TWO

The weekend working in the Emergency Room goes terribly slowly for Donghae. He fixes the incisor of a middle-aged alcoholic, he takes out an infected wisdom tooth for an elderly lady, and he wonders what Hyukjae is doing. The hospital is in the opposite direction to the little confectionary shop so he can’t even pretend to casually pass by. He has Hyukjae’s umbrella carefully rolled up and leaning by his front door at home, ready to be taken back to him on Monday and- and this time he’s got a reason to talk to him-

‘We’ve got another,’ the charge nurse calls. ‘A super glue and vampire teeth mishap, you’re needed in consult room three.’

Donghae heaves a weary sigh.

At least the ER work gives him something to do during the weekend.

Donghae is probably the only person in all of Seoul who longs for Monday mornings.

‘How’s my favourite customer?’ Hyukjae smiles at him. ‘Good morning, Donghae.’

Donghae heart does a little flip.

Hyukjae remembered his name.

‘What can I get you?’ Hyukjae asks, like he asks every morning.

‘Um,’ Donghae says, exactly as eloquent as always. He points to a jar with pink and white cubes in it. Hyukjae brightens.

‘I made those last night,’ he says. ‘Do you like coconut too?’

Donghae does, but not once it’s been cooked with what looks like half a ton of sugar. His teeth practically quake at the thought, but Hyukjae has already carefully picked out one of the sweets with a little pair of tongs. He holds it out for Donghae to sample.

‘It’s coconut ice,’ he’s saying, and Donghae can’t do anything but gingerly accept. He’s about to take a tiny nibble but then panics in case Hyukjae realizes he doesn’t really want to, so he shoves the whole cube into his mouth.

A rush of vanilla sweetness floods his tastebuds.

It’s too much. His eyes nearly water from the unaccustomed sugary attack.

‘Do you like it?’ Hyukjae is asking expectantly.

‘Mmmm!’ Donghae says, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up, smile frozen in place.

‘I’m so glad,’ Hyukjae says. ‘I wasn’t sure if the ratio was quite right, because I wanted to keep it from becoming too brittle but also, you know, have it hold together?’

He’s filling a bag with the pink and white squares and Donghae can’t do more than nod and smile because his mouth is still full of coconut and sugar, and he can’t bring himself to swallow but every moment he doesn’t, the stuff is probably eating into his teeth.

Then the transaction is over and Donghae is turning away when he realizes he still has Hyukjae’s umbrella clutched in one hand. He turns back. The customer waiting behind him sighs audibly. Donghae finally manages to gulp the candy down and holds the umbrella out.

‘Here,’ he says. ‘Sorry! I hope you managed to get home okay without it.’

Hyukjae laughs and is about to say something, only behind Donghae the other customer checks her wristwatch and mutters something about flirting and keeping others waiting and Donghae wants to sink through the pavement in embarrassment. Hyukjae hears her too and pretends not to, although his ears go pink.

‘I, uh-’ he says. ‘Hope you enjoy the coconut ice- uh-’

Donghae saves him any further awkwardness by practically bolting, mumbling apologies to the impatient woman and the thuggish-looking man waiting behind her.

Once he gets to work he shoves the whole bag of coconut candy at Mrs Kim then scurries to his office to slump at his desk, resting his head with a thump into his paperwork.

‘Stupid,’ he moans to himself pitifully. ‘Why am I so stupid?’

After work he’s still so ashamed at his pathetic and clearly obvious crush that he goes home on the subway for once.

The next morning, he gets off at the station opposite his workplace and goes straight to the clinic. He’d embarrassed Hyukjae by flirting (he hadn’t even realized he was flirting?) and he can’t bear to see the other man just yet. He ignores Mrs Kim’s disappointment when he arrives empty-handed, and he’s in a bad mood the entire day. There’s a patient with a particularly difficult extraction, he can’t get the stitches quite right, and he snaps at his dental assistant. Then he feels even worse and ends up working la