How did you ever get yourself into this mess Yoon Jihyun?

It had been an hour since she had last seen Kang Daniel being wheeled on a stretcher by the paramedics (Daniel’s unconscious and pale face was the last image she’d seen of him as Jihyun was told to stay in the waiting room once the doctors closed the curtains), and her hands had gotten numb from grasping onto her phone as she restlessly tapped her feet and waited with bated breath. Normally in a health crisis such as this, she would be calling any of her family members or friends to inform them of the news, but she couldn’t possibly tell Jisung that she had unintentionally poisoned his boss and she also did not have any contacts of Daniel’s family or close friends. The highly tensed atmosphere inside the emergency waiting room did nothing to ease her worry as she watched doctors in scrubs and white coats passing through the area, and paramedics zooming pass every few minutes with stretchers accompanied by the reeking smell of disinfectants and sick people, adding to the throbbing pain in her head.

Jihyun stood up from the cold metal bench, offering her seat to a teenage boy who had trouble standing around to wait for his turn with crutches under both his arms. She could no longer stay seated anyways from the immeasurable hustle and bustle in the emergency waiting room, which had only further worsen her anxiety as she waited for news regarding Daniel. She felt a growing headache as her senses were overloaded with various unpleasant sights, deafening sounds and reeking smells, urging her to step outside the building to take a breath of fresh air. However, the amount of tension she felt did not allow her to move more than a few meters away from the waiting area as she impatiently paced back and forth, glancing around for the doctor in charge of Daniel while occasionally checking her phone for the time.

Fortunately before she could collapse to the floor from stress and over-exhaustion, a doctor walked towards the benches and called out her neighbour’s name. She was later escorted to a hospital bed, separated only by a white curtain which opened to reveal a (thankfully) conscious yet physically weak and tired looking Daniel resting against the reclined bed with an IV needle stuck to the back of his right hand. Before he could notice her presence and the doctor could explain his current condition, Jihyun rushed to his side, “Kang Daniel, you’re alive!” she cried out, immediately engulfing him in a tight hug as she poured out endless apologies to the barely awake man.

Daniel was about to warn the girl that she had attracted the attention of the surrounding people with her loud and embarrassing reaction, but later stopped himself when he heard soft sobs coming from her. He widened his eyes and looked down at Jihyun who was holding onto him for dear life, as if she was the one who had gone through a near-death experience a while ago as she sobbed into his chest, damping his shirt with fresh hot tears. He couldn’t deny that the sight tugged at his heartstrings and he mentally cursed at himself for having a weakness when seeing women cry, “H-hey… why are you crying?” he softly asked, postponing his earlier intention to scold her when they’ll be left alone later. Daniel’s hand which was about to push her away from him ended up giving comforting soft pats on her back.

Jihyun stayed quiet as she broke off the embrace and wiped her tears dry using her sleeves and the back of her hands, “I’m so glad you’re alive,” she mumbled, choking back on more tears from forming. Daniel wondered why did the sight of his new neighbour worrying about his well-being had such an impact on him that he had to physically restrain himself from wiping her tears by shifting his gaze from the sobbing girl to the doctor in charge.

The doctor cleared his throat and stepped closer to the bed, “Don’t worry miss. Your boyfriend’s condition is stable now. Fortunately he was brought to the hospital quickly,” he calmly explained, flipping through papers on his clipboard and scribbling on some notes.

“He’s not–”

“I’m not–”

Jihyun and Daniel immediately turned their heads once they heard the false claim, before the could protest and clear the truth about their rather complicated acquaintance, the doctor spoke again, “Since his allergic reaction is quite severe, be extra careful with the food he consumes in the future. Once the IV drip is finished, he may go home and rest,” he said, giving a final nod before leaving to attend to another emergency patient.

Once the doctor had left, both of them were left staring at each other in awkward silence despite the still bustling and noisy atmosphere inside the ER. After glancing at the IV drip for a second, Daniel leaned his head back on the pillows and closed his eyes, hoping get a little rest before dealing with the mess that Jihyun had made. Less than a minute later, before he could even properly catch his breath, the girl had opened again, “I’m sorry–”

“If you cry again, I swear I’m going to sue you for real this time,” he warned with closed eyes, successfully stopping Jihyun mid-sentence as she suddenly had her tongue tied. He peeked at her reaction in between his eyelids and smirked when he saw that she was now frowning with a slightly pink flush on her cheeks, probably realizing what she had impulsively done in the past few minutes. Daniel waited for a few more minutes and only when she wouldn’t budge from the edge of the bed did he start speaking again, “You’re going to be the death of me. After you failed to kill me in a car accident, now you tried to poisoned me,” he said in a monotonous tone as opposed to the harsh choice of words used.

Jihyun scoffed bitterly at his sudden change of attitude. She nearly had the feeling that Daniel had forgiven or at least pitied her when he had comforted her earlier. The soft pats on her back, his gentle voice and the strangely comforting heat radiating from him gave her the impression that he had forgiven her in one way or another. She should’ve known better than to trust her gut feeling with a sneaky wolf like Kang Daniel, “I didn’t know you’re allergic to shellfish!” she exclaimed and quickly defended herself from his accuses.

“Who puts seafood in kimchi fried rice anyways?!” he snapped, relieved that no one had paid any attention to their bickering, “I’m not letting you get away with it this time,”

“Me! I do because I love seafood!” she retaliated, standing up from the edge of the bed with her arms crossed before her, “Glad to know that the allergic reaction did not affect your usual attitude. Now that I know you’re still alive, I’m going out to take some fresh air,” Jihyun curtly replied, stomping off out the emergency room as the throbbing pain at the back of her head returned.

**************

“Geez! What the–” Daniel shouted, rubbing his eyes with the back of his right hand to clear his vision while his left hand reached over for the light switch to illuminate the dark room. He was positively sure that she’d promised to go back to her own apartment as soon as he’d fallen asleep, but the unexpected sight of his next door neighbour dozing off quietly on his sofa that morning indicated that Jihyun had spent the night in his living room. Ever since he had been discharged from the hospital with a prescription and advice from the doctor yesterday, she had insisted to look after him until he fully recovered and had glued herself to him when they arrived back to his apartment despite his constant protests. She had also disregarded his words to leave him alone so that he could sleep in peace, and even his usual sarcastic remarks and scolding did nothing to make the stubborn girl change her mind.

Daniel softly shook his head and sat on the coffee table as he stared at her sleeping face. He rather enjoyed the peace and quiet as this was the first time he could concentrate and properly study her features without engaging in nonstop witty banters (he rather enjoyed those too if he were to be honest). He tilted his head, resting it on his propped arm as he trailed his eyes over the delicate features of Jihyun’s face and it didn’t take him long to acknowledge that the girl was quite decently attractive. Her hair –naturally straight and black in colour– reached below her shoulders, emphasizing her smooth and fair skin. She had a deep set of eyes –he remembered they were a charming dark brown– with naturally curled lashes, and full soft lips in a healthy natural pink shade. The corner of Daniel’s lips curved into a smirk as he recalled their first meeting, how anxious she looked after realizing the damage that she had done to his car that instantly shifted to a defensive look when she started arguing with him. Now that he thought about it, she had never shown him a genuine smile before. He found himself easily entertained by their interaction and Jihyun’s reactions, maybe he had been too invested in his career and lack work-life balance or perhaps it has been a while since he interacted with a girl other than for working purposes. He had a strong feeling he’s going to enjoy more witty banters, m