“Dr. Jeon!” Minjeong tries to carry all the flushes in her hands, dropping some on the way as she chases after Dr. Jeon. He flips through a clipboard, probably reading his cases for the day, and receiving report from a nurse. 

 

Clearing , Minjeong gulps, “Dr. Jeon.” 

 

“Yes?” He doesn’t bother to look at her, keeping busy with the papers. 

 

“I-I… I heard you were doing research on cures for dementia, and I-I would love to be a part of it.” Minjeong stutters through her words, blowing loose strands of her hair out of her face.

 

Dr. Jeon hands the clipboard back to the nurse. “I have a lot of people helping with the research already.” 

 

“Please,” Minjeong says desperately, “I want neuro to be my focus, and you’re the only neurosurgeon in this hospital that is willing to teach. Not to mention you’re one of the best.” 

 

Wow, she was definitely kissing at this point. 

 

Dr. Jeon sighs, finally turning to look at her. Minjeong sees the surprised, and amused glint in his eyes upon seeing her and she wonders why. 

 

“I guess I can squeeze in one more.” Dr. Jeon smiles, and Minjeong swears his pearly whites shine under the light. 

 

“R-Really?” Minjeong blinks in surprise. “B-But you just said…” 

 

Dr. Jeon chuckles, waving his hand. “Forget what I said. Of course you can join my team.” 

 

“O-Okay..I—,” Minjeong sputters, “thank you, Dr. Jeon.” A smile falls to her lips, and she withholds herself from doing a fist pump in celebration. 

 

“We’ll talk later, okay? Come find me.” Dr. Jeon points at her as he walks away. The wink takes Minjeong aback, but the excitement to finally work in neurosurgery clouds her judgment. He was just being friendly. That’s it. 

 

“I wouldn’t be too eager to work with him.” 

 

Minjeong turns to see Ryujin behind the nurses station. Her eyebrows frown before her lips do, but she quickly recovers into a blank face that she thinks was definitely more professional than a scowl. “Excuse me?” 

 

Ryujin stops charting on the computer, lifting her head up to give Minjeong her attention. She smiles at her, unbothered, and Minjeong doesn’t like how affected she had been, but Ryujin seemed to have not a care in the world about her. Maybe Jimin didn’t tell Ryujin about her. 

 

Jimin probably didn’t care that much about her anymore to mention their past relationship to her new one anyway… wow… That thought hurt Minjeong more than she wanted it to. 

 

“Dr. Jeon… is… not very professional.” Ryujin is cautious with her words. 

 

“But he’s one of the best neurosurgeons out there.” Minjeong defends, laughing nervously and she doesn't know why. Maybe anxiety just easily ran through her body like blood did. 

 

“He’s the best at his craft, doesn’t mean he’s a good person.” Ryujin shrugs her shoulders, standing up from her seat. She gives Minjeong one last smile, before walking away to answer a patient’s call light that blinked brightly. 

 

Minjeong pockets the flushes in her hands, heaving a sigh, before shaking her head to snap out of it.

 

“This is a good opportunity, Minjeong.” She tells herself, forcing a smile out that covers her anxiousness. 

 

Her beeper beeps loudly, and she unclamps it from her scrub pants, lifting it up to her face to read. Mark was requesting for her at the skills lab, and she rolled her eyes. Minjeong had already given him a very stern lecture of using his beeper for important things and emergency situations, but he still constantly annoys her with it. 

 

Twirling around, Minjeong is prepared to fast walk her way towards the skills lab,  when the sight of her ex’s steel eyes pointed at her immediately stops her like a brick wall in her path. 

 

“Hi,” Jimin breathes out. 

 

Awkward, Minjeong only dips her chin in acknowledgment. She tries to step around her, but Jimin is speaking again, causing her brain to short circuit, and her steps to stop in place. 

 

“Were you just talking to Ryujin?” 

 

Blinking, Minjeong takes a breath. “Is that a problem, Dr. Yu?” 

 

“Just…” Jimin shrugs her shoulders, “curious what you guys were talking about. None of her patients are yours.” 

 

Minjeong scoffs, turning her body, so that she makes sure Jimin sees the fury in her eyes. “If you’re worried about me saying something about our past to your girlfriend, don’t worry. I won’t. It seems like it wasn’t worth mentioning, anyway, right?” She tries her hardest to keep her emotions at bay, not wanting Jimin to see through her. “If you haven’t mentioned it to her, why would I?” 

 

She doesn’t wait for Jimin to say another word, turning on her feet and trudging towards the skills lab where she hopes to take her anger out by stabbing a fake arm with a 14 gauge needle. 

 

Ryujin walks out of her patient’s room to see a stomping Minjeong down the hall, and Jimin standing by the nurses station with a pained look on her face. 

 

“What happened?” 

 

Jimin sighs, shaking her head. She runs her hand over her face, “I just never say the right things, Ryujin.” 

 

The nurse gives her a sympathetic smile, “if it helps, we didn’t talk about you.” She goes back behind one of the computers and continues to finish charting. “Dr. Jeon took an interest in her. I just wanted to warn her about him.” 

 

Jimin frowns, “Dr. Jeon?” 

 

Ryujin raised a brow, “you should’ve seen it coming, right? Minjeong says neuro is her focus.” 

 

Jimin’s frown deepens, “there’s other neurosurgeons in this hospital.” 

 

“Dr. Henderson is on pregnancy leave, and Dr. Huh is in the middle of a lawsuit.” Ryujin reminds her, which seemed to stress Jimin out even more. “And not to mention, Dr. Jeon is an amazing neurosurgeon. Despite his crappy character and his inability to keep it in his pants.” 

 

Shaking her head in amusement, Ryujin leans back into her chair and rakes her eyes over Jimin’s distressed expression. “I’m sure Minjeong isn’t stupid. She’ll stand her ground.” 

 

“Minjeong is gullible. She’s too kind.” Jimin grits, jaw clenching. “People take advantage of her innocence too often.” 

 

Ryujin thins her lips, “she’ll be fine, Jimin. Don’t get involved and make things complicated.” 

 

Jimin glances at Ryujin briefly with a scowl. She doesn’t respond, only turning to leave, and Ryujin can only hope she behaves. 

 

_

 

Jimin frowns when she sees Minjeong looking distressed as she stares at the big presentation board propped up on one of the tables in one of the study rooms. When she approaches, Minjeong is startled by the soft touch at her waist. 

 

“Oh, hey,” Minjeong breathes out after noticing it was just her girlfriend. 

 

“What’s this?” Jimin asks, eyeing the board. 

 

“Science project.” 

 

The older woman hums, leaning in to place a kiss on the side of Minjeong’s head in greeting. Jimin drops her bag onto an empty chair. She pulls Minjeong in close at the waist, letting her lean against her front, as they both stare at the board. Jimin feels Minjeong’s body relaxing, the tension leaving her body in her presence. 

 

“Is this what you’ve been up to while I was at soccer practice?” 

 

Minjeong hums in agreement, “well, I haven’t gotten far yet. I only put in four hours so far. From last night and today.” 

 

“It looks amazing, baby.” 

 

Minjeong smiles, “does it? That’s a relief. My group members will be happy with it.” 

 

Jimin frowns and adjusts their position, so she could glance down at her. “Group? This is a group project?”

 

Confused, Minjeong nods. “Yeah. Is there a problem?” 

 

“Why are you working on it by yourself?” 

 

Shrugging, Minjeong grabs another piece of paper to glue on the board. “My group mates are busy.” 

 

Jimin scoffs, “So are you, baby, but here you are working your off.” 

 

Minjeong shrugs again, which made Jimin a little angry. She stares at Minjeong as she continues to work on the project. “They’re taking advantage of you, Minjeong.” 

 

“That’s okay,” Minjeong says genuinely, “they’re busy with extracurriculars and they said they work part time at the mall after school.” 

 

Jimin scoffs, shaking her head. “You know damn well no one in this school worries about part time jobs. They’re all spoiled brats who make their way through with the help of their rich parents.” 

 

Silence envelops them, and Minjeong can sense Jimin’s anger. She busies herself with gluing the paper onto the board. Minjeong pressed her palm on the paper to make sure it was really stuck on there. 

 

“Is that what you think of me too?” Minjeong asks timidly, keeping her head down as she plays with the glue stick. 

 

“You know I wasn’t talking about you, baby.” 

 

“I’m not different from them. My parents are rich too,” Minjeong turns around to face Jimin, leaning against the table, “I’m here because I can afford to be here. Not like you. You worked hard to attend this school.” 

 

Her gaze was steady against Minjeong’s diffidence. Jimin lowers her stature, hands leaning against the table, on either side of Minjeong’s waist, effectively trapping her in their own bubble. “I’ll tell you why you’re different from them, my love.” 

 

Their noses almost touch, but Jimin wants Minjeong to see her eyes clearly when she confesses what she loves about her. “When I first met you, do you remember what your first words to me were?” 

 

Minjeong shakes her head, shrugging. “I don’t know. I hope I said hello. Was it hello?” 

 

A whole hearted laugh escapes Jimin, and Minjeong’s heart swells with gusto. “No, baby… Well, you did say hello,” Jimin couldn’t resist bumping their foreheads together in adoration, “but you asked me to sign a petition to get the school to offer more scholarships to people who couldn’t afford to attend schools like this one. For people like me.” 

 

Minjeong smiles at the memory. 

 

“And it worked! We weren’t together yet, and probably still strangers at the time, but I felt a sense of pride when I heard that your efforts were successful. More people like me, who can’t afford to be here, continue to work hard and are able to get a good education, because of you.” 

 

Jimin shrugs, “sure, your parents are rich, but that part