“Welcome back!” Kyungha’s eardrums are immediately blasted by loud voices and airhorns.

She pulls a strand of streamers stuck on her hair. Smiling back to the crowd, she says, “thank you for this.”

They must’ve not expected her to react like that because Jongdae is gasping and clutching his chest.

Suzy beams. “We missed you so much, Kyungha.”

“Same here,” she responds easily.

Jongdae gapes at her. “What happened to you? Did you get baptized?”

Sehun puts an arm over her shoulders. “No, actually, I found a cure for her vampirism.”

Kyungha throws him off of her with a nudge of her shoulders. “What does that even mean?”

A look flashes through Jongdae’s eyes as he scrutinizes the both of them. With raised eyebrows, he questions, “is it just me, but you both are chummier than usual?”

Joohyun grins, mouthing what Kyungha thinks is they are official. Suzy whoops happily, spraying silly string at the two of them.

She groans, glancing down at her body covered with artificial neon colors. Sehun laughs, giving her a once-over. “You look like Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba. It’s a good look on you, sweetheart.”

“How do you even know that? You’re like fifty.”

“Thirty-three,” he digresses with a shake of his head as if she was a disgrace. “First, you forget my birthday and then you forget my age too. I’m sorry, but for personal reasons, we can’t be friends anymore.”

A half-smile dances on her lips. “Good because I’d rather exchange flora with you anyway.”

Sehun’s eyes are liquid pools of marshmallows and happiness. Before he can say anything, Jongdae smacks a hand on his friend’s back.

“You guys are so—“ Seulgi begins but trails off, hiding her face.

Suzy inserts, “cute!” as Jongdae grumbles, “disgusting. Utterly disgusting.”

Joohyun shoves a hand at Jongdae’s face, pushing it away. “Ignore him. He’s just jealous.”

Kyungha tiredly stretches her limbs as she opens the familiar door of the locker. She inhales the faint scent of floral body spray and Aveeno body lotion. She’d missed this place more than she’d expected.

Then again, she’d missed many things. Dani. The late-night outpatients. Room 1308.

She takes big strides to her locker, pulling it open. Her jaw drops when she sees it’s decorated with pastel sticky notes each with their own little notes on them. Then, she glances at a gigantic bar of KIT KAT—at least two pounds of sugary goodness—leaning vertically against the space of her locker.

Kyungha’s phone buzzes in her pocket, and she slips it out to check.

Like what you see?

She spins around quickly to see Sehun with his mouth twisted up in visible adoration. Kyungha attempts to hide her smile but as always, she fails. “How long did it take you to do this?”

Sehun hums, “not that long.”

“Was that why you didn’t answer my text last night?”

“No, I was actually kind of butthurt you didn’t let me stay.”

Kyungha jabs a finger in his stomach. “I told you. I was having a sleepover.”

“We have sleepovers all the time!”

“An all-girl exclusive sleepover.”

He throws her a comedic look of horror. “Are you assuming my gender? I thought we were over this.”

“Shut your face, Oh Sehun.”

“I’m just kidding, sweetheart. All of us did this. We really did miss you.” He points to the messy sprawls on a single post-it. “That’s Jongdae. As you can see, he’s the top contender to stealing you from me.”

Kyungha blows a raspberry. “Well, he’s married.”

“When has that ever stopped you?”

“Huh, you’re right,” she notes breezily. But at the sight of his jutted lips, she rolls her eyes playfully. “But I already have a man—or should I say child because he seems to have a peculiar taste for kiddie shows.”

“Goodness, sweetheart. You’re moving a little fast there. Just going down the list of kinks, aren’t we? What is it this time? Lolita? ia?”

To say the least, when she leaves the locker room, he’s still in there, writhing on the floor.

When Dani sees her, the girl stumbles off of her bed to barrel right into Kyungha’s arms. The older’s heart warms. “I missed you so much,” she murmurs.

The little girl nods happily, but their moment is interrupted when several knocks sound on the door. Kyungha turns around to see Minjung with a simpering smile.

She inwardly groans. Great.

Minjung waves at Dani who stares at her with curious eyes. Then, she turns to Kyungha with demure eyes. “You’re back! I missed you so much, Kyungha.”

Kyungha’s insides churn like someone had forced her organs inside a giant ice cream maker. She doesn’t bother to fake her smile. Instead, she flicks her eyes at the woman, her stare chilly. “Did you need anything from us?”

Minjung bats her eyelashes. “I have to break some bad news to you.”

“What is it?” The younger asks, narrowing her eyes.

“Dani’s mother doesn’t want you to be around her daughter.” The words feel like a punch in the gut. Kyungha opens , but nothing comes out. She closes it, pursing her lips tightly. Minjung takes advantage of the silence and continues, “she thinks you’re a danger to Dani, which I can understand. I wouldn’t trust someone who hurt my child, whether intentionally or not.”

Kyungha feels Dani’s tiny fingers grip hers. She squeezes, reassuring the little girl. “I saved her,” she articulates, glaring pointedly. “I don’t think my actions would warrant such a reaction from a mother who’s never here.”

Minjung’s jaw tenses. “Kyungha, listen to me. We nearly dodged a bullet.” Then, her gaze falls to Kyungha, gleaming of deviltry. “You’re only an intern. Your job’s not guaranteed. I just want the best for you.”

Again with the threats. And of course, the added bonus of bull. For ’s sakes. Kyungha tightens her fingers into a fist by her side. Minjung notices, triumph breaking in her expression. Her blood sours as she’d realized that she’d let the latter affect her. Minjung was toying her—stringing her along like a puppet, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

She didn’t know that a short time of not seeing Minjung had turned out to be the most blissful time of her life. Funny.

Kyungha couldn’t care less about Minjung. She lets her eyes wander to Dani who is shaking her head. It’s a tiny movement only meant for her to see. Her stomach flips. Why was this girl protecting her when she was the older one? She caresses the girl’s head, watching her break eye contact with a heavy sadness.

“Fine,” she relents with a pained heart. “But don’t think that you can keep running your kingdom over my head. I don’t care what you do. Don’t drag me into your mess, and don’t act like you’ve won because you haven’t, Dr. Park.”

Kyungha turns to leave, letting Dani’s hands fall. constricts and Minjung scoffs. “Oh, sweetheart, don’t play with fire. You’ll burn yourself.”

“,” someone coughs with full intent when Kyungha passes by.

She holds her head up, ignoring them.

“Look at her act all high and mighty because she’s ing her superior. How scary,” another says.

Kyungha whips her head back to stare down the two s. Her lips curl into a sneer when she sees the perpetrators. “Oh, nice seeing you here, Jason. Was one punch not enough to shut you up?”

He laughs, throwing his head back as if she’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. His friend crosses her arm, squinting her eyes at Kyungha. “ you,” he glowers.

She scoffs. “I don’t think my man would appreciate that very much. So no can do. Besides, even if I wasn’t taken, you wouldn’t have a chance. There’s not much to look at.”

Jason’s eyes are intense when they stalk over her face as if he was imprinting her in his brain. She shudders. “Watch your back, Kyungha.”

Without another word, he pushes past her, purposely shoving his shoulders into the girl. She falls back, jaw clenched as she shoots her every ounce of burning hatred she had for him into his eyes. Smiling smugly, he strides away with his friend who doesn’t hesitate to narrow her cat-like eyes, signaling for Kyungha to also watch herself.

Kyungha shakes her head. She’d only been back for one day, and she was already marginally close to getting a migraine.

“Why did your engagement end?” Kyungha asks as she’s snuggled up beside him in his bunk in their secret room.

Sehun is quiet. “Why do you want to know?” He sounds like he’s treading carefully.

“Shouldn’t I know about this? I’m your girlfriend,” she reasons, tracing her fingers on the dip of his collarbone.

“It’s not that important,” he dismisses, kissing her forehead.

“But you were almost married to her?”

“Yeah,” he murmurs, but his voice has thinned out.

Kyungha bites her lip. “Did something happen between you two?”

Sehun doesn’t say anything.

“Hoon?”

He sighs. “I’m tired, sweetheart. I’m going to get a quick shut-eye.”

“Okay, good night,” she whispers. “I’ll be in the emergency room with Jongdae,” she informs, getting up to pull on her doctor’s gown. She watches him with concern. His eyes are closed and if he’d noticed her standing over him, he was doing it on purpose.

Kyungha shuts the door quietly behind her. The backdrop blurs, and she’s thrown into the chaos of her thoughts.

He was definitely hiding something, and that something must’ve bothered him beyond anything. This wasn’t the first time he was vague about his engagement with Minjung.

She would bring it up now and then, but he’d always humor her for a beat and then proceed to deflect with another joke. And it’d worked. Sehun was more well-versed at this than her. He could turn the situation around and change the subject without her even noticing he’d done it.

It stirs up a flare of sharp anxiety in her stomach. She’d only wanted to know because from what she’d heard from Jongdae, they were together since last year, which meant it was one of his serious relationships.

Not the college bimbos.

And she didn’t know how that made her feel. She wasn’t jealous, but she was definitely suspicious. Was there a bigger reason that he felt the need to hide that part of his past from her?

Kyungha sighs. Was he doing it because he wanted to spare her feelings? But that didn’t make sense. She’d never grown overly possessive over him. In fact, if she’d caught a girl staring at him, she’d throw a quick joke in. Do you think she looks like she’d enjoy a ?

Then, he’d roll his eyes and shove at her playfully. So why was he hiding this? Whatever the answer was. She had a bad feeling that it was anything but pretty.

She joins Suzy and Jongdae who are in mid-conversation. Suzy’s eyes shine with excitement when she sees Kyungha. Waving, she says, “Hey! How was your shift?”

Kyungha smiles halfheartedly. “It’s…work.” She tries to be as vague as possible. They didn’t need to know about Minjung or Jason or her new problem—Sehun’s secrets. Unmistakably plural.

Jongdae takes one look at her and huffs a laugh. “So, you were with him, weren’t you?”

Suzy’s eyes grow round. “Oh my gosh! I heard about couples doing it in the on-call room, but I’ve never expected you two to—“

“We didn’t do anything!” She blurts, cheeks growing red.

Jongdae raises his brows. “Oh really?”

Kyungha groans, “yes, really.”

Suzy giggles as she exchanges a funny look with her husband. “Should we tell her?”

Jongdae taps her shoulder. “Say, your gown looks really big on you. Did you perhaps lose some weight?”

Kyungha’s eyes flicker down to her coat, and drops. “Oh.” She wasn’t paying attention and grabbed Sehun’s coat instead of hers. “I guess he’d have to do without his gown for a few hours.” She attempts to play it off.

The two shake their heads with wide easy, grins. Then, they exchange another look like they were sharing their own inside joke between them.

She smiles awkwardly, slipping her hands into her pockets. Her fingers catch onto something. Kyungha blinks down, pushing the fabric of the pocket slightly ajar so she could see what was inside.

Her heart falls straight down from her chest cavity, ramming right into her stomach. She doesn't even have time to catch her breath. Her lungs have been pushed out of the way in the midst. She reaches in to snatch out a tube of lipstick.

It wasn’t Kyungha’s lipstick, and if Sehun had secretly enjoyed crossdressing, he hadn’t told her. So the only sneaking suspicion that was thrown square into her rationality was that he was definitely hiding something, and she’d have to pry it from him.

Whether she’d liked it or not.

Kyungha is livid as she quickly asks around for a certain female. She's pointed to the neurosurgical department.

Minjung is leaning against the reception desk, laughing about something with the nurse. Kyungha tramples over to a Minjung who only notices she’s there after a side glance.

“Kyungha!” She squeals with pretense.

The nurse smiles, greeting her with a pleasant hello. Kyungha tries to remain levelheaded, but she was too far up the emotional spectrum to maintain pleasantries.

“Is this yours?” She queries, pulling out the tube and dangling in front of Minjung’s face.

Minjung’s eyes flash with delight. “Where did you find that? I’d lost it so long ago.”

Kyungha’s throat constricts. What? She wants to ask what business the woman’s lipstick has in Sehun’s gown pocket. But she’s too stunned to speak.

“It was my anniversary present,” she boasts with a distant gaze that signals she was reliving the memories in her head. She sighs pleasantly, tilting her head.

The nurse near her gasps. “You’re in a relationship?”

Minjung’s eyes land on Kyungha’s as she says, “I was, but maybe I still am.”

Kyungha tucks her chin, veins throbbing in her neck. What the hell was that supposed to mean? “Maybe you haven’t heard, Minjung, but I’m dating him.” Then, she clarifies, “Sehun. That is.”

Minjung attempts to remain calm. She did, but she fails when Kyungha sees that her fist is bunched up beneath her coat. Smiling cordially at the nurse, she says with gritted teeth, “I’ll see you around, Phoebe.”

Phoebe, the nurse, lifts her head, ignorant of the heavy tension between the two. “Oh? Alright, bye, Minjung! Bye, Kyungha, it was nice meeting you.”

Then, Minjung locks her arm around Kyungha’s, tightening and pulling her in close until they’re ear to ear. To outsiders, they’d looked cozy with one another. Like friends. But Kyungha knew better. Especially when Minjung’s bones were grating against hers. “Kyungha, what the ?” She hisses.

Kyungha maintains her calm on her face, but frankly, her heart wasn’t in the same place. She could hardly hear anything above her blood roaring in her ears. She’d felt like she was standing in front of Niagara Falls, except the water was a homicidal rust of red. “What? You’re not happy for me? I thought we were sisters,” she exchanges through bared teeth.

A growl comes from beside her. Kyungha keeps her head straight in front of her. She's positive that if she’d turned to look at the latter, her head would fall off from Minjung’s contempt, edging on murder. “Oh, I’m very happy. Can’t you tell?”

“You wanna speak a little louder? I can’t hear you over the green monster lurking in the corner,” she taunts with her fake pretense of easy movements and confident strides.

Minjung jerks so hard that it almost dislocates Kyungha’s arm right out of her shoulder socket. “I told you not to ing test me,” she spats.

Kyungha rolls her eyes. “And I never said I’d listen, sister.”

“ you, Kyungha.”

“I don’t swing that way, Minjung.”

Kyungha could feel the jealousy radiating off of Minjung, but her stomach was in shambles herself. What could explain the lipstick? What could he possibly say to make her own green monster vanish? Nothing. Practically nothing. She was pissed, and no amount of easy grins and boy blush was going to change that.

“You’re such a doll,” Minjung says, but Kyungha can tell it isn’t in the form of a compliment. “So pretty and cute on the outside, but inside, you’re ing miserable.”

Kyungha scoffs. “Funny. I could say the same for you. But the pretty and cute part? Sorry, I just don’t see it,” she bites through a plastered fake smile.

Minjung laughs haughtily beside her. “I can see it now. Why Sehun likes you so much. You’re a ing she-devil. Sharp tongue, misgiving beauty. I see it, but I don’t get it. I’m so much ing better than you. I actually had something with him. What we had wasn't lust—” She gives Kyungha a once over before blinking with feigned innocence. "We loved each other. He's only interested in you because you're young."

“Cut the bull, Minjung. He was yours, and you’d lost him.” The words tumble out too quickly. Kyungha realizes her mistake the second Minjung’s aura changes.

Everything. The anger. The cattiness. She’d look so damn triumphant that Minjung had looked like she’d won a gold medal for the second time in a row.

“Ah, he hasn’t told you everything, has he?”

. Kyungha’s fist clenches behind her. She attempts to chant a mantra over and over in her head, so her mom wouldn’t call her the next day and asked her why Minjung was on the news the next day, mangled in a dumpster. “What do you mean?”

Minjung’s feline eyes drag over Kyungha’s face. It’d made her feel disgusting. She’d never felt so uncomfortable in her own skin and for the first time, she’d wanted to disown her dermis layers. “It’s not my story to tell, sweetheart. Maybe you should ask him.” She winks at Kyungha.

The knew. She’d already deducted that Sehun wasn’t telling Kyungha the whole truth. This didn’t sit well with Kyungha. All of her calm posterity is stripped within a second, and Kyungha is shaking.

In rage. In fear. In anxiety. It was a whole jungle of feelings that held purely negative connotations.

Minjung pulls away, slipping her arms out. Kyungha’s skin feels raw, burning as if she’d been submerged in a vat of the most toxic acid. Then, the girl leans in, pressing a kiss on Kyungha’s cheeks.

“I’ll see you around, Kyungha. Didn’t I tell you? You’d never win. Oh? And keep the lipstick. I think it would look stunning on you.”

Kyungha goes limp. Her shoulders. Her arms. She’d lost the feeling in her fingers from clenching them so hard. And most importantly, she was afraid. Afraid that Minjung just had a head start on her, and if she didn’t do something, she was going to be left in the dust.

Alone. Drowning in her own thoughts. Sleepless nights. And the scariest thing about all of this? She’d lose the source of her light. And another fear wrung at her like an icy, wet, stubborn rag. What if he wasn’t even hers to begin with?