"Ring!!!!..... Ring!!!!"

Aaliyah woke up with a groan, slowly stretching herself in her apartment which she had lived in for the past two years. She had left her hometown, her family. All because she needed a new start. She swore and vowed yet again, not to let her tears fall for that worthless man as she felt her swollen eyes. According to her mother, he did try to come to her house a few times to explain but after repeatedly being chased by her unforgiving dad, Jonghyun finally got the hint and did not bother them anymore.

However, Aaliyah was a mess when she arrived in Seoul. Having only a cousin living there, she went to stay with her while she tried to sort out her life. Luckily, her profession was in demand, so she had no problem in getting a new job at Seoul National Hospital as an emergency nurse. Aaliyah also managed to get herself her own apartment, although her cousin, Luna, did mentioned that she was more than welcome to continue to stay at her place. Aaliyah politely refused as she knew that she needed to be alone. It was bad enough that Luna had to be her shoulder to cry on during the first few weeks of Aaliyah's arrival while she was still in shock over what had happened.

"Team, we have a new doctor coming in for our night shifts. I hope we all can make him feel welcome here. Nurse Aaliyah, as the senior nurse here, I expect you to give a helping hand to the new doctor." Matron Jenan paused to await Aaliyah's nod of acknowledgement. "He was from Boston Medical Centre and had been given the highest recommendation by Professor Minho. He may not know the procedures and protocols here so do your best to guide him on how we do things, especially the administrative work."

"Crash."

"Oh, here he is. Um, Dr Lee, it's okay. You don't have to pick that tray up. The nurses will do that."

"I'm so sorry, Matron Jenan. I really didn't expect that tray to be there." A warm, honeyed voice came out from the man who was bending over the mess which he had made. A sweet smile soon spread as he straightened up and went over to introduce himself to the rest of the team. "Hi, my name is Lee Jinki, but you can call me Onew."

At first glance, Aaliyah suddenly decided that she hated this man, who was standing in front of them, having half-moon eyes as well as the most cheesiest smile. What was with that smile anyway? Makes him look derpy. And she was supposed to guide him? Aaliyah groaned inwardly, cursing her fate as she mumbled to herself, not knowing that there was one other person who overheard her.

"So, Dr Lee. My name is Nurse Aaliyah. I'll be the one working with you. This is the emergency department and I'm sure you know what goes on here. Guess, I can skip the intro. Um, basically, whenever you are on duty, you will get to sleep in the doctor's room, right over there." Aaliyah pointed to a door before continuing "Us, nurses have a fixed timing for our breaks so if you can't find me, you can ask Val, that's her with the black-rimmed glasses for any help. Your breaks are flexible, of course, but you will be expected to come back as soon as possible should there be any emergency or shortage of manpower. My suggestion, don't go too far for your breaks."

"So, I guess I should be like the superhero, Flash, then. You know, so that I can reach here fast....er" Onew's voice trailed off when he saw that Aaliyah had no reaction to his attempt to lighten the mood.

Oh, great, a wannabe comedian, Aaliyah thought while mentally rolling her eyes at his lame attempt. She, seriously, had no time to babysit a grown man whose idea of breaking the ice is to make a lame joke. "Look, Dr Lee, just to get things straight since we will be working together, I don't like you. The only reason why I'm here talking to you is because I was forced to and it is not good for the working relationship if the doctor and nurse don't understand each other. I'll be your nurse during working hours but don't expect me to be all chummy with you outside this building. Understand?" However, whatever Onew's reply would be was halted when the emergency room door opened to reveal a trauma patient who had been involved in a road traffic accident, accompanied by two paramedics who started to list his injuries as well as vital signs.

At the end of her shift, Aaliyah was glad to be going home. Her emotional state was getting frayed due to a certain doctor. After they had attended to the trauma patient, the emergency room got busier from the countless cases that arrived shortly after. From a simple case of diarrhoea and vomiting to a few complicated ones like multiple trauma and heart attack, Dr Lee had been there throughout the entire shift. Attending to those in need with lots of tender care and professionalism while maintaining that derpy smile of his and yet, ended up slipping and falling down several times that night. How can he still remain smiling? Aaliyah thought as she slowly peeled off her uniform to change into her home clothes. That smile of his irked her so much that there were times during the course of the night that Aaliyah wished she could just wipe that silly smile away and tell him to off.

"Hey, Aaliyah. How was Dr Dreamy?" Val suddenly appeared, catching Aaliyah off guard. Holding her hand to her heart, Aaliyah glared at the younger girl for causing her to jump. "Who? Who's Dr Dreamy?" "You know, the new doctor. Dr Lee.. Don't you think that he's hot? The way how he treats those patients with such loving care. Makes me shiver just seeing that.. And can you believe that voice? I mean, I can literally drown hearing that voice. Oh, Dr Lee. my heart hurts and only you have the cure. No, wait. My body hurts too." Val pouted as she laid down on the sofa at the nurses changing room, with her hand over her forehead for a dramatic pose.

"Yah! Val, who do you think you are?" interrupted a new voice. It was Key, one of the few male nurses in their department. "What makes you think that he will want to treat you? I'm sure someone like that would have already gotten himself someone else to treat?" 

"What? Key, what's wrong with me, huh? I'm pretty and cute and I think I got a hot body too. All those male admirers said so too." Val stood up to poke her finger onto his chest. "Are you sure? Or are they blind? Maybe those admirers needed to wear special glasses?" Key smirked in response.

Leaving those two to argue, Aaliyah quietly slipped out. Suppressing a smile, Aaliyah just shook her head, wondering when would those two finally realised that they liked each other and stop playing this game of push-and-pull between them. Old Aaliyah would have done something about it and maybe, tricked them into going for a date. But this Aaliyah just ignored her feelings and stepped onto the familiar path that she had walked for the past two years.