V

Weonju Adventure 

(Part 1)

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She rushes to her room, she already asked Miyeon to inform Madame Choi about her decision to travel tonight.

Sakura along with Chuu was helping their miss as they quickly packed her things that she needed for the unplanned trip she was rushing to leave for, since a letter came from her hometown,  Weonju, by her mother that wrote about how her younger sister was been missing for the past few days now.

“Sakura can you please packed 2 more dresses for me? I think I will stay there for a week.”

“Ah, yes u-unnie.”

They kept packing stuff for the top gisaeng of The House of Pink Blossoms, just running around in panic along with Joohyun as she prepares her stuff and other documents she needed to travel, which she didn’t notice for the first time the person that has been her priority just staring and waiting for her by the entrance of her opened room as she packed her things, finally the handsome young doctor spoke.

“J-Joohyun?”

The deep calming voice of the doctor made the beautiful gisaeng realize she was still supposed to be enjoying the lanterns Seungwan and his friends prepared for her, until the news that had arrive a while ago to her. She stood, and now ran to hold hands with the doctor who had a worried expression on his face.

“S-Seungwan, I’m sorry, I will explain things to you, when I come back from Weonju, it’s just…my family is my top priority, and with my childish sister gone, god knows her being such a playful kid…and my lonely mother being all alone and worried since she usually doesn’t disappear that long, I-I don’t think I can bear being apart from them.” Her tears were about to fall when it was Seungwan herself who finally caressed her by the cheek to nurse her tears away.

“Joohyun-ah, don’t need to apologize, family is important, it’s everyone’s priority…even mine, and you don’t need to explain further…whatever we have right now…it can wait, I can wait…I’m just here. Also, I know I look like the most incapable person, but if you need people who can make your travel safe and faster I know people who can-“

Joohyun shook her head and interrupted the worried for her, handsome doctor.

“No, please it’s fine…just wait for me please, that’s all I need. I promise I will be safe…I’ll come back here, so we can talk and clear things…since you were about to tell me a thing…a while ago, didn’t you~” She grinned seductively to Seungwan.

It made the handsome doctor cracked a smile, Joohyun was finding a way around her to even ease her own worries for the beautiful young gisaeng, knowing full well that her seductive grin to Seungwan would leave her flustered and finally relieve the doctor of the worries she feels for her, which made the doctor…more in pain that she had to leave and wanted to face her problems on her own.

Seungwan climbed the stairs where she was standing from to meet the height of Joohyun.

“Be careful…on your travel.” She tells the gisaeng.

“Yes, thank you…and don’t you flirt with other girls or I will get mad, Doctor Shon!” A smile formed on her face as she replied to the doctor with a teasing remark.

She didn’t really know what to do...but the more Joohyun smiled, as if assuring her not to worry the pain on Seungwan’s chest was making her wanna do stuff for her, as she stared at the smaller hands comforting her by rubbing her soft fingers to the doctor’s worried rough ones….

She made their fingers intertwined and clasped it a bit tighter, she kept staring at Joohyun’s hand and finally kisses the right one and stared at the gisaeng who was so shocked at how bold she was. Chuu who got shock at the kiss the handsome doctor did on their beautiful miss’s hand gasped, Sakura covered her eyes as if they were witnessing something so scandalous.

“D-Doctor!” Joohyun can only say in her redness.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to wrap you in an embrace to assure you of my loyalty for you…but I deemed that was too bold.“

“E-Embrace!?”

“Well…to be honest a kiss....but that would be a worst insult, to the beautiful woman, I highly respect especially when we aren’t even dating…yet, aren’t we?” Seungwan says with a sorry smile.

Which made Joohyun suddenly explode since, it was her who…initiated things first, before in the handsome doctor’s office.  

“What does that make me then!?”

“Hmm?”

“That th-thing!....In your office, when…when I ki-ki…..kis-“

She turns around to see her handmaidens just waiting with their eyes wide open and ears wiggling for her to finish her sentence, she glared at them that made the two junior members of “Joohyun’s Hypegirls” club run outside to let the gisaeng and doctor have a moment alone.

Sakura even runs back to close the sliding door.

“So…where we?”

“Hold on, Seungwan.”

Joohyun cleared as she saw their silhouettes still outside trying to eavesdrop.

“NO EXTRA 2 RICES FOR GOSSIPING GIRLS.”

The girls who didn’t realize how sharp their miss was, now ran in panic.

Seungwan now grinned at her, which made Joohyun feel her heart beating excitedly at how handsome extra handsome the doctor was by just further grinning.

“You were saying , Miss Bae? What did you do to me *ahem* in my office????” He teases.  

“Aish! Never mind! You can wait there while I pack my things, or l-leave, I don’t care!”

Joohyun was about to let go when Seungwan cups her reddish cheeks and started giggling.

“Bae Joohyun, don’t worry you get a pass, because I was being an indecisive jerk….and because…I feel thankful you allowed someone like me, to share a special moment with you through a….”

She drew closer to the gisaeng.

“…kiss….”

She made their noses meet.

“…that I never thought would make me feel brave…and happy again….all because of you.”   

“Me?” She says in a whispering tone to the doctor.

“Yes…you, Joohyun Bae.”

Seungwan seems to be going for another intimate peck on Joohyun’s lips when, the top gisaeng flashes her pinky finger in between their faces.

“Y-You promise, you will wait okay?”

The doctor now takes off his hands on the beautiful gisaeng’s face and now swears finger with her.

“I will wait for you, I promise.”

- - - - - - - - - - -

Three days have passed.

Since the top beautiful gisaeng has left to go back to her home.

However to the doctor who was getting used to having the woman she initially disliked, but now was head over heels falling for, it felt like ages. He might not admit it, since he keeps telling Chanyeol, Seunghoon, and the other staff of the Makdong clinic that he understood the need to wait and didn’t want to appear like an immature baby who was too clingy to Joohyun, but to the little boy protégé his actions were louder than his words.

Seunghoon was helping the doctor sweep the pink leaves on the garden of the hospital in this beautiful refreshing spring summer afternoon, he began counting at how many times the kind doctor would sigh deeply every 30 seconds. 

The little boy had a little notebook to write with his little hand and pencil in order to record at how many times has the doctor has been sighing.

“18….” He whispered to himself as he whipped out his notebook and placed his little broom by his side to scribble on the same notebook.

Chanyeol who finishes the afternoon shift was bringing a big basket of gifts that contained mostly food, medicines, and other gifts women wanted to give to the doctor who has not been so lively to interact for the past few days, which worried them for they cared and love the doctor so much, not…knowing it was actually all because of a certain gisaeng’s absence.

He sees the “father and son” in the garden, Seungwan who kept sweeping his side dejectedly, and the boy who was just pretending to help sweep by swaying the air with his small broom, as he kept staring at his mentor waiting for him to sigh again to whip his little recording notebook of “Doctor Shon’s Sighing Count”.

“Yah, Seunghoon-ah, you’re not even sweeping.” Chanyeol playfully glared at the little boy.

“WH-I am so!” He pouted at his jerk doctor frenemy.

“Have you been counting again, how many sighs has Seungwan has done again today?” He tells the boy in a tone to give the lovelorn doctor some time to “grieve” his loneliness away.

“Y….You…are doing what?”  Even Seungwan’s normal tone, was too weak to even react at the playful shenanigans of his little protégé.

To Chanyeol even notices and becomes worried.

“Seunghoon, can you bring this to the kitchen, I need to talk with Seungwan.”

“But, I’m counting!” Innocent Seunghoon didn’t understand that the adults were about to talk something adults can only understand. 

“Seunghoon.” Chanyeol now uses a deeper tone which meant “serious business boy, let the adults have a conversation for a while”.

“*Dehhhhh.” 

(*yes)

So finally the little protégé understanding the tone, nodded and now took the big basket with his two small hands and carefully carried it to the kitchen.

“Seungwan catch!”

Chanyeol threw a woven thick throwing ball to play with his best friend, but Seungwan was too slow that the ball hit his face.

“Ow!” He whined.

“Dang, is this how a lovelorn, Seungwan really is?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Joohyun-ssi hasn’t been gone for a while, and you’re already acting like she took a piece of you that is making you so incomplete.”

Seungwan just pouted.

“You know I just realized, I never really saw you in a relationship since we never really did hangout after medical school….all I remember was you had a fiance before….Chen said she’s really pretty that you even had a sword duel with one of her suitors since he was so broken hearted when he learned your engagement with her…tell me…is she really that beautiful?” An interesting grin has formed on the doctor’s face. 

The small doctor stared at Chanyeol with a bit of cold glare.

“I-I didn’t mean anything by it! I’m not interested with your e-ex fiancé or anything geez, I’m just saying I never saw you in a relationship BEFORE~ It just made me really curious how Seungwan Shon is when he is a relationship, will we see more of good boy clingy Seungwan? Or a bad boy who gets jealous when you finally start an official relationship with Joohyun-ssi?” He smirked.

Which made Doctor Shon just roll her eyes at her friend.

Chanyeol stretches his tired from medical duties, body, he then sat by the shade of the nearest tree where Seungwan was sweeping, he ate the sugarcane he hid from his pocket and began chewing as he talked.

“You know…some of the newly hired doctors and nurses, we are screening; are going to intern in the next few days…so if you wanna go to Weonju, it’s gonna be fine for me.”

“Weonju? Why am I going to W-Weonju?”

The taller doctor grin as he kept chewing the sugarcane in his mouth, like hell he had to explain anymore when Seungwan must have known deep down what he meant by mentioning the place.

“How long will Joohyun-ssi said she will stay there?”

“Um…a week.” Seungwan stops for a sec sweeping the pink dried leaves and now sat on the shade of tree where her friend was eating.

“It would be really romantic if you suddenly show up and surprise her, and she would go  “Oh wow handsome doctor! I didn’t know you’d be here!” Chanyeol unsuccessfully made his voice smaller and pretended he was Joohyun fangirling over Seungwan.

Which annoyed Seungwan and now threw some of the dried leaves at him.

“Seriously Seungwan if you miss her, you can go to her, nothing’s stopping you jeez, think of this as the Makdong’s clinic and staff’s reward for you by saving our clinic from bad people, you can take all the timeeeee you need to rest. ”

“Yahhh, why are you pushing this!? First of all she’s there to visit her family, because…of her sister, and I…I don’t want to overstep some lines since….that’s her family….if she did asked me to follow her there…th-then maybe…maybe I would have gone! But she didn’t, she wants me to wait so that I will respect and follow.”

Stuttering like a fool and very red, Seungwan was actually thinking of the familiar beautiful gisaeng and now takes one of the sugarcane Chanyeol was holding and now began to chew one for herself.

“I kinda…am curious….if Joohyun is famous with men here….is she also famous in Weonju?”

Seungwan stopped chewing her tube of sugarcane for a few seconds, but pretended again she wasn’t even affected by the question posed by the taller doctor.

“Huh…if she is famous there, do you think she has suitors or a former flame like a childhood friend who might be waiting for her there?”

Again the handsome misunderstood doctor who made a reputation of being a playboy, acted like she was even a bit affected by the proposed scenarios of one teasing man. 

“Like, you know the ones you read in those romantic novels, where she and a childhood bestfriend must be very close, but she chose to go to the capital to earn money for her family so when she goes back to her hometown her best friend and her reunites, best friend then becomes a hardworking man –then he pays for her debts because he’s suddenly richer! He finally convinces his childhood friend to stay with her there in the hometown because he confesses of his loyal love he feels for her, she accepts and theyyyy live happily ever af-“

Seungwan didn’t let the man finish, she stood and was now walking away from Chanyeol that the taller man gotten nervous as he thought he angered the smaller in height handsome doctor, so he now ran to catch up to where she was walking from.

“Y-Yah! Seungwan I’m just joking! You know I don’t read those chick cliché novels! I read dirty ones! Those are more fun and realistic to be honest and-“

“Chanyeol-ah, I will be going for a while, take care of the clinic.”

“Yahhh, I was just joking, don’t be so sensitive, I’m sure Joohyun is not that kind of person, whoever that childhood friend is you’re handsomer than them!  Don’t just travel all because of some dumb joke I did, you’re already getting jealous over “what if” situations dang Seungwan.”

“W-Who says I’m jealous!” The doctor stopped walking and now denies with red cheeks.

“Oh yeah? Then why are you leaving for Weonju, all of a sudden?”

She thinks for a minute.

“I-I’m just worried.”

“Over what??”

“Over her….”

“Mhmmm…”

“Her sister, who must be still missing….”

“Mhmmmm…”

“Her mother who must be ill sick over the stress of her daughter’s disappearance…”

“Mhmmmmm….”

Chanyeol grins, smirks and began shaking his head all of a sudden.

“W-What!?”

“What? I’m not saying anything!”

“God sakes, whatever, I’m worried okay! I’m NOT JEALOUS over her rich handsome kind “what if” childhood bestfriend! I-I just need to visit her there!” Seungwan now exhales angrily and began walking again.

She finally has made a decision, whatever it is she was feeling, she wanted to be there for Joohyun, so off she goes!
 

- - - - - - - - - - -

A carriage was waiting outside of the clinic, it will be a short trip…

Seungwan was just going there to check on Joohyun….

But….

Seeing how she packed most of her things like she was going for a more than a week travel it made Chanyeol just giggle and scratch his head at how unware Seungwan was in preparing for the short notice trip he was about to make, he was just carrying some other stuff in the carriage, when one little boy kept clinging to his leg and “cries” out since he kept begging the doctor if he can accompany him to travel.

“Hyungggg please!!! Let me go with you to Weonjuuuuu.”

“Seunghoon-ah, come on, the travel will be very difficult and long, kids like you are not yet suited to travel that far and it will be tiring too.”

“Noooo, I will be fine, don’t leave me with dirty doctor here huhuhuhuhu.” He kept crying and sniffing his “tears away”.

“Yahh! Who you calling dirty! You’re the stinky one here!” Chanyeol fights back.

“Stop fighting you two, come on Seunghoon, I will be back in a few days, you need to be here and help Chanyeol and nurses, Park and Choi.”

“B-But-“ 

Seungwan now meets his little protégé’s height by crouching and now pinching Seunghoon’s little soft cheek and began wiping his tears.

“I heard Weonju has a little of sweet delicacies and makes those cute dolls that look like little dogs.”

“Really!?” Seunghoon now sniffs his tears away and now was showing a bright smile of excitement.

“Yes, if you help around here and be good, I will reward you with those lovely presents, okay?”

She smiled and staring hoping her little boy finally would stop pouting but Seunghoon was just silent.

“Seunghoon.” The doctor says with a commanding voice, that finally her little protégé straightens up in bit of fear.

“D-Dehhhh.” He finally concedes.

“Yah, Seungwan before you leave, can you tell me again which patients needs to have their ear check tomorrow, and who will I give the stomach medicine, -which by the way how do you mix that stuff again? Last time I did, I put too much herbs on it that one patient had been pooping for days even if they didn’t have any stomach ache anymore.” Chanyeol whines.

“Jeez why are you blaming me when you’re the one who mixed it!” Seungwan stood and finally walks back to the clinic.

The nurses followed, but the small little boy began staring from left and right to see if the driver for the carriage was there, who happens to be unavailable because he went to take a bathroom break before the said travel.

Little Seunghoon shows a mischievous grin as he rubs his little palms together as if he was planning on something.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Weonju.

It took a whole night and day but Seungwan has finally arrived in Weonju in that fateful evening, she was able to book a small room that was enough for her and her luggages to stay in. She was looking at the paper Miyeon, Joohyun’s female attendant and number one hypegirl has written the address of the Bae’s residence, the doctor was planning to surprise visit.

The mere remembering of Joohyun’s smiling face made the handsome doctor’s chest beat fast and she can’t help but admit that she was excited to surprise the gisaeng, she wanted to see.

“U-Um…sir? This quite big sack where do I put it?” The struggling driver of the carriage Seungwan rode on now was carrying a heavy unfamiliar sack, she doubted if she did brought.

“Hmm…just put it right there…I guess.” She scratches her head and now hands the driver a bunch of silver coins as tip.

“Thank you sir!” He expressed his gratitude for he didn’t expect the generosity of the doctor.

“Thank you for making the travel peaceful and safe too, please be careful travelling back to Hany