she looks like absolute . she knows it too, and seungwan is so worried that sooyoung has to visit her doctor to ease seungwan’s concerns. seungwan doesn’t follow her in. thank god, even though it’s very possible she already knows what’s going on.

her eyes have dark rings underneath from restless nights coughing into a bin when it seems all her seungwan-related thoughts and feelings from the day catch up to her. she’s constantly exhausted, and volleyball drains just about all the energy she has left from her daily toil with the flowers taking over her lungs. she’d have thought her blood oxygen levels would be higher with photosynthesis miraculously occurring in the darkness of her lungs, but apparently that isn’t the case because her blood oxygen levels have been dangerously low as of late. maybe because her lungs don’t exactly have the same volume as they normally would when she breathes in.

as dire as sooyoung’s condition is, her doctor is smiling to herself when she guides sooyoung out of the lobby. it’s odd. not that her doctor wasn’t normally optimistic, but it’s not exactly an appropriate positivity. sooyoung can’t help but ask why she seemed so glad to see sooyoung in.

“it’s nothing. i’m making assumptions i shouldn’t. forgive me.” dismissive wave and all, the woman takes to rapid typing on her bulky doctor laptop. she can’t be that much older than sooyoung. she was a fresh hire when sooyoung graduated from her pediatric doctor. her personal experiences have to be somewhat relatable.

“please, tell me. person to person, not doctor to patient.” sooyoung watched as her doctor considered it. she can almost see the sentences forming between dr. hwang’s temples as she closes her laptop.

“i jumped to a lot of conclusions, but i see a lot of myself in you. and saw even more when i saw the woman who brought you in, so i guess i feel like i sort of sympathize. know that you’re never alone, and trust that you will make the right decisions for yourself.” she traces the inside of her hand as she seems to reminisce. sooyoung wonders if her doctor ever had flowers growing in her lungs. obviously, dr. hwang didn’t have surgery because here she is sympathizing, experiencing some emotion. sooyoung’s eyes wander to what looks like a wedding band and concludes there must be a similar possible happy ending for her.

all sooyoung offers is an understanding nod, not sure of any other appropriate ways to respond. there’s more than a beat of silence where they both seem to sit and ponder. sooyoung doesn’t think she’ll have much more time to ponder anything if she thinks about her and seungwan anymore, so she breaks the silence.

“thank you for that.” she practically throws out. she hopes it’s enough to get the ball rolling, to get dr. hwang checking her chest and blood pressure or something. anything but the allow sooyoung to continue entertaining the annoyingly warm thought that she could one day marry seungwan.

“of course. anyway, your other specialists are great at keeping everything updated, which is a great start for you and i today,” the laptop glows as she opens it, and sooyoung ignores the texts from seungwan buzzing in her pocket.