This was not his first time.  He has done this before.

How many times you ask?  A gentleman never reveals the number of times he has done this particular deed.  Besides, it's just not in his character to brag.  The other members have done it as well with varying degrees of success.  Oh! the amount of stories told, in detail or otherwise, on how they performed, the outcomes, the techniques...  Well, he did say that he never talks about such things with others but, you know...in the interest of science and knowledge...and may be a few pointers as well...

To be fair, the room was not the usual generic kind of room with just the bed and the basic necessities found in a room.  This one had a nice glow to it, he thought.  The walls are peppered with homey wall papers trying to give off the feel of being relaxed.  The wall-to-ceiling glass windows look out to a lush private garden filled with blooming flowers in a Zen-type arrangement, complete with a small fountain in the center.  The bed, not too soft, not too hard.  Just the right kind of comfortable.  All of these things put together is trying to embed the message, "Relax, everything is going to be fine."

That's what he wants to do, really.  To be calm and collective.  To show that he's fine.  To not let anyone know that inside his ribcage, his heart is doing its hardest, it seems, to break it apart and thump out of his own chest and through his skin. 

Contrary to what he was trying to project, however, with his nonchalant stance and smirk, he was terrified.  No.  Scared??  No, that's not the right word either.  It's another one of those words that just escapes your conscious thought.  You know the vocabulary is there somewhere but, frustratingly enough, it just evades you whenever you think you've got it cornered and pinned down.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door which snapped him out of his contemplation.  The door opened and he turned.  Oh crap!

She was standing inside the door looking at him.  She smiled and it lit up her face and...did he detect an extra upward tug on the corner of her lips?  A mischievous smile, he thinks.  Does she know?  Can she hear the incessant drumming in his chest?  Can she sense his...

Apprension!  Now he knows.  That's the word he was looking for.  Not fear.  He remembers that he has done this before, but still, it doesn't really diminish the fact that he is apprehensive that he might do something to embarass himself or do something to hurt her, like last time.

She greets him.  He acknowledges with a smile and a downward flick of his eyes, remembering their last encounter.  She nods her head on the bed and he lies down.  They have done this before.  They both knew what to do.  It's like a dance, he thinks, but not for the first time, he whishes it was as easy as a dance.

She approaches the bed.  Her smile still lightening up her face.  She tells him to relax, take deep breaths.  "You're a man right?" she asks.

"Yeah, but I just don't think I'll ever get used to this."  He tells her.

She tells him most guys never really get used to it, but its just one thing that needs to be done to be able to say that he is a man.

"Are you ready?" She asks.  "We'll start now."

The next moment was all a blur.  He doesn't even remember the details.  He just relates the sensation of feeling hot.  He did know that he was sweating a lot (Good thing he put on extra deodorant!).  There was some tightening in his chest and in his arms.  When she touched his upper arm, his whole body tensed and went rigid, right up to the point when the tip when through the skin and the contents were delivered.

He had his eyes shut tightly the whole time, but now she calls his name and he opens them, then looks at her.  She smiled that angelic smile and told him it's over.  She helps him sit up in bed then hands him a lollipop.  A reward for being brave.  On second thought, she gives him a banana milk as well, congratulating him on not being so fidgety like the last time, which ended up with her getting elbowed in the face by him.  His face reddens and he apologizes again for what happened.  She smiles, again, with that angelic smile and tells him to see her again next year for his annual flu shot.

There was a knock on the door and one of his groupmates poked his head around it.  "Byunghun~ah, are you finished?  Everyone is in the van waiting for you."  He nods and walks to the door and turns to leave, but he decided to look back.  He looked at her and their eyes met.  They stood there for a moment, both with an extra smile curving up the corner of the lips even further and an additional flutter of the eyelids.

Maybe next time they meet, LJoe will not be too apprehensive about the task of getting a vaccination and actually talk to her about the other kinds of vaccinations they give...or something else...may be.

~FIN~