The room was quiet as Amina worked on cleansing the wound and inspecting the sutures.  Boss was asleep on his cot in the corner of the room. The only sounds in the apartment came from within the dining area where the boys were having their dinner. Every once in a while, a burst of laughter could be heard. Amina smiled and looked up at Youngbae.  "Sounds like they're having fun out there. Do you always have your meals together?"

"Sometimes. When we're on tour, it's almost a ritual.  But now that it's over, and we're on to other projects, it's whenever. They just so happened to be here tonight because it’s my first night home."

"Where's your manager?"

"Oh," Youngbae grinned.  "Manager's night out."

"Really?" she smiled in surprise.

"Well, technically Boram hyung is not supposed to be working right now anyway. He was supposed to go on vacation for a couple of weeks to visit his family.  But with my accident, he had to post-pone his events. Normally, all the managers go out at least once a week to get away... from us, I suppose," he added sheepishly.  "They usually go on a Friday, but I guess the hospital stay was a little too much for him."

Amina nodded in understanding.  "I can't blame him.  From what I heard, we had to bulk up our security quite a bit and the nursing staff was rotated often. It was chaotic, to say the least.  You have quite a few fans."

"That was my concern.  When I heard some fans were camping out at the hospital, something had to be done.  Their safety is always a concern of ours, but I can understand their curiosity.  The show ended abruptly so there wasn't any closure.  I suppose we'll have to a little comeback show once I'm fully healed to make up for it."

"Wow," she remarked. "You're always working.  Do you guys ever get a break?"

"Normally, after tour we get a month or so to break in between projects.  But it seems this time, there's been a lot of overlap in our schedules with solos and movies."  He grunted in discomfort when she touched his skin. 

"Mianhae." She winced at his pain.

"Nan gwenchana..."

Amina proceeded to work more carefully, trying her best to not cause him any more pain.  "So, no breaks huh?"

"Well, this time of the year is usually quiet for us, because we spend the holidays with our families."  He paused then shyly admitted, "But I'm a little behind on my solo release, so I'll probably be spending my Christmas with Teddy hyung at the YG building this year."

She smiled.  "But you get to do what you love, so I guess that's not too bad, right?"  She removed the soiled wrap from underneath his leg and brought out new gauze to dress the wound. 

"Yes, I've been fortunate to make a living doing something that I love." He watched her as she carefully applied ointment to his leg.  Her touch was gentle, but firm, and her hands were steady and confident.  He imagined how it would feel if those hands were on other parts of his body.  He cleared his throat to clear his mind.  "How about you?  Have you always wanted to get into medicine?"

It took her awhile to respond.  "To be honest, no."  She looked up at him and he could see lingering sadness in her eyes.  He wondered what that was all about.

"I was brought up to know and understand the family business, so that when I was old enough I could take over from my father.  But I had a change of heart when I finished high school.  As you can imagine, my parents disapproved of my decisions." She bit her lower lip slightly as she put forth more effort on concentrating on the task at hand rather than the emotions that were starting to spill out.

Youngbae could see that it pained Amina to speak about past, but her honesty was refreshing.  He hadn't met someone so genuine in a long time.  He selfishly wanted to know more about her. "So how did you make your decision on medical school?"

"From Dr. Park," she smiled and Youngbae saw the sadness leave her eyes.  He smiled in return.  "When I decided to pursue other career options, Dr. Park asked if I wanted to try a few jobs at the hospital.  Early on, I observed how the patients always reacted to her presence in kindness and how the medical staff always spoke highly of her.  And even if the days were long, she always showed up.  Her dedication and the joy she puts into her work is what inspired me to pursue a career in medicine."  She laughed half-heartedly.  "I still don't know exactly what I plan on doing in my field, just yet, however. But I have a couple of years left before I have to narrow down the specialty."

"You're almost finished with school, so... your parents must be proud of that, right?"

Amina lowered her head and fussed with clasping the wrap closed.  He wished she would look up so he could see her eyes.  "Um... I really don't know.  I haven't spoken to them for a while." Her voice had taken on a melancholy tone and Youngbae wished he could take back his question.

"Mianhae... I didn't mean to pry."

She looked up at him and could see that he was truly sorry.  "No, it’s fine," she reassured him. 

Youngbae nodded in acknowledgement but his face remained downcast.  Amina could see he was still worried about it so she smiled in encouragement, when he finally looked at her.  "Truly, I don't mind at all."

Amina finished the dressing and took the rest of his vitals down for her report. Although she told him it was fine, Youngbae couldn't still help but feel like a complete jerk for asking her so many personal questions tonight.

"Well, that's it for today.  How's your pain level?  Do you need any medication before I leave?"

"No, I think I'm good for tonight," Youngbae replied dismally. He welcomed the lingering pain in his leg as punishment for his earlier behavior.

Amina could tell he was still dwelling over their earlier conversation.  Not wanting him to feel guilty about it all night, she tried to out of his mood.  "Are you sure?  Do you need water? More pillows?" She looked into his eyes and smiled teasingly.  "Do you want me to tuck you into bed?"

Youngbae laughed. He returned her teasing with one of his own.  "Only if you're tucking yourself in here with me."

His statement made both of them blush bright red.  They looked anywhere but at each other as they tried to recover from their embarrassment.

"Mianhae... I don't know where that came from," Youngbae apologized to the comforter.

"Um... it's alright," she replied to the nearest wall. "I'll, um... see you tomorrow then, ok?"

"Neh... have a good night."

"Good night, annyeong," Amina bowed still unable to meet his eyes. She quietly left the room.

Smooth move, thought Youngbae as he silently cursed himself for the faux pas. 

Amina stepped outside the building into the cold night air.  Although it was winter, her body felt warm from head to toe.  She touched her cheeks and felt the hotness there and smiled.  She walked towards the nearest bus station, a bemused expression on her face. Did that just happened? she asked herself.  She let out a happy sigh.

The transit ride to Suyu took about 45 minutes.  She walked briskly from the station to her apartment building nearby.  Her flat was located on the 8th floor.  As far as she could tell, her neighbors were all elderly.  They invited her to dinner on occasion, but for the most part they left her alone.  She chose the smallest flat on the floor mainly because she didn't plan on being there that often. 

The kitchen was the first view you saw when you entered the apartment.  The kitchen sink was next to the light switch by the door. Next to that was the oven-top range with the washer/dryer combo underneath.  Cabinets lined the walls and a kitchen island jutted out into the middle of the room, which also served as a dining table.  A private bathroom was on the left and beyond that, the bedroom which contained a desk area and closet unit.  Although there was no living room, the balcony that connected through her bedroom made up for it because Amina could see the lights of Seoul and beyond.

Her phone vibrated.  It was a message from Hanna.  Mimi... where are you at? Let's meet up. 

Amina didn't feel up with meeting her cousin tonight, tomorrow, or even next week. Their lives were on different paths and there wasn't much that Amina could share with her at the moment. Her life was up in the air, while Hanna had already chosen her destiny.  Amina knew she needed to finish school and continue on with her internship, but the courses were becoming more difficult and she was starting to have doubts about herself.  Maybe her parents were right.  Maybe she had made a bad decision.

Busy at work, but soon ok? I'll let you know.

Amina hoped the message would hold her off for awhile, but she knew Hanna wouldn't give up until they met.  Her cousin was everything she was not - confident, out-spoken, and in-charge.  When they were younger, Hanna always found clever ways to get them out of trouble.  She was tough and wasn't afraid to switch it up.  Amina missed her dearly.

The photo shoot was two hours behind schedule.  First there were issues with the equipment and then there were problems with the wardrobe.  Every one was on edge because they were cutting it close to the promotion deadline. And it didn't help that the creative director and spokes model were at odds on the concept.

"I understand, Jiyong that you have a certain concept and style that you want to portray for your jewelry line but we're still using KT diamonds and our brand name, so I must reserve the final say."  Hanna hoped he didn't take offense, but as creative director she needed to draw the line sometimes.

"Trust me, noona.  It will work," Jiyong said, as his lips in earnest.

Hanna hated when he called her noona.  She was probably only a couple of months older than him, but he made her feel ancient.  "It's going to work? What do you call putting diamonds on a sharpei?"

"Sekshiheyo."

He's crazy.  There's no other explanation for why he would think dogs and diamonds would be considered y, thought Hanna.  Jiyong continued to look at her with a slight pout on his face.  "Fine." she grounded out.  "Let's just take the photos your way but I also want a set taken with just you modeling the line.  We can discuss the final cut tomorrow."

"Kamsahamnida!" he grinned boyishly and bowed deeply - too deeply for her liking. 

"Are you purposely trying to annoy me?" she asked smartly.

"Wae?" Jiyong replied innocently.  "I want to finish this as quickly as you do.  I'm just glad we finally agreed on my concept."

Hanna let the comment slide.  She was tired and ready for this night to be over.  She sighed.  "Let's just start."

Jiyong watched Eun Hanna walk towards the photographer to tell them about the temporary change of plans.  Earlier he was ready to cancel the shoot because he'd had a long day promoting his album on variety shows, but the more he argued with Hanna the more energy he felt.  He didn't know why, but it amused him to see Hanna so riled up over his ideas. 

She was nearly his height with her heels on, with classical Korean facial features and moon-shaped eyes.  Although her words were calm, her eyes shot fire.  And every time she got annoyed with him, Jiyong amusingly noticed that she tucked and re-tucked her hair behind her ears.  He imagined how she would be like in bed, but then shook his head to clear him mind of the images. Her tight pencil-skirt and fitted blue blouse didn't help matters.

Hanna looked back at Jiyong and shot daggers in is direction. She waved her hand annoyingly in his direction to motion him over.

Jiyong smiled down at his model.  "C'mon Gaho... let's show them what you're made of."