The noise of taxis hooting and ambulances flying past is deafening. Flashing red lights stand out on the dark hospital alley, welcoming patients and their guardians on a cold Friday night. In the middle of it all, Seungwan sweeps her crisp white coat behind her and theatrically rakes her fingernails halfway through her hair. In a phony charismatic impersonation, she utters:

 “I picked my poison and it’s you.”

“PFFFFFFFFFFT.” Sooyoung chortles, clutching her stomach. Her black-lacquered nails wrinkle her white cotton undershirt. “Goblin Gong Yoo’s ‘meeting you was the reward of my life’ found dead in a ditch!” 

The two doctors slap each other’s shoulders whilst howling with laughter.

In a corner, Seulgi exhales an exasperated breath and her monolidded eyes sharpen into slits. It’s been Day 6 since the whole incident happened, but Seungwan and Sooyoung are nowhere near the idea of letting it slide. Seulgi has yet to accept it’s going to be a running gag for the rest of her life.

"Whoa, whoa whoa…” Seungwan cowers at her normally stone-faced same age friend when she notices her turning hot under the collar. She raises her arms in surrender. “Don’t look at me like that. At least, I was genuinely trying to behave that day. Unlike someone else here who's being the real demon in this three-way friendsh -"

“Ya! I was only naturally reacting at the conversation! It’s not like those greasy words came from my mouth...” Sooyoung snaps in reply, although her name hasn’t been dropped. She darts her gaze at Seulgi. “Seriously though, unnie…you say those things when you’re dating or married or when you’re a melodramatic protagonist on a romance drama, NOT when you meet a girl for the second time in real life.”

Seungwan raises a brow and smirks. “Looks like someone’s been watching too much drama on TV…” 

Seulgi merely walks faster as a response, eyes peeled on the walkway alone like a horse on blinders.

“Eh? You’re not gonna defend yourself?” Seungwan asks, jogging to catch up.

Aside from the fact that butting heads with two idiots would be a hopeless endeavor, she wasn’t exactly in the position to defend herself anyway. Seungwan and Sooyoung were being obnoxious, but they weren’t wrong.

 “Y’all do whatever you want anyway.” The latter mutters darkly, swinging her leather messenger bag aimlessly as if to thwart off her companions who are snickering like children behind her. It’s a pointless attempt though, because the two of them immediately tackle Seulgi and friskily put their arms around her – the taller one on her neck and the shorter one on her arm.

“W-what do you think you guys are d-doing?” The unexpected skinship leaves the brunette doctor awkward and at loss for words. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she uses them to shove Sooyoung and Seungwan off weakly. “G-get off me…” 

“Hey, come on…it’s cold! We should hold each other tightly…” The younger doctor teases, smiling through her clenched teeth as she grapples a squirming Seulgi down.

“Also!” Simultaneously, Seungwan pulls the stiff doctor into an even tighter arm squeeze. She flashes her a wily grin. “Hugging is included in the list of 5 Sure Tips to Stop your Best Friend from being Mad at You. It’s working! Isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

The oldest sulks, unable to wriggle out of her friends’ clutches. Sighing, she gestures at their clinginess.  “You see…this is where all my sappiness is from…and you guys have the ascendancy to call me out for it?”

"But tonight you’re going to visit the Baes again with their unethically obtained address, right? So, guess who else here does whatever they want." Sooyoung counters, twisting the exact words Seulgi used to rebut them earlier. She smirks at the latter’s defeated lack of a reply. “See? You’re just like us; this is why we’re friends.”  

The brunette physician shoots her a snarly frown and hopes she’ll leave her in peace.

“Hey, speaking of visiting, you’re bringing them something, right?” Seungwan asks promptly, catching her two companions’ attention. She reverts to her originally uptight nature. “You can’t just go barging in there, ringing the doorbell and asking them for dinner.”

“Yeah, that would be like JTBC’s Let's Eat Dinner Together but instead of Kang Hodong, it’s Kang Seulgi.” Sooyoung laughs hysterically, smacking Seulgi’s back.

“How does chicken sound, then?” Seulgi suggests precariously, testing the waters. She ignores the youngest’s terrible joke on purpose and fishes for the phone in her bag instead. “I was planning to order one that we could share…”

“Chicken is fine.” Seungwan approves and Seulgi doesn’t even need to check for Sooyoung’s reaction whose self-professed love for chicken has no limits.  

“Chicken it is, then.” Seulgi answers, searching for the nearest store that’s still open, her eyes unconsciously glinting in excitement again, one that Seungwan doesn’t fail to notice.  

“You know what? This conversation reminds me a lot of the ramyeon date we had two weeks ago at the convenience store.” She reminisces. “Boy, was I so nervous Seulgi was going to end up on police blotter…”  

"That and while we’re being nostalgic…” Sooyoung cuts in, with a chuckle stuck in . She sticks out a finger as if she’s reciting from a rulebook. “A friendly reminder that according to Ahreum, Irene still has to pay Seulgi-sunsengnim back with a kiss!"

That night, Seulgi dismisses her friends towards the other side of the road with a few punches and kicks.

--------

“You were pretty bold back there, reminding Seulgi of her almost kiss... You sure you’re not just secretly jealous of Irene?” Seungwan badgers Sooyoung, bumping elbows with her when they’re out of Seulgi’s sight and earshot. They suffered quite a beating from the girl. “You used to have a huge crush on Seulgi - always calling her ‘Sunbae, Sunbae~’ with that sticky honey voice of yours.”

A guttural ugh emits from the taller doctor. It morphs into a grimace as she embraces her shoulders. The mere memory quaked her soul. 

 “Like you said – I used to. Now, can we move on? This is scaring me…”  Sooyoung charges away from the beige-haired toxicologist.

“Okay, okay I get it! Don’t move any farther towards the cars.” Seungwan chuckles, chasing Sooyoung to pull her closer to the sidewalk for strolling pedestrians. By some weird timing, a black automobile zooms past dangerously, in a proximity that would have hit Sooyoung if they weren’t careful. 

“See what could have happened?” Seungwan points out sternly, springing her piercing gaze at her unscathed companion and at the jampacked road. She puffs her cheeks and tiptoes to knock her friend’s forehead lightly.  She warns in all seriousness:

“Stay close to me.”

Sooyoung hangs her head low, suddenly feeling sheepish. She nods obediently and starts trudging again on the inner side of the way. Tension hung in the air around the two doctors like the cool fog that hid the speeding car. The younger one contemplates on apologizing to ease it, until she feels small, sturdy hands sink into the crease of her arm. She turns to face their owner and Seungwan’s bespectacled eyes meet her – their usual gentleness swirling back.  

“I’m not angry…if you’re thinking of apologizing.” The ‘94 liner replies to her friend’s unspoken worries. She cracks into a heartening smile that brightens everything. “I was just a little nervous because you almost got hurt.”  

Sooyoung’s lips bend into a bashful smile and the fragile atmosphere shatters at Seungwan’s warm words.  

You shouldn’t be saying things that give me the heart bruises the car accident you saved me from would have caused.  The younger girl retorts, albeit in her head. She peers at Seungwan who’s snaking her arms snuggly into hers.  That’s being counterproductive…   

Regardless, the two doctors’ trip to their homes resumes light-heartedly and although it’s common knowledge that taller people walk faster than shorter ones, Park Sooyoung cuts down the length of her usual strides to keep the hands clinging to her. Her walking is slower than ever, yet her heart is beating at par with a sprinter. 

“Stay close to me." A voice in her head echoes and she thinks of cream soda blonde hair, of oversized white coats, of crisscross patterned blazers, of eclectic music tastes, of warm hands wrapped around her arm, of safety - and before her heart bursts – of that one thing that saves her from thinking:

Talking. 

“Hey, Seungwan-unnie. ” She blurts out all of sudden, startling the older girl and inducing a muddled expression on her face. "You're uhm - smart, right?"

“I-I guess? I mean, I made it this far in medicine...” The latter answers tentatively. She puts a finger against her temple playfully. “There has to be some hardworking brain up here~”

“Why can’t you figure it out then?” Sooyoung questions. The annoyed strain in her voice breaks the building serenity of their stroll in the hustle and bustle of the Friday night scene. “It’s not even that hard...”

Seungwan’s bottom lip twists in bemusement. She has absolutely no idea of what her younger friend is saying.  

“What do you mean? Figure out what?”

My true feelings. Sooyoung answers, yet again, in her head. 

“Nothing. Forget about it.”

END.

A/N: Hey!! Thanks to all the kind comments y’all been sending I got to update again! lol what did you think about it? To be honest, I kinda rushed this because I'm about to get really busy in school but personally, I thought the ending of chapter three was super super cheesy and I’m all for Seungwan and Sooyoung calling out Seulgi for it in this part heh heh. I also enjoyed writing the WenJoy hints at the end.

I named this chapter "three and a half" because it contains some leftover dialogue I thought about after writing chapter 3 and it's some sort of a short transition to chapter 4 where I'm planning to switch to Irene's POV. Sadly, my 'Christmas' vacation is about to end so I probably won’t be updating as fast. I hope y’all won’t leave until I come back to this again~

P.S. If I find time to write again, I might update my one-shot collection instead since the stories there are a lot shorter and written more simply~