“Hi daddy!” Haeyeon grinned cheerfully upon seeing the man in front of Chaewon. She went to him and gave him a light high five. It seemed like it was their tradition whenever they meet each other.

“Hello cutie. You look so fine. Are you good now?” the man asked, ruffling her hair affectionately. Haeyeon nodded.

“Appa said I’m fine,” she replied a little too cheerful. “I can be discharged soon.”

“Good that. What are you doing out of bed?” he asked. His attention turned to Chaewon who stayed unmoving since earlier. She was still staring at him in surprise. His face showed a surprised expression when they made eye contact. A good one. He raised his hand to shoulder level and smiled.

He said, “Long time no see, Moon Chaewon.”

“Joo Won,” the name escaped from Chaewon’s lips unknowingly. She doesn’t know whether to reply his smile or not. At the end, she just showed a blank face.

“Uh?” Haeyeon raised her brows, looking at both Chaewon and Joo Won.

“Daddy and Aunt Chaewon knew each other?”

“Sort of. We were-” Joo Won took a glance of Chaewon before proceeding it. “-friends. We went to the same school.”

~

Her right hand was holding a quite large number of plastic bags, containing some stuffs, while the other hand was used to hold her phone. Hyemi dialled some numbers before putting it up near her ear as she kept walking ahead.

“Haesung-ssi, I’ve taken the sandwiches. Why did you buy so many? They’re more than enough for my department,” she spoke in soft tone, stopping in front of elevators. With her hands were being so busy, she tried to reach the elevator button but to her luck, the elevator next to the one she was waiting, opened. Without thinking much she went in and pressed floor 3: Pediatric Department.

“Really? I didn’t know. It’s my first time buying so many. Sorry Hyemi-ssi,” Haesung replied apologetically from the other line. Hyemi let out a light laugh.

“It’s okay Haesung-ssi. I can give to other department too. So, Haesung-ssi-” An abrupt stop and a slight shake of the elevator caused Hyemi to let out a soft scream.

“Hyemi-ssi, are you okay? What happened?” Haesung asked worriedly.

“I’m alright. It’s just this elevator,” Hyemi explained, putting down all the plastic bags on the floor. “It stopped so suddenly and it’s already my third time.” She pressed the emergency button.

“Anybody? I’m stuck in here, again,” she yelled in annoyance. She heard laugh sound from her phone. “What? Was that funny to you?”

“Quite. Sorry Hyemi-ssi but I’ve gotta go. Enjoy the sandwiches, alright?” Haesung said, bidding goodbye. Seconds after, the elevator functioned and reached third floor. Hyemi walked out and headed straight to receptionist desk, mumbling incoherent words, obviously in annoyed. She stopped at the receptionist desk and started ranting. Too bad that Nurse Im was there hearing her whole rant.

“When is the technician going to fix that malfunction elevator? It wasn’t even first time reporting, and they still haven’t fixed it. Gosh I’m so annoyed. What if it doesn’t go back to normal, holding me in it alone, and nobody cares about it.”

Her rant was starting to make no sense as Nurse Im told her to stop by saying that she was going to report to technician again. Hyemi heaved a sigh and put all the plastic bags on the receptionist desk. Nurse Im shot a questioning look at her. Hyemi gave her a smile and started explaining.

“Tell staffs to take one each. It’s from my boyfriend.”

Nurse Im nodded, understand.

“But Dr Jang, what’s the occasion? Your face was glowing gloriously since this morning. Aside from that annoying rant,” she said the last sentence in soft voice, not wanting the doctor to hear it. Hyemi grinned, couldn’t contain her happiness as someone actually noticed her overload excitement.

“Well, actually, my boyfriend proposed to me last night. So technically, I’m getting married.”

They settled for drinks at the hospital’s cafe sitting in front of each other. Neither Chaewon nor Joo Won spoke making the whole situation a bit awkward. Joo Won cleared his throat, indicating that he wanted to start talking.

“It’s been 10 years, isn’t it?  How’re you doing?” he asked. That was the most common question for people who didn’t meet each other for a long time. And it did include the two of them.

“Good. You?”

“I’m as usual.” Joo Won meant he was fine. Silence filled the air. The little-awkward moments they had were still lingering.

“So, how did you meet Minji?” Chaewon asked, breaking the silence. She had no other choice but to speak in order to get rid the awkward environment that built up since earlier.

“A cafe. I met the little angel first before her mother.”

“Haeyeonie?”

Joo Won smiled and nodded. “That cutie has her own charm that brought me to Minji. That was how we met.”

Chaewon nodded in awed. “Haeyeon is really something, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. She is something. How about you? Found a soulmate yet? It’s impossible for a goddess like you stay single.” Joo Won raised his brow in anticipation. Chaewon opened to talk but instead she gave him a small smile, shaking her head. She was embarrassed.

“Really?” Joo Won’s eyes grew in surprised. “Don’t say that you can’t get over me,” he said jokingly, ended with a small laugh.

~

“Really?” Nurse Im’s eyes grew in surprised, excited to hear such announcement. “Ah, I’m so jealous. I don’t even have a boyfriend,” she pouted in disappointment. “However, congratulation! I wish you for the best.”

Hyemi’s lips curved a smile, from ear to ear. “Thank you. But please keep it down. I’ll tell the other staffs when the invitation card is ready,” she told. Nurse Im smiled and said OK.

“Ah have you seen Dr Moon?” Hyemi asked.

“Dr Moon is probably down at the cafe. She was meeting someone.”

“Someone? Who?” Nurse Im shrugged, saying that she doesn’t know.

“It’s okay. Please inform Nurse Kim to attend the meeting room now. Minho needs to undergo a surgery soon. Thank you.”

~

“Yah!” Chaewon’s eyes turned fiery for a moment.

“I’m joking. But, usually people don’t forget their first love, right?”

Chaewon chuckled, nodded in agree. “Yeah, I have to agree with that. First love is like the very first experience of love. And it deserves to be remembered no matter how bitter it is. Simply because we experience it for the first time,” she said.

A sudden vibrate from her phone halted their short conversation. She then took it out from her pocket and read the screen. She looked up at him and gave him a smile.

“I’ve gotta go. I have to attend a meeting. Nice meeting you again, Joo Won. Tell Haeyeon I’ll be visiting her soon.” Joo Won replied her smile.

“Sure. See you around.” With that, Chaewon walked off, heading to the elevators.

~

The elevator’s door was about to close when she got in. She let out a sigh of relief when she managed to enter it on time.

“I guess you’re going to floor 3?” the person who was already inside the elevator asked. Chaewon froze. She knew that voice too well. She glanced up the person. Yup, she was right. It was Song Joongki. There was nobody else in the elevator. Chaewon nodded, answering to Joongki’s question. She sighed and silently cursed under her breath for rushing into the elevator without even knowing who was in it. Both of them were silent, nobody had the initiative to talk at all, not even bother to. But, not until when the elevator stopped abruptly.

“What do I do? I have meeting to attend and now this. Broken elevator,” Chaewon said to herself at once, trying to not express the panic surged inside her. “Ah phone.”

She pulled out her phone, but accidentally dropped it on the floor. She doesn’t realize that her hands were trembling pretty bad. Quickly, she picked it up from the floor and tried to search for a contact. But the more she scrolled the contacts, the more she couldn’t find it. She bit her bottom lip, feeling frustrated. A pair of arms s around her shoulder and her body was pulled to the other body inside the elevator. Chaewon didn’t struggle however she let Joongki had her in his arms. She couldn’t deny that she missed him.

“I’ll pull away, but promise me you’ll do things slowly. Promise?” Joongki asked, not letting Chaewon go since her episode of panic attack. Joongki felt her nod, slowly he broke the hug.

“There. You look better.”

He gave her a radiant smile that affect her internally. He doesn’t look hurt from their break up. Maybe he was just pretending, Chaewon thought. She shook the thought off immediately as she started to look up for a contact again on her phone. This time she did it slowly. She called Hyemi, telling her that she would be late because of the malfunction elevator.

“It’s going to be alright, right?” Joongki asked after Chaewon ended her call.

“What?”

“The surgery.”

“It was just a minor one. I think it’s gonna be okay,” she replied, staring down on the floor, fiddling her fingers nervously. She doesn’t have intention to make eye contact with him.

“No. I mean you,” Joongki stated, having his face to her direction. His eyes were filled with concern and affection.

“I...,” Chaewon gathered the courage looking up at him straight to his eyes. She flashed a sweet smile. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

And it was a real smile.

A long update since I didn't update for like, 6 months? I was busy with school and last semester was my last semester. Hopefully I pass the exam so I can proceed to 3 months of internship. However, can you do me a favor? I love comments very much and I appreciate each one of them. But do give me an encourage comment instead of "update soon". Because I feel discourage whenever I get that kind of comment. I know I'm not supposed to be whining and all but you know, human does have feeling. I'm a human too so....

Thank you for waiting patiently, thank you for staying and thank you for everything. Have a great day.