It was a bright Monday morning in Seoul and the city was already busy and restless. Even at Solario Hotel, the employees were already busy with their guests arriving and leaving.

But inside the luxury suite at the penthouse, one person was still in deep slumber.

While the other was already at the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

"Hmm," Yerin closed her eyes as she savored the taste of the chocolate-flavored porridge she was cooking. She had been awake since 5:00 in the morning, so she took her time to prepare breakfast for herself and for her de facto landlord.

She let the porridge stay on the stove for a few minutes and immediately went to arrange the table. She placed the plates, utensils, and even brewed coffee using the unused but seemingly new coffee maker she found inside the cupboard. Yerin suddenly realized that it had been a year or two since she last prepared an actual breakfast; ever since her mother passed away, it was already her dad who prepared breakfast.

"Well, I'm glad I still remember mom's recipes," she mused to herself before taking the porridge and pouring it on a large bowl. She then placed it on the table, along with the other food she prepared: waffles and ham omelettes. The room was filled with freshly-prepared breakfast scent, and Yerin was quite sure that Junhui would appreciate her little effort of preparing breakfast for the two of them. It was nothing special; it was just her way of showing gratitude to the person who provided another roof over her head.

As Yerin removed her apron, she felt her phone vibrate from her pocket. She immediately reached for it inside her pocket and saw that Sowon was calling her.

"Hello? Sowon unnie?" Yerin said after swiping right to answer her phone.

"Hey Yerin!" Sowon greeted from the other line, "What's up?"

Yerin creased her forehead after realizing that Sowon sounded too happy for someone who missed work a day ago without leaving any notice, "What do you mean 'what's up'? Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? You didn't come to work yesterday and you didn't even call me!"

"I know, I know," Sowon let out a deep sigh, "I'm sorry about yesterday; something suddenly came up, it was an emergency."

"Apology accepted, but please don't do it again."

Yerin could already imagine her friend nodding enthusiastically from the other line. Sowon was always like that; whenever she liked something Yerin said, she would automatically nod like a dog bobblehead on top of a car's dashboard.

"Yerin, are you going to visit your dad today? Let me join you!" Sowon spoke, "I told you I'll visit your dad one of these days, and that day is today!"

Yerin couldn't help but smile. She was appreciating Sowon for putting effort to make up for suddenly going missing the day before, "Well, I guess I couldn't say no to you," Yerin spoke, "Let's meet each other at the hospital lobby; I'll be there by 9."

"Oh! Okay! I'll be there by 9, too. See you later!" Sowon sounded very enthusiastic with her words. With that, she ended the call and Yerin was sure that her friend would prepare a lot of food for her father.

It was almost 7:30 but Junhui was still inside his room. Yerin was already seated in the dining room, patiently waiting for him to come out. She had the habit of waiting for other people to come out and eat with her; although it was quite a hassle for her part, she firmly believed that it was rude to eat ahead of everyone else.

Ten minutes had passed and Junhui was still inside his room. Yerin had already finished six levels of Tetris on her phone and the food was getting colder.

"Whatda--is he not going to eat breakfast?!" Yerin thought to herself. She stood up and walked towards Junhui's room.

"Junhui?!" she called before knocking on the door, "Junhui, breakfast is ready!"

No one responded.

"Junhui!"

Yerin leaned and placed her ear closer to the door. She was waiting for something to be heard, something that would indicate that Junhui was already awake. But there was none.

"Such a sleepyhead," Yerin whispered to herself with an annoyed look on her face. She was supposed to meet Sowon at 9:00; she did not have any spare time to spend in waiting for Junhui to wake up. With an annoyed look on her face, Yerin went back to her seat, and started eating the breakfast she cooked alone.

-

Hospitals were very unappealing for Sowon. She disliked going inside such places, but she had to make up for what she did to Yerin by visiting Mr. Jung. Also, she had promised her friend that she would visit the old man; Sowon valued her friendship with Yerin so much that she was willing to overcome her fear of hospitals.

Sowon was sitting on the long bench beside the nurse's station, and beside her was two middle-aged woman talking loudly about someone.

"Have you seen the new doctor from the cardiology center?" one of the women asked.

Eavesdropping was not Sowon's thing, but since the two women were talking too loudly for everyone else to hear, Sowon thought that listening to them to pass the time would not hurt.

"I did! I did!" the other woman responded eagerly, "He looks so young! I seriously thought he was an intern, until I saw him enter a room and the door had his name on it."

Sowon pursed her lips as she continued with her new hobby of listening to other people's conversations. The two women continued talking, providing more information about the new, intriguing doctor.

"I'm wondering if he actually fits the job here. Don't you think he might still lack the experience? He's too... young," the woman scratched her chin as she tried making a point in her argument, "If I only had a heart disease, I would try and see if he's competent enough to heal me."

Her friend laughed, "You can never measure one's competence just by looking at how young or old that person looks."

Sowon smirked to herself, "A few more exchanges and one of them will flip tables for losing an argument," she thought to herself. But even before she could continue eavesdropping, Yerin arrived, carrying a basket of fruits and a small bag where she kept the food for her father.

"Unnie!" Yerin greeted, "You're too early, or am I just late?"

Sowon responded with a laugh, "No, not at all. I was just early, to beat the heavy traffic."

Yerin nodded before the two proceeded to Mr. Jung's room. Every step seemed difficult for the hospital anxious Kim Sowon; she swore to herself she would not do anything that would make her stay inside that dreadful place for a long period of time. If it only was not for Yerin being hwr close friend, she would not even bother stepping inside the hospital lobby.

"By the way, unnie," Yerin broke the silence between them as they walked, "What happened to you yesterday? You did not even reply to my messages."

Sowon was startled, "Ah... um... well, I was just quite busy yesterday."

"Busy with what?"

Sowon turned to look at her friends; beads of sweat already forming on her forehead, "Uh, busy with... lots of things at home."

Yerin, noticing her friend's sudden loss for words, did not respond anymore. She knew something was up with her friend, but she also knew that it would be rude for her to force Sowon to speak against her will.

After a few minutes of awkward silence due to Sowon's resistance to speak and Yerin's deference, they finally arrived at Mr. Jung's room, and the door was half-opened, to Yerin's surprise.

The two went in and found Mr. Jung gleefully talking to a young man wearing a crisp white lab coat.

"...so Dr. Park said that I should be well before he comes back from the States!" Mr. Jung spoke before turning to look at the two dumbfounded young ladies at the door, "Ah Yerin! You arrived on time! Oh, and Sowon's here too. You girls need to meet my new doctor!"

Yerin and Sowon approached Mr. Jung with a confused look on their faces. The doctor turned to look at them, and his face was enough to leave Sowon in deep shock.

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