The late afternoon sun trailed inside the silent room, painting the walls and furnitures in a warm orange tone. A solitary figure lay buried under the blankets, her jet black hair spread out across the pillow, her arms extending outwards as if trying to grasp something that was just out of reach.

Suddenly, the obnoxiously loud sound of an ambulance dashed past in the streets, the muffled sound disrupting the peace and crawling into Eunha’s ears. Hearing the familiar sound, Eunha instinctively jolted up into a sitting position and was hit by a wave of dizziness due to sitting up too abruptly. Dropping back down onto the bed, Eunha reached for her phone and checked the time only to realise that she had slept pretty much the whole day away. However that came as no surprise, after all she had a very long night shift and got home around the time Minseok had just woken up. She was so exhausted by the time she came back that she had barely managed to crawl into her bed. In fact, Eunha had a faint memory of Minseok telling her to wash up before going to sleep and her responding with a growl.

Chuckling at the memory, Eunha pushed herself off the bed and dragged her feet towards the bathroom in the hopes that a nice and warm shower will wash away any residue of fatigue in her body. She had contemplated on taking a bath, however she was pretty certain that in her current state she would just end up falling asleep while submerged in the water, and by the time she woke up the skin on her fingers would have become more wrinkly than dried prunes. Thus, a shower was most certainly the more practical and efficient option.

Stepping out of the bathroom with steam streaming out, Eunha felt much more refreshed. Padding towards the kitchen, she frowned as there was nothing ready to eat and she did not feel like cooking anything herself. Massaging her rumbling stomach, Eunha pouted. Deciding that she could not simply skip eating, she got changed and headed out, walking directly towards the kimbap stall that was not too far away.

It was a weekend so there were many people out and about to enjoy the nice weather. Fortunately there was not any queue for the kimbap stall and Eunha happily skipped towards the nearby park while munching on the freshly made bulgogi and cheese kimbap with no carrots inside. She could already hear Junmyeon scolding her for not eating enough vegetables and that caused her to almost choke on her food.

“Jeez, even in my imagination you won’t stop being a mother hen,” Eunha huffed as she sat down on a bench. “Let me eat in peace at least…”

Stuffing the last bite of kimbap into , Eunha allowed her body to melt into the bench, enjoying the light breeze caressing her hair. Closing her eyes, she focused her senses on the sound of children giggling and running around in the park; the squeaking sound coming from the rusty chains of the swing; concerned yells of mothers when a child tripped and fell onto the ground. They were mundane sounds of every day life, but those were the sounds that brought Eunha the most comfort, contrasting with the sterile sound of machines and lifeless hallways of the hospital at night.

Suddenly, a distant memory from her residency days re-emerged, a memory that Eunha had tried hard to keep repressed. It had occurred during a night shift and the patient who had been brought in ended up giving birth to a stillborn. For anyone in the ob-gyn department that was not a rare occurrence — it was not pleasant of course but it came with the job. Nonetheless, for the inexperienced Eunha, the sight of the immobile baby and the desperate cries of the mother left a deep impression. One other resident had switched to another department following that incident. As for Eunha however, the experience strengthened her determination to hone her skills and provide the best care possible to help patients bring their children to the world. Nonetheless, it was a traumatic experience and even now, just recalling the memory, caused her hands to become clammy and her heart rate to accelerate.

Eunha felt as though the bile in her stomach was crawling up her oesophagus as a wave of nausea struck her. Clenching her teeth, Eunha forcefully swallowed back the bile, leaving a bitter aftertaste on her tongue. Just when she found herself having difficulty breathing, a bright and cheerful voice resonated in her ears, pulling her back to the real world, as though offering her an oxygen mask.

“Lollipop doctor!”

Forcing her eyes open, Eunha’s tense expression relaxed when she saw Aecha running towards her, her cheeks smudged with dirt from the sandpit. Bongcha and a male who Eunha had never seen before followed closely behind.

Aecha threw herself towards Eunha, and Eunha instinctively wrapped her hands around Aecha’s torso, easily lifting the young child and placing her on the bench so that they were sitting next to each other.

“Don’t run around so much, you’ll get hurt,” Eunha warned Aecha in a caring tone while she wiped the dirt from Aecha’s face.

“It’s okay, if I get hurt you will heal me.” Aecha grinned widely, revealing that she had a missing front tooth.

So adorable. Eunha thought to herself.

“Your dad would horrified if you got hurt under our supervision Dumpling,” a low and velvety voice mused.

Eunha turned towards the owner of the voice, her eyes widening slightly at the contrast between his voice and his appearance.

“I don’t think we were ever introduced properly.” Bongcha stepped in. “I’m Bongcha, Junmyeon’s young sister, and this is my boyfriend Do Kyungsoo. Soo this is the lollipop doctor.”

“Ah, so you are the famed Do Eunha.” Kyungsoo smiled. “Pleased to finally meet the esteemed lollipop doctor.”

“You know my name,” Eunha stated monotonously.