“You?”

Sungjong couldn’t believe his eyes. He actually wouldn’t have been surprised if his mouth was hanging wide open. The person sitting across from him in the swiveling chair with a wide smile on his face was the last one out of all the doctors in the entire hospital he had expected to be made the Head of the Department.

“Dr. Lee, welcome back. I hope you had a good vacation.”

The man winked at him, expecting a response but Sungjong could only gape at him. Finally, he decided he should say something.

“But – but – Daehyun told me Dr. Lee is the -” He paused, realizing Daehyun had technically not lied to him. Only, instead of Lee Howon, he was now facing Lee Sungyeol.

A lot of things could be said about Dr. Lee Sungyeol, but none of that could ever qualify him for the position he was currently holding. He was skilled and he held a specialist degree in Medical Oncology but at the age of 33 he had to be the youngest Head of the Department in the history of Seoul Private Hospital. Besides he was notorious for his indolence and lightheartedness. They were definitely not the qualities that paved the way for a good medical career. However somehow, Sungyeol had scraped by and now he was here, in the position of power.

Sungjong personally had nothing against him; they were good acquaintances, maybe even friends. But Sungjong didn’t trust Sungyeol, not because his intentions were wrong but because he was extremely whimsical and at times he couldn’t help himself.

“Well, this is a surprise,” he said, eventually walking up to Sungyeol and taking the hand he was offering.

“Yes I was surprised too.” Sungyeol motioned for him to sit down. “But Howon hyung didn’t want to be the Head for some reason, so they banged me up. And I didn’t say no, I mean how cool is it to have everyone at your command? Do you like the new décor? I had the annual fund put to some good use.”

Sungjong shook his head – he shouldn’t have expected maturity from the new Head of the Department. Responsibility had changed nothing – Sungyeol was just the same.

“Ah I guess.” Sungjong was really conflicted about the new décor but he knew Sungyeol wouldn’t like to hear that. And obviously he wouldn’t want to hear Sungjong’s opinion on how buying new furniture was not a very good use of the hospital fund.

“The walls could use a paint job. Maybe yellow…you like yellow right?”

“No, they’re just fine,” Sungjong replied hurriedly. The last thing he wanted was to discuss about painting the walls with the Head of the Department. “Umm…Sir, if you’d – I need a new card. And my responsibilities…”

Sungjong was unsure how to address him. He had called him hyung before but now he was the boss and he wasn’t very sure about how he’d like to be treated.

“Yes, I have your card right here.” He pointed at the desk top. “And your responsibilities are very simple - you’ll be my assistant consultant.” Sungyeol clicked his fingers as if he had just magically solved a problem of immense magnitude very simply.

Sungjong didn’t know if he should be happy or sad. Being an assistant to a senior consultant was always good but if the consultant in question was Sungyeol, the definition of good became a bit blurred. However he couldn’t really argue about it with the Head so he said nothing.

Sungyeol chuckled when Sungjong didn’t reply but he had taken his thoughtful silence as something completely out-of-topic.

“Nervous? Do I finally give you a skipping heart beat?”

Sungjong groaned inwardly – he had almost forgotten about this.

Sungyeol was a flirt, a big one at that, and Sungjong had been taking his jabs ever since they’d met. The elder had flirted with a whole bunch of people but with Sungjong, things were different. For one, he had never given up on him, even when he had got to know that Sungjong was in a relationship. With him, it was perhaps a bit more than everyday flirting even though the younger had never shown any interest in him and he was not going to start now. It wasn’t that Sungyeol wasn’t attractive, but put very simply, he just wasn’t his type.

Apparently, that feeling was not reciprocated.

“Sungjong, stop staring. You’ll make me blush you know, and very very hopeful.” Sungyeol’s blatant wink jerked Sungjong out of his reverie. He reached for the card when Sungyeol suddenly clasped his hand. He rolled his eyes and sighed – here we go again – but looked Sungyeol in the eye. Those episodes of blushing and being shy were long over.

“How’s Mr. Dashing by the way?” Sungyeol sneered, winking at him again. He should really stop now. “The good looks that apparently beat mine?”

Sungjong felt like he had been punched in the face.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” He wringed his hand out of Sungyeol’s and made a beeline for the door, not allowing the other to continue the conversation. He had had enough – it was his first day at work after such a long time and he wouldn’t let anyone mess it up, especially not Sungyeol, Head of the Department or not.

He deduced from his card that he had been allotted Office 13. He almost jogged to his room, greeting more medical personnel on his way. When he had finally locked his door safely behind him, he slumped onto his chair, out of breath. He wasn’t sure about exactly what had ticked him off – maybe it was the fact that Sungyeol was flirting with him again, or maybe because he’d brought up Myungsoo, or maybe it was a combination of both.

A part of him was telling him that it was no big deal, it was in Sungyeol’s nature to flirt and since he couldn’t do anything to stop it, there was no fault in it. But maybe because Myungsoo was gone, he felt so horrible about it.

Honestly, he was nursing a big secret that he was ashamed of. Right after Myungsoo had left, maddened by pain and anger, he had imagined himself living happile ever after with someone else – it was his way of exacting revenge, or forgetting about Myungsoo, or both. That someone had surprisingly been Sungyeol. He wasn’t thinking straight and it happened rapidly and for a flash of time – but it still bothered him. Somehow it made him think that Sungyeol had had some influence on him, whether he admitted it or not.

Even though it was completely paranoid of him to think so, he was scared of Sungyeol finding out about it.

After Myungsoo had left, this was the first time he was stepping into the society of people who’d known about them. Sooner or later, there would be questions, and he only had silence to answer them. Before long, these people who’d known about them would get to know about what had happened, because silence sometimes speaks louder than words. And when that happened…

One thing was for sure, Sungjong would not talk about it. He hadn’t even talked about it to his family, his brother, or Suzy – he couldn’t talk about it to anyone. He feared that if he started talking, the wounds he had been nursing, the brave front he was holding up would all break down and he’d be a huge puddle of mess. What was holding him together could be broken with one word, and he wasn’t going to do that.

He was coping with this in his way and he wouldn’t let anything muddle it.

He had an important job - he had lives to save, so he had to concentrate. He logged onto his computer. He suddenly remembered he hadn’t asked Sungyeol for the new password that was required to access the Department network. He stared morosely at the telephone on his table – he didn’t want to talk to Sungyeol again. He’d have to eventually, since he was going to be his assistant, but right now when Myungsoo was so fresh in his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to hear Sungyeol’s voice.

A sudden thought struck him – could he guess the password? He knew Sungyeol well and he had probably not followed any of the security protocols. Passwords with numbers, symbols and letters were too complicated for him – Sungjong remembered he used to pencil the password on the wall of his room so that he wouldn’t forget it.

“What have you chosen Prof. Lee?” He had his fingers poised over the keyboard. Sungyeol was a food enthusiast - could it be he had chosen the name of a food? He also liked coffee, but coffee or caffeine seemed too simple, even by his standards.

Could he have – Sungjong remembered Daehyun’s smirk when he was telling him about the new Head... Anxious and feeling completely stupid at the same time, Sungjong typed in some letters and pressed enter. The fraction of the second before the security screen dissolved stopped his heart. He let out a breath when the ‘Welcome to the Department of Oncology’ screen materialized but stiffened at the next second.

Leesungjong – that was the password of the Oncology Department network – no wonder he had been getting weird knowing glares from the others all morning. What was Lee Sungyeol thinking?

Even though the room was empty, Sungjong buried his face in his hands. He could feel heat emanating from his cheeks. He wanted to curl into a ball and cry – it wasn’t like him to feel so emotional, or maybe that was a lie. He had been an emotional wreck for a significant part of his life. It was a nightmare – sinking into a bottomless pit of depression and helplessness. Because he had been there, he didn’t want to make the trip again. No matter what, he refused to break down.

A knocking at the door alerted him. He quickly checked the time and the schedule; he was supposed to begin his rounds with Sungyeol just then until lunch. Pausing in front of the mirror to check if he was looking presentable, he hurried to the door. It was Daehyun, smirking and looking pleased.

“Prof. Lee is calling you. Apparently you two have something to do.”

Sungjong sighed; he didn’t really blame Daehyun for talking like that. It was all Sungyeol’s fault and at this moment, he could strangle the doctor.

“Yes we have to go on patient rounds,” Sungjong offered cuttingly before sliding past a still-smirking Daehyun. “That’s my job, being his assistant.”

“Assistant,” Daehyun echoed but Sungjong didn’t pay him any attention. He met the offending man at the hallway in front of the general patient wards.

“Shall we, princess?” he said loudly, making the two nurses and one junior doctor flanking him to giggle.

“Professor,” he gritted his teeth. Sungyeol blinked.

“You want me to call you Professor?”

This was going to be a long day.

“Never mind, let’s go.”