Avocado

"Don't you think that odd allergy you have is only in your mind?"

Wendy shoots Joy, the head nurse of her section in the hospital, a look. "Does my sneezing and breaking out in hives seem in my mind to you?"

Joy purses her lips remembering the last episode Wendy had when she accidentally walked in on a couple kissing, the doctor was sneezing and itching so much for the rest of the day she had to be sent home early with allergy medication. "Hm, you do have a point there. I've never heard of an allergy to romantic love before it must be such a pain to avoid couples and all your love interests, which is ironic considering you have the biggest crush on-"

"Shhh!" Wendy quickly shushes the younger bewildered girl. "Don't say that! Just the word alone makes me itchy!" To prove her point Wendy pulls her sleeve up to reveal the red rash like spots blooming lightly on her forearm.

Joy's eyes widen in disbelief at the sight, her nurse training kicking in automatically. "Don't itch it!"

"I know that much!" However, despite that being said Wendy's hand still continued to scratch the reddened area. "Besides it's not a c-cr-cru-" Wendy scratches harder on her forming rash giving up on saying the word entirely, "You know what I mean! I simply admire Irene for working so diligently as a hospital intern."

"Oh is that so? I didn't know that you took such a liking to Irene's work. She's been needing someone to shadow as part of her internship." The familiar voice has Wendy and Joy jumping in surprise as they turn around to see Seulgi, the head doctor of their department, smiling happily at them. "I wasn't sure who would be best in our department for her since almost everyone in our department has a shadow already and I didn't want her to feel that she wasn't getting equal attention if I was to assign her to someone who already had a shadow, but Wendy you don't have a shadow yet right? Would you mind if Irene shadowed you?"

Wendy could feel it. The tickle in the back of that is working its way to her nose, the desperate need to sneeze. Her reddened rash no doubt spreads further as she feels a need to scratch at her thigh and shoulder. If she was a normal person with normal allergies, she would have agreed without a second thought of hesitation but since this is not the case whatsoever she needs to be cautious because she's probably going to give herself a severe allergic reaction. Irene is someone she admires from afar because that's all her allergies could take (she was willing to suffer from a runny nose and a few itches here and there just to see the other girl) but to have Irene with her all day while she work would surely cause her to break out in hives. But she really doesn't want to turn down this golden opportunity either.

Seulgi stands patiently waiting for Wendy's response and seeing that her co-worker is indecisive, she adds, "I know that you have the busiest schedule in our department which was why I was hesitant about assigning her to you at first but Irene had actually requested you, she seemed really interested. I'm sure the both of you will get along really well."

Wendy feels her cheeks heat up and she'd write that off as a blush if she wasn't afraid that her allergic rash just bloomed near her face but she couldn't deny the ecstatic feeling filling her chest (or was that really just her airways closing up on her again but that couldn't possibly feel as good as she's feeling right now). So Wendy really has no choice but to simply agree with a meek, "Okay."

"Great!" Seulgi grins at Wendy's consent, "I'll be sure to tell Irene and she can begin right away tomorrow!"

As Seulgi turns and leaves, Wendy grabs Joy and shakes the young nurse. "My face!"

"Oh yeah, your rash is spreading. I say keep an epipen at the ready in your pocket for your big day tomorrow." notes Joy.

Wendy nods vigorously, "Good idea, I'll keep one in my pocket. So long as I avoid thinking about all my feelings I should be just fine."

Joy raises an eyebrow, "What if Irene has mutual feelings? Won't you break out in hives and sneezes again?"

Wendy sneezes and laughs, "Not possible, otherwise my allergies would have picked up on it a long time ago."

A confused expression makes it's way to Joy's face, "…You never got within five feet of her though how would you know? Also, please take care of your rash it's becoming unsightly and you might scare patients."

Wendy gasps as she covers her cheeks with her hands to hide the rash. "Is it spreading even more!? I'll take care of it right now!"

Joy blinks as Wendy runs off to her office and sighs. "I'm sure she has her allergies under control."

The next day Wendy comes into the hospital feeling better than ever and ready to tackle whatever was coming her way. The night before she had mentally prepared herself and took the necessary precautions like putting her epipen in the pocket of her doctor's coat for emergencies.

She walks past the reception office where she waves a quick greeting to Joy and goes straight to her office to wait for Irene's arrival. What she doesn't know was that Irene was already waiting for her in her office, Irene is always a person that preferred to be early. She walks in coming face to face with Irene herself, completely caught off guard.  Wendy stares with shock as her brain tries to remember how to speak, Irene is right before her and she can't seem to even get a greeting out as she continues to stare with wide eyes.

Irene smiles brightly, opting to introduce herself first. "Hello, I'm Irene. I was told that I would start shadowing you starting today."

Wendy nods, showing she knows what Irene is talking about but there's a tickle in her nose again and she feels the urge to sneeze. She still has to return the greeting though, opening Wendy has full intentions to squeeze out a quick introduction of herself and then excuse herself. But the moment she opens she immediately sneezes loudly, right onto Irene who was standing before her. Taken back for a moment, Irene scrunches her face up while Wendy scrambles to apologize to the intern.

"I'm so-" Wendy sneezes again, "Sorry!"

Wendy quickly goes to grab a wad of tissues off her desk and blots at Irene's face gently, "I'm really sorry I-" Wendy gives in to another sneeze, "I have allergies."

Seeing Wendy so flustered, Irene nods in understanding but she is more concerned for Wendy who still hasn't stopped sneezing since she walked in. "It's fine but are you sure you're okay? It looks like your allergies are affecting you really badly."

Irene places her hand on Wendy's to get the tissues so it would free up the other's hands but the second Irene touches Wendy, the latter yelps loudly, startling Irene as the tissues fell to the ground.

"What’s wrong?" Irene asks in full concern but with one look at Wendy she quickly understands the problem. There is a red rash blooming on the surface of Wendy's skin where Irene had touched her. Irene gasps, "Oh god! Are you allergic to my lotion? I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it'll cause you to break out into hives, no one told me you had such a severe allergy!"

Wendy shakes her head, worried that she was making Irene feel guilty for no reason. "No! It's not that at all! This might not make sense to you but I'm allergic to romantic love, it makes me sneeze uncontrollably and break out in hives if I'm near any couples or people who have those feelings for me!"

At the last of Wendy's sentence, Irene blushes a prominent red catching Wendy off guard once more.

"You're allergic to people who have romantic feelings for you?" stutters out Irene abashedly.

Realization hits Wendy the same time her love rash broke out all over her body, no wonder her allergies completely took over the moment she was in the same room as Irene. She only has a handful of minutes before her allergic reaction began affecting her breathing. She feels a sense of fluttering happiness because the one she admired from afar actually noticed her too. "You have romantic feelings for me?"

In answer Irene's blush darkens as she nods her head, adding on, "But if it's too troubling for you I'll try my best to stop these feelings or ask for a reassignment. I really don't want to have you go into anaphylactic shock every time we're together."

"No! I-I mean, I like you too and," Wendy sneezes again and wheezes out the rest of her sentence, "We can work something out… Please call Joy for me though. Airways… Closing… Up…"

Seeing Wendy's condition worsening with each second, Irene doesn't hesitate to open the door for Wendy to unsteadily make her way outside with her. "Nurse Joy! Wendy is having a severe allergic reaction!" Irene looks back in worry to Wendy, who's now seated on the floor with her back against the wall, she's instantly by the other's side checking to make sure that Wendy is still breathing and aware of her surroundings.

"Where's her epipen?! Irene do you happen to know where it is?" rushes in Joy once she saw the state her friend was in.

"I'm not sure," answers Irene frantically looking over Wendy to see if it was anywhere on her body.

Yeri, an assistant nurse who also heard the commotion bounds over with an epipen in hand. "Here Irene! Quick! Stab Wendy with the epipen before it gets any worse! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Yeri urges the older girl as she practically shoves the epipen in Irene's hand.

Irene looks at the epipen given to her in shock, "Wha- Why do I-"

"Irene, quick save Wendy!" adds on Joy.

Irene bites her bottom lip and pulls off the blue safety release, tightening her hand around the epipen as she places the orange tip on Wendy's outer mid-thigh. With just enough force Irene pushes down until she feels epipen click, and she counts to ten slowly before removing the epipen. Yeri takes the used epipen to be disposed of while Irene begins massaging Wendy's thigh softly around the injection site. All three girls could see Wendy's state improving rapidly.

"Thank you," gasps out Wendy sincerely with a tired smile.

Irene breathes in relief, "You're okay."

Wendy nods, "I am, thanks for your quick work with the epipen."

"You're still going to need a check up." scolds Joy, "Come on, let's get you into a wheel chair."

After Joy and Yeri helps Wendy into the wheelchair and get ready to wheel Wendy away, Irene gives one more apologetic look to Wendy. "I'm sorry for triggering such a severe allergic reaction on our first meeting."

"Don’t feel guilty over it. To be honest it's almost a relief in a way."

"How?"

"Now I know that our feelings are mutual." Wendy grins as Irene's cheeks light up in dark pink.

Irene looks away for a moment to hide her blush as she asks quietly, "You don't happen to be allergic to pastries are you?"

"I love pastries and I'm definitely not allergic to those at all." answers Wendy with enthusiasm.

"Let's go get some when you're all better?" Irene offers with a smile.

"Yes, I look forward to it." agrees Wendy happily as she shares a smile with Irene.

Joy and Yeri share a look and silently wonder to themselves if they should keep epipens on them from now on after looking at the newly formed couple before them. Although, that will be a thought for another day, "Okay, let's get going before you trigger another allergic reaction." warns Yeri as she helps Joy wheel the now giddy Wendy down the hall to get her checked up.