Four.

The inevitable pull.

Hanging out in her room and staying there until a little bit past midnight was soon becoming a routine for Kyuhyun. In the morning or afternoon, he would come to her room for some required medical check up to monitor her health, but then he would linger for a bit just so he could talk a little longer with her.

When evening came, he would spend his time having dinner with her, letting her choose their dessert – which was always anything in tiramisu flavor – while he bought the take-out foods. He would stay there listening to her blabbing about things he didn't actually understand, but had always nodded at, just to humour her excitement.

He usually wouldn't leave her side until he was sure she was fully asleep, because she still insisted she had that weird insomnia. She even told him that it was kind of a miracle that she could fall asleep every time he was there with her. He had chuckled at that, because what she said sounded rather illogical, but he decided get along with it. After all, watching her fall asleep was kind of fascinating in some way.

Now, it was his fourth day into the routine and somehow she could still make his day no matter how bad it turned out to be. Sometimes it felt like they had known each other since forever, despite their very short encounters.

Im Seyoon was just so amusing he couldn’t help but feel the inevitable pull towards her. Hanging out with her was definitely something refreshing to him. She sometimes would blurt out random things that she didn’t mean to say – which never failed to make him laugh – and afterwards, a lovely blush would paint her cheeks and he just had to incessantly about it. He was always rewarded with the deepening of her blush for that.

And it didn’t hurt that she was always quite a sight for sore eyes. Her hair was always shiny and her complexion was perfect. A smile was always adorning her face every time he looked at her, except when she was embarrassed because of his teasing or when she pouted because he had to leave for another patient’s call. And it didn’t go unnoticed by him that her eyes always sparkled every time he came to her room, just like how they did now.

“Good morning,” she all but chirped the second he opened the door to her room, her eyes big with glee and her lips formed into an adorable grin. He chuckled.

“Hey you.”

He walked up to the papers of files where her health was supervised by the nurses, and he picked it up to read it. He wrote and copied some notes to his own clipboard, feeling a pair of hazel eyes on him. Suddenly he looked up.

“What is it, Seyoon-ah?” he asked gently.

Her facial expression was looking too much like a deer caught in headlight when he caught her staring at him, but she felt her stomach do gymnastics when her name rolled off his tongue. It had been two days since they decided to drop the formalities, and she still couldn’t get over the giddiness she felt every time he called her name so comfortably like that.

Then, remembering the issue she was about to share with him, she recovered from her blushing state and made a face. “My mom just called.”

He focused back to the papers pinned to the clipboard. “And?”

“She reminded me that I have dinner with guy number four the day after tomorrow.” She said grudgingly. Kyuhyun flashed her a smile.

“Then that means you’ll have to go.”

“I am hospitalized, remember?” she heaved a sigh. “Gosh, as much as I don’t want to come to that dinner, I’m in trouble now. My mom will find out about my hospitalization if I’m not present at the dinner.”

“Well then I have a good news for you.” he stepped closer to her and sat on the edge of her bed, watching as her face pinked a little at the lessened distance between them.

Her eyes immediately lit up with a five-year-old’s excitement.

He grinned. “Seyoon-ah, you’re allowed to go home tomorrow.”

She was about to smile at the news until she heard it. The pull at her lips faltered. “Tomorrow?”

“Yes.” He was still smiling, though he looked slightly puzzled now. That wasn’t the response he was hoping to see from her. “What, no squealing?”

“Um...” She bit her lip before forcing a small grin to her face. “Yay.”

“What kind of squeal was that?” he laughed. “Do you not want to go home?”

“I, um. I do. Of course I do.” She said meekly, her now cheerless doe eyes directed to her hands that were tugging at her hair uneasily.

But then we won’t be seeing each other so frequently anymore. She thought sadly, then hesitated. Would we be seeing each other at all, after this?

When she looked back up at him, he was staring at her with a light frown on his face.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?” he asked.

Seyoon stared at him in horror. “Did I say just it out loud?”

He laughed again. “Yes, you just did.”

“Oh...” she felt the all too familiar blush creeping up her face. She buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God. I seriously need a new brain-to-mouth filter. I don’t realize half the things I’m saying out loud.”

“No you probably don’t, but I think that’s your charm.” He ruffled her hair before standing up and finishing his work.

“So I really have to go with guy number four?” her bottom lip jutted out.

“Well, guy number two thinks so.” Kyuhyun replied cheekily, referring to her nickname for him from the list made by her mom. Her mature comeback was sticking her tongue out at him. He laughed. “Don’t worry. You just moved back to Korea, right? I’ll help you to your new apartment tomorrow. I think I have spare time in the afternoon.”

“Really?” she brightened. “How did you know I’m going to live in an apartment, anyway?”

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “The nurses. Apparently they’re so much more up to date to gossips than the shows they have on TV.”

Seyoon grinned, despite the frightening stalking ability of the nurses here. The fact that he actually cared enough to want to know something about her made her stomach warm.

“So. I’ll pick you up at 1 PM?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning his body lazily on one foot and crossing his arms on his chest, watching her.

Seyoon reddened a little under his attention. She hoped his hearing wasn’t sharp enough to catch the the increasing sounds of the thump of her heart. She felt like they were discussing about their first date or something.

“Sure. Yeah. 1 PM.”