Baekhyun sat inside the room waiting patiently for the doctor to come. Little did he know he was waiting for Park Chanyeol and just in time, he comes in his white and shining coat with a stethoscope draped around his neck. He knew Chanyeol would look good, heck, he looked good even in their plain white uniforms back in the day but he didn’t expect to see him today, or yesterday, or any day at all. 

“H-hi,” he says, stuttering for the nth time since he saw Baekhyun in the hospital’s lobby, “I’m here to check up on your kid’s EENT?”

“Oh, come in.” Baekhyun says indifferently.

“Today, the sun does not feel as warm but still as beautiful...” Chanyeol thinks but instead he scrambles to form an apology, “Uh, I’m sorry. There are no doctors available and I’m the only one who’s free so I’m here...”

“No, it’s okay. There’s nothing to be sorry about. You’re the doctor, right?” Baekhyun smiles, not because he was happy but only to ease up the tension that was budding.

“So where is he?”

“Oh, you assume my client’s a ‘he’?”

“Uh...”

“Don’t worry. It’s normal to assume. I guess it’s because most children diagnosed with ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder] are males so your intuition is still somehow scientific.”

“So the kid’s a ‘she’?”

“He.”

“Oh, okay...”

“Sit down. Do you want anything? I could fix you up with some coffee or tea.”

“Well, aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be drinking that coffee?” Chanyeol scoffs.

“What does that mean?” Baekhyun smiles, this time teasingly but a little confused.

“You used to sleep during the lectures back then and it’s not going to be helpful if you sleep now.”

Baekhyun tries not to laugh but he does. Suddenly, he is reminded that not all days were gloomy, that there were good days – days that maybe Chanyeol did care. Yet he moves past that.

“Maybe he doesn’t, maybe he just saw me then. Maybe he doesn’t care at all, even now.” He thinks.

“So, about the kid, before we completely diagnose him, I want to run an overall check up again on his EENT to make sure that he’s physiologically well and is not following instructions simply because he can’t hear it or can’t make eye contact because he can’t see clearly. I know you get all these. Here’s the chart that Doctor Kim uses.”

“T-t-thank you.” For the damned nth time, Chanyeol!

His nerves were indeed getting the best of him.

The kid enters the room together with his parents. Baekhyun introduces Chanyeol without even looking at him and this time Chanyeol knows it’s real. He knows he might have done or said something yesterday or at most, in the distant past Baekhyun would rather not travel to.

After the check up has been done, Chanyeol returns to Baekhyun’s clinic, first to give the results and second, if needed, ask him what he should’ve asked him before.

“Here are the results. Overall, his EENT is well-functioning but I’m guessing the kid may have colds at the moment so I prescribed some medicine. I guess you’re all good with your diagnosis. So, when is the therapy starting?”

“I’ll send them the results online tonight – paperless,” he comments and then continues, “and the therapy will most probably begin next week.”

“Good luck! He seems like a pretty good kid so I don’t think you’ll have a hard time.”

“Everyone’s having a hard time, Chanyeol. This is a hospital. Here, people hear what they don’t want to hear, people die, lucky for some there are good doctors like you who can save them but not every case is the same.” Suddenly, there was bitterness in Baekhyun’s voice.

“I get it. I get that, Baekhyun. I get what you’re saying but what I don’t get is why you’re being like this!”

“Being like what?”

“Yesterday you were all smiling and laughing and just being this warm person that I have always adored but when I asked you about him you’re out here trying to keep a straight face and talking about how there is no hope in hospitals.”

“I didn’t say that there’s no hope in hospitals, I just said that everyone’s having a hard time. It’s a case to case basis and you know better than I do, Chanyeol. It’s not every day that you can save lives because some days you just can’t, even if you tried to. And no, I didn’t even care that you asked about him.”

“So, tell me, Baekhyun, tell me what’s wrong? Tell me so I know how to be around you because we'll be seeing each other until this whole thing is over and I don't want this - whatever 'this' is - to take bother our jobs. So tell me, did you like me then? Did you like me when I told you that I liked him?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun swallowed the gapping monster in his throat and somewhere along the way, his pride too.

And then there was silence.

again, sorry for thy typo/s, no one beta-ed this and I'm just here typing stuff cause I can't sleep