Today was a toxic day for Krystal, but it was a relaxed day for Minho. He had no surgeries scheduled for today, but she was running from the emergency room to the pediatric ward to check on the students who were brought to the hospital because of a food poisoning. A whole section of second graders suffered from food poisoning because they did not know that the food their classmate brought for them had already spoiled. The seven year old girl’s intention was clean and she just wanted her classmates to try the sandwich that she made for them the afternoon before. She didn’t know that it would spoil when she placed them in a paper bag in her room after preparing the sandwiches for her classmates.

Luckily, Krystal chose to wear sneakers that day. She thanked herself for choosing the footwear just before she left the house because it made it easy for her to move around. Kids were crying, throwing up, having stomach aches, dizzy, sweating, and some even passed out from too much pain. The kids described the pain they felt in the stomach as “the stomach is being squeezed like a sponge.” 

She checked on the 24 students and there were already 6 students who were good to go as their symptoms were very little to none. She saw the seven year old girl who was crying on her mother’s lap while being comforted by their teacher and telling her that it wasn’t her fault. Krystal walked to them and the two adults smiled at her, and she smiled back. She sat on the floor to meet the young girl’s gaze and spoke to her with a smile.

“Hi, you must be Yoojin?"

The young girl only nodded and wouldn’t stop sniffing from her tears. Krystal’s smile widened and wiped the tears on her face. “You are such a good girl for bringing food to your friends. This wasn’t your fault. Food goes bad really quickly and you only relied on the expiry date, right?” 

The kid nodded while she was still all ears at the doctor in front of her. “When the ingredients to make the food are put together, they can go bad even before the expiry date. It’s not your fault that the food became spoilt. Maybe next time you can just ask for an adult’s help so all of you can eat a healthy meal. Stop crying now, will you please do that for me?” She still had her smile on while the kid nodded. 

The seven year old gulped for the last time and wiped her face with her hands. Before Krystal left, she patted the girl’s head and smiled at her once more. “Good girl. I’ll see you around.” She greeted the girl and the two adults that are with her before she walked quickly to her clinic. When she arrived, there was already a line of patients that were waiting for her.

While doing he was doing his rounds, Minho was sure that he saw Krystal running from one place to another. He wanted to pause from his duty to ask her what’s wrong, but he wasn’t in the hospital to gossip and he also have patients to look after and he knew that by the looks of it, the situation was urgent. He finished his rounds and went back to his clinic. There were already patients waiting for him and they greeted him at the sight of the doctor. He would say that today was definitely one of his favorite days in the hospital because he had no surgery, which was a rare event.

For the next hours, he sat on his seat giving diagnosis, recommendations, medications, and reading results. He would ask his assistant, Sunmi, at random intervals how many patients he had left and whenever he would hear the phone ring, he knew those were patients still trying to get an appointment today. When you’re a doctor, the cutoff time isn’t really met because of the number of patients that came in that day. His clinic schedule ends at five, but when he still has patients outside, he must accommodate them. The same thing goes for her wife. Krystal does the same thing with her patients.

Minho was starting to get bored that he already kept yawning repeatedly. Before another patient comes in, he stood up to stretch and exercise quickly. He even went to his bathroom to wash his face to really help him refrain from being sleepy before taking his seat once more. It was already his last batch patients and he just can’t wait to get home. After seeing his wife earlier, he started looking forward to seeing his last patient because he can finally fetch her in her clinic and she can finally rest on their way home and at home.

“Thank you, doctor! Bye,” his last patient greeted him. He smiled as he waved at the patient who exited his door. He quickly removed his white coat and hung it on his chair before getting his stuff ready. “Thank God,” he exclaimed in a whisper. That was already his last patient and he was finally done for the day. He sent a message to Krystal, saying that he’ll be walking to her clinic shortly after gathering his stuff.

“Bye, Sunmi! See you tomorrow,” he greeted his assistant.

She smiled at him before bowing. “Bye, doc! You and Dr. Choi take care on your way home.” She smiled at the doctor who headed out and soon went back to fixing the files in their proper positions and getting the schedule ready for tomorrow.

As he reached her clinic, her assistant greeted him up seeing him. “Good evening, doc! Dr. Choi’s currently seeing her last patient.” Miyeon smiled at him.

“Thank you, I’ll just wait here.” He sat on the couch and saw that the assistant instantly went back to finishing her task. It wasn’t long after that when he heard the door open and heard a toddler’s voice saying “bye, doctor” and faint reply that seemed to go with a smile. He bowed politely when he saw the parents of the young patient. He wanted to go check on her because she would usually send her last patient out the door and it seemed like she didn’t bother getting up this time. For five more minutes, Krystal hadn’t gone out and Minho sat there, waiting for her. Still, there was no reply to the message he had sent her earlier. Instead of just sitting, he found himself making his way to the entrance of her office. With two knocks, he heard her say come in.

Krystal knew that the little boy would be her last patient for the day, so when she heard the knock, she guessed that it was just Miyeon. She was slouching on her chair, almost in a laying position, letting her whole body fall limp on the chair, while her eyes were closed. She was tired because of how toxic it was today.

“Are you okay?”

To her surprise, it was a man’s voice that spoke. She opened her eyes and saw her husband standing by the door and before she could answer, he had already walked in.

“Mhm,” she simply replied while giving one nod. “I’m just resting.” Her voice was almost like a whisper.

From the sound of her voice, he knew how bad it was. She was really tired and he was a witness to the running that she did earlier. “I’ll carry you to the car if you want.” He felt really sorry for her and made his way closer to her.

She put her hand up before shaking her head. She opened her eyes and slowly stood up. “I’m alrighty, I can walk to the car.” She flashed a thin smile at him before getting her stuff. She walked out with him to the car, greeting Miyeon as they headed out.

The moment they got inside the car, Minho had already started the conversation that he knew won’t last for long. “I saw you run earlier. What happened?”

Slowly, she nodded. “I ran from the ward to the ER again and again and again and again because of one section’s case of food poisoning.”

His eyes widened at the information. “So that was around 20 kids?”

She nodded in reply and sighed. “The kid’s intention wasn’t bad. She just didn’t know that food must be kept in certain conditions.”

“That’s why you were tired,” he said before starting the car. “Just sleep first. You want to eat dinner?”

Krystal shook her head. Her eyes were already closed and her seat was already reclined. “I’ll pass,” she said in a groggy state.

He was right when he guessed that the conversation between them wouldn't last for the whole car ride home because he expected her to use the time on the road to sleep.

When they reached home, Krystal wasn’t awakened by Minho. Instead, he got her out of the car while still sleeping and placed her on the couch after unlocking the door. He quickly went back outside to gather their belongings in the car and locked it before locking the front door and placing their stuff on the coffee table in the living room. She was still asleep and he didn’t want to disturb her. Though she was having a hard time to let her eyes open, she felt that she was already lying down and her legs were already straight and can feel a surface beneath it. Without opening her eyes and with her half awake state, she could tell that was already at home. It wasn’t long after that when she felt two arms scooping her up felt motion. She guessed that Minho was already bringing her to her room.

Minho removed her shoes after placing her on the bed, then tucked her in. He sat beside the sleeping figure on the bed and caressed her hair. “My poor wife ran a marathon today.” He sighed as he stared at her. He felt bad for her when she told him that she had to go to the ER and the ward back and forth. “You’re tired, but still pretty,” he whispered before letting his lips curve upward to a shy smile. “Just get enough rest and sleep tight. Good night.”

With that, he kissed her forehead before heading out her door and switching her bedside lamp off. It already became a routine for him to steal forehead kisses from her when she’s asleep.

When he closed the door shut, she was finally able to open her eyes. Krystal touched her forehead and questioned herself if what happened was a dream. She was half asleep and half awake, yes, but she was mostly awake because she only found it hard to open her eyes as her eyelids were dropping too much and felt really heavy. She looked at the door before touching the spot that Minho kissed. She exhaled loudly before she rested her arm on the bed and went back to sleep to recharge all the energy that she used up today.

Author's note: Oh, hey! Would you look at that?! IT'S A DOUBLE UPDATE! Again, don't forget to tell me what you guys think of this chapter on the comments section below and son't forget to also hit the subscribe button to be notified as soon as I update. Again, I'd like to say thank you! <3 xx