It took them years to realize what they had for each other were only a shared past, obligation and guilt, exactly like Jaehui said.

They lived and worked in that village, helping the people and trying to fill the void in their hearts as they received the gratitude of the people in that village.

They told themselves they were happy, that after all the sufferings and pain, they finally got what they wanted. Yet, something made them felt empty. They didn’t know what, but it always felt like there was something missing.

Somehow, although they never voiced it, they never officiated their relationship into a marriage. They lied to themselves that they’d do it “when they were ready”. Time went by but they kept not registering their marriage, making everything stood on thin ice.

And then of course, there were the questions.

In Park Hoon’s heart, he wondered whether the Jaehui who said he should lose the surgery match, making his patients victims of the game was just because she was desperate, or because that was really her?

When she begged him to not save the Prime Minister, Park Hoon remembered thinking “This is not the Jaehui I knew.”

Was he correct about her character? Did he really know her? Had she changed after all the long and winding road?

These were the questions that he kept pushing to the back of his mind, but like everything suppressed, it kept coming back.

********************************************************

For Jaehui, the question was only one. It’s just one, but it haunted her everyday.

The question echoed in her mind whenever she saw Park Hoon lapsing into silence. Or when she saw that the smiles he gave her was not his sincere smile, but the practiced smile he gave to his patients, like he was tolerating her, instead of genuinely loving her.

Does he love Oh Soohyun better than me?

That was the question that kept on disturbing her.

*********************************************************

Jaehui loved Hoon, of that nothing could argue. But would she live forever with a man who she knew was forcing himself to be with her?

It started as something really subtle.

He flinched when she touched him, or that his mind wandered when she was talking to him.

A part of her wanted to deny the signs.

She knew quite well that the two had never met ever since she arrived from China, and it’s been three years since then.

She wondered whether she was just being a paranoid, and pushed herself to keep living the saccharine life of a couple who have found each other at the end of the road.

Until one evening, when the daughter of the rich person in the village got married and Hoon got dragged into a drinking game. He never really drank much, but he was off the next day, and the atmosphere was really merry, so he let himself got carried away.

He was dead drunk by 11 pm, and two burly guys helped carried him to another somebody’s car. And then all of a sudden, Hoon said, slurring, “Quack, come on, it’s your turn to carry me home. Did that for you once. Pay back.”

The word “Quack” froze Jaehui to the bone.

************************************************

She was the one who left.

She applied for a position in a hospital in the U.S.A and got accepted.

She said her goodbye in a letter, of which Hoon found after a long day of working at the village clinic.

Hoon-ah,

I am sorry I left you with just a letter.

I want to keep the image of our beautiful love in my heart.

We loved each other sincerely, but we know that a big part of it was our shared past.

Everything that is hard to obtain is beautiful, including what we had.

But it doesn’t make it true, or that we need to keep forcing ourselves to honour it.

I know it is nobody’s fault.

I am glad we fought for it, yet our hearts were the ones who let go.

We drifted apart, Hoon-ah, and I know we wanted more, much, much more from the life we struggled so hard for.

I am letting you go with my blessings and prayer, that you will be happy.

I will find my happiness as well.

Ours is not with each other.

You know the one you cannot forget.

Go and find her.

Goodbye, my first love,

Song Jaehui.

*****************************************************

He thought he would be devastated, but he recovered much faster than he expected. He drowned himself in his work, and found life was easier. Lighter.

He wondered from time to time how Oh Soohyun was doing. It crossed his mind to text her from time to time, but he went against it, not wanting to take somebody’s wife.

*****************************************************

Dr. Mun had always invited him for a reunion, but he never accepted it. One day, after another long day, Dr. Mun called him again.

“Yah, aren’t you bored living in the village? Dr. Geum got an offer from Mingook hospital, and he’ll leave soon. Why don’t you come back?”

Usually, Hoon would just laugh and changed the topic, but that time, he replied with, “Juinnim (Master), if I go there, will you treat me to a huge hanshik (Korean meal)?”

Dr. Mun was silent for a second, before blurting out, “Geudae! You know how much money I have! Come here and I’ll treat you to eat an expensive meal! You can eat whatever you want, as much as you want!”

“Jinjja? I might really take you on your word, you know.”

“I’ve told you! Just come here and I’ll treat you!”

“I really will, then.”

“Yah, are you serious? When will you do that, you brat? Stop playing with an old man, aish!”

“How about tomorrow?”

Dr. Mun was silent again, before he shrieked, “Tomorrow is a great time! What time will you be here? You’ll come to Myeongwoo, right?”

The conversation went on with them making an appointment.

*****************************************************

Hoon was washed with nostalgic feelings once he arrived at Myeongwoo. It’s been three years, and he finally realized that he missed the hospital.

Although he went through a challenging time there, he also discovered that his heart would always follow what doctors should do, prioritizing to save lives above all, regardless of who the patient was.

He walked to the front of the E.R, and was presented with a scene that made him smiled.

Oh Soohyun was there, kneeling above a patient who seemed to a have a cardiac arrest on a bed, performing a CPR, looking like the whole world narrowed into that one patient.

How great, Hoon thought, she worked hard. He always knew she’d be a great doctor.

He didn’t enter the hospital further though, or tried to meet her, but instead waited for Dr. Mun at the park.

****************************************************

“Yah, Brat, why didn’t you come inside? Everyone will be really happy to see you.”

“Only VIPs can see me.”

“Aigoo. Am I one of the VIPs, then?”

“Of course! Everyone who’s willing to treat me like this—“he said, waving his hand to the table full of Korean food, “is a VIP.”

Dr. Mun was really glad to hear that, and together they ate a hearty meal.

Hoon told him about how great it was to live in the village and how he worked at the clinic. But he didn’t say a word about Jaehui, or Han Seung Hui.

“So? How’s Dr. Han?”

Hoon’s smiles faltered at that.

“Are you two married by now? Eyyy, why didn’t you invite me, tsk, tsk, tsk.”

“Dr. Han is in the U.S.A”

“.....what? Will you go there with her? Is this a goodbye? Is that why you finally want to see me? You jerk, you should’ve—“

“No, I’m not going there.”

Dr. Mun frowned, before catching up.

“So you two are not—“

“No. Not anymore” Hoon said, smiling his forced smile before resuming his lunch.

Thirty minutes later, after Dr. Mun filled him on the current life of Myeongwoo Hospital, Hoon gathered his will to ask about her.

“How’s Quack? Is she and Han Jae Jun doing well?”

“Mwo? Didn’t you know?”

“Huh? About what?”

“They were going to get married, but she cancelled it a few days before the wedding.”

“...........did she?”

“Ne! Aish, that’s why, you should’ve learnt to keep in touch!”

**********************************************************

Hoon mostly just listened to Dr. Mun talking after that.

Or tried to.

Afterwards, he changed his mind of returning to the village on the same day, and checked in to a hotel near the Myeongwoo.

He spent the night unable to sleep, and found himself dressed and walking to the hospital at 8 am the next morning.

***********************************************************

He had to ask around to find where she was, meeting familiar faces that beamed when they recognized him, and was told that Soohyun was performing a surgery at the moment.

He had to wait, and was allowed to wait in one of the meeting rooms for surgeons. It was empty at the moment, and he sat down on one of the chairs inside, watching surgeons and nurses passed along the hallways around the room through the glass walls.

************************************************************

When Soohyun was told by a resident doctor that there was a guest waiting for him, she groaned. She just finished a two hours long surgery and was starving. She couldn’t wait to gobble up some rice, but he heard the guess had been waiting for her for a long time, so she decided to just have a quick chat before excusing herself for lunch.

She nearly ran away when she saw who the guess was.

She would, actually, if only Hoon didn’t see her already.

With legs that felt as heavy lead, she stepped into the meeting room.

“Dr. Park. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“Annyeong, Quack. I’ve been well. What about you?”

“I’m doing well.”

“Yah, you look like a great surgeon, now.”

“I’m warning you, I’ve been improving a lot! Don’t call me Quack anymore!”

“Really? That’s great, but it’s hard to let old habits, go, you know?”

“Tsk. I see that you’re still annoying after all these years! Speak up, why are you here?”

Soohyun had no doubt that he was here to invite her to his wedding. She’s going to be strong and attend it, of course.

“Is there a vacancy for one more surgeon here?”

She was speechless for a few seconds.

“Su—surgeon? Do you—do you want to work here again?”

He nodded.

“And—and Jaehui-ssi? We could always use a brilliant anaesthesiologist like her!”

“I’m afraid it’s only me. If you’ll have me.”

The last sentence was heavily ambiguous but Soohyun ignored it.

“Wo—would Jaehui-ssi keep working in the village?”

“Aniya. She’s in USA.”

“Wh—what? Why is she there and you’re here?”

“...........we didn’t work out.”

“............what do you mean you didn’t work out? You two love each other so much!”

“We thought we did. But we didn’t.”

She held her head, for she had a headache all of a sudden. She pulled a chair and sat down.

“I don’t get it. Go find her in US, what the hell are you doing, seeking a job in this hospital?”

“Yah, Quack, are you rejecting me? Is this revenge?”

“Re—what? No! I would be feeling to reject you!”

“Jjinjja? That’s good, then.”

“You’re a great surgeon, and Dr. Geum will—“

“Will you be my first assistant, then?”

“Wait” she asked, taking a deep breath, “Are you serious? Do you want to work here again?”

“Ne.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re here.”

Her breathing stopped. For a few seconds, she thought she had a cardiac arrest, and Park Hoon would have to operate on her.

“You look like you’d have a heart attack” he stated leisurely.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing, you jerk???”

“Never ask a surgeon to repeat himself, Quack. It’s a bad habit.”

“Yah, Park Hoon!!!”

“I’m really sorry. About your cancelled wedding.”

Soohyun opened but nothing came out.

“Don’t joke with me! Malhebwa, why are you here?”

He could see that she was seconds away from crying.

So he repeated himself.

“I want to work here because you’re here.”

Her tears began to drop.

“I don’t get this. I don’t get you. Why are you—“

He stood up, circled the meeting table, pulled her up by her wrist, and hugged her.

She panicked and tried to break free, but his hands held her firmly in place.

He closed his eyes and hugged her close, despite how she was shaking.

“I think our heartbeats are in sync now, Quack.”

She burst into a sob.

And flung her arms around him.

“So? Can I be where you are?”

She answered by holding him tighter.

“Guess it’s a yes, then” he grinned, before reaching for her wet cheeks and started kissing her.

She was shaking in his arms, but her hands were clutching his jacket.

Outside, Dr. Mum and Dr. Kim Chi Gyu were hitting each other in excitement of seeing the scene between Park Hoon and Oh Soohyun.

“I always knew there was something between them!” Kim Chi Gyu yelled.

“Hoon is coming back and he ends with the Chairman’s daughter!!!”

Inside the meeting room, oblivious that they were causing a scene, the two kept kissing each other.

It was a new chapter for Myeongwoo Hospital indeed.

*****************************************************

Author’s Note:

This is the ending I want, ok.

Hope you like it!