“Seulgi?”

Her dad strolled out of his bedroom and rubbed his eyes sleepily. “What are you doing so early in the morning?”

“Hi, dad. Good morning.” Seulgi peeked up from the meal she was packing and flashed him a tiny grin. “I’m packing up some dishes to bring to the hospital.”

“For your lunch?” Her dad arched one eyebrow and walked over curiously. “That’s new. You haven’t been doing that since high school.”

“Yeah, I'm kind of sick of hospital food.” Seulgi drawled, hoping her voice didn't sound as nervous as she was. “They taste kinda gross, like bland rice and salt soup.”

“Weird, you never complained about food before no matter how bad they were. I thought you could stomach uncooked rice and be fine.”

Seulgi shot him a playful glare and he smiled. “But I’m happy you are feeding yourself better now. You used to only stuff yourself with, what was that, Pringles?”

“Dad,” Seulgi whined, rolling her eyes playfully. “Don’t talk bad about my chips. They singlehandedly helps me go through med school. In fact, you should thank them.”

Her dad chuckled and Seulgi walked over to grab her bag with a smile mirroring his own.

“I have to go now, need to catch the bus. Don’t forget to have breakfast, okay? Food is on the table.” She placed a light kiss on his cheek and bounced over to exit the door when he called her again. “Seulgi?”

“Yeah?” Seulgi whipped around, face lit up and eyes beaming. Her dad smiled hesitantly for a second, “Did something good happen in the hospital? You look...very happy lately.”

Seulgi’s smile dimmed a little and a flabbergasted look took over her face, “N-nothing. Just less work in the new department, that’s all.”

“I see. Alright, take care on your way out then.” Her dad nodded and Seulgi bowed him a farewell before quickly slipping away.

Perhaps she was too hurried, the door was left half open.

Her dad shook his head slightly and walked over to shut it himself when he noticed a pile of mails lying forlornly at the doorstep.

He picked them up and scanned through them briefly.

Electric bills, flyers, letter from insurance company, and then a particular envelope addressed to Seulgi caught his attention.

It said John Kim.

--------------------------------------------------------------

“Ta-da! It’s jjim-galbi!” Seulgi pulled out the famous Daegu’s steamed beef dish proudly and placed it in front of Irene with smug face.

The latter's eyes widened twice their sizes as she leaned over excitedly. “Whoa!” She exclaimed, staring at the food with awestruck eyes of a child who had been reunited with her long lost family. “Where did you get this from?”

Seulgi’s smile grew wider, looking as if she had just done world’s nicest deed, and bragged, “There is an uncle from Daegu who lives near my house and runs an eatery. You said you came from Daegu and I figured that you probably hadn’t had any hometown’s cooking for years so --”

“So you went there to get this for me?”

Irene looked like she was about to cry and Seulgi couldn’t help but with a nonchalant shrug, acting as if it was nothing. “Maybe. But maybe I just happened to pass by the eatery.”

“Tsk.” Irene shoved her on the arm and Seulgi let out a playful laugh, carefree and delighted. “Oh, please don’t tell me you are going to cry.”

“I’m not.” Irene huffed, sniffing.

Seulgi’s grin reached her ears. “Your eyes are red.”

“It’s the wind.”

“Your nose is runny too.”

“It’s allergy.”

“That decides to randomly act up a minute ago?”

“Shut up.” Irene jabbed her again on the arm and she feigned hurt, “Ow! Be nice, I bought you tasty food. How long have you been eating those bland hospital food? I should receive gratitude not attitude.”

“Well, thank you, Seulgi.” Irene said, wiping at the corner of her eyes as she sniffed. Seulgi thought she looked really, really cute trying not to sob like that, nose red and all.

“I...I don’t know what to say except for thank you.” Irene’s voice was thick with swallowed back tears but she smiled nevertheless. “You are really nice and --“

“Ssh, let’s skip the compliments and just eat. It gives me goosebumps.” Seulgi shivered and picked up the meat with her chopsticks to place it in Irene’s bowl.

Irene gave her a disagreeing look for being so inept at receiving compliments but the smell of red pepper and garlic hit her nose and suddenly she found herself thinking of nothing else.

She did miss home cooking.

“Can I eat?”

“Go ham. It’s all yours.”

Seulgi watched with amusement as the older girl dipped into her meal gratefully and in the span of three minutes, cleaned up nearly half of her bowl.

“Slow down, you are going to choke.” She chortled.

“Sorry. It’s too good.” Irene said with both cheeks fully stuffed in a way that reminded Seulgi of a bunny munching carrot. Cute.

“I haven’t had this for so long. It tastes like heaven.”

Seulgi laughed. “When was the last time you went to Daegu?”

“Years ago, way before I was sent here. I used to live there until I was nine but we moved out to Seoul after that.”

“Family’s business?”

Irene’s chewing slowed down and she considered for a while before nodding, “Yes. It got huge in Seoul.”

“Don’t tell me you are some kind of rich princess? Though I always have the feelings that you are too good to be us peasants.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know,” Seulgi leaned back, shrugging. “You just give off this classy vibe. You are so kept, you speak formal words and you move around carefully even though I’m not sure if it’s because of grace or if you just have bad joints because old people -- ow!” The pinch on her thigh sent her yelping.

Irene frowned. “I’m not that old. I just...it’s a habit, I guess. I used to have classes on etiquette daily. Though at the end of the day, they are nothing but empty gesture...” She trailed.

A soft, ironic smile that Seulgi didn’t know Irene was capable of constructing showed. “After all, what’s the point of etiquette class if you can’t even treat your family right?”

Seulgi wanted to ask what she meant but Irene had beaten her to it by adding with vague voice and unreadable expression. “But maybe I’m just as bad. I did some things that I’m not proud of in the past...horrible things.”

Seulgi arched an eyebrow. “Well, we all did that at least onc-“

“No. You don’t understand.” Irene stopped her. Her face was strangely withdrawn and she looked really anxious for a moment, biting her bottom lip as she continued. “I did some really unforgivable things. Gruesome...things.”

Seulgi crooked a disbelieving look. “That’s really hard to imagine because the worst thing I can picture you doing is you accidentally stepping on a cat, and I’m pretty sure you will say sorry to it too.”

Irene laughed softly.

“I was different from how I am now. I was young, confused and much more unstable. My illness was a lot worse back then. My mood fluctuated a lot and I used to be unable to control my emotions. I screamed for a second, and then I laughed and I cried. It was a mess.”

She retracted her eyes from the distance and looked down. “Krystal told me that it was normal to be a lot worse back then because my family was dysfunctional and stress was the worst trigger for people like me, and I was young on top of that, but I don’t feel that can excuse me from my horrible doings.”

There was a long silence as Seulgi battled internally whether or not she should ask what she had been wanting to ask all this time. A topic that Irene had always seemed to avoid.

About her family.

It felt too sensitive before but things had changed between them and they were a lot closer now -- if not the closest, because honestly they were both friendless -- so Seulgi decided to ask, “What happened with your family?”

Irene gaped at her for words that didn't seem to come for what felt like forever before breaking into a soft, bitter laugh. “A lot of things. Dad stumbled upon crisis after some years of success in Seoul and he hung on the verge of bankruptcy when he met this...tycoon from Canada. She already had a child but-” She paused, struggling. “I guess dad loved his money more than he loved mom so...”

“Hey.”

Irene stopped because she felt Seulgi’s hand nestle on top of hers. She didn’t notice how badly she was shaking until Seulgi squeezed her hand gently to stop it from trembling. “It’s okay.” Seulgi looked at her with concern. “You don’t have to talk about it if it’s hard. I’m sorry, I was just curious.”

“No, it’s okay. I haven’t talked about this to anyone other than Krystal but telling you actually feels so much better.” Irene smiled gratefully and Seulgi grinned back at her. “I thought Krystal was your favorite.”

“She is. I respect her but-” Irene paused, unspoken smile reaching her eyes and making Seulgi feel warm all over. “We never talked as anything else outside the context of a patient and a doctor. You, on the other hand, are completely different.”

Irene smiled, holding onto Seulgi’s hand and staring at it fondly. “Thanks for talking to me like an equal, like a friend.”

She lifted her gaze from their joined hands to look at Seulgi right in the eyes and Seulgi thought her heart would somersault out of her chest when the next words came in.

“Krystal is my favorite doctor but you are my favorite person and I would trade hundreds of her for one of you, I hope you know that.”

------------------------------------------------

They are holding hands.

They are speaking while holding hands.

Why did she never notice these strangeness before?

“Joy unnie?”

Joy’s focus was ripped from the pair she was staring at as she turned to find Yeri plastering her a confused look. “What are you looking at so seriously?”

“Nothing.” Joy lied, but Yeri pushed her head towards the classroom’s window to get a glimpse of what she was staring at.

“Oh, Seulgi unnie and that strange, cute girl whose nose you nearly broke the other day.”

“Shut up. It was unintentional.” Joy frowned, gazing back at the pair who were chatting peacefully on the bench near the garden. Her frown softened.

“Isn’t it strange? Good kind of strange, I mean.” Yeri’s eyes beamed as she stared at the pair too. “I don’t think I have seen Seulgi unnie care so much about a patient before. Do you think she has seen the errors in her way and decides to be a nice doctor?”

“Maybe.” Joy mumbled, but something deep in her heart knew that it wasn’t true.

The image of the two girls cuddling on the green grass came unbidden to her mind again and she shook her head lightly.

It was too off, too intimate to be dismissed as a patient and a doctor interaction.

“What are you guys gossiping about so early in the morning?” Kai popped out from behind and Yeri let out a long screech.

“Oppa!” She slapped the guy on the arm and yelled. “A little bit of warning please next time before jumping into people’s talk!”

The guy snickered and joined them peeking through the window while Joy gave him a distasteful look.

“Oh, Kang and the weird, pretty girl. Dude, they are so weird. Every time we finished night shift, Kang would wander off to her room instead of sleeping. I wonder what they talk about for hours. Or maybe it wasn’t talking?”

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