"Ahh."

"Ahhh," I spoke with my mouth gaped wide open for Jinhwan to put on my tongue one of those popsicle stick looking things that doctors use to see down your throat more. I've been saying "ah" over five times, but each time, Jinhwan would tell me to open wider. My mouth was open to the point that if I tried to stretch it out more, my jaw would snap.

"Aniyoo," Jinhwan said, bringing the popsicle stick down to his side and looking me straight in my eyes. I crinkled my eyebrows, staring at him in curiosity as I wouldn't allow myself to believe he was still annoyed that I wasn't opening my mouth "wide enough".

"What? What did I do wrong now, Jinhwan?" I asked him with anger in my tone. He looked at me with a smile and let out a chuckle.

"This won't do, you look too funny doing that!" He cracked out and I gasped as I realized he was playing with me just so I could look ridiculous for him. He laughed some more as I gave him soft hits on the arm as his punishment. I couldn't help but chuckle too, as I did feel foolish for falling for his trick.

Jinhwan and I have become really close after he replaced his mother as my doctor. At first, I was shy around him, twiddling my fingers and looking at anywhere except for his eyes when he wouldn't be speaking to me about medical stuff. It wasn't until that one day where he completely embarrassed himself in front of me when I realized that we were both at the same level of dorkiness that needs to be bonded together.

It was a Saturday evening, around 3 pm when my usual checkups are. Almost every other day I had to come in and get a check-up, just so the hospital can monitor my health and make sure I'm doing well. I'm trying to make the most of my time where I can walk around freely and do almost what I want because I know one day I'll have to be hospitalized. 

The nurse came out and told me to follow her, doing the usual check-ups with my weight and height and asking me if I've been feeling anything different lately. After waiting for over 10 minutes for Jinhwan to come in, the nurse came into my room and told me that I was actually going to be switched to a different room. She led me to another room, knocked on the door and opened it to show me a dancing and singing Jinhwan. He was watching some kind of K-pop music video and decided to take this opportunity alone to get his jam on. The nurse and I burst out laughing and Jinhwan quickly shut down every trace of evidence of his embarrassment. I couldn't stop laughing, even through his checkup where he'd put the stick on my tongue, put the stethoscope on my back and stomach and ask me serious questions that I shouldn't be laughing about. Eventually, he started to laugh with me and asked why I was still giggly, which I then reminded him he was caught dancing in a hospital room while he's supposed to be taking care of patients. I mocked him for being unprofessional and he'd always remark back, "I'm young. I deserve to act like my age sometimes!"

We just got comfortable after that. We were comfortable with taunting and cracking jokes at one another. We were comfortable with smiling and laughing in unison. We were comfortable with being close and allowing him to put the stethoscope actually inside my gown to get a clearer reading of my heartbeat. Which does make me very happy that we are this close. It makes me happy that somebody I'm going to have to interact with for the rest of my life is someone I'm comfortable with.

"When will any of my checkups be serious?" I asked as Jinhwan and I still had faint giggles in our voices.

"Do you want an answer that will kill the mood or should I just ignore the question?" Jinhwan asked as he grabbed my chin and opened his mouth to signal for me to open mine. I hesitated at first since I didn't want him to trick me into opening it so wide that I looked insane again, but I gave in as he nudged my head up to do it. He plopped the stick on my tongue and moved his head around as he tried to look into my throat. He swiveled back in his chair with wheels and went to grab a mini-flashlight. 

"Ignore it," I answered eventually. I know what Jinhwan would've actually said if he were to answer that question seriously. My checkups will become serious when I'm almost 20. When I'm almost dead.

He came back, plopped the stick back on and clicked on the flashlight to examine my throat. I waited with my mouth open for a good 3 minutes before it was getting too dry to bear and Jinhwan's examination was becoming excessive. He backed away as soon as I closed my mouth and watched me for a couple seconds before swiveling over to his desk and started to type something. 

"So, there's a lot of phlegm building up in your throat. It might be because it's getting cooler outside and it's cold season, but I would