.17.

For the past few days, they had found themselves enjoying each other's company. Jaehyun would spend his remaining hours doing his paperworks at the small charting room as Haru seemed to not mind at all, that the once vacant seat in front of her was being occupied by his presence. They would hold brief conversations about their patients and whatnot that it mostly ends up in an awkward silence, proceeding to continue their work instead. It felt uncomfortable at first, but they somehow got used it, laughing it off whenever the stillness of the room greeted them. Haru slowly loosened up towards him day by day as Jaehyun felt the gap between them had gotten smaller, which obviously delighted him with that fact. It came to a point when Jaehyun would automatically drive her home after work that they somehow unknowingly established a habit for just the two of them. They haven't seemed to noticed this until Jieun pointed it out to Haru all of a sudden. 

"Is there something going on between the two you?" 

Haru immediately stopped what she was doing, fingers hovered above her keyboard as she turned to Jieun with a perplexed look. She was processing her words that she wasn't sure if she had heard her right. Jieun caught the expression on her face as she repeated her question once again. This time, Haru had understood her loud and clear as she remained bewildered, unable to form the words that she wanted to say. She knew what the answer was but the words somehow got stuck in . She was going to say no but she felt unsure with it because he had never thought of Jaehyun's action towards him far more than anything else. She assumed Jaehyun was just kind enough to accompany her. 

"No..we're just friends." Her voice choked on the last word as Jieun seemed unconvinced as Haru looked away, quickly dropping off the topic. But Jieun was persistent, wanting to get more from her as she stated, "I've been working in this hospital for years and this is the first time that I have seen Dr. Jeong shown an interest to someone besides his patients." Haru didn't know what to respond, feeling baffled with what she just heard as she stared blankly at the screen. She let out a defensive laugh, convincing herself that Jieun was just solely assuming things, "Come on, Jieun, I don't think he thinks of me that way."

"Whatever you say, Haru. I'm just saying." Jieun didn't probed her any further as she shrugged her shoulders before walking out of the room, leaving Haru in a confused state. For the remainder of the week, she started questioning herself if Jaehyun have any other reason why he was giving her the attention, but she couldn't come up with one.

She wouldn't deny it but she has become more dangerously aware with Jaehyun. Ever since Jieun had brought it up she can't help but be more conscious around him. She had been stealing glances at him, who was hunched ove his laptop, noticing how his long lashes were almost covered by his small fringe, his jaw looking tense as he had a serious expression on. Suddenly, she found herself agreeing to the nurses at the station whenever she heard them talk about Jaehyun. He was handsome indeed, but he was still intimidating to look at, maybe because of how he had always carried himself with poise that not eveyone would dare to approach him. 

A sudden ring was heard across from her as Jaehyun picked up his phone, checking the message. He closed his laptop, quickly gathering up his things as he said, "Hey, something came up. I don't think I can drive you home today. Sorry, Haru." She watched as he raked his fingers through his hair, a habit she had noticed from him. "Oh, I think our department is going out for a drink tonight and some of the doctors are coming. You should come, too." She stated, carefully hiding the hopefulness in her voice, not wanting to sound desperate. Jaehyun gave her a small smile, his dimples shyly showing, "Sure. I'll try." 

Jineun entered inside the pantry, giving her a teasing look as Haru completely ignored it. "So, did you invite prince charming for later?" Jieun asked as Haru remembered the reason why she had done it at the first place. She sighed, slightly regretting her decision. "Yeah.." She trailed off when she realized what it would meant if he would show up knowing full well that he wasn't fan of social gatherings. Could Jieun's assumption be true?

Everyone was already gathered at the restaurant even Dr. Moon who seems to have started the night with a bottle a soju. He started handing out shots to each of them as they all chugged down the glass at one go. "You should slow down with your drinks, Dr. Moon." One of his colleague warned him as Taeil glared at him. "I'll be a married man soon, Dr. Lee. Please mind your own business." He retorted as he took another shot, Dr. Lee shaking his head is disbelief, "That's if you'll even survive the night to be one."

Haru wanted to ask Taeil if Jaehyun had mentioned it to him if he was coming but she didn't want to sound suspicious that it may draw a number of attention. She excused herself instead as she went to the bathroom. She checked herself in the mirror, scrutinizing herself thoroughly. She was nervous and frantic, but she didn't know why. It was all Jieun's fault. Her words somehow got stuck in her head that she can't seem to keep her head straight anymore ever since she's with Jaehyun. She sighed for the nth time today as she thought she just wanted to get it over with fast.

She exited the bathroom when she heard the main door opened as the person she had been waiting for entered inside. She felt her heart thumped loudly but it quickly sank into her shoes when she realized he wasn't alone as another figure stood beside him, perhaps a bit too close to him. Jaehyun bent down as he whispered something in her ear while the latter laughed in response as Jaehyun did the same. And by the looks of it, she finally got the answer to her unremitting question.
 

***
The days were different for Jaehyun, it felt slow and awfully quiet. He was back at lounge room doing his usual work, but something was missing. Even though the charting room wasn't spacious there was this comfort whenever he was there, perhaps it was the placidity of the surrounding or maybe there was more to it. It wasn't a what but a who. He found himself entering the charting room expecting her to be sitted at her usual seat but to his dismay, she wasn't. She haven't seen her for the past few days, with no sign of her presence but a message telling him that she had pick up the morning shift to focus more on her paper. 

"Dr. Jeong, do you need anything?" Jieun was standing by the door as he slowly approached her, thinking of a quick excuse in his head. "Yeah, I- uhm- I just needed a few charts. That's all." He swiftly grabbed a random folder from the shelf to look more convincing as Jieun merely nodded her head. "Well, thanks, Ms. Lee." He said, ready to leave when she suddenly called out for him. He had known her ever since he started his clerkship in this hospital then followed by his residency, but they never had any proper conversation besides an update regarding their patients. He thought it was about that but what she said next took him by surprise, "I know you've been nice to almost everybody, Dr. Jeong.." She stopped as she pondered a bit on what she was gonna say next. "But it would be awful when your intentions are misinterpreted into something else, especially to someone." Her words struck him as he stared at Jieun, who stood firm and stern with her thoughts. He probably looked oblivious as he tried to comprehend what she had meant but before he could even ask her, she already excused herself to attend to her patient as he was left there, hopelessy muddled with what happened. 

He stood in front of his full-length mirror inside his bedroom, staring emptily at his own reflection. He was clad in his black suit, his hair neatly pushed back as his black tie was draped around his neck, still undone. He snapped out from his train of thoughts when his phone rang on his bedside table, he immediately answered it upon seeing the name of the caller on the screen. 

"Hello?"

"Where are you? We agreed to meet here by 7." The person on the other end answered, sounding irritated at his friend who seems to be lost with his sense of time. Jaehyun was supposed to catch a ride with Doyoung since he didn't want to bother himself as their design