Hyo-jung stood outside the ER, watching the clock. She didn't want to be late for work, but she didn't want to get there any earlier than she had to. As it was, she'd hidden in her room Monday morning until she heard Yoojung leave, then spent her whole day off in her apartment hoping her phone wouldn't ring, then stayed home on Tuesday until time for work, to make sure she didn't accidentally run into Yoojung. But now it was time for her shift, and she was going to have to spend the whole evening at Central Station with Yoojung. To say she was nervous was an understatement.

"Why did I have to do that?" she asked herself. She knew the answer, of course. Yoojung was cute, and she was there, and apparently interested. And Hyo-jung was drunk, and vulnerable, and kicking herself for having missed her chance with Doyeon. It was a situation that seemed to have been custom-designed to give Hyo-jung an opportunity to embarrass herself.

"Ah! There you are!" 

Hyo-jung started, and spun around to face the owner of the voice. "Dr. Choi! You startled me!" 

Yoojung laughed. "I'm not Dr. Choi until we clock in, so not for another-" she checked her watch- "2 minutes. Why don't you go ahead and get your scrubs on, then meet me at the coffee machine - first cup's on me tonight, and we're starting the shift with practically no patents, so it's a good time for us to have a little chat."

Hyo-jung nodded. "See you in just a few," she said. As Yoojung opened the ER door and headed to central station, Hyojung walked down the hall to the nurses' locker room. As she got changed into her scrubs, she listened with half an ear to the chatter of the other nurses - as charge nurse, she needed to know the mood of the department, to be able to head off any problems before they started. Fortunately, everone seemed to be in a good mood tonight.  

She was in the middle of trying her shoes when someone reached out and tapped her on the wrist. She looked up and saw Yuna standing in front of her, smiling like she'd never had a problem in the world. "No," Hyo-jung thought, "that's not fair. It's not good to dislike Yuna because she's with Doyeon - it's just one of those things - a matter of timing." She returned Yuna's smile. "Hey! What up?"

Yuna's smile seemed to get even brighter, if such as thing was possible. "I'm planning to have some people over at my place Friday night for drinks and snacks and to make snarky comments about the Fashion Week telecast, and I was hoping that you could be there."

HYo-jung was shocked to discover that she actually didn't dislike Yuna - she was such kind, friendly person that it really was impossible to dislike her. It'd be like disliking kittens - she just couldn't do it. Returning Yuna's smile with the first genuine smile she'd had all day, she said "I'd like that. Thanks. Should I bring anything?"

Yuna shook her head. "Just yourself! Well, I've got to get to work - see you later!" And with that, she turned and practically skipped out of the locker room.

Hyo-jung finished tying her shoes, then walked quietly down to the coffee machine. Yoojung was already there.

"There you are!" Yoojung said with a smile. "I was starting to think I'd have to send one of the other nurses to fetch you out of the locker room."

Hyo-jung shook her head. "No, it's just one of the nurses needed to talk to me about something." Stopping by the coffee machine, she faced Yoojung and bowed. "Dr. Choi, I'm so sorry about Sunday night. Please forgive me."

Yoojung laughed. When Hyo-jung looked up at her, she was smiling and her eyes were twinkling. "There's nothing to forgive," Yoojung said, handing Hyo-jung some coins and gesturing toward the cofee machine. "I don't know how you take your coffee," she said, "or I'd have had it waiting for you. Anyway, if a beautiful woman tells me I'm pretty and then tries to kiss me, even if it us under the influence of one or two drinks too many, I consider that a win. Certainly not something that needs to be apologized for."

Hyo-jung blushed. "You think I'm beautiful?"

Yoojung nodded. "Yes! Absolutely! Anyway, I was hoping that after work we could have the conversation that neither of us was in any condition to have last night."

Hyo-jung took a sip of her coffee to buy herself a moment to think. It was bitter, too strong, and too hot, the same as this machine's coffee always was. "What about the hospital dating policy?"

Yoojung nodded. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk about. You know the Bear Trap?"

Hyo-jung was confused, and her face showed it. "The gay bar down the street?"

Yoojung nodded. "Can you think of a better place to hide out from the sort of people we know?"

Hyo-jung shook her head, then downed the rest of her coffee. After tossing her cup away, she said "That's really a clever idea."

"I wish I  could take credit for it," Yoojung said. "When I was in college there was a gay guy I was friends with, and whenever he wanted to talk to someone without their conversation being all over the gay grapevine, he'd come to the lesbian bar where I worked as a hostess for a while. I'm just turning the table." She finished her coffee and tossed the cup. "We'd better get down to Central Station - things are quiet now, but that's no guarantee they'll stay that way."   

"Here you go," Seo-jeong said, putting coffees down in front of Suyeon and Hae-rim because dashing back to the counter for her own.

Su