.23.

The usual crowded, busy cafe went completely still by his presence as soon as he walked in. Jaehyun had his head down to his phone, unable to notice the attention he had gathered, all heads turned to him, sharply watching him sauntered across and towards the cashier. 

"Good Morning, Sir." The barista chirped with a wide smile on which was the first thing he noticed. It was quite odd and forced like she was held at gunpoint. "Morning." Jaehyun smiled curtly as he proceeded to looked through their menu board. "Will you be getting your usual drink, Sir?" The barista interrupted which Jaehyun found a bit weird that someone was keeping tabs on him. Even though he's a regular there, he was always served by different baristas. 

Jaehyun cleared his throat, easing himself from the awkwardness, "Yes, and also one of your strawberry banana smoothie, please." 

"That's quite a combination of order, Sir." The barista remarked which he assumed that it was her way of giving a satisfying customer service and perhaps getting a good tip. But sometimes, some people tend to cross that thin line between getting friendly and being nosy.

"Ah, yeah, I guess." Jaehyun still tried to answer her while she waited for her to punch in his order. "I hope you don't find it weird, Sir, that I'm commenting on your choice of drinks." She sheepishly smiled, briefly making eye contact with Jaehyun. "I mean you usually order an Americano with two shots of espresso, right?" She added and that was when Jaehyun was able to tell what her intentions clearly were. He had dealt with this kind of things before which he usually ignores even if they'd assume he's a snob. 

"Yea, the smoothie is actually for my girlfriend." Jaehyun bluntly stated and her smile faltered, averting her eyes back on the screen as she finished his order. He was quite stunned as well, suddenly feeling timid by his frankness with his words just awhile ago. "Here you go, Sir." The barista tried to keep a straight face but avoiding eye contact with him while she handed him his drinks, "One Americano and one strawberry banana smoothie." 

"Thank you." Jaehyun politely smiled before making his leave. 

His attention was caught by someone standing just outside the shop, dressed in a blue scrubs, her hair tied in a bun. As if on cue, the girl met eyes with him, a smile immediately spread across his face while the girl waved at him as she approached him. 

"Oh, you're here," The radiant smile on his face never left as his dimples deepened while his eyes were practically beamed with delight. Seeing Haru first thing in the morning was enough to completely shift his mood. 

"I thought we were going to meet at the patio." Jaehyun said, watching Haru placed a tray of sandwiches on the table. The patio have been their usual meet up, usually during their breaks since it was more secluded which also meant fewer people. This time, they were settled at the back of the cafe that was completely hidden from plain sight which Jaehyun didn't know of until now.

"Yea, it's usually crowded there in the morning. Someone might see us and starts.." Haru froze mid sentence, glancing at Jaehyun. 

"So clearly your intention was not to get seen," He said giving her a mock reproving look. "I didn't mean it that way." She was quick to put off his claims but Jaehyun doesn't look convince at all. Assuming that it was no use in talking herself out, Haru pouted which Jaehyun found adorably cute. A smile ghosted on his face while fighting the urge to pinch those cheeks. 

Jaehyun averted his eyes as he maintained his poise and kept a neutral expression, he said, "Okay, I won't make a big deal out of it anymore. I'm sorry." 

She shook her head, "No, I should be the one saying sorry." She lowered her head, her eyes fixated on the cup as she started swirling her smoothie with a straw, "I don't want you getting the wrong idea. It's just that it hasn't been long since we started dating and everything that happened, those little moments we had and even in the future," There was a pause. She lifted her head and directly looked at him in the eyes, she said, "I want to keep it as our memories. Just the two of us. And as much as possible, I don't want other people getting unnecessarily involved." 

Her words made his heart flutter in an instant. His cheeks were tainted red, slowly warming up to the shells of his ear. It completely caught him off guard while the words he tried to formulate kept getting jumbled inside his head. It was his first time hearing such beautiful words that it set thousands of butterflies in his stomach. Forgodsake, he was already thirty but he was getting shy like teenager. It felt like he was back in high school, and he was still falling for the same girl all over again. 

Jaehyun groaned in frustration, unimpressed with himself, "I'm so uncool. I can't even reply properly." His face remained impassive, but he was holding himself back from the emotions that were about to take over. Instead, he stood up and made his way to seat beside her.

"You don't know how happy I am right now hearing those from you. I feel like my heart is going to burst out from my chest already." He was still overwhelmed by the sudden surge of emotions, but nevertheless he liked it. "Thank you, Haru." He smiled gently, reaching for her hand that was underneath the table, intertwining his fingers with hers, gripping it tightly, "I really like you, Haru." Even if he had said it before, he wouldn't mind saying it to her again and again. 

Then, tight lipped, she nods, giving a reassuring squeeze, "I like you, too, Yoonoh." 

"Hey, look over there," One of the station nurses nudged her colleague, making the latter divert her attention away from the chart she was reading. "Don't they look good together?" She asked, staring at the two figures standing at the end of the hall, just outside a room and judging by the serious looks on their faces, it might have something to do with the patient they have checked just now.

"Yea, I think Dr. Jeong perfectly matches with Dr. Kim." She said in a fit of giggles.

Meanwhile, Haru overheard their conversation, her ears perked up at the mere mention of his name but what intrigued her was the number of times Dr. Kim's name was always brought up. She was at the ward station doing her patient's notes when the nurses were talking at an earshot. She tried to ignore it, but she can't help but eavesdrop.

"I heard from Dr. Song that Dr. Kim actually likes Dr. Jeong." The nurse said in hushed voice while some of them huddled up to listen more to her gossip. All of them gasped in surprise. "Really? What abo