There are a few things that help Joonmyun make it through the day: at least three cups of coffee, seeing smiles on his patients' faces, Nurse Oh, and catching glimpses of Dr. Wu, the cardiac surgeon from the floor below.

The first three have been established facts since graduating medical school, but the last is a more recent development. Along with that, Joonmyun seems to have developed a nervous habit of blushing furiously and giggling loudly every time he shares an elevator with Dr. Wu.

"Get it together Kim!" he whispers fiercely, slapping himself in the face a few times as the elevator descends towards the floor below.

The doors glide open, and Joonmyun almost stops breathing. A pair of stylish, but practical black Nikes step into the elevator, followed by a pair of legs that seem to stretch on for miles, clad in green surgical scrubs. His eyes sweep up to a narrow waist and broad shoulders and a dark, stern looking pair of eyes watching with faint amusement. A thick eyebrow quirks up ever so slightly, and Joonmyun swallows hard.

“Afternoon, Dr. Kim,” Dr. Wu says in greeting, all breeze and business.

“W-what’s up?” Joonmyun responds, internally be how he can never measure up to Dr. Wu’s cool professionalism.

“Just got out of surgery, on my way to the cafeteria for lunch.”

“Really? What a coincidence, I’m going to lunch, too!” It’s noon, the time most doctors break for lunch. “And I’m also on my way to the cafeteria!”

“Really. That is a coincidence,” Dr. Wu smirks. Joonmyun paces quickly, trying to keep up with Dr. Wu’s long strides towards the hospital cafeteria.

“So, um, how did the operation go, Dr. Wu?”

The tall surgeon allows himself a small, dignified smile. “It was excellent. Thank you for asking.”

They carry their trays stacked with food over to the lounge sectioned off in the back of the cafeteria reserved for physicians and surgeons. Sometimes Joonmyun still can’t believe that he made it all the way through a decade of rigorous studying and training and is now living his dream of practicing medicine. He’s still a little surprised when people call him Dr. Kim, still a little thrilled at having the privilege of eating in the doctor’s lounge.

He hears a low murmuring noise edging into his consciousness and realizes that he had been too caught up in his own thoughts and Dr. Wu had been talking to him this whole time.

"P-pardon?" Joonmyun says. "I didn't quite catch that last question?"

"Someone named Nurse Oh just texted me asking you if you could return to your office?"

"Ah, um, okay. I guess I should get going then. It was nice eating with you!"

"But you barely touched your food!"

Joonmyun waves his concern away as he tucks his plastic ware and paper napkins into his pocket. "If Nurse Oh contacted me during lunch, it must be something really important. Patients take priority!"

"That they do," Yifan murmurs.

It's an idea Yifan, too, tries to uphold. Not because of some holier-than-thou attitude, but because he knows that it's his duty to help his patients even if it means making personal sacrifices. Like leaving his daughter in the middle of the night to perform heart transplants or coming home from an arduous operation too exhausted to even return her hug. To say that he takes his job seriously would be bordering on an understatement, but if there's anything that Yifan admires, it's when people treat their jobs, and thus their patients, with a deep level of respect. He recognizes that respect in the physician.

There's something mysterious, almost brooding in Dr. Wu's demeanor that irrevocably draws Joonmyun towards him, even in thought. He's nearly bouncing in the elevator, impatient with the desire to gush to Nurse Oh about how handsome Dr. Wu is, how pretty his golden hair is, how professional he is, down to every mannerism.  How strong and stoic he looks emerging from a successful surgery, how the crinkle above his eyebrows betrays his feelings during the rare unsuccessful one.

"Dr. Kim," Sehun says, disrupting Joonmyun's train of thought, "sorry to interrupt your lunch break, but there's a patient who needs you to call their insurance company to approve of their prescription."

"Ah, got it, thanks for letting me know, Sehun."

A few minutes later, after the call has been made, Joonmyun comes to a sudden realization.

"Why did you text Dr. Wu? Why didn't you just beep me?"

"Because," Sehun sighs in a way that Joonmyun thinks is totally unnecessary, "you're the only person in the hospital who still uses a pager, and I don't know how to beep you from my iPhone."

Long after everyone else has upgraded to smartphones, Joonmyun still has a pager clipped to his belt. Sehun had humored him for awhile, but now apparently the nurse is boycotting Joonmyun's outdated technology. It's ironic because Joonmyun is one of the youngest doctors in the hospital, but he's always liked doing things the old-fashioned way. And he also saw a really cool doctor in a hospital drama use a pager, so there's also that.

"Was that all you needed me for?" Joonmyun asks. Sehun nods, and Joonmyun frowns a little as he consults his watch. He has a while before his next appointment, but it's not enough time for him to return to the cafeteria and have any kind of meaningful conversation with Dr. Wu.

In the meantime, Joonmyun decides to get started on his paperwork so he won't have as much to catch up on later after all his appointments. Of course, it's not long before he calls Sehun over for assistance.

"Can you tell me what this says?" he asks, pointing to a nearly illegible line of script.

"You wrote that yourself. Can't you read your own handwriting?" He peers over Joonmyun's shoulder, squinting at the document. "It says chicken pox."

Joonmyun turns his head to grin at Sehun, who looks unamused. Joonmyun's smile falters because wow, Sehun can look really scary sometimes, and he whispers, "T-thank you. I'll try to write more neatly next time."

Despite his cool demeanor, Sehun is warm to the patients, especially the younger ones, and incredibly capable as a nurse. Joonmyun can tell that Sehun could have easily taken the medical school route instead, but for whatever reason, the younger man had chosen nursing as his profession. Joonmyun never asked why, just made sure to remind Sehun how thankful he is for having such an excellent nurse on his team.

"Great work today, Nurse Oh!" Joonmyun says cheerily as he spots Sehun clocking out.

"See you tomorrow, Dr. Kim."

In the parking lot, Joonmyun catches a glimpse of windswept blond hair. He clutches his messenger bag closer to his body and jogs to catch up before the head of hair ducks into a navy blue sedan.

"Dr. Wu!" he calls out, and Yifan turns to face him.

"Hi, Dr. Kim. Can I help you?"

"I, um," Joonmyun pants. He needs to start visiting the gym more often. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner tonight? I mean, with me?"

He smiles hopefully at Yifan, whose eyes widen momentarily in surprise. And then a strange, unreadable expression passes over his features for a few seconds that stretch entirely too long.

He's thinking about it for too long. He's gonna say no, Joonmyun thinks to himself. The heaviness of rejection is already starting to tug at his heart.

"I-I'm sorry, Dr. Kim. But I'm busy tonight," Yifan says, letting him down as gently as he can.

Though it pains him to see Joonmyun's defeated smile, all Yifan can think about is how the daycare closes in fifteen minutes, and how heartbroken Sofia will be if she's the last kid left there again.