"Any hot gossip?" Sejeong asked jokingly as she grabbed a chart from the nurses' station.

Chungha laughed and shook her head. "Isn't there always?"

"Come on, spill," Sejeong grinned. She leaned forward eagerly on her forearms and whispered, "You know you want to."

"Pick literally any of our top surgeons."

Sejeong frowned. "Even me?"

"Even you," Chungha smirked.

"Well now I've got to hear what's the news about me."

"Nothing so heinous," Chungha reassured her, "but it's become pretty well known that one of your patients is in love with you."

"What?" Sejeong sputtered. "Who?"

Chungha gave her an unimpressed look and said, "Sohye, you idiot."

Sejeong paused as she thought of the patient in question. She was a woman younger than her by a few years. She was quiet and awkward, but she had a good heart. She'd always seemed shy around Sejeong, but the attending had always assumed that had been because that was the girl's personality.

"Are you sure?" Sejeong couldn't help but ask.

"You're so oblivious," Chungha rolled her eyes, and Sejeong might've been imagining it but there seemed to be more bitterness behind that than there should've been. "You're the only person in this entire hospital she'll talk to, and when she looks at you, I swear there are actual hearts in her eyes," Chungha explained impatiently. "The only time she'll talk to anyone else is if it's about you, and when she does talk, it's to swoon over how pretty and nice you are."

Sejeong flushed at the news and looked away in embarrassment. Had it really been that obvious?

"I'm not encouraging her or anything," Sejeong felt the need to say.

Chungha's irritation melted for a moment as she said, "I know you aren't, but the residents are enjoying her crush on you a bit too much."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Chungha said before she bit her lip guiltily, "for instance, they may or may not be in her room right now, telling her everything about you to worsen the crush."

"I'm going to kill them," Sejeong said immediately, feeling the vein in her forehead throb a little too violently. "Right now, you said?"

Chungha grimaced. "Yeah." She watched Sejeong storm away and called out, “Don’t injure them too badly! We still need them to do charts.”

Sejeong paid no attention to her words though as she walked through the halls of the hospital with fury fueling every step. She exited the elevator and heard laughter filtering through the floor. She scowled when she realized it was coming from Sohye’s room and stomped over there. Sejeong didn't even bother knocking before slamming the door open.

Before Sejeong could even open to scold the residents surrounding Sohye’s bed, Chungha suddenly appeared at her side with her fingers digging into her arms.

“I'm glad I caught you!” Chungha said, slightly out of breath. Sejeong looked at her in confusion, but Chungha ignored her. “I was wondering if we could talk?”

Sejeong only continued to stare at her in confusion. They had just been talking. What was she doing?

Without waiting for a response, Chungha turned to the residents with a deadly smile that promised pain. “Do I need to talk to your attendings and let them know they aren't giving you enough work?”

Kyulkyung, Yoojung, and Doyeon sprinted out of the room, barely remembering to say good-bye as they hurried to get away. Chungha was the head nurse, and all of the attendings loved her. Her word was law. If their attendings heard they were slacking off, they would be in so much trouble.

“I hope they weren't too much trouble,” Chungha addressed Sohye finally. She smiled kinder this time, but her hand was still on Sejeong’s arm as a reminder to be quiet. “They can be a bit excitable, but they mean well.”

“They were just telling me stories,” Sohye said. She glanced at Sejeong who was spaced out next to Chungha, lost in thought about what was going on. She bit her lip and turned back to Chungha. “It was nice to have company.”

“That’s good. We’ll let you rest now,” Chungha told her. She elbowed Sejeong out of the way and closed the door behind them.

Chungha dragged Sejeong into a secluded hallway and gently pushed her into a wall. “If you confronted them directly, Sohye would've died of embarrassment because she would've known you know she likes you. Besides, the residents just thought the crush was sweet and they like Sohye too, so they figured it wouldn't hurt to tell her more about you. Now they've learned their lesson still but not at the cost of the patient’s pride.”

“Oh,” Sejeong said, “that's smart.” She leaned against the wall then frowned. “Hey, are you okay?” Chungha looked tired now and kind of annoyed. “I'm sorry you had to come save me.”

“That isn't what I'm upset about,” Chungha sighed.

Sejeong took a concerned step forward. “What are you upset about?”

“You're oblivious,” Chungha sighed again and walked away, leaving Sejeong blinking after her.