Who the hell is this Kim Jongkook? 

Jihyo was a trainee nurse, a week into her first placement at Queen's hospital. And in this one week, the only guy the nurses ever talked about was one Kim Jongkook. 

He was a senior nurse who was openly admired by all female healthcare professionals - nurses, doctors and even the social workers. Heck, Jihyo was certain that he had an admirer in every department. 

After learning how... well-loved he was, she just had to find out how he looked like. Opportunity struck when her direct senior, Hyemi, volunteered to bring some documents to his department - A&E. She had quickly learnt after a week that Hyemi wasn't too happy about having to mentor a trainee nurse. Jihyo found out when Hyemi barely bothered to debrief her after seeing their patients, and how she never introduced Jihyo to any colleagues that they met. Honestly, sometimes Jihyo felt that she was not just shadowing Hyemi for her learning. Instaed, Hyemi treated her like a real shadow, expected to lurk behind the beautiful Hyemi. 

"Jongkook-ssi! Can I see you for a minute please?"

Jihyo looked up just in time to see Hyemi ask a tanned and muscular man who was at the computer. Jihyo furrowed her brows. Hyemi had flipped her long wavy hair and bent down to open the folder she was holding. Jihyo resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how high Hyemi raised her perky , like she was trying to prop up a bookshelf with it. 

Hyemi, who never bothered with any other male colleagues, must be seriously enarmored with this man. 

The man in question was in the middle of typing up some clinical notes. He turned and his nose almost bumped into Hyemi's. Jihyo's eyes widened when she saw her senior bend even lower, widening the gap between the neckline of her powder pink uniform and the curve of her collarbones, revealing her... very ample cleavage.

Jongkook didn't seem to notice.

For real though? 

Jihyo watched as he removed the large horn-rimmed glasses that were perched on his nosebridge and blinked absentmindedly. "Eo, what can I do for you, Hyemi-ssi?" He gave the pretty nurse in front of him a friendly smile, before tucking his palms at the back of his head, stretching his biceps with a yawn. 

The simple action tightened his uniform around all his muscles, and Jihyo's eyes drank him in hungrily as she realised just how ripped he actually was. The shrill of an imaginary wolf whistle rang in her ears as her eyes roved over the figure of the male nurse. She could see the bulging curve of his muscles on his arms, running all the way up to his shoulders. She could see just how firm and broad his chest muscles were, as they pressed against the fabric of his pink shirt.

Heat blossomed in the pit of her tummy. She shifted her gaze elsewhere and hope he didn't catch her staring. 

Now she could understand what the fuss was all about.

Ask her and she would acknowledge that he had an exquisite body, for sure. Ask her and she would agree that he would be a handsome face to look at after a gruelling shift. Hell. Ask her somemore and she would even reluctantly tell you that he possessed a pretty voice to go with the package. 

"Jongkook-ssi, what are you up to this weekend? I heard you got the weekend off." a cloyingly sweet Hyemi had asked as she wiggled her shoulders. 

Jihyo looked around to see if anyone was a witness to Hyemi's unusually forward actions, but she seemed to be the only one.

It's only been a week, but Jihyo was not too sure if she liked Hyemi very much. 

"I'm not too sure Hyemi-ssi. I may be coming in for a shift on Saturday to cover Donghoon." 

"Ahh, but that's only for a day - how about Sunday." 

From the corner of her eye, Jihyo watched as Jongkook shrugged his perfectly sculpted shoulders. "I'm not sure. Probably going to the gym?" 

Duh, of course.

"Ooh, Jongkook-ssi. Need to keep in shape, don't you?" Hyemi responded with a wink and a few light pats on his arm, her hand lingering on his skin. To Jihyo, it looked like Hyemi was almost pawing at Jongkook. 

Jongkook smiled easily at the nurse in front of him and nodded eagerly. "Yep, it's important to maintain them. I go to the gym whenever I can." He winked. "Need to make sure that everything stays in tiptop condition." He smirked, patting his chest and flashing his pearly whites at the nurse in front of him.

Tsk. What a flirt. 

Jihyo bowed down her head and tried not to roll her eyes. Somewhat disappointed. She found herself expecting more from him. 

But nobody's perfect. 

She shugged internally and kept a blank face. She shouldn't be openly rude to her seniors, especially since this was only her first week. She had to be polite still, you know, first-year trainee plus social graces and all. 

One month into her placement, and Jihyo didn't have to shadow Hyemi anymore. Instead, she was allocated to a ward where she looked after six paediatric beds. Although Jihyo was good at her job (well, good in terms of her medical knowledge as a first-year trainee), she lacked experience. A lot of what she knew, she gained from textbooks and lectures. And she hate to admit this, shadowing Hyemi and watching how the senior nurse managed the children's medical needs of her ward encouraged Jihyo to build up her confidence when working with the children. 

The work is really very different in real life.

She worked at the Trauma Care ward, and the children who came under her care tended to be admitted to the hospital from injuries gained from accidents. There were all sorts of cases - concussions from traffic collisions, broken limbs from bad falls and deep cuts from freak kitchen mishaps. She slowly learnt that the world was not a very safe place for children.

It was difficult watching the distress of children and parents at first, and she never knew how to reassure them. You know how doctors and nurses always seem to know what to say to reassure their patients? It's a lie - the words never roll out of smoothly and she was always awkward. But with time (and support from her fellow nurse trainee, one Lee Kwangsoo), Jihyo perservered and slowly got used to the crazy that was Trauma Care. 

Or at least she thought she got used to it. 

Her world tilted wildly on its axis when little Benji was wheeled into her ward from A&E. 

An eight year old boy with a mixture of purple and green bruises across his face and arms. He was conscious when he came to her ward, looking very small in stature and more like a five year old instead. 

"Hi Benji, my name is Jihyo and I will be your nurse. You can call me Jihyo Noona." She squatted down next to him and smiled. The little boy turned away from her, refusing eye contact. 

Jihyo raises an eyebrow, a little confused. Children tended to warm up quickly to her. Placing an arm gingerly on his, she tried to prop him up and shift him from the wheelchair to the bed.

"Don't touch me!" The ferocity in the child's voice stunned her and she gaped as a shove from him threw her backwards into the wall. 

For a very malnourished-looking boy, he was strong. 

"Benji, that's not how you should treat someone else." The wall steadied her and spoke firmly to the boy. 

Wait, what? 

She turned back only to find that the 'wall' was actually pure muscle, Kim Jongkook's chest muscle to be exact. "You okay?" He asked softly as he steadied her, his hands firmly around her shoulders. Her face flushed involuntarily from the electricity that ran from her shoulder blades up her neck and she froze for a moment.

He stood up slowly and she found herself standing with him. 

Their heads were close enough for her to make out the freckles across his high cheekbones and the dark lashes framing his twinkly eyes. Her heart stuttered at his pretty face. 

"Song Jihyo-ssi? You okay?" Jongkook asked, a puzzled expression on his face. 

She blinked and nodded rapidly. "Y- yes, I'm fine. I was just trying to help Benji to his bed." 

"It's alright. It's just that Benji doesn't really like people touching him. Give him some time."

Jongkook went up to the wheelchair and knelt down in front of the boy.

Benji was still looking away, avoiding any eye contact with either of the nurses. "Benji-ya, we are trying to help you. I'm sorry that Noona didn't know that you don't like to be touched." Jongkook said gently but firmly to the boy. "Can you manage moving to the bed on your own? Otherwise, you'll have to let me help you."

Benji let out a little grunt before trying to push himself up from his wheelchair. His face was ashen and he was obviously very weak and Jihyo couldn't understand why he would want to reject help. She wanted to go to him, but something held her back. 

There was something really authoritative yet reassuring about having Jongkook around. He seemed to know what best to do with Benji. 

When the little boy finally got himself on the bed, Jihyo noticed that the back of his torn shirt was covered in deep red stains. She started to notice the metallic smell in the air. 

She frowned and looked at her senior. Jongkook had noticed the bloodstains too. 

"Benji, I heard from the police that your back is injured. I will need to apply medicine to make it better. Would you let Jihyo Noona and I help you?" 

The little boy shook his dark mess of hair rapidly and shrunk under the covers. With a pang in her heart, Jihyo knew something was very wrong with the situation.

Why was Benji brought in by the police? Questions started flooding her mind. Questions that would likely be accompanied with dark answers. 

"Please Benji, we are here to help you get better and we need to treat your wounds so that they don't get any worse." Again, he turned his head away from them and squeezed his eyes shut. His dry and chapped lips were drawn into a tight line.