“If you could be anything, what would you be?”

“I’d be a doctor so I could save myself, and other people.”

Kris parked his car but didn’t yet step off. He had been listening to a random channel on his way to his painting class and the irony to the questions asked to the 4 year old children were so painful that he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

It’s not that easy, little boy. He bitterly thought as he finally stepped out of his car. If being a doctor was that easy then there wouldn’t be such a thing as ‘death’. Everything would be possible and there wouldn’t be things like ‘the obstacles of life’.

Kris looked at his watch and hurried his pace, he was already five minutes late and he didn’t want to keep anyone waiting. By the time he arrived at the classroom, lesson had already started and since it was a practical class, everyone was beginning to mix their paint. Kris’ eyes scanned around the room, though his initial motivation to paint was his mother, he now had another reason to show up. A small smile hinged upon his lips when he saw the figure he was looking for, and the smile grew wider when he realised that she too was looking around as if she was waiting for someone.

“Oh, Kris,” Mrs Eunjoo gave him a welcome smile. “We thought you wouldn’t make it so Miss Kim marked you as absent, go find an empty, I’ll go remark the roll.”

Kris nodded, he did a sharp bow before hurrying over to the bench next to Hye Mi’s. “Hey,” he greeted.

Hye Mi felt her heart flip at that one word and she mentally scolded herself for acting like a helpless fool. That morning when she stepped into class, the first thing she did was look for her doctor, and when she realised that he wasn’t present she had started to hesitate on whether to go home or not. Thank god she decided to stay. “Good morning,” she flashed him her brightest smile.

Kris felt his ears burn at her smile. Deep down he knew it was wrong to have fallen for his patient like this but it was something that was definitely out of his hands.

“Here,” Hye Mi said as she pushed the large bottles of paint towards him. “We’re experiencing with colour today.”

“Oh,” he nodded and started pouring some paint onto the palette. He mixed some random colours today and started the paper half heartedly.

Hye Mi stared at her canvas with a small frown of dissatisfaction. There was something wrong about the shade of green she had. Shouldn’t have used green, she thought and painted over it with white. Her eyes curiously peered over at Kris’ canvas, and she held back a giggle when she saw his artwork. Kris heard her stifle and turned his head, she immediately turned back to her own canvas and he cocked his head. “Were you… looking at me?”

“Me?” she shook her head stiffly. “Nope.” Kris bit his lip in confusion and stared at her canvas. He felt a little envious of her tremendous talent.

“Can you pass me the pink?” he asked and gestured to the pink paint bottle she had on the other side of her.

Hye Mi nodded and handed him the bottle, but just as he was about to grab it, she let go too fast and it slipped out of both their hands, spilling all over the floor.

“Oh my god,” Hye Mi gasped with wide eyes. Kris swallowed, he was about to bend down to pick it up when his elbow hit another bottle, causing it to spill on the floor as well.

By now, the whole class was looking at them and the mess they had created. Hye Mi ducked her head in embarrassment while Kris awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

Mrs Eunjoo came over and picked up the bottles. She softly placed them back on the benches and turned to Kris and Hye Mi. “Don’t worry about it,” she smiled. “You can clean it up after class.”

Kris and Hye Mi nodded with forced smile. Mrs Eunjoo chuckled before walking away, as a newly married woman herself she could see that the two students had something towards each other.

Hye Mi looked at the large mess she and Kris had made on the ground and suddenly snickered. Kris heard her and gave her a quizzical look. The look only made her laugh ever more and before he knew it, Kris’ lips formed into a big grin as well.

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When the lesson was over, Kris and Hye Mi waited until everyone else was gone before they started cleaning. Mrs Eunjoo gave them the keys and left after telling them to lock the studio once they were done.

Hye Mi grabbed a few paper towel rolls and bought them over while Kris grabbed the trashcan. Laughing, they squatted down and wiped away. The paint was starting to stick on the floor so Kris started using wet cloths to clean it off. He went to the tap and soaked the cloth with water, as he was doing so his phone rang.

“Can you pick it up for me?” Kris asked as he nodded towards his phone on the bench. “My hands are wet.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hye Mi stood up and scrambled over to his phone. She pressed the answer button and placed it on speakers next to him.

“KREAAAAAAAAASEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” the person on the other line screeched before Kris could even speak.

Hye Mi’s lips tightened into a suppressed smile when she realised who it was.

Kris heaved out a sigh as he continued washing the cloth. “Hi, Tao.”

“Are you free? Secretary Hong said you have no appointments until noon today!” Tao bouncily asked. “Let’s go annoy Gina before she goes back to New York on Monday! We can also ask her for your love tips~” Tao bribed.

Kris froze while Hye Mi’s eyes rounded. She turned to Kris with confusion. Love tips?

“Speaking of love,” Tao continued, completely ignoring the fact that Kris wasn’t replying. “When are you going to confess to her? You slow poke didn’t you say you were going to try today? Did you?! Did you huh?!”

Hye Mi felt her heart rate decrease at Tao’s words. So Kris liked someone, huh? She suddenly regretted listening to Aron yesterday.

“Tao,” Kris hissed as he quickly turned off the faucet. “Shut it.”

“Why?” the oblivious Tao teased. “Didn’t you say you had feelings for Hye Mi yesterday and that you were going to tell her today? What happened, are you too scared?”

Kris and mentally cursed his best friend’s big mouth. He looked towards Hye Mi, who had gone from pale to pink.

Hye Mi? As in me…? Hye Mi’s blood tingled in the confusing excitement.

“Tao, I need to go,” Kris said and hung up immediately. He shoved his phone into pocket and worriedly turned to Hye Mi. She was now squatting on the ground, avoiding his eyes. Kris nervously swallowed before swatting down next to her.

It was true he had told Tao those things yesterday, but they were both sleepy and Tao had decided to sleep over so Kris thought he might as well be honest. He didn’t expect the overgrown panda to suddenly have such good memory.

Kris could hear Hye Mi’s short cut breaths as she hurriedly tried to wipe away the rest of the paint. His heart was beating like crazy and he was hesitating on what to do. If he pretended Tao’s words never existed then that would mean that he would have to pretend nothing happened and it’d be awkward for Hye Mi, but if he admits that Tao was telling the truth and she rejects him, then it’d be awkward for him. After mentally preparing, he finally decided to go with the latter, there was no point in hiding it anymore since he knew time wasn’t the best thing he had in his hands.

“You know…” Kris started. “Tao wasn’t joking.”

Hye Mi stopped what she was doing and felt her heart flip, had she heard right? She slowly turned and met eyes with Kris. “W-What?” she squeaked.

Kris gathered up one last breath before letting himself go. “Tao wasn’t lying… I know it’s wrong but I really do… like you,” he whispered the last part.

Hye Mi felt her heart blow up. This time, she was close enough to be sure she heard him correctly. Her body wanted to jump and squeal in delight but her there still something tugging at her heart, pulling her back. “But…” her voice trailed off. It was wrong; they were supposed to only have a doctor-patient relationship. It was wrong; because she was… dying.

Kris took her silence as rejection and slumped his shoulders in disappointment. “I’m sorry if I’m scaring you, don’t worry about it. Let’s just go-” he was about to stand up when a hand grabbed his arm.

Hye Mi’s fingers trembled as she grabbed his arms. She looked into his deep eyes and suddenly felt light headed. “Kris… I like you too,” she murmured.

Kris’ eyes widened and he sighed in relief.

“But this isn’t right,” Hye Mi frowned. “You’re supposed to be my doctor and I was supposed to be your patient, what will people think? Everything is wrong and I’m even dying-” she was cut off when Kris placed both his hands on her cheek, making her face him.

“It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, as long as we like each other than that should be enough,” he told her sincerely.

Her skin tingled at his touch and she slowly moved away. “I can’t guarantee your happiness though, this is brain cancer we’re talking about. I could die tomorrow, or next week or maybe even year… Are you really going to risk wasting your time like that?”

Kris smiled and shook his head. “It’s not wasting time, if I’m willing to do it.”

Hye Mi felt her legs weaken at his words. He sounded so sincere that she believed him with her whole heart.

Kris grabbed her hand used his thumb to rub her knuckles. “So please?” he asked.

It was silent for a while until Hye Mi managed to nod. Kris felt the weight of the world lift off of him as he stood up straight and pulled her up. They looked into each other’s eyes with slowly forming smiles.

It was at that moment that they both knew their decision was right. Whether it turned out bad or not, as long as they had each other, everything was going to be alright. There was going to be nothing to regret, nothing to stop them, and nothing to be scared of.

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A/N: This was the most awkward chapter I have ever written but nonetheless... let their story begin~