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Yoon Do punched in the passcode for his apartment and pushed the door open with ease. Inside the comfort of his own home, he kicked his shoes off and slid his feet into the soft pair of slippers he’d just purchased last weekend. His hand then flew up and tugged at the tie hugging his neck a little too tightly. After placing his briefcase on the counter, he found his way to the refrigerator. For a minute, he rummaged through the various items until he finally came upon an ice-cold water bottle hiding in the back. Mentally, Yoon Do made a note to grab another case the next time he went grocery shopping as he uncapped the bottle and chugged it down halfway.

Suddenly, the doorbell echoed through the place and caused the man to freeze. He wasn’t expecting any guests tonight. It couldn’t be his uncle either considering he was out of town for a convention. Who could it be then? With his eyebrows puckered at the center of his forehead, Yoon Do trudged back to the door and checked the monitor. He saw the familiar face waiting for him on the other side and a tiny frown etched into his face. “What are you doing here?” he inquired as he held the door ajar. Kyu Won pushed by him and staggered into the place. Immediately, Yoon Do was slapped with the pungent stench of alcohol which made him cover his nose. “Were you drinking?” he asked, voice laced with concern. From what he could remember, Kyu Won wasn’t much of a drinker. Something big must have happened.

His friend threw his body onto the couch and had no issues making himself right at home. “Yeah,” he slurred as he shielded his eyes from the bright lights with a forearm. “I’m getting married,” he confessed in a mere whisper. A lone tear tumbled down the side of his face but he quickly wiped it away before Yoon Do could notice it. Yoon Do wasn’t able to hear anything since he had spoken so quietly and when he asked Kyu Won to repeat himself, he was ignored. Next, a snore echoed and bounced off of the walls of the condominium.

“No way,” Yoon Do said in disbelief. “Did you just seriously fall asleep?” Lightly, he kicked Kyu Won’s leg. There was no response except for another loud snore. This time Yoon Do scoffed and shook his head disapprovingly. He couldn’t believe this. His house has definitely turned into a shelter! Why was everyone always showing up to his place unannounced? Maybe he should start charging them for every night they spent there. However, Yoon Do shook the idea off because everyone would have called him stingy if he did such a thing and he went over to the closet to retrieve an extra blanket instead. Surprisingly enough, for someone he hadn’t seen for quite some time now, Yoon Do felt like nothing’s changed between the two of them. Friendships where you could pick up right where you left off seamlessly were truly blessings and Yoon Do was consumed with guilt for never making the time to see his friends. Work was important, but so were people.

Sure their personalities were a bit different from each other but they always managed to get along perfectly fine. Kyu Won could be unbearable at times but it wasn’t like Yoon Do was faultless. Nobody was perfect and that was okay. It was part of being human. As he draped the blanket over his sleeping friend, Yoon Do’s mind strayed to Ha Yun. That’s right! He still had to settle the score with Kyu Won for the wrong information he’d provided regarding her name. He glanced once more at Kyu Won, who was out cold, and exhaled deeply. It could wait until tomorrow morning.

It’s been over a week since he saw the woman and turned himself into a complete fool in front of her. Yet, Yoon Do couldn’t help but wonder how she was doing. Honestly, if you asked him, she looked a slightly disheartened the last time they met and it’s been bothering him. Why was she like that? Although he’s been swamped with work at the hospital, meeting patients every second of the way, he still thought that there was a possibility she’d appear before him again. It obviously hasn’t happened yet but the hope flickering inside of him refused to go away and Yoon Do didn’t mind. She gave him something to look forward to and even though he wasn’t clairvoyant, he had a feeling their paths were bound to cross sooner or later.

* * *

The following day Kyu Won roused with the sun already sitting high up in the sky. His head pounded vigorously, his throat as dry as fiery depths of hell. Carefully, he sat up with his eyes squinted. He raked through his disheveled hair and scanned the house, which he did not recognize. All he knew was that it was definitely not his. Alarmed, the hungover man shot up to his feet, the blanket falling down onto the floor. Where was he? Did he, perhaps, go home with a random stranger? This was not good! What was he supposed to do? Should he sneak out quietly and just disappear? That would probably be the wisest choice for him.

Once he located his shoes, Kyu Won tip-toed to the entrance. He reached for the handle, freedom literally at his fingertips, and the door flew open without warning. Thanks to his swift reflexes, he jumped back in time and avoided a broken nose. “Why do you look so pale?” Yoon Do questioned as he quirked an eyebrow. “Did you see a ghost or something?”

“This is your house?” Kyu Won let out an alleviated sigh upon realizing he was in the clear and dragged his feet back toward the couch. “For a second there, I was worried I followed a stranger home,” he said, plopping down and resting his head against the cushion, eyes now fixated on the ceiling above. “Thank god it was just you.”

“Yeah, you’re lucky you winded up at my doorsteps and not someone else’s or you would’ve been waking up behind bars,” Yoon Do answered with a snort. “You never told me what happened. Why did you drink so much? I thought you couldn’t stand the bitter taste of alcohol?”

“I can’t,” Kyu Won confirmed. “It was under extenuating circumstances so I decided to make an exception.”

“Extenuating circumstances?” the host repeated. “Surely it couldn’t be that bad.” Yoon Do filled a glass with some water to feed his slightly dehydrated body and strolled over to join his guest with it in hand.

“I’m getting married to a woman I’ve never met before,” Kyu Won declared dejectedly. The random news stunned Yoon Do, who ended up choking on a small sip of water. He underwent a hackling fit and tried to calm himself down by pounding a fist against his chest.

“You’re getting what?” He balked with his jaw on the floor.

“It wasn’t my idea,” his friend said. “My parents set it up without my permission.”

It’s not the first time Yoon Do’s heard of arranged marriages since his father was always trying to play matchmaker for him, but Kyu Won was the first friend he knew that was caught in such an unfavorable position. It was obvious that he wasn’t excited about the ordeal and Yoon Do couldn’t blame him. For as long as they were friends, Kyu Won was always a free-spirited soul. He didn’t like being tied down to anyone or anything so this couldn’t have been easy for him. “You don’t have to get married to her if you don’t want to, you know,” Yoon Do pointed out. “It’s not like defying your parents’ orders and refusing to be part of an arranged marriage is illegal.”

“I know that,” Kyu Won heaved. “But the girl is so pitiful. What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, you don’t just get married to someone out of pity,” Yoon Do remarked firmly. “That would make you a terrible person. You should only marry the person you love. At least, that’s what I believe.”

“But that’s the thing,” muttered Kyu Won. “I don’t know how to love so what’s the point?”

* * *

“I swear she’s a ghost,” another first year resident in the neurosurgery department claimed at the front desk. Her name was Jo Na Mi. “She just keeps disappearing and reappearing everywhere. Shouldn’t we report her to security? What if she’s a bum taking advantage of our facility?”

“Well, she doesn’t look like a bum,” Ro Woon defended. “Maybe she’s a relative of a patient. It’s not good for us to jump to conclusions.”

“Who doesn’t look like a bum?” Yoon Do waltzed up behind them and tore his eyes away from the clipboard he was holding. He waited for either one of them to say something but they didn’t and he grew annoyed. Next, he threw the clipboard onto the counter and glared at them. “It looks like you guys have a lot of free time on your hands if you’re standing around and gossiping like this.”

“No, that’s not it.” Na Mi swallowed as she did her best to control her trembling fingers. “We were just talking about a woman we keep seeing loiter around the hospital.”

“If you see a suspicious person hanging around, shouldn’t you have reported her to security already? What if she cau