“Stop pouting already.” Eunha rolled her eyes as they stepped out of the car. “If you are trying to be cute, you are failing.”

“I’m adorable and I know it,” Minseok scoffed. “But still, when you said you were buying breakfast I was expecting something more lavish, not just a couple of pastries.”

“Just feel honoured that I bought you food at all,” Eunha huffed, accidentally bumping into someone just as she was about to enter the lift. “Sor— Junmyeon, hi.”

“Eunha,” Junmyeon stuttered, not expecting to run into her as soon as he arrived at the hospital. “Minseok, hi.”

“Yes, hi, I’m here as well,” Minseok grumbled, still upset at the underwhelming breakfast that he had.

“Ignore him.” Eunha shook her head. “He’s just throwing a tantrum.”

“Right,” Junmyeon coughed softly, trying to mask how flustered he felt.

The events of the previous evening replayed in his mind, the sensation of Eunha’s breath brushing against the skin of his neck; her hand against his chest; the proximity between them. Silently pinching his thigh, Junmyeon managed to snap himself back to reality before he became overwhelmed all over again. He felt rather foolish reacting like a character from a high school rom-com when he was a full grown adult. Then again, the way he tripped and fell on top of Eunha was a cliche scenario that many teenage girls probably dreamed of.

Sighing loudly, Junmyeon opted for the only reasonable explanation he was willing to acknowledge: he had been so focused on work and being a single-parent that he neglected his physical needs. As embarrassing of a reasoning as that felt, Junmyeon would rather stick with that theory than entertain any other possibility. Giving Eunha a side glance, Junmyeon frowned. Seeing how Eunha was behaving like normal, it made it even more obvious that he was the only one making it into a huge deal.

“Shouldn’t you have gotten off already?” Minseok nudged Junmyeon. “We’re reaching the ob-gyn floor now.”

“Oh.”

That was the only response Junmyeon had managed to utter. Shaking his head at his best friend’s distracted behaviour, Minseok patted his shoulder as the lift came to a stop.

“Old age must be catching up to you.”

“I’ll just take the stairs to go down,” Junmyeon replied absentmindedly.

Trailing out of the lift, Junmyon was eager to distance himself from Eunha, even if just momentarily, just for safety precautions. He did no wish to raise any unfounded suspicions in Minseok. Junmyeon may not openly acknowledge it, but Minseok was an observant person and there was no hiding from him. His moment of peace however appeared to be getting further and further away as they encountered an unexpected visitor.

“Mr Zhang, what are you doing here?” Minseok greeted the male, surprise in his voice.

“Please just call me Yixing.” The male smiled with his dimples in full display. “I have to give a presentation to the chief of departments later and thought I’d drop by and say hi.”

“Please convince the chief of the ob-gyn department to give us more days off,” Eunha quipped. “He overworks us way too much.”

Junmyeon gave Eunha a look of surprise, wondering when the two of them had reached such friendly terms where she could casually joke with him. As her colleague, Junmyeon technically had more opportunities to interact with Eunha. Yet, despite all that, it appeared that Junmyeon and her were doomed to be stuck in an awkward limbo of Junmyeon becoming flustered because of anything and everything that Eunha said or did.

“I’m afraid that’s outside of my jurisdiction,” Yixing chuckled. “But I bought you a souvenir from China.”

“Bribing me with gifts I see,” Eunha mused. “I hope you haven’t fooled yourself into thinking that I’m an easy girl.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

“I on the other hand am easy to bribe,” Minseok quipped, taking the gift bag from Yixing, his eyes widening in pleasant surprise upon seeing the contents. “Especially if the bribe in question is food. How did you manage to get mooncakes? It’s out of season.”

“Eunha mentioned that she had never tried mooncakes before so I thought it was my duty to give her a taste of such delicacy.”

“She’s a picky eater,” Junmyeon mumbled.

Junmyeon had not intended to say that out loud, however it happened nonetheless. Mentally kicking himself, Junmyeon gave Yixing a quick bow and dashed towards the stairs, not wanting to embarrass himself any further.

“I should take my leave as well,” Yixing stated calmly, completed unfazed by Junmyeon sudden departure.

Once both Junmyeon and Yixing were out of sight, Minseok gave Eunha a long and hard stare of suspicion.

“Seriously what did you do to Junmyeon last night?”

“Why do you think I did something,” Eunha huffed. “Everyone in this hospital just loves to jump to conclusions.”

Shaking her hand, Eunha snatched the bag of mooncakes away from Minseok and marched towards her office.

“What’s gotten into her now?” Minseok mumbled, scratching his head in confusion.

・・・

After a whole morning of consultations and discussions about planned surgeries, Eunha was in her office now together with Chanyeol and a surgeon from the cardiovascular department — Choi Siwon — to discuss about another patient.

“From the looks of this ultrasound, there is a high chance Mrs Im’s baby has HLHS,” Siwon stated with a serious voice.

“Hypoplastic left heart syndrome huh?” Chanyel sighed. “That’s nasty.”

“On average infants born with HLHS die within 2 weeks of birth,” Eunha hummed while massaging her temples. “Depending on the state of the infant, we will need to perform surgical intervention. I’ll try to keep my schedule as light as possible for when the baby comes.”

“I’ll coordinate with the others in the department,” Chanyeol reassured Eunha.

“I’ll have my resident inform Mrs Im about the medical procedures involved and get a form of consent signed beforehand,” Siwon stated while jotting down in his notes.

With that being said, they wrapped up the meeting and Siwon proceeded to leave the office. Within moments of Siwon’s departure however, the door opened