Chapter 10

Changmin takes a deep breath. He walks slowly to the living room of his apartment, holding himself up by the wall as he takes in his surroundings. His hand is still pressed on his left chest and he unknowingly keeps chanting out,

“I’m fine…I’m fine…it was because I’m still shocked…that’s why…no…no…my feeling for him is already dead…dead, it was a long time ago”

He took another deep breath when his heartbeat finally decides to calm down and back to the normal pace.

Changmin went into his room, taking off Yoochun’s clothes and throw them precisely into the laundry basket before headed toward the bathroom.

As he let the water filled the bathtub, he runs his fingers through his fringe, cursing under his breath as he stared at his own reflection.

“Aish…stupid Jung! Who does he thinks he is? Comes and goes as he pleases…kissing me as he likes? Argh! How dare him! Bastard!” He cursed angrily and starts picking up his toothbrush, ready for a fury brush against his mouth, with a generous amount of tooth paste on it and begin brushing his teeth. He brushes as hard as he can, as if he wants to erase any trace of Yunho’s lips on his.

By the time he was satisfied, his gum was almost bleed and decided he was cleaned enough, he stopped. Gargling and spitting the gargled water out as hard as he can as if he intend to spit that on Yunho’s face.

The young doctor properly looked at himself in the mirror. Only then he realized there was something has formed on his neck. Red spots, and looking from a far, they look almost like love bites, he yelped.

Oh god, no!

 He inspects the marks closer, and knew instantly that was just rashes. Relieve sweep through him as he let out the held out breath he was holding. Why was he felt that way in the first place…..

Wait? How did that get over there? He didn’t eat or drink anything that he is allergic to. Or…did he?

[Flashback]

“Ahjumma…please give me some more soju…” Changmin said in his half-conscious state while shaking his empty soju bottle. The old lady that runs the food bar comes closer and shakes her head.

“Young man…you should stop drinking…you are drunk already…” the old lady said, trying to plant some sense into the drunken man but Changmin end up chuckling.

 “Drunk…who?? Me…? Drunk?? Not at all ahjumma…*hiccup* I….*hiccup* am a doctor ahjumma…I…” he stops for a while then he begins patting his chest proudly.

 “Young man…”

“Ahjumma!!” Changmin’s tone is a bit high, making the old lady startled for a while and she begins to worry if the man drinking at her food bar will act viciously. “I’m a doctor…okay. If you are sick…you have to see me…okay?” Changmin continues and the ahjumma nods her head.

 “Yes..yes…you are a doctor…now let’s get you home…” the lady said, persuading nicely.

 “Home…?” Changmin looks at the ahjumma with reddish face and he smiles while shaking his head.

“I…don’t want to go home…I want to go to hospital…because I am a doctor,” he said continuously. The old lady shakes her head and left him be. She had her other customers to attend to, filling up the orders as she let him be.

 Changmin put his head on the table when suddenly his phone rang. Great, just in time, he was in the mood to talk to anyone anyway.

“Hellow?” He greeted the caller, didn’t bother to check on ID anyway, the world too spinning in his prospective.

“Hey Minnie, what are you up too?”
 

“Who is… *hiccup* this?” He hiccupped and the words came out slurry.

“Oh.. you don’t recognize my voice baby? It’s me Yoochun. Where are you drinking? Are you by yourself?” Changmin giggled, he swears he’s gonna deny it later on but listening to the endearment, someone calling him baby make his tummy does this funny flippant.

“That sleazy, grease ball Park Yoochun. *another round of giggling* Not drinking… *hiccup* I’m just having fun by myself.” Changmin sounded small, like a kid, hiding his dirty little sandy hands after playing in the sandbox all day.

“Chun-ah, you know…..I’m very sad today. I *hiccup followed with a soft sniffle like he was holding himself from the bridge of tearing*…

I felt like I’m seeing my whole life…fade away in front of me.

 Do a blood test…. run the patient for an MRI…. check on the urine content… do the patient shows any reaction toward the treatment…. Yoochun-ah….am I really going to keep on living like this? Do you know when was the last time I had my shower? Four days. Four ing days!”
 

 Yoochun’s P.O.V.

[Park’s Law Consultant Firm]

“Is this really the last case I need to read before I can finally go home?” I sighed, this better be the last or else I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Yes Mr. Park, this will be the last. After you reviewed this, you’re free to go. If you excuse me, I’ll be going home first.”

“Alright, thank you Ms. Kim. Have a safe trip home.”

The lady excused herself out from my office. She still young, barely at the age of 25 yet already a permanent employee in this firm. She must be really good then, well I guess I should have discovered that by now.

My eyes glanced back at the spread files on the table, another sigh escaped me.

I really should just be doing my job and get it over with.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like what I do. Being a lawyer gave me a chance to defend the people that have been misjudge or wronged, but there are always time when I had to defend a criminal and not to say that I hate it, but I guess everyone have their own reason in doing crime in the first place.

The clock on the screen displayed 9.40 p.m. I yawn. This isn’t going anywhere unless I do something about it. I should have requested some coffee from that secretary of mine before she went home.

Oh well, I just need to find something to distract myself for awhile….

What to do…what to do

The contact list on my phone is probably not that many, blame that on changing my number too frequently…..

I was pondering whether to call Yoonhwan, my brother but he probably off somewhere studying his off for some crappy exams. My attention then followed to the second person that drove my interest, my suppose-to-be-fiancé, Shim Changmin.

Well…. Wonder what he’s up to?

His life should be a lot more exciting than staying guff up in an office like this.

 
‘First ring…second ring….third ring’  truu~~ truu ~~ truu~~

“Hellow?” He picked up at the third ring, I mentally take a note on that.

“Hey Minnie, what are you up too?”
 

“Who is… *hiccup* this?” A hiccup and he sounded slurry, he’s drunk.

“Oh.. you don’t recognize my voice baby? It’s me Yoochun. Where are you drinking? Are you by yourself?”  The sound of him giggling at the end of the phone got me grinning. That’s cute, wish I could see him now.

“That sleazy, grease ball Park Yoochun. *another round of giggling* Not drinking… *hiccup* I’m just having fun by myself.” His voice sound slurry and he’s definitely drunk. I can already picture him red-faced, drinking at some crappy restaurant or a bar by himself. Oh no, that’s definitely not good.

“Chun-ah, you know…..I’m very sad today. I *hiccup followed with a soft sniffle like he was holding himself from the bridge of tearing*…I felt like I’m seeing my whole life…fade away in front of me. Do a blood test…. run the patient for an MRI…. check on the urine content… do the antibiotic shows any reaction toward the treatment…. Yoochun-ah….am I really going to keep on living like this? Do you know when was the last time I had my shower? Four days. Four ing days!”
 

I chuckled over the phone, understanding half of the terms while another part of me adoring the whining site of him, a completely opposite of the compose and calm Shim Changmin that I know.

“Look Min, baby. You’re a doctor, that’s what you do. You help people.” I tried to comfort him, though I don’t really think I’m doing a great deal here. It’s kinda of weird, I’m the best when it comes to handle with a client, but somehow I can’t really know how to handle a certain man.
 

“Every day I have to meet over 300 people, then afterward probably half of them get discharged and don’t have to see me again, do you really think they’ll just remember a certain face that helped diagnose a disease for them. I felt like a living robot, ‘Ma’am you’re have a heart disease, you need to undergo !#^^%#$^Y**&&%%$##$ ……”

and it’s really is best if I had at least understand half of the trouble this poor guy is going through but I get the idea of what it is about.
 

The ramblings go on and on for almost half an hour with me throwing a few comments here and there, just to tell him that I’m still here and listening. I’m surprise that he turned out to be quite out-spoken and talking back at every pathetic comment of sympathy that I tried. I chuckled over my own clumsiness in choosing those words.

By the time the line was disconnected, I was surprised, I stared at my phone, the battery was still good (although only half of it remained), it couldn’t be the reason to why the call was disconnected.

I felt a bit uneasy, leaving things the way they are, I called him again but ….

 The ID showed it was definitely Changmin’s number but the voice was definitely not Changmin’s.

END YOOCHUN’S P.O.V

Taking that as Changmin’s blacking out, the old lady took the phone loosely held on Changmin’s hand. Perhaps she could call someone that knew her customer could come and fetch him home. The old lady was only scrolling through the contact when she heard the ringing tone and picked it up.

 “Yeoboseyo…?” the old lady greet politely.

“Err…yeoboseyo…this is Shim Changmin’s cellphone right?” the voice, a man from the other line greeted back as polite as she is.

“Ah…so this drunk man name is Shim Changmin?” the old lady asked back.

“Yes, yes he is. Is he alright?”

“He is drunk…aigoo…I don’t know what kind of problem he is facing at work…but he keep drinking and drinking…and he claims to be a doctor,” the old lady said, reporting everything to the man on the other line.

“Ah…I see, can you tell me where is your place…I’m going to come and fetch my fiancée,” the other man said.

“Fiancée?? Good…good…come and fetch him. You should be the one comforting him…he shouldn’t come and seek comfort from the alcohol.”

Half an hour later, Yoochun appeared in front of the food bar and he paid for Changmin’s bills as he apologized to the old lady if Changmin had caused any scenes. The old lady just said it’s alright and told him it happen every time.

It’s hard to carry a man.

Added with well-defined body, brute strength and not to mention as tall as Changmin, and it is even harder when combined all of that and the said man was drunk as well.

Yoochun almost got punched square in the face for a few times already but lucky him, he manages to dodge it or at least, shield his face and let Changmin’s punches somewhere else on his body which he can hide under the clothes the next day.

Yoochun stumbled on his feet a few times while carrying Changmin to his apartment building. It’s not like he didn’t asked where Changmin’s live, but every time he asked, Changmin only gave Yoochun small incoherent answer which lead Yoochun to no choice but bringing Changmin home. Yoochun arrive in front of his apartment door, with the tall figure completely leaning over to his shoulder, half awake, half asleep.

He was lucky that he only need to punch in the passwords to get into his apartment, no need to search for keys to unlocking the door. Just imagining if he has to fumbles with jumble of keys at this time and having a drunk man leaning on him, harsh! Yoochun already shakes his head at the thought.

With little energy he had left, Yoochun bring Changmin to the bedroom by giving