Chapter 2

It’s been a good six hours since Wooyoung arrived at the ER department of Gijeok Hospital, and every minute proved to be beyond important as he found himself treating patient after patient without any time to spare. Sipping on his ramyun noodles gratefully when he finally received a well deserved twenty minute break, the relaxing silence of the department office was quickly interrupted by the loud blaring of his cell phone. Fishing his phone out of his front chest pocket with difficulties, he barely managed to pick up the call before nudging the device dangerously between his shoulder and ear, “Jang Wooyoung speaking.”

“Doctor Jang, there’s a heart attack patient coming in five minutes! All the other doctors are occupied, you need to come down to the entrance right now!”

Quickly dropping his chopsticks and spitting out a mouthful of noodles, Wooyoung hastily stood up, grabbing his coat and attempting to put it on with one hand, “What’s the patient’s condition?”

“Name, Bae Suji, female, nineteen, she previously had heart surgery a year ago. And it appears she suddenly collapsed while running in a marathon.” Through the phone, Wooyoung was able to slowly hear the gradual build up of the ambulance sirens, and the increasing hurry in the nurse’s voice as she told him they were already here earlier than planned.

“Got it, I’ll be right there.” Immediately hanging up the phone, Wooyoung took one last gulp of the steaming hot soup, accidentally burning the tips of his tongue as the hot liquid traveled down his throat. Ignoring the pain, he hurriedly ran down towards the entrance, eyes traveling towards a lone female already hooked up to machines as a few nurses crowded around her, busy jotting down numbers on their clipboards.

“How’s her vitals?”

“Not looking very good, and it’s getting worse.” The girl Wooyoung recognized as Tiffany spoke beside him, “her heartbeat is very rapid and irregular.”

Frowning, he began to take out his stethoscope, only to be interrupted by the loud beeping of the nearby monitor hooked up to the young female. Taking a hurried glance at the monitor, Wooyoung cursed under his breath at the up and downs of her recorded heartbeat and lowered down to listen to her breathing.

Nothing.

Sweat trickling down his forehead, he immediately began CPR, only pausing for a brief second as the rapid beeping of the monitor turned to a long, haunting continuous beep.

Through the loud drumming of his heartbeat pounding in his ear, Wooyoung could hear the distant voice of Tiffany yelling frantically, “Arrest! Arrest!”

“Bring me a defibrillator, hurry!” Even as the nurse ran back with the defibrillator, Wooyoung continued CPR until the machine was set up and the defibrillation electrodes are securely attached to the female’s chest. Quickly standing back up, he fixed his gaze on the ECG trace, waiting for a rhythm.

“150, clear.” Attempting to steady his voice to regain its usual composure and calm, he tried his hardest to ignore the repeating images of his accident that lead him here. With a deep breath, Wooyoung lowered the defibrillator.

“Shock!”

The beep continued its wail.

Wiping the sweat collecting on his eyebrows, Wooyoung blew away his wet fringe hovering over his vision. “200, clear.”

“Shock!”

Without a change, the beep continued to sound, silencing the entire department as everyone watched in anxiety. Wooyoung’s hands began to tremble, his head filled with the replaying scene of the dying patient he failed to save.

“300, clear.” Closing his eyes momentarily, he gulped, allowing the voices in his head to increase its volume.

“You’re a doctor! How could you not save him!?”

“He died in your hands, it’s all because of you!”

Fluttering his eyes back open, Wooyoung took one last deep breath.

“Shock!”

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep . . .

The long beep was finally replaced with steady short beeps, signaling the return of the long awaited heartbeat. As he looked back down, the female was slowly breathing once again.

Heaving a sigh in relief, Wooyoung collapsed into the seat behind him, his own heartbeat gradually returning to normal. Breaking into a small smile as he saw the nurses wheeling the young female towards the cardiology department for further treatment.

“You did well.” Turning his head around at the sound of someone’s voice, Wooyoung’s eyes widened at the sight of Taecyeon standing behind him, arms crossed as he looked down with the same expression he first held upon their initial meeting.

“I-I could’ve done better-” Immediately standing up and bowing in greeting, he glanced up nervously at the older male, “Were you watching the entire time?”

“I have better things to do than watch your every move. I got back from a patient and saw you shaking over there.” Eyes fleeting towards the now empty spot behind him, Taecyeon replied, “and when someone tells you you did well, you’re supposed to reply with a ‘thank you’, not stutter and make up excuses about how you could’ve done better. Is this what they taught you over there?”

Slightly embarrassed that the other witnessed him panicking, Wooyoung nodded in acknowledgement, a small pout appearing on his face as he toyed around with the loose strings on the ends of his shirt, “I’m sorry, I’ll d-”

“Woooyoouunngg!” A sudden voice yelled across the room as the familiar figure ran towards the younger boy and practically threw himself on top of Wooyoung, ruffling his hair with a big smile as he did so, “I heard about the cardiac arrest patient, good job Wooyoung-ie! I’m so proud of you.”

Chuckling a little at Minjun’s overexaggerated act of wiping imaginary tears, Wooyoung smiled at the other’s words, secretly grateful he interrupted the tense and awkward conversation between him and Taecyeon, “Thank you, Minjun-ssi-”

“Ayy, just call me hyung.” Hitting his head playfully, Minjun pulled himself off of Wooyoung and stood back straight as he saw Taecyeon’s disapproving stare, scowling to himself before breaking off to a large grin again, “Oh by the way, we’re having a welcome party for you tonight at the noraebang. There’s going to be a lot of drinking so watch out!” Wiggling his eyebrows mischievously, he turned his attention towards Taecyeon, “Yah, Ok Taecyeon-”

“Chief.” Taecyeon interrupted.

Making a face, Minjun continued, “you have to come too, okay? Not that you’ll want to miss out on drinking but-” Giggling to himself, the older male began to walk off, waving towards Wooyoung as he yelled across the department, “Make sure to come! 8pm, sharp!”

-

Wooyoung can’t remember the last time he stepped foot outside of either the hospital or his home for recreational purposes. Ever since he graduated from med school and entered Seoul Uni, his life revolved around his patients. Everyday was a constant cycle of seeing patients, eating, holding scalpels, pooping, saving lives, and sleeping. He never gave himself time to take a break, and friends? That word was long eliminated from his dictionary. All of this and so much more contributed to his obvious awkwardness as he sat deadpan centre in the crowded noraebang room. Awkwardly clapping for his new co-worker’s drunk singing ( more like wailing ), awkwardly smiling when someone toasted him, awkwardly taking up space and being very, very awkward.

“Cheer up oppa! Why do you look like you’d rather die than be here? This isn’t too bad, is it?” Minjun’s girlfriend, Hyejeong, nudged him gently on the side, offering him a small smile in encouragement as she nodded towards everyone else, “Everyone’s having a lot of fun, it’d be even better if you joined them.”

Wooyoung smiled and looked towards the group at the front, all singing on top of their lungs and flailing their limbs around in what appeared to be an attempt at dancing. Hyejeong was right, everyone is having a lot of fun. Even Taecyeon, who looked like he was having the time of his life doing the crab dance in SNSD’s Gee.

Never in his lifetime would he have expected to see Taecyeon have fun, hell, he didn’t think the guy knew what fun is. But then again, he would have never expected to see a group of well respected doctors all faced and dancing to a girl group’s song, swirling hips, flipping hair and everything.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t thoroughly amused.

But at the same time he was amused, Wooyoung also felt all sorts of guilt. They came here for his welcome party, and he ended up being the only one that looked like he hated everything and everyone in the room. Sighing, he took a small sip out of his barely touched alcohol, only to put it back down immediately.

“Aweh, we can’t have you go home sober. You’ll have to at least strip for us to let you go home.” Minjun plopped onto the seat on the couch beside Wooyoung, wrapping one arm around him and the other around Hyejeong. Clearly drunk, the older male toppled over in hysterical laughter at the sight of Wooyoung’s horrified face, repeatedly slapping his knee exaggeratedly, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Just look at this kid’s face, you’re such a cutie.”

Wooyoung chuckled awkwardly again and reached towards the glass of soju on the table in front of him, taking another small sip of the alcohol. He was never a big fan of alcohol, he didn’t like the taste of it, and he didn’t like how it had the control to make yourself lose control. Wooyoung was someone who liked to be constantly conscious at all times, so he would be in the best condition for his patients.

“I-!” A very drunk Chansung suddenly yelled across the room, his eyelids droopy and words slurred as he held up his glass of soju in the air, “I would like to welcome Wooyoung-ie hyung to the ER department once again! You won’t ever find another group of doctors as ed up as we are and we are probably the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.” The young male suddenly laughed his high pitched laugh again and stumbled over towards Wooyoung, almost tripping over Junho who mysteriously began to roll on the ground, “Cheers!”

Everyone held up their bottles and all yelled in unison, downing their drinks and laughing for no good reason. Braving himself, Wooyoung also took a large gulp of the soju, feeling his throat burn with the alcohol. All these years, he never really properly downed alcohol. In cases where he had to drink, they were all timid, small sips. Yet with this large portion of soju, Wooyoung felt strangely alive. He then proceeded to take another gulp, and another, and soon enough, he found himself in the middle of the noraebang room, a hand tracing down the side of his body as he shook his hips to 2PM’s A.D.T.O.Y. along with the five other guys in the department.

For the first time in god knows how many years, Wooyoung felt alive.

Laughing at the girls hollering and whistling as the song came to a gradual stop, Wooyoung began to make his way back to the couch, only to be stopped by Junho as he was handed a mike. “Sing.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s tradition, every newbie has to sing a song at their welcome party. We all did it.” Nichkhun spoke at the side, practically on Taecyeon’s lap as he made smoochy faces towards the almost passed out chief ( Wooyoung discovered that when Nichkhun gets drunk, he kisses every single moving object. And he was no exception. Through this, he also discovered that Tiffany is probably the coolest girlfriend ever ).

Chansung whined beside him, attempting his best aegyo which proved to be a sad fail for his oversized body, “C’mon hyung, pleeeaase?”

Normally, this would be a request that Wooyoung would never accept. But he was drunk out of his mind, and everything seemed like a good idea. At least in the moment.

Grabbing the mike from Junho’s hand, he walked towards the center and selected his song, bobbing his head from side to side as the soft melody of the song began to play. Ever since he was a little kid, he had always liked singing, although not as much as dancing, and he would always be that one kid in the classroom that holds a concert with a single mop everytime the teacher was gone. However, as he grew up, that little fire of passion slowly died down when he was faced with the reality of the real world, and he eventually sealed his voice and dancing moves for textbooks and pens instead.

As his soft voice gradually began to fill the noraebang room with a slow ballad, everyone also slowly began to settle down. Minjun and Nichkhun both collapsed in their respective girlfriend’s arms, Chansung and Junho began a series of quiet whispers only meant for each other’s ears, and Taecyeon sat silently, watching Wooyoung with the same stare, but this time, Wooyoung stared back.

There was something about Taecyeon that he couldn’t quite grasp, Wooyoung thought to himself as they continued their staring contest throughout Wooyoung’s song, neither of them surrendering. As the song came to a quiet stop, Taecyeon finally broke the stare as he eventually fell into the couch, drunk beyond repair.

Wooyoung laughed at the remaining conscious people cheering for him like a group of fangirls, giving a comical, deep bow before shuffling back towards the couch, “How was I?”

“Too good, better than most idols out there.” Chansung complimented him with a big thumbs up, earning a glare from Junho.

“Hey, I was pretty good too.”

“Of course, you’re my Nuneo, and my Nuneo is perfect at everything he does.” At this, Wooyoung raised his eyebrows in suspicion, glancing between the two males with squinted eyes. As he opened his mouth to question their relationship, Minjun interrupted them with a loud burp.

“Hey, I think it’s time to go home, kids. We still have to work tomorrow.”

“Right. Work.” Mutters of protest and groans sounded throughout the room as everyone picked themselves up and filed towards the door, everyone conscious dragging along someone unconscious, and before he knew it, Wooyoung found himself alone in the room, with Taecyeon still snoring on the couch.

“Uhm, excuse me? Hello?” Wooyoung waved his hand in front of the older male’s face, but Taecyeon only snored once again and shifted towards the other side, refusing to wake up.

“Hello? Chief? Wake up!” When all else failed to work, Wooyoung readied himself for a blood hurtling “Yahhh!”, yet that didn’t wake the other up either, only causing a disapproving grunt from the sound asleep male as he continued to sleep.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with you?” Groaning in frustration, Wooyoung looked around at the empty room hopelessly before crouching down in front of Taecyeon and propping the other’s muscular arms over his own thin shoulders. With a loud groan, he heaved the other up on his back and stumbled towards the doorway. The older male was obviously too heavy for him, and he ended up half dragging him across the floor and half pushing him towards the exit, topped off with several loud protests and very ungentle hits. Yet despite all this, Taecyeon still slept like a baby.

After a solid twenty minutes of intense physical labor in trying to get Taecyeon down the stairs, out of the exit and into a cab, Wooyoung finally collapsed against the older male in the back seat of a taxi in exhaustion.

“Where are you going sir?” It was only when the taxi driver asked did Wooyoung realize he had absolutely no idea where Taecyeon lived, holding up his finger in a motion for the driver to wait for a few seconds, he turned his focus back in trying to wake up the older male once again. When his desperate plea was faced with the same loud snore, Wooyoung finally gave up and slammed his face into his hand in desperation, muttering sadly his own address towards the clearly amused driver.

They arrived in front of his apartment building in no time, and Wooyoung found himself having to haul the heavier male up two flights of stairs when he barely caught his breath before they came into the taxi.

“I swear, if you weren’t my chief-” Cursing quietly, he barely managed to find his keys and open the door with Taecyeon’s weight plopped against him, “Aish, can’t you just wake up!?”

When he finally dragged Taecyeon onto his couch, Wooyoung was officially drained of all his energy as he collapsed onto another smaller couch, scowling at the sight of the drunk and passed out male. Who would’ve thought his first day in the ER would end with a grown assed man sleeping on his own couch in his own apartment. Sighing, his gaze softened as Taecyeon let out a small sneeze in his sleep, and Wooyoung quickly ran to his room to grab a blanket before he could stop himself.

Draping the blanket over the other’s long body, Wooyoung immediately stepped back when he was done. Now that he already spent most of his energy trying to wake him up, he was almost afraid if he actually did wake up right now.

The moonlight from his window drafted a strange glow on Taecyeon’s undeniably attractive face, highlighting his already flawless features with a soft light. With a gulp, Wooyoung immediately stopped himself from staring any further and hurriedly walked back to his own room, making sure to shut his bedroom door locked behind him and hugging his blanket extra tight.

He fell asleep almost the instant his head hit the pillow, and for some strange reason he wasn’t quite able to grasp, Wooyoung slept extra soundly that night.

A/N: So I was originally planning to have this as Chapter 3 and put in a filler for Chapter 2, but I couldn't resist the urge to finally write some Taecwoo action, so here you go! Also, I was wondering if any of you would find it helpful if I added some definitions for the medical terms that will be used in the story, I was planning on doing it for this chapter but got kind of lazy, but if the terms are confusing and you want me to add an explanation, just comment below and I'll gladly do so. Just going to put another disclaimer here stating that I am in no ways a professional at all these medical stuff and I'm purely writing this as an interest, and all my knowledge are taken from my lovely friend Google, so I apologize in advance if I got some things wrong ( I really did try my best at research ; a ; ). And lastly, thanks for reading! - Lindy <3