In a small apartment tucked away in Gangseo-gu, a young woman hummed a cheery tune as she prepared for the long day ahead of her. She had finished applying a layer of red lipstick when she glanced down at the watch on her wrist, realizing that she was running behind schedule. The woman muttered a curse as she pursed her lips together. Quickly, she replaced the cap on the lipstick tube, placing it among the clutter that took over the counter. She sighed at leaving the surface a mess.

To make up for as much lost time as possible, she legged it down the hall to the entrance of the house. She managed to wrap her long, black coat around herself when she heard a whimper behind her. Smiling, she turned around.

"Bye Jjing-Jjing," she bid, bending down to place a kiss on her tiny dog's head. Spinning back around, she slipped her white clogs on before rushing out the doorway. 

She made her way down a few flights of stairs that intimately lead to the underground parking garage. Another glance at her watch caused her to grimace. As she was hastily grabbing her keys out of her purse, she heard an upbeat voice call out from behind: "Hey, Yongsun!"

A sincere smile slipped across her face when her eyes met the owner of the voice.

"Hey, Heeyeon. How are you?" Yongsun inquired. She had feared that she may come off as rude, but she also was afraid to be late to her shift.

"I'm good actually — I wanted to know if you were free tonight. Me and Sunyoung were thinking of getting together." Heeyeon stated. 

When she noticed that Yongsun was dressed in her scrubs, she figured the answer would be no. Her heart sank in disappointment, but she quickly assured herself that there would yet be another opportunity in the future.

"I'm sorry," Yongsun apologized, putting her hands together with an apologetic bow of her head. "I have another twelve-hour shift tonight."

“Alright, I'll count this as a rain check then," Heeyeon winked, heading towards the stairwell. She stopped and turned around to point authoritatively. A grin plastered on her face assured the older girl it was light-hearted. "Just message me when you have some free time. We haven't been together in forever."

"I will," Yongsun laughed.

***

"Thank you Seulgi," Byulyi thanked, shallowly bowing her head. She accepted the small bowl of kimchi that the younger girl had just collected from the kitchen staff.

"No problem," Seulgi replied with a wave of her hand as she sat down across from the blonde. Byulyi rested her chin on her palm once more, absentmindedly staring out one of the overly large windows of the hospital's cafeteria. Her desire to go outside reigned over her thoughts — she sighed at the