‘’Nothing’s happenning?’’ Joohyun asked the head nurse of the ER when they got downstairs, seeing the ER being run usually.

‘’Dr. Kim Jennie needs you in room number 5.’’ The nurse pointed and both doctors went inside the room. Seulgi was a bit nervous. She got scared it would prevent her from doing her job normally ,so she quickly paged her main nurse, Choi Sooyoung. They had been working together since Seulgi’s intern days, the older woman always helping Seulgi. Since then, they created a chemistry and most of the time Seulgi did not need to speak for nurse Choi to understand what she needed in the OR.

‘’Doctors, hi.’’ Kim Jennie greeted. In the room were two other nurses and the patient, a woman who seemed to be in her late 20’s lying on the bed, awkwardly greeting the newcomers. Seulgi simply nodded her head, still confused by the situation. The woman did not seem at all in need of any urgent care necessity the paging of a neuro and cardio surgeons.

‘’Hi. I thought there was an emergency?’’ Joohyun started with a tight smile. She was actually acquainted with Jennie, more than Seulgi who for understandable reasons avoided Jisoo’s wife.

‘’Right. There is. You see, this is a very peculiar case of-‘’ Jennie started and was immediately interrupted by a whine coming from her patient. Seulgi’s and Joohyun’s eyes widened seeing the heartrate going up, ready to help the woman, but the whines quickly turned into a moan. The patient became redder and Seulgi thought the patient was about to die, and with Joohyun quickly did a check up.

Jennie seeing it led the doctors away from the room followed by the nurses.

‘’Wha- The patient!’’ Joohyun exclaimed, infuriated that Jennie just took them away from the patient. She kept on rambling, while Seulgi kept looking inside the room until she realized what was happening and became all red.

‘’Was she…’’ She started looking at Jennie with raised eyebrows, ‘’having an ?’’ She whispered, crossing her arms and looking around the ER as if it was a forbidden word to be said.

‘’Wha- WHAT?’’ Joohyun exclaimed getting all the attention from the other doctors in the ER and patietns, but they quickly resumed to their activities. Joohyun stood on her tippy toes to look through the small window frame of the door. She immediately reddened and scratched her neck coming back to her previous position.

‘’That’s um-‘’ she cleared , ‘’Unfortunate?’’ She tentatively asked grimacing and looking at both doctors. Seulgi avoided her gaze, still red.

‘’I ran all the tests for a gynecology issue but nothing. Her heart is well- constantly working as if she were running a marathon and I think it might be something in the brain. So, that’s why you guys are here.’’

‘’Tests ran?’’ Seulgi asked, her arms still crossed, her serious demeanor coming back.

‘’The MRI and CT said they needed a neuro order since they are overworked today.’’

‘’Mhhm.’’

‘’So you ran no tests?’’ Joohyun asked.

‘’Well no, I need your authorization. They never take my department seriously when they’re overworked.’’ Jennie complained.

‘’I’ll send some interns for the MRI and heart tests. I have a surgery in 30 so I need to go see my patient.’’ Joohyun said and left both doctors alone. Seulgi awkwardly smiled atJennie before walking away and retreating to her lab.

‘’Ten joules.’’ Joohyun said holding the defibrillator for open heart surgery, looking at the screen. ‘’Come on, don’t give up on me now.’’ She mumbled under her breath seeing the heart rate not going up. ‘’Go up to twenty.’’ She announced and the heart received another shock. A second later it was back on again, to its usual heartrate. ‘’Nice job everyone.’’ She said resuming her surgery, a coronary artery bypass graft. She was in the middle of suturing the new artery, carefully doing each move. As much practice as she had she did not want to rush it. The suture had to be flawless, no less. Joohyun was known for her clean and impeccable work in surgeries and she was not going to change that.

‘’Hold the clamp, Choi.’’ She announced to her resident who immediately complied. ‘’This one’s a bit tough. We’ll be here for two hours if not more.’’ She announced to her staff.

‘’Ok give the clamp to nurse Ha, I’m going to need you to drain the blood, there’s too much in the chest I can’t see anything.’’ She said without losing her calm and continuing her suture. Once she could see clear again, she started a new one.

Three hours later, she had finished her surgery, without complications. ‘’Thank you everyone for the hard work.’’ She said after having put the metal wire in the sternum, letting her resident do the closing of the skin.

‘’Heard you got an patient,’’ Sooyoung bumped her sister’s hip following her into the lab. It seemed Seungwan and Jisoo already hoarded the space, probably having finished their surgeries and rounds already.

‘’Why’d you call me four times yesterday?’’ Joohyun asked with a yawn.

‘’You didn’t come home.’’

‘’Had work.’’

‘’You weren’t listed as on call.’’

‘’I was busy.’’ Joohyun shrugged not wanting to dwelve on the subject longer.

‘’Joohyun! How’s the patient, Jennie won’t spill anything to me and neither will Seulgi.’’ Jisoo whined as soon as she stepped in the lab with Sooyoung who laughed. Seulgi did not seem amused at all, frowning while looking at her computer screens.

‘’There’s a reason for that. You and Seungwan and erts, I swear all you talk about is . Never have I heard you in a conversation without talking about .’’ Joohyun said, making Seulgi snort.

‘’Because we got a life.’’ Seungwan defended herself. ‘’Unlike you.’’

‘’Shut up.’’ Joohyun said and sat on a chair checking her phone. The room fell into silence once again. It was nice to get a rest from an eventful day and exhausting surgery. She wished Jisoo and Seungwan and her sister would go away, so she could talk with Seulgi. But that wouldn’t happen, they always happened to take breaks together. It was the only time they could socialize, not that they had much time outside of work.

‘’I think Joohyun needs an .’’ Seungwan teased, smirking at Jisoo. Seulgi quickly exchanged looks with Joohyun hearing this, but got back to writing on her laptop, clearing .

‘’Gross. That’s my sister. But she didn’t come home last night so…’’ Sooyoung smirked while Seulgi moved on her chair trying to look as nonchalant as possible, remembering she was with Joohyun last night - even if nothing happened she felt like was put on the spot too. Joohyun glared at her sister, looking ready to kill her.

‘’Nah, she looks even more frustrated than the other days.’’ Jisoo added and Seulgi audibly sighed.

‘’Seriously stop behaving like kids. I seriously cannot take another talk anymore. Can we just behave?’’ Joohyun groaned, making the women in the room laugh.

‘’MRI came back.’’ Seulgi announced and everyone went behind her to look. ‘’See?’’ She asked, her voice still low, pointing with her cursor at some white dots. ‘’Cysts in the thalamus. The part of the brain that makes you- um-‘’

‘’. So, they’ve been eating her brain or what?’’ Jisoo asked. She was well versed in neurosurgery too, since her field was close.

‘’Yeah, they’ve kind of been stimulating her.’’ Seulgi finished in a whisper. She changed tabs and booked OR for the next hour. ‘’Call your wife.’’ She told Jisoo.

‘’You’re operating her now?’’ Seungwan asked.

‘’The sooner the better. She must be exhausted.’’ Seulgi said, going back to study the MRI.

‘’Can I scrub in?’’ Sooyoung asked Seulgi who shook her head. ‘’Park Jimin is my resident today.’’

‘’Jennie invited me to watch.’’ Joohyun announced entering the scrubbing room, disrupting Seulgi from her thoughts. She simply hummed as a reply, repeating the steps of the surgery in her head. She knew the trickiest part would be not to perforate the cysts as it would be fatal. She stopped scrubbing her hands, holding them in the air for a few seconds, looking at the nurse through the glass prepping the patient. She furrowed her brows and looked at Joohyun who widened her eyes thinking she had upset Seulgi.

‘’Do you wanna come over?’’ Seulgi asked, looking blankly at Joohyun.

‘’Uh- ye- I mean what?’’ Joohyun stuttered. Seulgi stared at Joohyun a few more seconds before resuming her scrubbing.

‘’Nothing.’’ She sighed going inside the OR.

‘’Where’s nurse Choi?’’ Seulgi asked with panicked eyes first thing in the OR, looking around.

‘’She’s been indisposed, an emergency with her son.’’ Nurse Im replied. Seulgi nodded, trying to regain composure. It would be her first surgery without nurse Choi in years. It absolutely did not put her at ease, considering two others attendants were assisting her surgery.

‘’Let’s not make any mistakes.’’ Seulgi announced before going behind her patient.

Two hours into the surgery, she had removed a third of the cysts. Her eyes were becoming strained, her lens contact drying. She stepped away from her microscope, closing her eyes for a few seconds.

Jennie and Joohyun exchanged worried glances.

‘’Anyone got eyedrops?’’ Seulgi groaned, her eyes still blinking. She had absolutely neglected her contact lenses and now she was paying the price.

‘’Me, in my scrub pocket.’’ The resident replied, but he couldn’t move since he was holding Seulgi’s tools in place.

‘’I’ll get them.’’ Joohyun announced seeing no one in the ER had the intention of moving. Seulgi stepped away to a less crowded space, waiting for Joohyun.

‘’You’ll ne- need t-to p-put them in-inside.’’ Seulgi stuttered, showing her bloody gloves. Joohyun felt herself blush and was grateful she was wearing a mask.

‘’I’m too small. Just change the gloves.’’ Joohyun said with a gulp and Seulgi sighed, but still did as she was told.

After the incident, Seulgi resumed her surgery but with some difficulties. Some of the cysts were hard to access and she was scared she’d bore a hole in them. But it was either she get all of them out, or before tomorrow they would multiply again.

‘’How long did she live with these, Dr. Kim?’’ She asked while extracting one of the few that were left.

‘’A week or so.’’ Jennie replied. ‘’It won’t affect her life, will it?’’

‘’I don’t know.’’ Seulgi truthfully replied. She thought for a bit, thinking about her words. ‘’It’s a brain surgery. There is a possibility that she will…’’ She stopped mid sentence trying to catch another cyst, frowning and focusing even more on her surgery. Joohyun smiled behind her mask, somehow seeing Seulgi all focused like this, her entire expression in her eyes was breathtaking for Joohyun. That was truly where Seulgi shined. She did not even need to speak. Even with a mask on she looked more attractive than anyone else with the drive and focus in her eyes.

‘’She might never have an again. But that we will know only after.’’ She finished her sentence with a sigh, taking yet another cyst out.

‘’That’d be a boring life.’’ Joohyun blurted her thoughts out loud, the whole OR looking at her and laughing. Seulgi squinted her eyes at her and Joohyun felt herself growing hot even more embarrassed than when Seungwan and Jisoo would put her on the spot.

It was after midnight when Seulgi finished her surgery. Since she had a late shift, she had her tomorrow off. She was walking towards her car, playing with its keys, thinking about how to talk with Joohyun now. It wasn’t exactly awkward but she did not want them to remain as friends.

‘’Aren’t you too tired to drive?’’ Joohyun asked, catching up to Seulgi seeing her slumped figure. Seulgi yawned in reply, handing her keys to Joohyun without a word. ‘’Want me to drive you to my place?’’ Joohyun asked. It was usually what they would do when Seulgi was too tired to drive. But this time Seulgi shook her head.

‘’Drive me home and stay over.’’ She whispered.

‘’O-okay.’’ Joohyun agreed albeit with a frown. They never went over to Seulgi for whatever reason. It was farther than Joohyun’s place, and for some time Seulgi had a girlfriend that seemed not to get along with Joohyun. So, they avoided it. Joohyun was a bit giddy about the thought that she’d get to finally and really see Seulgi’s place. The latter was extremely private about her life, even if her close friends like herself and Seungwan.

When they got in front of the door, Seulgi typed in her code, turning on the lights. Joohyun was surprised by how minimalistic it was. Seulgi’s place seemed to be a big place, with big window panels, the entrance immediately leading to the living room which was rather empty. A white corner couch in the middle of the living room, two bookshelves arranged to the millimeter with only medical books and journals, a LED TV that seemed unused. It all looked all too clean as if Seulgi was spending barely any time inside the house. Once in the living room, Joohyun saw the open kitchen that was also pristine, unused.

‘’Jinyoung took her stuff. Looks empty.’’ Seulgi groaned out going for a glass of water and giving to Seulgi. ‘’Wanna eat?’’

‘’Sure, whatcha got?’’ Joohyun still broke a smile, taking a sip of the cold water. Seulgi turned around to open her fridge and scratched her head. There were only two whole chickens inside, but full of sutures.

‘’Order?’’ She awkwardly asked Joohyun who nodded. Now that she looked around the kitchen more carefully, stitches were kind of splattered all over the counter.

‘’Do you practice a lot?’’ Joohyun asked Seulgi. It did surprise her that Seulgi would practice sutures even at home. She was doing surgery almost every day.

‘’T-tteok- ttetokboki?’’ Seulgi asked Joohyun instead.

‘’There’s a place still open?’’

‘’Ye.’’ Seulgi said, going over the couch, motioning for Joohyun to follow her. Seulgi took a remote trying to get her TV to work, but it was now clear that she was not using it often. Joohyun took this opportunity to look around the library more. She noticed a whole line of book that were different. She squinted her eyes and realized they were all about musical theory, vocal theory, production.

‘’I’m not a good host.’’ Seulgi sat back down on the couch next to Joohyun who shook her head. Seulgi had finally managed to turn on the TV, a random drama playing. ‘’Can’t e-even s-peak.’’

‘’You know that doesn’t bother me.’’

‘’But I want to.’’ Seulgi snuggled closer to Joohyun. ‘’I want to tell you and ask things.’’ She whispered.

‘’Seulgi…’’ Joohyun whispered, running a hand through Seulgi’s hair.

‘’I have speech therapy. But- but the thing is random.’’ Seulgi tried to explain as best as she could, without straining and getting too stressed. ‘’In the OR no. Out-outside it is.’’

‘’No matter how long it’ll take you to speak I’ll always wait and listen, okay?’’

‘’Boring.’’

‘’It’s not boring, stop thinking that about you just because some dumb interns and doctors say that without even meeting you.’’ Joohyun raised her voice and Seulgi looked at her with glossy eyes.

‘’It’s hard.’’ Seulgi whispered.

‘’I know.’’

Joohyun hooked her arms behind Seulgi’s neck, the both of them closing their eyes and letting their nose touch being all shy and tentative like their first kiss. Joohyun still had no idea how to navigate through especially with Seulgi. The had known each other for over ten years. Crossing that line felt so good yet foreign to her, as if she was doing something wrong. But anytime Seulgi was coming closer she knew it was impossible to resist. Especially when she felt Seulgi’s hand caressing her thigh, squeezing it lightly. They closed the distance, moving their lips together. Seulgi quickly deepened the kiss, her tongue more than welcome in Joohyun’s mouth.

Seulgi pushed Joohyun on the couch lying on top of her, Joohyun crossing her legs around Joohyun’s waist. Seulgi broke the kiss, going to kiss and nibble on Joohyun’s ear, descending to her neck. Joohyun released small whimpers, feeling her body getting hotter with each second. And as much as she wanted to go further, she tugged Seulgi’s hair urging her to stop. Seulgi looked at her with a confused expression, breathing heavily.

Joohyun bit her lip at the sight, Seulgi looking so hot, just right above her.

‘’I really want to…’’ She started, caressing Seulgi’s cheek, who nodded her head. ‘’But I can’t stop picturing cysts in my mind.’’ She said and pursed her lips, while Seulgi tilted her head to the side, confused but immediately started laughing when the information sunk in her brain. Joohyun followed her laughter, lightly tapping her on the shoulder.

‘’It’s really not funny. That’s not a pleasant image!’’ She defended herself with a pout, while Seulgi kept on laughing, falling on top of Joohyun.

‘’Silly.’’ Seulgi mumbled, before kissing Joohyun on the cheek.

‘’I’m kinda hungry though.’’ Joohyu said and on cue Seulgi’s stomach grumbled. ‘’Seems you too.’’ She said and Seulgi hid in her neck. ‘’When will the food arrive?’’ She asked and Seulgi reached for her phone, showing Joohyun the delivery status.

‘’We can kiss a bit more for twenty minutes. I deserve that, you teased me with that tight scrub.’’ Joohyun said and Seulgi mischieviously grinned.