Five.

Or has it?

“Jiejie!” Seyoon squealed into her phone. She heard a sweet, charming laugh from the other end of the line and her heart settled slightly from its anxiety.

“It’s either someone had just given you a truck full of tiramisu cakes, or you just personally met Vera Wang and discussed about her bridal collections with her just now.” She commented.

Seyoon’s smile faded a little and she paused to comprehend what she said, but when she failed; “Um, what?”

“You sounded too cheerful for your own good, Seyoonnie!” the other girl laughed again. “Just when I thought Im Seyoon couldn’t have been more cheerful than normal.”

Seyoon pictured her Jiejie shaking her head at her antics. She giggled.

“So, what’s new in Im Seyoon’s world?”

“Um, nothing.”

“Nah, don’t give your Jiejie that. Come on, tell me. You must have heard something really good to be that happy.” She said. “Or have you finally met a perfect prince that actually reaches up to your astronomical standards? One of those eligible bachelors your mom keeps shoving onto you, maybe?”

Hearing this, Seyoon’s face warmed. For the first time in her life she found it hard to straightforwardly tell her Jiejie.

She heard her gasp. “Oh my God. Seyoonnie. Is that true?”

“Is what true?”

“That our little Seyoonnie is actually in love with someone?”

Seyoon choked at that. “Karen Jiejie!”

“No, answer me, Seyoon. What’s his name? What’s his occupation? And did your mom know it yet? Where did you-”

“Jiejie,” Seyoon cut off the Chinese-American girl with a sigh. “It’s... it’s not love yet. At least I don’t think so. I mean, I just... met him and-”

“Don’t leave the details.” Karen warned.

“Fine.” Seyoon said huffily. “I’ve only known him for almost a week.” A smile started up at her lips as she tugged her hair. “I just... find him charming, you know? And chivalrous. And gentle. And sweet. Sometimes he teases me though. But he puts up with my dumbness.”

“Aww,” Karen cooed. “Continue, continue! What’s the occupation and where did you meet this lucky guy?”

“He’s a doctor. I met him at Busan.”

“A doctor!” Karen coughed rather loudly. “Okay, he’s definitely going to have your mom’s blessing. Right. So what’s the name? Can you elaborate the name?”

Seyoon bit her lip shyly even though there was no one to see her murmuring his name. “It’s Cho Kyuhyun.”

There was a pause. “Is it just me or the name really sounds familiar?”

“Um, he’s guy number two.”

Another long pause ensued.

“Guy number two? You mean he’s one of those eligible bachelors in your mom’s list?” she asked increduously, but didn’t actually give Seyoon the time to answer as she continued, “Gosh, what a kickass guy you’ve got.”

Seyoon smiled at the awed tone from Karen’s voice, but at the glance of her watch she was back to squirming again. Then her eyes went to her packed up belongings and the neatly folded hospital gown she had changed out of and had placed on the end of her bed.

She was ready to check out of the hospital and Kyuhyun had promised her he would help her with it at 1 PM. The time had just hit two o’clock.

Where is he now?

She decided to distract herself again; after all, she was calling Karen so that she wouldn’t be bored off waiting for him.

“So, um, how’s that trip to Jeju with Donghae Oppa and Hyukjae Oppa?”

She could almost hear Karen smile to her phone. “We’ll be going there in two days. But Seyoon-ah,” Karen exhaled noisily, “I think I’m a little nervous now.”

“What? Because of Donghae Oppa?” Seyoon snorted good-naturedly. “Don’t. Really. He’s a dork. What’s there to be nervous about?”

“Oh my God, how can I not be? You only say that because you’ve spent the last eight years having him treat you like a big brother would to his kiddy sister. He’s a man to me, Seyoonie. He’sa dork, true. But he can be very sweet at times.”

The sigh indicating just how whipped Karen was made Seyoon let out a small giggle. She could tell how much her Jiejie liked her Oppa, and she felt proud of herself for having decided to matchmake the two. Plus, she was sure Donghae was just as whipped as the Chinese girl was, because he hadn’t been in a serious relationship for too long – he had been a wandering playboy, for the lack of better terms – and now they have been going steady for three months and Donghae didn’t seem bored at all in Karen’s company.

“Right. Okay. You’re whipped.” Seyoon decided to let her know that much with a laugh.

Karen snorted. “Whipped? Whipped? You’ll find out the true definition of whipped when you see how Hyukjae is with his other half.”

Seyoon nearly bounced up and down on her bed hearing this. “Ooh! Tell me, tell me! Are they back together now?”

“Glued to each other like a power glue.” The older girl confirmed.

Seyoon leaned her back to the headboard of her bed with an admiring sigh. She knew that Hyukjae was so head over heels with the girl, it was almost tooth-achingly sweet how happy he always sounded every time he elaborated their love story to Seyoon. Seyoon would always bug him into telling her the details, because she was always a er for tooth-achingly sweet love stories. She knew how much he had sacrificed for his girl, so the news that they were now back together made her feel incredibly happy for him.

“Have you met her? Hyukjae Oppa’s girl- um, what’s her name again?”

“It’s Kang Nayoung. And yeah, I’ve met her once. It was just a brief encounter though. She looked really sweet – a little quiet but sweet. And Hyukjae just couldn’t seem to get enough of her.”

Seyoon’s heart fluttered with warmth. It seems like Hyukjae’s love story was heading to a ridiculously happy ending, and Seyoon felt happy for him. She knew he deserved it.

When was hers going to head to that direction anyway? Oh... wait. It hasn’t even started yet.

Or has it?

She heard Karen sigh softly. “I really missed having girl talks like this with you, Seyoonie.”

“Me too.” She pouted.

“What are you doing now? Still busy with your boutique?”

“No. Not really. I, um, actually I’m waiting for Kyuhyun.”

“It’s afternoon in Korea, isn’t it?” Karen asked, and Seyoon pictured her glancing at her watch.. “What, you have a lunch date?”

Seyoon felt her face heat up, because she found herself wishing that it were really a lunch date with Kyuhyun. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

“No, he’s just going to drive me to my ap-”

She stopped herself from finishing what she was going to say with a realization. Like any other friend of hers, Karen didn’t need to know about her hospitalization. She was either going to freak out or tell Donghae who obviously was going to tell her mom. Seyoon just knew it. And she knew that that’s not going to end very nicely.

“Er, I mean... yeah. Lunch date.” She finished lamely.

“Ahh, so it’s like that.” Karen teased with a laugh. “What time will he to come pick you up?”

“Um,” she didn’t know why she glanced at her watch again even though she knew he has been an hour late, but she did anyway and disappointment ran through her. He was one hour and ten minutes late now. Seyoon bit her lip. “He should be here... in a few minutes.”

“Oh, really? Tell me when he comes, okay? You know, so I wouldn’t disturb you on your first-lunch-date-ever with your dream guy.” Karen laughed, and Seyoon had to force a shy giggle through her uneasiness in reply.

It was five in the afternoon when Seyoon let out a small sigh and stood up from the bed. She finally decided she would just get home by herself after some earthshaking mental battle. Four hours was a long enough wait.

Kyuhyun didn’t show up, nor did he bother asking a nurse or someone in the hospital to tell Seyoon that he couldn’t make it up that afternoon to drive her home. He obviously could have, but he didn’t. He stood her up.

Seyoon shook her head to herself sharply, mentally scolding herself for even thinking about it that way. There was no way Cho Kyuhyun was like that. Maybe if she had exchanged numbers with him, he would have told her something had come up and he couldn’t pick her up. But they didn’t, so Kyuhyun couldn’t tell her that he couldn’t come to pick her up.

About asking a nurse to tell her that he couldn’t... well... maybe that thing coming up was so urgent he didn’t even remember to warn Seyoon about it. Or... maybe he just forgot to pick her up.

Earlier, she had ended the phone call with Karen, after Karen asked her for the fourth time whether Kyuhyun had arrived to pick her up or not. Seyoon knew how she hated anyone who wasn’t punctual, let alone a guy who stood a girl up.

Deciding it would be bad for Kyuhyun’s image in Karen’s point of view if she said he hadn’t, Seyoon lied to her and told her he had just arrived and was waiting for her at the lobby of her apartment, before disconnecting the line.

She hated that she was lying to her closest girl friend, but she somehow felt the need to cover up for Kyuhyun – because trust her, no one wants to be on Karen’s bad side.

She slung her purse over her shoulder and walked out of the room, feeling the pang of disappointment grow in her chest. She gripped the strap of her purse in her hand.

She knew that after this, the chances for her and Kyuhyun to cross each other’s paths again was going to be very small. They hadn’t exchanged numbers. Well, her number was registered in the hospital’s file, but she didn’t know if he was going to bother to look for it or not; and she actually could have asked the nurses for his, but she didn’t think it was the appropriate thing to do. Not if her intentions of keeping in contact with him didn't have anything to do with him being her doctor.

She bit down on her lip, swallowing down her disappointment. Just when she thought she had met the right guy.