“So…” her voice was nervous as she looked around the unfamiliar room. “This is so awkward!” she thought as she sat alone on the white bed while fiddling with the two rings on her ring finger. Ji Hoo just sat just as uneasy on his chair.

After Ji Hoo and So Min signed the marriage papers, Grandfather Yoon took a hold of their hands and slipped a silver wedding band with the engravings intertwined on each of their wedding band finger. And right after that, he shoved them into Ji Hoo’s room and yelled in, “Babies don’t make themselves you know! You two are doctors; you guys can figure it out!” His voice was full of glee while her father’s happy chuckles were also heard. Soon enough, they heard their family leave, and now here they are… sitting awkwardly on their first night as a married couple.

“Dear God, how could I have not thought about this before?!”she scolded herself. Suddenly her uneasiness eased as she heard Ji Hoo’s musical chuckle that made her kick him when they first met, but his chuckle was a little off she noted.

“We are a really interesting married couple,” Ji Hoo said and stood up to make his way toward his bed. He knew what he had to do. His grandfather’s people will be here tomorrow to check.

For some reason, she can feel something was different about him when he sat down on the end of the bed. “How so?” she asked back not showing her suspicions.

He shrugged. “We didn’t marry out of love, and we don’t hate each other like they do in arrange marriages,” he listed the two most common scenario. He felt guilty to what he was about to make her go through.

She nodded her head in agreement. She suddenly felt as though his bed isn’t big enough. Even though he was sitting on the opposite side of the bed, she felt as though he was too close to her. “But we are friends, and that’s why this marriage will work,” she said with finality.

 Suddenly, she felt a physical attraction to him. All the two weeks she has spent with him, they remained in a normal breathing distant. There were no ual desires between them, not that she can lie and say that she wasn’t at all attracted to the man next to her because he was indeed very good-looking. However, being the devoted Catholic girl that she is never experienced any physical relationship. Even though she spent her time out of the country, she was still the conservative girl.

“I have confidence in the marriage,” he said honestly with his somber tone.

“Something’s really off about him,”she thought. “What’s wrong?” she asked endearingly as she turned to look at him. He had his back while leaning and resting his elbow on his knees.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he got up and made his way toward the mini bar in his room and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He needed something strong to relief his tense mind. “You know that they’re coming to check in the morning, right?” he asked gently. He felt dirty. He was nothing like Yi Jeong and Woo Bin who have had plenty of experience with woman. He had a bit more than Jun Pyo, but that was before Jun Pyo got married.

At first she didn’t get what he was saying. Then it hit her, she is a , and s bleed on their first night. Her father’s people and Grandfather Yoon’s people will check if the marriage was consummated. She gasped in surprised.

He took that as she figured it out. “Yeah,” he said lifelessly and drained what was left in his glass of whiskey. He didn’t want to do this. It’s not because he isn’t a man or that he doesn’t feel attracted to her, on the contrary, he is actually very attracted to her. However, he likes the relationship he has with her the way it is now.

She started to laugh it off. “I have a plan,” she said optimistically and went to take the glass of alcohol away from Ji Hoo and dragged him to sit down on the bed.

He was beyond confused.“Shouldn’t she be upset?” he wondered as he sat down on the edge of the bed while So Min went off to find something. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

“Scissors,” she answered and smiled triumphantly as she found them and head back to him.

“What are you doing with those?” his brow knitted together. He was not drunk, but he couldn’t figure out what she wanted to do.

She held out the scissor to him with her eyes closed. It was as if she was anticipating pain.

“Huh?”                                        

She opened her eyes and said, “I don’t want to prick my own finger so you’re going to prick my finger and make me bleed so that it will stain the bed sheet. It will look like we…” her voice trailed off as she felt herself flush mention .

He smiled and chuckled and took the scissor from her. “You’re really something else,” he said pleased that he doesn’t have to do something that both of them aren’t quite comfortable with yet.

She beamed back at him. “I’ll take that a compliment,” she said and held out her right index finger to him and shut her eyes again.

He could only shake his head and comment, “And you call yourself a doctor. This is going to hurt a bit,” he said gently and the scissor pinched her skin and she whimpered. “Did it hurt a lot?” he asked as the blood slowly trickled down onto the white sheet. He took out a band aid and wrapped around her slender finger.

“Nah,” she lied. It was funny; she hated being poked by needles or anything sharp and she’s feels light headed when she sees excessive amount of blood because she keeps imagining the pain those people must feel, and yet she was a doctor. She wanted to be a doctor so that she can prevent those pains the people feel. “Well one thing is down, but we still have another,” she said.

“And what would that be?” he asked as he throw out the trash and came back to sit next to her on the bed.

“Our friends,” she stated flatly.

“How so?”

“They, of course, will start asking questions.”

“We can trust them.”

“I know we can, it’s the people around them that I can’t.”

He nodded. She had a point; even though things have been smooth sailing for the Gu couple, but there was never a day when things weren’t reported back to Madam Gu. “What do you suggest?”

“We lie,”she said while wincing. She never was a good liar when facing them face to face, only through the phone was she able to lie like she did while being in Korea pretending to be in Manchester .

He doesn’t really like this idea because his two best friends are Casanova and Don Juan; therefore, they would want details and Jun Pyo may be a newbie but he has been married for a year. Just thinking about what the Gu couple do in the dark in their own quarter made Ji Hoo shudder. “I guess that’s the only way,”he said agreeing.

She smiled brightly. “Alright! It’s all done now!” she said happily and clapped her hands together. “Let’s eat. I am starving!” she whined as she dragged him out of his room and stopped midway because she had no idea her way around his house.

“You have got to learn your way around the house,” he joked and lead her to the kitchen to make her some food while she on the stool with her hands resting on her cheeks and elbows against the kitchen island watching him.

“No worries, I will but it doesn’t matter anyways because the hospital is like our real home anyways,” she said and sighed as she checked her phone.

“Why?”

“Check your phone.”

He checked it and the message was…

Dr. Ji Hoo and Dr. So Min, congratulations on your marriage. We hope that we will get to attend your wedding ceremony when yours and So Min’s schedule clears up. We don’t want to ruin your first marriage night or anything, but do remember that you two have work tomorrow. You guys can come at 11 instead of 8 tomorrow morning. 

-St. John’s Hospital Staff-

“Wow,” he said after reading the text while placing down a bowl of rice down for So Min.

“This hospital… the reason why it’s the best is because they drive their doctors like slaves huh?” she joked. “Even at a time like this, all they can think about is us coming back to work tomorrow.”

He could only laugh. Working at the hospital was intense work, but everyone there was pleasant to be around with even though St. John’s Hospital seems to be too nosy for their own good, but that’s what makes it interesting. It was like going to school all over again. “Hurry up and eat. We still have to go to bed,” he said.

She frowned. “Why? We don’t have to go to work until 11.”

“I know, but I kind of miss sleeping,” he said sheepishly.

She laughed. “I know how that feels,” she replied. They both work side by side and rarely do they get a full 8 hour of sleep.

They headed off to Ji Hoo’s room. They each stood in front of the large bed and stared at it. Ji Hoo scratched his head while So Min crossed her arms as if she was about to go to war against the bed that now has a blood stain on its clean sheet.

“I can sleep on the couch if you want,” he offered.

She smiled. “Nah, this is your room. I can just sleep in one of your guest rooms.”

He scratched his head and then ruffled his own hair. “Um, well there is only one guest room and that’s Grandfather’s,” he admitted sheepishly. His house was large, but not like a Victorian mansion like what Jan Di and Jun Pyo live in. He likes his house cozy enough. The maids only come when he is away at work to clean and keep the dust from piling.

She just shrugged. “The bed is big enough for the two of us,” she stated carelessly. She trusted him. He wasn’t the type. “Hey! We’re married now, sharing a bed is only natural,” she said and heard her own voice losing confidence.

He nodded and took off his shirt.

“WAH! Wh-wh-why are you taking off your clothes?!” she frantically asked with her hands covering her eyes.

He chuckled. “When I am at home, I prefer to be comfortable when I sleep,” he said with casualty and went ahead to slip under the bed. It felt good being back in his bed.

She stood still where she was and looked over at him who had closed his eyes already and half way asleep. “What do I do?!”

“Are you going to sleep or not?” he asked sleepily and patted the pillow next to his.

“Uh… I guess,” she muttered and slipped under the covers too. She stayed close to the edge of the bed and slept on her side facing the night stand.

He chuckled inside his head at her respond, but didn’t do anything about it. He didn’t want to force her and make her feel uncomfortable. “She’ll come around.”