Until he really finished up his round and could tuck his white coat in his closet in the locker room a few more hours had passed. The clock on the wall showed that it would soon be midnight, the only good thing right now was that his next shift would start in the afternoon so he had almost 12 hours to spent outside of the hospital. But to be honest for what was he going back home? Yes you guessed it, to just sleep. He would most probably sleep for all that time just to be able to go through another 48 hours shift, in which he would only be able to rest in a standby room when it was quiet. Even thought he had chosen his department, they had the rule in their hospital that everyone would help out once in a while in the emergency room. And this time it was his turn again.
Well for now he really will head home sleep and then get coffee again. But was that really what he wanted? A sigh escaped his lips and so he packed his bag and finally went towards the exit.
On the way out he got a quick view into the emergency room where it was quiet again. The new beginners fired all their questions at the assistant and chief physicians who were responsible for them. This has always been so, there was never enough time for the beginners to ask others their questions so they would use their quiet time to do so. Which even got worse in the next years, then their questions would even be more specific.

"DR.PARK!" someone suddenly shouted from right behind him. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he got really surprised and yelped loudly.
"Oh my god!" He exclaimed softly, holding his hand to his chest. Until he had recovered from the shock, he turned around and was greeted with a wide grinning Youngjae.
"Since when are you calling me Dr. Park, Youngjae? Did something happen that you came after me?" Asked Jinyoung the smaller doctor. Once again he got no answer but was only met with a wide smile.
"Youngjae-ah!", was heard from another voice through the corridor. Jaebum ran toward the two.
"Yah! Why did you just suddenly took off without saying something? Did something happen?", Jaebum said breathlessly.
"Hyung! Did you not hear the big news?", Youngjae finally spoke grinning as wide as possible but as soon as he looked at his boyfriend it fell and turned into a gentle smile. Jinyoung snorted. These two.
"Youngjae if you have nothing important to say to me, then I'm going home and well have a date with my bed, I'll be back in the afternoon." He was just tired, irritated and it was just too much for him. Seeing his "crush" after two years of silence again was the highlight of the day and it seemed like everyone wanted to rub it under his nose that said person was back. Because most of his fellow co-workers just know that he had looked at the older doctor as a role model during his first year.
"Jinyoung-hyung, don't be like that. You know we all only want the best for you well mainly me and Jaebum-hyung want that for you.", the grin appeared again on the face of the youngest. Jinyoung could only roll his eyes at him.
"Both of you are hopeless cases. I'm going home.", It just was not the time of day for jokes, not around midnight and certainly not when he was this drained. He just wanted to have his peace and slip into his warm and cozy bed and forget about the hospital and the people in it.
"Come on Jinyoung-ah! Do you really want to go back to your empty apartment? Would you not rather finally get to know the reason why Mark disappeared two years ago?" Jaebum spoke in his low voice.
"I did not know that you and Dr. Tuan were that close to call each other with your first names and what does that have to do with me? Nothing. It's been two years, he must have had his reasons, reasons I don't need to know! And now I wish you both a good night!"
Like that he rushed the remaining aisle down and finally walked out of the hospital. Were these two really his friends or were they Dr. Tuan's friends?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around the hospital was still quiet some traffic even at that time of the day, but only a few people actually were walking on the streets. On the other side of the road he could see a small food stall with a few tables surrounding it, he could see two groups of men sitting there and drinking. Typical Korean.
He himself rarely went out to drink with his colleagues, because only on their holidays they really would be able to sober up afterwards. Too fast they had to again stand on their legs and be 100% accurate with their thoughts. It happened all too often that on of their pagers would made them jump up from their sleep because some emergency had arrived. So it really was not a good idea to go to have a drink when they were not on holidays. Although he had to admit that he had done that before, but the last time he did that he really did drink too much and hasn't been able to go home on his own anymore. Yes, he had been that drunk. But the thought of a drink right now was really tempting him but his morale told him that if he actually got one in the end he would regret it. That he should just wait until he had like two or three days was off. But today was just one of those days that he would really like to forget about everything and everyone and well Soju would certainly do that to him.
Jinyoung always told himself that he was not that kind of person who would just get drunk when he has problems, but just from time to time there were those exceptions, like right now. It did not help that the Valentine's Day soon was coming and everywhere he went were posters on which was written that they should confess their feelings and be happy.
"As if it would be that simple." He murmured to himself while walking by just one of those posters. He had learned the hard way how it felt to get rejected. Definitely not nice.
He hated the time right before Valentine's Day. A time every person who was not in a relationship was reminded that they were alone. Especially in Korea there were so many events going on these days only 'couples' could attend. But what was wrong with being single actually? And the worst part was every few weeks when he would meet up with his relatives they would always ask if he finally met someone he was interested in or as to what was his ideal type. That was something he never was able to answer because he didn't know what he was looking for in another person. Shouldn't it be more like when you meet someone and you like that person, for the person that he is and not just that 'type' of person?
It was his life, his heart and his decision wasn't it? Although the last time he had likes someone the final decision had been taken made by the other person. Why was he thinking about that person again now.
Unconsciously his feet had brought him to the next food stall in which there was a small tent with small tables. Should he really do that? He considered only for a short moment.
"So what! It's not like I've never done that before." He once again muttered to himself. Alcohol was in some situations simply the only thing that really helped him to forget everything for a short while, even if he would regret it a few hours later.

Like that he went to a table and sat down, while telling the owner that he wanted a bottle of Soju. Shortly after the bottle arrived and he had the first shot poure, he just stared at the little shot glass in his hand. Inwardly, he pondered still on whether this was really a good idea or not. But honestly who would notice if he had a headache the next day? Clearly Youngjae, Jaebum and little Ree would probably notice that he was different from the day before but except from them no one would. Who ever payed enough attention to him to ever notice that he was having a hard time? Two years ago he did had such a phase and no one had really noticed or well mentioned it towards him.
After a brief hesitation, he lifted the small glass to his lips and let the liquid flow through his mouth down this throat. The aftertaste of every shot screamed downright that you should stop. If you did not notice Jinyoung wasn't the best drinker. Also this time he didn't eat anything along with drinking to lessen the flavor in his mouth. Today he really just wanted to get drunk and forget about his feelings and his problems for a moment.

Two hours passed just like that till he rose from the table and said goodbye to the owner. He had three empty bottles on the table, two more than he intended to. After the last shot a few moments ago he know that this had been his last one. But he had a lot more than usual. So he definitely will have a headache later there was no way around that.
The streets were now almost empty. The way he walked totally showed that he was drunk, and well in his head he was scolded himself already for drink that much. He would regret it the next day. He took out his phone from his pocket and tipped a not to himself: 'get something for hangover once you wake up', it read. He knew without that he would hardly survive those 48 hours at work. And well maybe if he had enough time he would ask a nurse to give him an infusion that was also a great method to fight a hangover. Why did his mind still work with those medical things he asked himself.

While he quietly complained about himself to himself, he did not notice that someone had followed him ever since he left the hospital and had kept an eye on him. Even while he was drinking the person had sat down a few tables behind him and had ordered a beer to drink till he was finished. The person had first called his name a few times but the other just didn't responded at all, he had been to engrossed in his thoughts and when he he saw Jinyoung poring the first shot, he knew that now he would definitely be ignored. As Jinyoung finally reached the entrance to his little apartment the other caught up with him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
That person really surprised Jinyoung. The second time within a few hours he yelped lo