“There will be 3 new housemen that will be joining us today.” Jongin informed. Joon Hee nodded as he raced behind Jongin to enter the ward.  It was just another ordinary day in Joon Hee’s houseman practical life. Every day, he would attend classes from 8a.m to 10a.m. Then, he would rush for his morning rounds with the doctors in the hospital. He only got to rest during one hour lunch break. Once the lunch hour ended, he would rush to his next class which started exactly at 12.30p.m and ended at 5p.m. If he was lucky and didn’t have night shifts, he could go home and get some rest. If not, he needed to stay up until 6a.m and the cycle started again. Although it was extremely exhausting, he did not complain. He knew what he had signed up for when he enrolled into the medical school two years ago. He regretted nothing. He wanted this and he was determined to see this through.

Dr. Park, one of the hospital’s best oncology specialists and also their head of department was waiting along with five other housemen in the hospital ward. There were 3 new faces that Joon Hee had never seen before. They must be the 3 new housemen that Jongin was saying. Joon Hee thought to himself while taking a quick glance at them. Jongin and Joon Hee slightly bowed at Dr. Park who was looking annoyed and began to stand in line with the other 5 housemen.

 “It is of utmost importance that we diagnose our patients carefully and write a detailed report as a reference to the other healthcare providers.” Dr. Park began. A professional and strict all-business expression was plastered on his face. The seven young housemen nodded to indicate that they were paying attention to him. Dr. Park approached one of the 3 new housemen and put out his hand. The houseman obediently handed his report to Dr. Park. He swiftly flipped through pages of the report and scanned through with his sharp eyes. His face twisted into an ugly frown with every turned page before he finally burst into anger. Dr. Park was infamous for being a perfectionist and also having a terrible temper.

Dr. Park slammed the report shut and shoved it roughly into the houseman’s hands. Joon Hee noticed that the houseman was trembling. His head hung low as he was terrified to have his eyes meet directly at Dr. Park’s.   

“How dare you write this kind of rubbish to me? You hardly wrote it up to the minimum standard that I expected! I felt like I was reading a report written by an elementary school student! You could hardly master the basic skill of writing a medical report! How are you going to save lives if you can’t even write a proper report?!” Everyone turned their heads towards the poor houseman out of curiosity. The poor houseman’s head hung even lower.   

“I want you to re-write this! And this time make sure you get all your points and format right? Do you hear me??”

“Yes.”

Dr. Park then walked towards the next houseman and began to scan through his report. Joon Hee took a quick glance at the unlucky houseman. He was blankly staring at the floor while gripping his report tight. Joon Hee couldn’t help but to feel sorry for the poor houseman.

**

Joon Hee saw him again in the cafeteria during lunch hour. He was sitting alone in the far corner of the cafeteria, staring helplessly at his report. Joon Hee was never confident with his social skills. He was so painfully awkward that it was almost impossible to initiate a conversation with someone new. He wanted to ignore his presence, sit in his usual corner and have his lunch. But the sad look on his face made Joon Hee felt bad for just thinking of ignoring him. Sighing, he took his lunch along and approached the houseman nervously.

“Uhm, hey.” Joon Hee greeted.

The houseman stared at Joon Hee.  He only responded after several seconds later.

“H..hi.”

“I’m one of the housemen in Dr. Park’s session this morning.”

“Oh? Oh.” His face fell upon hearing Dr. Park’s name.

“Yeah. Uhm, is this seat taken?”Joon Hee gestured to the seat opposite the houseman.

He shook his head. “No. You can sit if you want to.”Joon Hee sat down. The houseman was still staring at his report. Joon Hee took a deep breath before he spoke.

“The report is not going to correct itself if you keep staring at it. Let me help you with the report.”

 “Uh?” The houseman gazed up at Joon Hee, looking puzzled.

“I used to get lectured by Dr. Park for writing terrible reports, so I know exactly what he wants. I can help you.”

“Uh… thank you.” The houseman blinked a few times before he spoke. He hesitated for a while before handing the report to Joon Hee. Joon Hee took the report and carefully looked through the report.

“Don’t worry. You need to make a little correction that’s all. See, here, you should state her blood pressure reading….” It took 10 minutes as Joon Hee kindly pointed out the houseman’s mistakes and helped him with the corrections.

“Wow, that’s it?!” The houseman said in disbelief. “Thank you so much! If it isn’t for you, I don’t think I’ll know what to do with my report.”

“You are most welcome.”Joon Hee smiled warmly.

 “Oh yeah, by the way, I’m Jang Dong Woo. Call me Dong Woo. Or Dino. Whichever is fine with me.”

“Dino?”Joon Hee twitched his eyebrows.

“Yeah, because everyone said I look like a dinosaur.”His smile exposed his pearly- white teeth. When Joon Hee looked closely at his features, he could understand the reason behind his nickname. He really did look like a dinosaur.

Joon Hee let out a laugh. “I’m Kang Joon Hee. Call me Joon Hee.”

**

Joon Hee looked through the newspapers to look for empty rooms for rent. He never had problem with his accommodation because he rented a room at Jongin’s apartment when he moved out from Yoon Jae’s. But now, he had to look for a new place to stay because Jongin was getting married with his girlfriend of 5 years. Jongin did not ask him to move out but he was well aware of the fact that the soon-to-be newly-weds definitely need some personal space to themselves and he wasn’t exactly that thick-faced to hang around in Jongin’s apartment any longer. He sighed in frustration. He had looked through every single property advertisement on the newspaper but none mentioned about empty rooms for rent. Taking a break, he took a sip from the 3-in-1 coffee that he just bought from the vending machine minutes ago.

“Hey, Joon Hee.” Dong Woo grinned cheerfully at him. Ever since Joon Hee helped him out with his report, he had been nothing but friendly towards Joon Hee. He smiled cheerfully when he saw him during morning rounds in the hospital. He even joined him and Jongin for lunch in the cafeteria for most of the time. He was nice and Joon Hee found it comfortable to talk to him, so he considered him as a friend.

“Hey, Dong Woo.” Dong Woo sat next to Joon Hee and saw the papers. “What are you looking for?”Dong Woo curiously asked.

“Ah, I was looking for a room.”

“Uh? Why? I thought you are renting with Jongin’s?”

“Yeah, but Jongin is getting married, so I gotta move out. You know, it isn’t really convenient to have me around for the newly-weds.”

“Ah..” Dong Woo nodded in understanding. Out of the blue, his face brightened and he clapped his hands in excitement. “Why don’t you move into my place? I have two empty rooms to spare.”

“Really?”

 “Yup. Besides, if you move in, I’ll have another extra source of income. No one would mind extra money into their pockets right?”Dong Woo grinned his toothy grin.

“Well then, thank you, Dong Woo.” Joon Hee smiled.

**

Joon Hee moved to Dong Woo’s apartment the following Sunday. Dong Woo and Jongin both offered to help Joon Hee to move but Joon Hee declined Jongin’s help, suggesting that he should use his free time to help his fiancée with the wedding preparation.

Although Joon Hee didn’t have many boxes to move because his things were mainly his clothes and shoes and medical encyclopedias, it was still exhausting for both Joon Hee and Dong Woo. When they were finally done, Joon Hee sat down exhaustedly on Dong Woo’s couch.

“That was tiring.”

“Here, have this.” Dong Woo passed a chilled soda drink to Joon Hee before he sat on the spot next to Joon Hee. “Thanks.” Dong Woo smiled warmly.

Joon Hee glanced around the house when he spotted something that caught his attention. He walked towards the shelf located above the television where a row of shiny trophies were arranged neatly according to years.

“You like dancing?” Joon Hee was surprised when he saw the word “champion” was printed on the labels on the trophies. Joon Hee realized that the competitions stated was big-scale dancing competitions organized in Seoul.

Dong Woo grinned. “Hehehe. Yup. I enjoy dancing since my school days.”

“Wow. ”Joon Hee expressed his admiration towards those trophies.

“How about you? Do you like dancing?” Dong Woo asked, the cheerful grin still on his face.

Joon Hee nodded enthusiastically. “Like will be an understatement. Dancing is my life.”

Dong Woo grinned even wider. “Really? Well, dear housemate, I have a feeling that we will get along very well.”

**

Living with Dong Woo was easy and pleasant. He had a great sense of humour and he cracked jokes all the times. Joon Hee thought he hadn’t laughed that much after his high school days with his friends. Dong Woo’s laughter was contagious and it always managed to make Joon Hee laughed along with him although sometimes Joon Hee honestly did not know what he was laughing at. As he and Dong Woo had houseman practice in the same hospital, they usually went to the hospital together if they had same time shift together. Joon Hee would always find leftover meals on the kitchen table for him with warm, encouraging messages written on the sticky notes at the side when he came home after night shifts. When they had their weekends off, Dong Woo would drag Joon Hee along to the club across the street and they would dance their stress off with Dong Woo’s dancing gang. 

Dong Woo was a very touchy and clingy person. One of these days, Dong Woo would hug Joon Hee from behind and comfortably place his head on his shoulder. Dong Woo would ruffle his hair and grinned brightly at him out of no reason. Their proximity somehow reminded Joon Hee of Yoon Jae. The memory would make Joon Hee uncomfortable and moved away from Dong Woo’s touch. Joon Hee didn’t know if Dong Woo noticed it or not, but he remained silent about it.  

**

When both Joon Hee and Dong Woo were too tired to go for clubbing during the weekends, they would stay in and watch ‘One Piece’ anime that Dong Woo adored so much. They were busy preparing their dinner when the doorbell rang. “I’ll answer the door!”Joon Hee offered, leaving Dong Woo temporary in the kitchen. Joon Hee opened the door, froze upon seeing two familiar faces before him. Yoon Jae and Shi Won were standing rigid at his door.

“Yoon …Jae…Shi…Won…How did you…”Joon Hee couldn’t hide his shock. How did they know he was staying here?

Shi Won gave him a hard punch on his chest, leaving Joon Hee wincing in pain. “You bastard! How could you? Where have you been these two years? We’ve been looking for you! You changed your number and you moved out! You don’t even come home for festivals anymore! What’s wrong with you? Why are you avoiding us? We are your friends! How could you?”Shi Won’s voice broke.

 “I’m sorry.”Joon Hee muttered quietly. His head hung low in embarrassment.

Shi Won embraced Joon Hee tight. “Don’t ever do that, do you hear me?”

Joon Hee nodded.

“I miss you so much, Joon Hee.”

Joon Hee hugged Shi Won back. “I miss you too.”Joon Hee admitted truthfully. Shi Won might be his love rival but she was still his best friend. Since young, Shi Won was an endearing friend. If she treated Yoon Jae with brutality, she treated Joon Hee with compassion. She might yell and shriek at everyone but never at Joon Hee. She smiled whenever she saw Joon Hee and talked to him in such gentle manner that Yoon Jae often scoffed at how unfair she was to him. She would always cheer him up with her perfect imitation of H.O.T’s Candy performance and motivate him to work harder when his grades were slipping. She would accompany him to watch sappy romantic movies when none of the guys would want to watch it with him. She listened tentatively when he talked and often offered her advice (although most of the time they were ridiculous).  Joon Hee missed their late night phone calls and movie weekends. Joon Hee missed her company.

Yoon Jae approached Joon Hee when Shi Won let go of him. Joon Hee couldn’t look at Yoon Jae in the eyes. They hadn’t talked for two years and Joon Hee didn’t know how to start. Tense silence hung around in the air when suddenly a pair of strong arms engulfed Joon Hee into a sturdy embrace. Joon Hee could feel Yoon Jae’s firm chest and the familiar scent of Hugo Boss perfume. Joon Hee remembered that Yoon Jae loved this particular scent on him. He said it can radiate his masculinity. The old memories were starting to resurface bit by bit reducing Joon Hee into silent tears. He missed Yoon Jae. He missed all of them so much.

“I’m sorry, Joon Hee. I’ve been the worst best friend.  I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”Yoon Jae apologized sincerely. He did not explain why he had been a bad friend but Joon Hee understood the reason behind the apology. He was sorry that he had hurt his feelings by treating him indifferently when he knew the truth.  He was sorry that he neglected his best friends for so long.

“It’s…It’s okay.”Joon Hee croaked, his voice raspy from the silent sobs. “I’m sorry too for running away from you guys.”

Yoon Jae let go of Joon Hee and pulled back to look at Joon Hee. “Friends again?”Yoon Jae smiled.

“Friends.”Joon Hee gave a light smile.

Loud applause was heard and all of them turned to see Dong Woo grinned widely.

Joon Hee wiped his tears away. “Uh, Dong Woo, these are my friends, Yoon Jae and Shi Won. Yoon Jae, Shi Won, my friend, Dong Woo.”

“I know. I heard it. I didn’t mean to listen in but that was a heartwarming reunion.”Dong Woo joked good-naturedly. Joon Hee rolled his eyes in amusement while Yoon Jae and Shi Won smiled shyly.

“Hello, I’m Shi Won.”Shi Won waved to Dong Woo happily.

“I’m Yoon Jae.”

“I am Dong Woo. Do make yourself at home. I’ll get drinks for you.”Dong Woo smiled and pat Joon Hee’s shoulder before making his way to the kitchen.

Joon Hee guided his guests towards the couch, gesturing them to sit down. “So, what you’ve been up to lately?”The three childhood friends caught up with their lives for the past two years. Yoon Jae had already graduated and he was appointed as the youngest prosecutor in the Law Enforcement Department in Seoul Branch. Yoon Jae did not say much but according to what Shi Won told him, Yoon Jae was doing well. Joon Hee was truly happy for him. Yoon Jae had always been the brightest student he ever met and if Yoon Jae had set his heart upon something, nothing could stop him from attaining success. Shi Won was struggling as a script writer. She was ranting about how hard her life as a junior script writer was but Joon Hee could see she enjoyed her work.  There was a glint of fondness in her eyes when she spoke about her work.

Yoon Jae was going to talk about Hak Chan and Yoo Jung when Shi Won pinched Yoon Jae and Yoon Jae grimaced, mouthing ‘I know I know’. Joon Hee looked at them intriguingly.“Is there anything bothering you guys?”

Yoon Jae heaved a deep sigh before speaking. “We are getting married. We are hoping that you will be my best man.”

Joon Hee froze in his seat. It took him a while before he regained his composure. “Oh. Congratulations.”Joon Hee forced a smile. He had seen this coming but he found it hard to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest.

“So, you will come right?”Shi Won smiled brightly, oblivious to Joon Hee’s forced expression.

“Of course I’m coming. My best friends are getting married.”Joon Hee faked a smile.

“Awesome! You’ll have the privilege to give the best man speech later on.”

“Sure.”

**

“Joon Hee, you don’t need to do this if you don’t want to.”Yoon Jae said in a slow voice, not wanting Shi Won and Dong Woo who were out in the living room listening to their conversation. Shi Won had said that she missed Joon Hee’s famous braised mackerel with radish. It was coincidence that Joon Hee had the ingredients for the dish and invited them to stay over for dinner. 

“It’s okay.”Joon Hee reached out for his fish scale remover and began to scale the mackerel which he had taken out from the refrigerator. 

“I don’t want to hurt you.”Joon Hee stopped whatever that he was doing and turned towards Yoon Jae. “Yoon Jae, it’s okay.” Joon Hee wanted to tell Yoon Jae that it was fine and that he was not hurting but he just couldn’t bring himself to lie.  He was hurting. He was hurting badly.

“But..”

“No buts, Yoon Jae. You are my best friend. It’s the least I can do for you.  Yoon Jae, it’s okay.”Joon Hee assured Yoon Jae, faking the warmest smile he could. Yoon Jae contemplated for a while before he spoke again. “I want you to know that you are my best friend and I don’t mean to hurt you.  I’m sorry for those times if I hurt your feelings. I didn’t know. I…”

“Yoon Jae, stop. You don’t have to apologize. You did nothing wrong. There is no right or wrong in love.”

“Joon Hee..”Yoon Jae did not know what to say.

“We are best friends for life.”Joon Hee smiled and Yoon Jae smiled back.

“Yoon Jae?”Shi Won called. Their attentions were diverted to Shi Won.

“Yes?”

“Let’s go. We need to go buy SoJu. Dong Woo said they ran out of them.”

Yoon Jae glanced at Joon Hee, hesitating.  Joon Hee pushed him out of the kitchen. “I can manage all right. Go.”

Yoon Jae nodded before headed out with Shi Won. After they left, Dong Woo, who was outside the kitchen, approached Joon Hee.

“Do you need my help?”

“You can help me by rinsing the tomatoes.”Joon Hee smiled, motioning at the tomatoes in the kitchen sink which had yet to be rinsed. Dong Woo did as told.  None of them talked as both concentrated on cleaning kitchen ingredients.

“You love him.”Dong Woo said suddenly. Joon Hee stopped scaling the mackerel in his hand. He slowly turned to face Dong Woo. Dong Woo was still scrubbing the tomatoes clean. He wasn’t looking at him but he was aware that Joon Hee was looking at him.

“I wasn’t sure. I had my own assumptions by the way you look at him but your conversation proves me right.”Joon Hee was still rigid. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“I…”Joon Hee sighed.  His head hung low and his voice was solemn. “Are you disgusted with me?”

“No.”

Joon Hee searched for signs of deceive in his eyes but Dong Woo stared back at him with a straight face.  When he couldn’t find any sign of deception, Joon Hee breathed heavily and continued to scale his fish.

 “Don’t worry. I won’t judge. I promise.” Dong Woo smiled as he passed the tomatoes to Joon Hee.

Joon Hee took the tomatoes from Dong Woo. “Thank you Dong Woo.”

**

When Yoon Jae and Joon Hee left, Dong Woo offered to wash the dishes and asked him to go to bed. Feeling drained out, Joon Hee solemnly nodded and went into his own room.

He slowly pulled his chair and sat at his study table, taking out a paper and reaching out for a pen in the pen holder. Droplets of tears fell on the thin paper as he wrote down his best man’s speech. He bit his own fist to muffle the sobbing.

Dong Woo who had been standing outside the bedroom door, watched Joon Hee cried in silent, unable to do anything to lessen Joon Hee’s sorrow.