One.

A Vaguely Amused Smile.

The first time she saw him properly it had been when she woke up from her long sleep.

He rushed up to the side of the bed and peered at her face. He saw as her eyelashes started fluttering open slowly, looking a little reluctant to the warm sunshine that flooded through the window.  It probably hurt her eyes, if the small grimace on her pale face was any indication. She squeezed her eyes back closed briefly to relieve the dull throbbing sensation in her head, before taking her second attempt to expose her eyes to the light.

Everything was only a blur at first. The place she was in looked so foggy and blindingly white, but after a few times blinking away the drowsiness her eyes focused on the figure in front of her.

A pair of blackish brown eyes were the first thing she could see when the fog started clearing out of her vision...

And she was left a little breathless. They were the warmest brown eyes she’d ever seen.

Im Seyoon gasped softly and whispered. “Am I in Heaven now?”

The eyes blinked back at her, and, after a few seconds of inhaling the air conditioned room, she was harshly brought into realization that no, of course not, she wasn’t in Heaven yet.

The air she had inhaled smelled of medicine. The four walls surrounding her was painted white – hence the adjustment of her vision with the light color earlier – and she vaguely heard the buzzing sounds of people chattering and walking to and fro in the corridor. If she listened more carefully she would hear the small, steady sirens of ambulance.

No, it wasn’t Heaven yet, she assured herself a little gloomily.

She focused her attention back to the figure in front of her. It was a male, with very dark but warm brown eyes and slightly tousled but impeccable hair. He was regarding her steadily.

She frowned. So he obviously wasn’t her guardian angel either...

She opened to speak but was so dry she started coughing violently. A glass of water magically appeared in front of her lips and she sipped the straw jutting out of the tall glass. She took many big gulps as if she’d just ran a marathon, closing her eyes at the cooling sensation of water flowing down her burning throat, before leaning back and breathing in relief.

“I’m alive,” she gasped breathlessly more to herself. “I’m alive.”

She nodded firmly at her self-assurance, not realizing how his eyes were still carefully regarding her. When she looked up she readied herself and pulled a bright smile, but not without a big intake of air beforehand.

“Hello,” she said with a clearer voice, her tone almost merry as if she hadn’t just found herself waking up in a foreign place. “Where am I?”

Stupid question, she knew. But she just had to ask.

“Hospital.” The guy answered with raised eyebrows.

She let out a small laugh. “Hospital? Right. I mean, of course. I don’t know why I asked that anyway. I mean, it’s obvious that this is a hospital right? Me wearing hospital gown, an IV attached to my wrist, the sirens of ambulance, etc, etc. Stupid me. What I meant to ask is why am I- Ow,” her babbles were cut off when she dropped her head in her hands. “Oh, wow, my head is pounding.”

She heard the guy shifting from in front of her to somewhere near the end of her bed. When she looked up the second time, he had picked up a patient file on a clipboard that was attached to the bars of her bed and started writing something on it.

“You’ve been asleep for two days straight without sedatives. That’s probably why you feel headache somewhere behind your eyes.”

“Oh,” she nodded, massaging the spot above her eyes. “Alright. Um, and who are you?”

Another stupid question. The guy abruptly looked up from the clipboard he was holding and fixed a vaguely amused smile in her direction.

“Well, let’s see,” he started walking back up to her bed and she found herself scooting back slowly. “You’re in a hospital, wearing a hospital gown, someone comes into your room wearing a medical white coat...” he deliberately trailed off as he stopped by the side of her bed.

It only took a stethoscope draped around his neck for her to realize what he was. “You’re a doctor.” She breathed, feeling utterly stupid for missing the obvious, her eyes wide.

He sent her another dazzling smile, successfully coloring her pale face. For a brief moment she wondered if the blush spreading across her cheeks was only coming from the embarrassment on account of her stupidity or if it had anything to do with the gentle expression on his face.

When he continued writing notes on the clipboard, she bit her lip and grimaced bashfully. “Let me guess. Is it my appendicitis?”

He smiled without looking up. “You guessed right.”

She groaned. “And let me guess again, I fainted on the sidewalk or something and someone found me then brought me here?” she tilted her head, confused. “Because believe it or not, those kind of things have happened to me at least three times in my life and I don’t remember driving or walking here signing up for a hospitalization.”

He finished whatever he was writing and put the clipboard aside, before giving her his full attention. Dark brown gaze on her, suddenly she wished he was writing again. She didn’t know someone could have such intense gaze like his.

“I brought you here.” He said slowly. “You fainted. At the rest area near Busan.”

“Oh,” she was silent for a moment, digesting the fact. Then she looked up at him and brightened. “Oh!” subconsciously, she started reciting the piece of her memory to him. “I remember you – I think do. I was heading back from Halmoni’s to Seoul. My stomach hurt a little and I decided to grab something to eat, but before I could reach the diner at the rest area I was in and out of consciousness. Then a guy crouched down to help me. It was you, wasn’t it? I remember you.” she nodded, feeling somewhat proud to have remembered him, but the motion was cut with a horrified gasp. “Wait. You didn’t call my family, did you?”

She couldn’t even begin to imagine what catastrophe would happen if her family found out about her hospitalization.

Because firstly, her mother was a huge worrier, and she didn’t want to worry her with anything more than she had. And secondly, the news of her being hospitalized would be big. Like, the-whole-nation-talking-about-it big.

The Im family often takes up the whole front page of a magazine. Her dad is a very successful businessman. Her mom is a retired actress. It is only natural that the daughter of the pair gets the attention from public. Even her graduation in America last year had been a national headline in a few Korean magazines for three days straight. She was serious when she said the entire nation would find out when something happened to one of the family member.

She cringed. It wouldn’t be funny if the front cover of a magazine was of her suffering appendicitis.

“No, I didn’t. Don’t worry about that.” he smiled at her knowingly.

“Oh.” She bobbed her head up and down, feeling absolutely relieved. “Okay. Good. Alright. Thank you.”

 He was watching her steadily, but his eyes were filled with mirth it got her stomach doing a little somersault.

“What?” she asked, blushing.

“Nothing. It’s just, you know. I just wondered how I didn’t recognize your name when I brought you here.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was. It showed in her big, unblinking eyes. “You know me?”

“Well no, not really. I just heard your name a few times. Almost everyone does, though. Know you, I mean. You’re quite famous here.”

She reddened even more, her hands started tugging the ends of her locks that spilled over her shoulder. It was a habit she had picked up since she was a little girl. A habit she has always been doing whenever she was nervous or uncomfortable. Right now, she was a little bit of both.

“The nurses talk about you, you know. A few other patients, too. And apparently it’s a crime for me to not know anything about you.” he said letting out a small laugh, the sound so soft it was almost caressing her ears.

“I’m sure you’re not the type to read women’s fashion magazines.” She wanted nothing more than to escape from this kind of topic. Im Seyoon was a raising designer and the heiress of one of the biggest corporations in Korea, but she was never big on gaining attentions.

He laughed a little more and shook his head. “Well, you’re right. I’m not. But anyway,” he stretched out his arm for a proper introduction. “I’m your doctor. I’ll be monitoring your medical checkups from now on.”

Seyoon smiled and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, doctor...” she trailed off, reading his nametag. “Cho Kyuhyun?”

He nodded. “You can call me Doctor Cho, or just Kyuhyun for short. Whichever you feel comfortable with.” He attached the clipboard back to the end of her bed, before starting toward the door. “I’ll be checking up on the other patients now. You can ring the bell for the nurses if you need anything. Have a nice day, Seyoon-sshi.”

And then he was gone, leaving her confused, a light frown taking a hold of her eyebrows.

Cho Kyuhyun. Why did the name sound so familiar?

Right then, Im Seyoon didn’t know the name would take a certain big role in her life.

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