Solar was finished with the last few patients and it was nearly time for lunch. She turned her head and noticed a panicking Moonbyul down the hall. Her lips parted but before she could say anything, her colleague grabbed her attention. She nodded as her colleague spoke, appearing as if she was reading the clipboard that was in her hand. However, she couldn’t help herself and glanced in Moonbyul’s direction; giggling softly in the process.

“Did I say something funny?”

Solar shook her head, “no,” but the smile was still apparent on her lips.

“I see…” he lowered his head and said shyly, “by the way, if you’re free this weeken…”

“Solar!” Hwasa yelled, interrupting their conversation.

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Hwasa, Jade, and Dong-Yul ran up the stairs as fast as they could, but Moonbyul was already gone. They stood by the third floor entrance and scratched their heads. They looked up and down, trying to decide which way they should go.

“Did you see where she went?” Jade questioned.

“I didn’t get a good look. How about you?” Dong-Yul turned towards Hwasa.

She shrugged. “We could try here.” She pointed to the third floor entrance.

“It can’t hurt.” Jade said nonchalantly.

“Should we split up?” Dong-Yul asked. “It might be faster.”

“Can you catch her alone?” Jade commented.

“I guess not…” he answered sullenly.

“Guys, come on. If we don’t get a move on, we’ll lose her!” Hwasa rushed.

They burst through the door as if they were trying to break it down. The noise caused quite a ruckus, luckily for them, no one was around to see that debacle. Unfortunately, Moonbyul was also nowhere in sight. They took another quick but thorough look at their surroundings, the hall was almost empty.

“I don’t think she’s here,” Dong-Yul commented.

“Maybe she’s hiding?” Jade added.

“Let’s look around,” Hwasa suggested.

It didn’t take long before Hwasa spied Solar in the distance. A man was talking to her, his face slightly red and he was scratching his head shyly. She could tell what he wanted from a glance. If it was any other day, she might hide close by and watch as he stuttered his way out of a date. However, she was in a hurry today.

She called out to Solar, interrupting Solar’s colleague before he could finish. Solar apologized, excused herself, and headed towards Hwasa. Solar was a bit disappointed to see that Moonbyul was already gone. However, that didn’t stop her from greeting her friend with a smile. Hwasa happily waved back to Solar as she came closer.

“What are you guys doing here?” Solar questioned.

“Looking for Moonbyul!” Hwasa exclaimed.

“Shouldn’t you be looking for someone else?” Solar raised an eyebrow.

“Who?”

“Guess.”

She glanced around a bit before it hit her. . “Where’s Whee-In?”

“She left a while ago.”

“Oh, crap. Sorry guys, I gotta go. Let’s catch up sometime.” Hwasa waved and ran off before anyone could respond.

Solar turned back to the others. Do I know them? “Have we met?” she questioned. I shouldn’t have asked them that. What if I do know them? Would they be offended?

“No, we haven’t. I’m Jade.” She smiled.

“I’m Dong-Yul. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Solar. The pleasure is all mine.” She shook their hand, letting out a sigh of relief. Good. Good. We haven’t met.

“We heard a bit about you though.”

“You have?” Solar raised an eyebrow.

“Mhm, Moonbyul talked about you sometimes. She doesn’t say much though.” Jade added.

“She’s definitely happier since you’ve been back.”

“She is?” Solar felt happy, and yet a bit of sadness filled her heart.

Dong-Yul nodded. “She smiles from ear to ear every time your name is mentioned.”

“She gets pretty silly when she’s happy, doesn’t she?” Jade commented.

Dong-Yul thought for a moment. “You’re right, we never thought she had that side to her. She used to be moodier.”

“Moodier?” Solar was curious.

“She…” A noise caught their attention before Jade could finish her thought. “What was that?”

“A patient might have dropped something,” Solar answered.

“It sounded like it was coming from…”

“Don’t you guys have work to do?” Solar interrupted.

Dong-Yul looked at his watch. “Crap, we still have reports to write.”

Jade sighed. “Damn it. I totally forgot about that.”

“It’s fine. She can’t hide forever. We work together after all.”

“True enough.” Jade smiled. “We have to go. It was nice meeting you.” They bid farewell to Solar.

“It was nice meeting you too.” Solar waved. “Now for the other two,” she turned towards the room on her right and mumbled. “Hiding here of all places,” she sighed as she looked at the nameplate on the door, which read Dr. Yoo Seung-Ho. “What were they thinking?”

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Moonbyul and Seung-Ho, safely hidden inside the closet, spied on the group. Hwasa ran off not long after meeting up with Solar, leaving an air of awkwardness behind for the other three. It took them a few minutes before they began chatting again. They were having a great time judging by the expression on their faces.

Knowing that they were talking about her, Moonbyul perked up her ears and accidentally hit her knee against the door. It interrupted the group conversation and brought attention in her direction.

“What are you doing?” Seung-Ho whispered.

“Sorry.” She rubbed her knee. “Do you think they heard that?”

“I hope not.”

They turned their attention back to the group. Jade and Dong-Yul were looking around, trying to figure out where the noise had come from. Solar was calm, as if it was of little interest to her. Not long after, Jade and Dong-Yul took off, leaving only Solar in front of the door.

Moonbyul let out a sigh of relief, “I guess they didn’t hear us.”

Seung-Ho nodded, “Yeah, lucky for…”

Before he could finish, Solar walked into the room. They went completely silent and carefully backed away, which was only one step from where they were. Each step Solar took, echoed on the tile floor, louder than they ever thought was possible. They held their chests, thinking Solar could also hear their heartbeats, which were thumping loudly in their ears.

She stopped halfway into the room and turned towards the desk. After checking her watch, she grabbed the sticky notes nearby and scribbled something before ripping it off. She turned around and walked towards the closet, giving Moonbyul and Seung-Ho quite the scare. They held their hands to their mouths and stopped breathing as if she could hear them. She grabbed the closet handle, looked up and smiled. After a few seconds, she stuck the note on the door and left.

They let out a sigh of relief and rest their heads against the closet wall. After waiting a few more minutes to make sure they were in the clear, they jumped out and took in a few deep breaths as if they were gasping for air. It took them a bit to compose themselves before remembering the last thing Solar did. They closed the closet door but the sticky note was no longer on it.

“Where did it go?” Moonbyul questioned.

“I’m not sure,” he answered. “Where is it? Where is it?” he mumbled.

“I found it!”

“Where?”

“There.” She pointed to the pink paper with one corner sticking out from under Seung-Ho’s shoes.

“Got it.”

“What did she write?”

Seung-Ho’s face turned pale as he read, “she…she…”

“What? What does it say?” She got closer to take a look.

You two must be hungry after spending your day in the closet. Let’s have lunch together.

“She knew this whole time…”

“Yep.”

“We can’t hide anymore, can we?”

“No, we can’t.” She sighed. “Time to face the music.”

They got mentally ready and went to the hospital lounge area, located on the ground floor. It had a few different options for food and a cafe. They found a table and waited for Solar to show up. It was awkward since this was the first time they had ever sat down together. Not to mention that the incident from that morning was making the situation a lot worse than it could have been.

Seung-Ho had been successful in avoiding the subject. He kept making excuses about being busy to not bring it up. However, he did not account for the fact that he shared a lunch break with Solar. That was why he hid in the closet before he would have to face her. He did not anticipate that Moonbyul would end up hiding in the same place as him; or that they would be sitting across from each other now.

Moonbyul and Seung-Ho tried to recount if they had even exchanged more than a hundred words with each other. As the silence grew so did the awkward atmosphere. Their eyes met and the first thing they thought about was the kiss. Seung-Ho’s face turned red when he saw Moonbyul’s lips. He quickly took out his phone and planted his face in it.

Moonbyul turned away, resting her face on her hand as she sighed. When is Solar going to come? This is killing me. She looked at her watch and half an hour had already passed but Solar was still nowhere in sight. Where is she? Not long after, her phone buzzed, accompanied by the sound of a notification. She had received a message from an unknown number. She opened it and found a sight she had always dreaded.

======================================================

Solar was writing her report when she heard a knock on the door. Without turning around she responded.

“Sorry, I’m on break.”

“I’m hurt,” the voice said in a condescending tone. “I’ve been dying to see you.”

Solar knew that revolting voice all too well. She had hated it from the first moment she heard it. Even now, her hatred boiled at the mere sound. She clenched her pen in frustration, almost as if she would break it in half. She loosened her grip, and it dropped from her shaking hand. As she turned around, she wished for it to be just a dream.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she sighed. “Kang-Dae…”

“It’s been a while, Dr. Kim.”