“Someone from Jung Foundation is apparently going to help fund our researches,” quoted Sunny from an email on her phone.

The second-year residents just ended their shifts, using minor adversities at work as an excuse to invade Taeyeon and Sunny’s dorm and order chi-maek. The email notification was Taeyeon’s glimmer of hope to get her study of child neurosurgical treatments funded. While everyone thought that it was too risky, most of her seniors in neuro wanted to piggyback and get their names on the paper. It really was a precarious move for a second-year, but she believes that once her study is approved, she’ll get to see the hundreds, and maybe thousands, of children that she’d help as well as the change in trajectory of the neuropsychological field.

“Sunkyu, you speak as if you’ve published anything before,” reminded Sooyoung. Sunny’s reaction to hearing her real name was grabbing the nearest chopsticks and throwing it at Sooyoung’s direction who successfully avoided it.

“I am aware,” She calmy replied.

Since internship, Taeyeon hasn’t let go of the idea of curing children from neurological disorders. She kept polishing the thought until it was shaped into a hypothesis, then: published and utilized for the sake of modern medicine. Perhaps she was aiming for the moon. It was more than she could handle and she thought maybe spreading herself too thin on this one study wouldn’t let her get the best results. One cerebrovascular disease at a time, she hopes.

“Uh oh,” Taeyeon spoke, looking at her pager. “We got patients incoming,”

All eight of them dropped their chicken and/or can of root beer to stand up from the floor, stumbling to get their white coats and run to the hospital which was luckily a few steps away.

Going back to the present where fellow Dr Kim and resident Dr Jung just scrubbed out of the OR. They’re on their way to tell the family of the patient that everything went smoothly. It was still a little awkward between them—trust me, no one would want to be anywhere near whatever they have going on—but both of them thought that they weren’t such a bad team after all.

As the chief of staff closed the door behind her, Sooyoung waited for a moment to dash out of her office and warn Jessica. But she was too late. From her office up to the hospital lobby, everyone was already whispering amongst each other about Dr Jung. She failed her. There must be some way her junior can be saved.

-

Flipping through hundreds of research proposals, the newly appointed financial manager saw this as nothing more than a punishment. Jessica once implied to her father about her exit in the institution one day over a cup of tea at his study. She guessed he didn’t take it so well because making her drown in a heaping pile of science-y stuff (that somehow always put her in a drowsy spell) was her father’s retaliation for even thinking about leaving the company.

It was then she thought of getting out from her office, feeling like a caged animal, and visit the surgeons themselves. She’s a visual learner and reading through science fiction-like innovations in medicine wasn’t cutting it out for her. Seeing is believing. Yeah, I think that’s a good excuse to temporarily leave my castle.

Lo and behold, the university hospital in Gangnam with the ugliest green accent. Jessica would’ve liked it better if it was purple instead. Entering the hospital, she clutched the five research papers in her arm. Out of all 150 of them, she randomly picked five as this was nonetheless a spontaneous decision – and that one stack is at least half an inch thick, she can’t carry more than she has right now.

Nobody knows her and she doesn’t know anybody.

She sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting area and picked one proposal from the pile. Kim Taeyeon, M.D., what a pretty name for a pretty face.

“Child schizophrenia,” whispered Jessica. Is she reading this right? Someone her age is already working on curing schizophrenia?

“I see you have my publication,” Taeyeon was slightly bending down to read her own work on the woman’s lap. She soon realized her posture; it looked a bit intrusive. They suddenly locked eyes.

“Uh, hi there,” Jessica stuttered and felt her face flush. Nice first expression, you dummy.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” The blonde surgeon laughed lightly and extended her arm. “I’m Dr Kim, by the way. I made that,” Her eyes gazed at the stack of paper then at the beautiful stranger she just met.

“I’m Jessica. I’ll be helping you get your work out there,”

Her hand held firmly onto Taeyeon’s. Well-manicured, slender, and soft like a baby’s, distinct from her rough ones. Taeyeon almost felt self-conscious about the fact. She retracted her hand quickly.

“I actually came to see you—uh, I mean you guys on my own. My boss wouldn’t like me going outside my office during work hours,” She explained, stammering, as she kept getting distracted by Taeyeon’s youthful look. She couldn’t decide if she wants her skincare routine or if she just appreciates the woman’s ageless beauty.

“That’s nice, wanna get coffee?” Jessica was at lost for words, like her mind wasn’t able to register this kind of straightforward flirting from someone in the same gender. It was suddenly getting hot for her in the waiting area. A smile played on the doctor’s lips, seeing the slight panic wash over the then-brunette’s face. She had her hands on each of her coat pockets and started walking to the opposite direction while Jessica was catching up from behind.

--

“Dr Jessica Jung?”

Sooyoung watched as the people from HR try to Jessica to the meeting room. The head of the trauma department had a little hope that Taeyeon would help her out regardless of their past.

“Dr Kim, please join us as well,”

Alright, new plan. Plan C: barge in. Dr Choi exhaled in frustration.

--

The second-year resident kept stealing glances while sipping on her chai latte. There was barely a conversation, but the small talks they had every few minutes weren’t uneasy at all. It was natural as Taeyeon’s growing affections for her. It was more so a getting-to-know-each-other than a date. For a number of reasons, and one of them being unsure if the brunette likes girls as much as she did.

“How did you know you wanted to be a doctor?” conversed Jessica as she noticed the other woman’s obvious eye-flirting which she didn’t know existed.

“Okay,” began the surgical resident with a sigh. “I don’t have an inspiring answer for that, actually,” She softly chuckled before adding, “I just decided that I loved medicine,” She concluded with a proud smile.

“I saw from your file that you have a background in music?” Jessica mused as she recalled a random detail, unconsciously leaning forward.

She’s so… Taeyeon’s laugh interrupted her thought. It was so uniquely attractive, it distracted her for a moment.

“I first applied to SNU for the vocal music program,” She answered, the corners of her eyes still crinkled from the short fit of laughter. “Then I went to get a double major in music and medicine,” shrugged the doctor.

The brunette struggled to get her words out. She doesn’t know if she wants to compliment her or return the flirting. Taeyeon noticed her silence and thought of an idea to make the financial manager’s visit memorable.

“Why don’t I show you around the hospital? Maybe you’ll meet the other applicants that you might wanna fund?” She suggested as she stood up and offered her hand. Jessica took it and they walked around for a few minutes with their hands clasped together, albeit clammy.

Their not-date was cut short when she got paged. It was Taeyeon’s cardiothoracic rotations, she couldn’t miss her first solo surgery.

“I almost forgot about my VATS procedure,” said the surgeon dejectedly.

“VATS? Why do you sound so down?” She comforted her, rubbing circles on her back, smiling internally as Taeyeon’s current expression reminded her of a cat. She looked extremely adorable.

“It’s a minimally invasive surgery,” She explained with a pout. “I wanted to stay with you for longer,”

“That’s—” Jessica felt heat rose up from her cheeks. She was too flustered to articulate a reply. “Can’t I watch?” She managed to surprise even herself with the question.

“But there’ll be blood,” Taeyeon said as she saw her eyes change from distressed heteroual to unanticipated bravery. I think she’s already far too gone, she thought.

Jessica’s eyes were unchanging and steady, she must really want to watch the resident perform her first solo surgery. This was her chance to see how good of a surgeon she is and for Taeyeon to impress her new “friend” and everyone who doubted her abilities.

--

Taeyeon and Jessica sat next to each other, their hands were fumbling under the conference table, anxious to get the whole thing over with. On the opposite side, the people from HR and the chief of staff. They seem to be busy assigning the right papers for each of them that the two doctors don’t exist within their sight.

“Okay, ladies,” began the chief. “Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?” She said with a condescending grin, aligning her own pile of papers on the table.

“Miss Jessica, I assume you’re aware that your father tried to acquire your current workplace?”

“I am,”

“Then what must be the reason why you wanted to work here knowing everything you and your company has caused?”

“It’s the best teaching hospital in the country,” said Jessica impassively.

“Honestly, please,” One of the HR employees cut in. Taeyeon glared at him which stopped him from interrupting further.

“It’s true I came here because I knew its history with my family, but I’m here to learn and to make amends. No one knows I have another job outside from our foundation. Just my sister,” She reasoned, sighing in despair. It’s partly true. She can’t see the point of this meeting when they seem to already be set in dismissing her. Jessica sees her senior fidgeting from the corner of her eyes.

“Miss Taeyeon?” Their heads turned to the neurosurgeon who was keeping quiet.

“She’s telling the truth,” She softly answered.

“Okay,” The chief let out a sigh, turning back her attention to Dr Jung. “But the emotional distressed you caused – we can’t just look past that,”

“Which means…” Taeyeon pursed her lip. They can’t say goodbye like this.

“You’re firing me?!” Jessica growled as if she wasn’t anticipating this from the beginning. Still, it hurt to hear it with Taeyeon in the room.

“We’re sorry, Dr Jung. We have Dr Kim to attest your doings in the last five years,”

Clenching her fists, Taeyeon interjected, “Wait,”

“Have something to add, Dr Kim?” asked the chief in a normal tone, like she’s done using her faux compassionate voice for casually firing a competent employee.

“That was five years ago,” She said with conviction.

“Okay?”

“My lashing out and tarnished reputation – it’s all me. As far as I know, she was just the messenger,” argued the Fellow.

“Is this true?” Everyone’s heads turned to Jessica again. She looked as shocked as them.

“Yes, the senior finance manager approves the studies. I don’t have the final decision,”

--

The first daughter of the Jung Foundation was wearing a green disposable scrubbing gown and she thought she looked silly. Not only was the hospital’s official color part of her theoretical palette of least favorite shades, she can’t show off her new floral print Balenciaga blouse under the large green gown.

The OR was radio silent, waiting for its lead surgeon to start the procedure. The beeping of the ECG and Taeyeon’s shaky breath seemed to calm the brunette down a little. The surgeon took a quick look at her new supporter who was visibly uncomfortable.

Jessica looked up, swiftly making eye contact with her. Taeyeon smiled at her under the mask, then said to her surgical staff, “Let’s begin,” She positioned her hand for the scalpel. “10-blade, please,”

The resident looked serene, like she was suddenly in her own world. Her hand and voice were trembling at the start, but as soon as she made the first small incision on the lateral part of the patient’s chest using the scalpel, her worries all disappeared into thin air. Dr Kim and her senior from cardiothoracic applied ports on the first two incisions using trocars to insert the camera and laparoscopic graspers.

While the interns and scrub nurses were conversing to each other about the surgery and praising Taeyeon, the financial manager passionately watched the entire thing, in spite of her grimaces at every incision and puncture. The surgery was a success and the staff took the patient for postoperative care. Jessica was smiling so widely like a proud parent as Taeyeon left the OR.

“What’s wrong?” She chuckled. Weird reaction after a surgery, but it put her in a good mood, so she couldn’t complain.

“You’re not a bad surgeon after all,” Jessica nudged her by the shoulder.

Taeyeon laughed again. She asked, getting affected by Jessica’s random confidence, “Wanna have ramyun at my place?”

“What?”

--

Sooyoung was right by the window of the meeting room and biting her nails. She was too polite to barge in.

“Dr Choi?” Tiffany asked in ragged breaths from running out the OR. She was wearing her pink scrubs, and her wavy platinum blonde hair cascaded down to her waist. On the other hand, the trauma surgeon’s hair was like a bird’s nest, crumpled up in an unintentionally messy bun.

“Fany?” She uttered, relieved to see her.

“I rushed out of the OR as soon as I heard,” Tiffany placed her hand on Sooyoung’s tense shoulder. “Maybe I can help,”

“I’m sorry, Fany, but I can’t even intervene as an administrator,”

“Don’t worry about me,” She squeezed Sooyoung’s shoulder before coolly entering the room with her signature eye smile.

“Everything alright, ladies?” beamed Tiffany.