lips and the two kiss for the first time, under the dim light of the stairs.

Feeling a sensation of adrenaline run wildly across her body, Gaeul feels enlightened. She never imagined her question would have such an answer. Her heart paces faster and faster, making her breathing uneven and difficult. She reluctantly pulls away from the kiss with her heart beat too hard to control.

Realizing Gaeul’s pain, Jongin immediately looks at her with a worried look. He whips out his stethoscope from his right pocket, and places it on her chest. He closely listens to her heart beat, and finds relief when he notices it calming down.

“Are you ok?” He asks her as he pats her back slowly.

“Who’s Gloria?” Gaeul demands as she remembers the Barbie-look-alike standing next to Jongin. All the while, she had been spending nights awake because of that Gloria girl.

Jongin stares at Gaeul dumbfounded. “That’s really what you want to know now?”

She nods firmly. That was the most important thing she wanted to know right now!!

Jongin chuckles. “She’s my first patient.”

“Ok, then next question. What are we?” Gaeul asks painfully with her hand still clutching onto her heart.

Jongin looks at her confused. “What do you mean?” He didn’t understand how she had so many questions when she was in so much pain at the same time.

“What’s our relationship?” Gaeul asks again. Although she was in pain, this was a desperate question she needed an answer too.

Jongin smiles and shakes his head. “What do you want it to be?” He asks playfully.

“.” Gaeul swears softly. With her heart still in pain, she finds it difficult to get angry.

Jongin’s eyes widen. “You know how to swear?!”

“Shut up, and tell me an answer. You’re about to kill me.” Gaeul murmurs angrily.

“Take a deep breath. Your heart beat is returning to a normal pace. Just give-“

Gaeul removes her hand from her heart, and pulls Jongin’s face closer to hers again. Her sudden move surprises Jongin and stops him from speaking. Without a chance for her heart to return to normality, she gives him a stern look and places her lips on top of his. A light kiss and she parts her lips away from his.

“From today, you are my boyfriend. We are dating. Congratulations, you’re Son Gaeul’s first boyfriend.” Gaeul announces bravely. Although her cheeks are flushed red, and she feels terribly embarrassed, her voice is still courageous and her words are solid.

After taking Gaeul to her blood circulation treatment for the day, Jongin walks back to his office with a smile planted on his face. He just couldn’t stop smiling. Even the rain outside seemed magnificent, and the children crying in the hallway looked beautiful. Today, he believed nothing could ruin his day.

He pulls out his phone from his jeans, and dials Chanyeol’s number.

[Hello?]

Chanyeol answers. His voice is husky and low. He must have been sleeping.

[Guess what?]

Jongin beams into the phone gleefully.

[Are you dating that girl?]

Chanyeol asks clairvoyantly. He was like a prophet! Jongin, surprised at Chanyeol’s answer, pulls his phone away from his ears and stares at his phone. Was there some CCTV on this thing?

[How’d you know?]

Jongin asks surprised and amazed.

[Pretty obvious from the day of the wedding. I knew you were going to date any upcoming day. Anyways, congratz brother. She’s your first girlfriend, right? Finally over Sohee. Phew]

Chanyeol talks into the phone relieved. He was sincerely happy that Jongin found a girlfriend. For all the years that Jongin was his friend, he pitied Jongin. The world was full of beautiful women, but Jongin was missing out. Even the girls chasing after Jongin were gorgeous, but he refused to look at anyone besides Sohee.

[Sohee…]

Jongin whispers into the phone as he wonders what happened to her. After Gaeul left the wedding hall, Jongin also left right after. He wasn’t really interested in what happened after. It was quite amazing that he didn’t even think about Sohee once the past two days.

[I heard she’s in her house, refusing to drink or eat. But…don’t do anything Kim Jongin. I’m just telling you, so that you don’t go looking for her yourself.]

Chanyeol warns Jongin earnestly. He had a bad feeling that Jongin was going to go looking for trouble and ruin his current relationship. He just hoped that Jongin was a different man now.

[Jongin, are you listening to me? Please hear me out. I need you to not do anything.]

Chanyeol begs another time.

Jongin keeps silent. As Chanyeol assumed, Jongin was already thinking about Sohee.

[Listen you stupid, idiotic best friend. You even try to see Sohee, I will personally ruin your relationship for you. So choose once, is it Sohee or this new girlfriend?]

Chanyeol asks angrily. He already knew from Jongin’s silence that this bastard was thinking about something that he shouldn’t be even considering.

[I won’t do anything. Don’t worry.]

Jongin murmurs into the phone and hangs up.