Woohyun practically skipped to a halt next to the tall doctor standing in the middle of the lounge, scribbling a few notes onto a patients chart. 

“Hey Yeol! Lets have lunch together! I missed you!” 

He s his arms around Sungyeols torso and squeezed him tightly, making the latter gasp out loud. 

“I can't. I don't have a break today.” Sungyeol escaped Woohyuns grasp. 

“What do you mean you have no break?” Sungyeol didn't look up from the chart he was reading. 

“I just don't have it. Go eat now.”  

Sungyeol turned towards the huge desk that was located in the middle of the room, putting the chart down and searching for a marker in his white coat.  

“Sungyeol you can't just not have a break! You're going to work overtime again anyway, so why won't you take your respective break?” Woohyun was now standing next to the doctor. 

Sungyeol had no problems bending over the table, but Woohyun had to stand on his toes to even see above the edge of it. 

“I'm trying to work here nurse Nam.”  

Right then Sungyeol remembered that he had to tell Woohyun what the patient Kim Sunggyu said about him. 

Sungyeol stared at Woohyun for 5 seconds, before turning back to his papers and notes.  

“By the way nurse Nam”, Sungyeol made sure to put emphasis on nurse Nam, “Mr. Kim said that he was really fond of you. You really take good care of him apparently.”  

He looked back at Woohyun, who wore a perplexed expression.  

“You know, the patient who's you were grabbing. Or touching unnecessarily.”  

Woohyun opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again just to open it once more and let a high pitched “I didn't grab his or touch him unnecessarily!” out.  

Sungyeol raised his eyebrow. He put his pen onto the papers and turned fully around to face Woohyun. 

His huge hands grabbed Woohyuns muscular shoulders. Sungyeol could feel how stiff Woohyuns body was.  

“He's a ing patient Woohyun. You know that right? Don't even dream of crushing on him. Or any other patient.”  

Sungyeol had the decency of whispering at least.  

Woohyun would be doomed if it came out that he indeed had done the things Sungyeol had mentioned. 

“Mr. Kim seems really innocent and clueless. He thought that you were trying to stabilise him while walking or that you were doing the routine check ups.” Sungyeol let out a long sigh.  

“What would you have done if it wasn't me who walked in? What would you have done if it was the walking stare?” 

Woohyun stared at him with wide eyes, his shocked expression paling even more.  

“How did you -” Sungyeol rolled his eyes, not letting Woohyun finish his sentence. 

“Hyun, hate to break it to you but I'm your best friend. We've been together for god knows how many years.” Sungyeol dropped his hands back to his side.  

“I know you well enough to see if something's up or not.” With that Sungyeol turned back to his papers.  

“Sungyeol I-” Woohyun didn't know what to say, anxiety visible in his voice.  

“Don't bother Hyun, I told you what I had to say and let's just forget it. Don't repeat it again or if you do don't get caught again.”  

It was silent for a few seconds, the only sound in the for once empty nurse lounge was the one of the pen sliding across the paper. 

Woohyun dragged the stool behind Sungyeol and went up to stay on it.  

Now he was able to look over Sungyeols shoulder. Woohyun s his arms around Sungyeols chest again, laying his chin onto the doctors shoulder.  

This time, Sungyeol didn't bother to shake Woohyun off. He knew his attempts would be futile, knowing that Woohyun would come back all the time until Sungyeol would let him have his way. 

“Is this the ICU patient? Mrs. Oh?”  

Sungyeol only hummed in response.  

Sungyeol and Woohyun were reading the patients file, Woohyun still hugging Sungyeol from behind. 

“Turn the page please.” Sungyeol couldn't help but snort at Woohyun, but did so anyway, flipping the page to look at the earliest blood results. 

A rough hand pulled Woohyun harshly away from Sungyeol, shocking both men and pulling a high pitched screech out of Sungyeols mouth. 

One hand grabbed the edge of the table, the other clutched his chest as  Sungyeol stared in disbelieve at the intruder. 

Hoya had a strong grip on Woohyuns arm, an angry look covering his usually blank face.  

“I can't tolerate this unprofessional behaviour at work. It's one thing to do whatever you two do in your free time but you have to seperate your love life and work. Not everyone wants you to flaunt off your relationship. Keep your love life locked up in your shared apartment.” 

Sungyeol recovered fast from his shock. “Honestly what the heck is your problem?” Woohyun noticed the fretted edge in Sungyeols voice while he was massaging the place Hoya had grabbed. 

“I told you I don't tolerate unprofessional behaviour at work Doctor Lee.”  

Sungyeol scoffed, rolled his eyes and turned back to his papers, not bothering to answer any longer. 

It didn't miss Woohyuns sharp eyes, the way guilt flashed for a second Hoyas features. Until he threw a dirty look at Woohyun and stared for a second possessively at Sungyeol before stalking off to the shelf with the charts and leaving after taking what he needed.   

“I need coffee” Sungyeol exclaimed, annoyed.  

He pushed himself away from the table and made his way towards the back office. “Don't worry, I got it for you. Go back to working.” Woohyun pushed past him and started to fill the machine with water. 

Sungyeol pouted and went back to the table to re-read the blood results.  

Something seemed off.  

“I hate it when blood tests don't say anything” Sungyeol grumbled. 

“Woohyun!” 

A loud “Yes!” was heard from the back room, accompanied by rustling and a click. 

“Please get me the ultrasound in half an hour ready. Bring it to Mrs Oh's room!”  the young doctor scribbled on an empty paper, noting what he just said and what he was suspecting. 

“It slowly makes sense..” He mumbled.  

Stuffing the pen into his pocket he dashed out of the lounge, speeding to his office.  

Sungyeol patted his coat three times up and down until he found his key, unlocked it and dashed inside, not even bothering to close the door. 

He grabbed the thick,red leather book and set it down on his desk. Sungyeols long, slender finger scanning the glossary until he saw what he wanted to look up.  

Sungyeol skipped to the page and started to carefully read through the pages.  

He noted every few seconds the symptoms and needed tests to determine it down. 

“I swear to god Lee Sungyeol if you leave me like this in the middle of the room again I'll make sure you won't-” 

Sungyeol could hear his best friend swear the living hell out of him. Yet he was too immersed to talk back, let alone roll his eyes.  

He creased his eyebrows until they looked like they were about to touch his eyes, his mouth forming a frown.  

“I'm so confused! What is this even?!” Sungyeol loudly exclaimed. Which earned him a hard punch onto his arm. 

“! What was that for?!” He twirled around to see a red faced Woohyun standing in front of him, a coffee mug in his hand, the other stemmed into his hip.  

“First, stop yelling. Second stop disappearing all of a sudden when I!, the GREAT nurse Nam Woohyun, made you coffee!” He put the cup rather harshly onto Sungyeols desk, some of the liquid swapping over and damping the notepad.  

“And third! Tell me why you need the ultrasound and I'll maybe bring it into the room.”  

Sungyeol looked at Woohyun bewildered. 

“You do know that you're the only one who can talk to me like this and still get away with it, right?”  

Woohyun grinned brightly “Yes I do and that's why I love you. Now better answer me!” 

“Everything you say..drama queen” Sungyeol retorted, although the last part was mumbled under his breath. 

“What did you just say?” Woohyun stepped closer.  

Sungyeol shook his head, a grin starting to spread on his face. “Nothing. I just said let's go. I'll explain it to you on our way back.” 

And with that he closed the book and put it back into the shelf, pocketed the notepad and took his coffee mug and left, locking his office door. 

On their way back to the lounge Sungyeol started to explain why he ordered the ultrasound. 

“I have a feeling that something is not right with Mrs. Oh. Her blood tests didn't show any abnormalities, except the ones you see for a liver failure in its end stadium. Yeah, liver failure leads to a comatose state but..” 

“Are you saying that the comatose state is because of something else and not the liver failure?” Woohyun looked at him confused. 

“Yes.. and no. Look I just need to make sure that she doesn't have any other diseases yeah?” Sungyeol took a big sip from his coffee.  

“By the way your coffee tastes the best.”  

Woohyun opened the door to the lounge. 

“Why yes thank you! I know.”  

He followed Sungyeol in and they sat down.  

“What are you going to do if the ultrasound doesn't tell you more than the blood results?” 

“Then I'll send her to a CT.” 

Woohyun eyed him up and down. 

“You have no idea what you're doing, do you?” He raised an eyebrow, folding his hands in front of him on the table, waiting for an answer. 

Sungyeol sighed. “Partly. I don't know where to start looking other than the liver for now.” 

Silence settled between the two. Though it only lasted for a few seconds.  

“Why don't you ask Dr. Lee then? He will know what to do.” Woohyun earned a death glare as soon as he had said those words out loud. 

“Come on Sungyeol, he will know what to do. He can help you. He isn't the head of the department for nothing after all.” Woohyun felt like Sungyeol threw daggers at him through his eyes and he knew for sure that Sungyeol probably was currently scripting Woohyuns death in his head. 

“I for sure won't ask Dr. face what I should do!” Sungyeol growled at him. 

“Come on, just this one time? Stop being stubborn and ask him!” Woohyun had raised his voice a little bit. 

“No! I won't ask him!” Sungyeol was close to scream and Woohyun could swear he saw  a vein pop out of his forehead.  

“God damn it Sungyeol stop being such a stubborn baby and ask him!”  

Sungyeol turned red in the face. “No. No I won't!” 

“You won't what Mr. Lee? Why are you so red in the face? And why are you yelling? The med students are already gossiping about you two.” Hoya appeared from the back office, with a mug in his hand.  

He casually placed himself right between the two males. “So what is this commotion about?” 

“Nothing”  Sungyeol hissed, his teeth gritted.  

“Actually it's not nothing.” Woohyun stood up, smoothed down his gown. “Sungyeol has something he wants to ask you Hoya.”  

Hoyas face showed surprise.  

Woohyun looked over to Sungyeol, though it was just for a brief second, he could practically see that the younger was plotting his painful death. 

Woohyun excused himself before Sungyeol could make any movement to strangle him. 

“Oh! Look at the time!” He took a few tiny steps backwards. “I gotta.. charm- I mean tend- I mean check up on Sung-” 

a few more steps back “ I mean I have to check up on Patient Kim!” and with that he dashed out of the nurse lounge without looking back, even though the tall doctor called out the nurses name multiple times.  

Anger flashed across the skinny doctors face.  

“So Mr. Lee, what did you want to ask me?” 

The question brought him back from his intruding thoughts on how he could hurt Nam Woohyun the best and most painful way.  

Sungyeols head snapped at the doctor standing in front of him. 

“I... need to go.” He tried to step around the doctor. “I need to check up on Mr. Kim and nurse Nam.” 

Hoya grabbed his arm and pulled him back, before Sungyeol could even get past the director.  

“No. Nurse Nam is qualified enough to take care of patient Kim on his own, isn't he?” 

Hoya raised his perfectly shaped eyebrow.  

Sungyeol groaned.  

“You don't understand, of course nurse Nam is qualified enough.. but-” 

Yet the young director didn't seem to listen to him at all and pressed his lips into a stern line.  

“Sit down. What did you want to ask?” Hoya sat down into the chair Woohyun had been occupying a few minutes ago. 

Sungyeol sighed. 

“Alright, just let me get the chart.”  

He quickly strode to the table located in the middle, grabbed the chart and the paper that was lying besides it and walked back to the doctor waiting for him. 

He placed the chart in front of the charismatic director and sat opposite of him down.  

“Ah. The ICU patient?” Hoya asked while flipping through the chart. 

Sungyeol nodded.  

“She's been diagnosed with liver failure in it's end stadium. But as you can see her blood results don't show the typical signs that would explain her current comatose state.” 

Hoya nodded once, to show Sungyeol that he understood.  

“I know that blood tests aren't always reliable when it comes to liver diseases so I ordered an ultrasound. And depending on the result of it..” Sungyeol pulled out the notepad from his office “I'd have done a liver biopsy to determine what is actually going on.”  

Hoya nodded again. 

“So your question is if she has another liver disease? And what that disease might be?” 

Sungyeol made an agreeing sound.  

“Who will do the biopsy?” Hoya closed the file again.  

“I would do that.” 

Hoya nodded. “I hope it's okay if I and the students watch you.” 

Sungyeol looked at him, confusion clear on his face. “S-Sure? If you want to?” he scratched his head twice before clearing his throat.  

“Did you check her skull yet?” the question caught Sungyeol off guard. 

“Not yet. Why? Do you think she could have cerebral edema?”  

“Well yeah, it is quite common for patients with grade IV liver failure to have it as a comorbidity.” Hoya stood up. He took a look at his watch. 

“Well right now, I'm free. I can come with you to check it.”  

Sungyeol didn't know how to react. Hoya was his boss after all and he couldn't possibly tell him off just because he wasn't fond of him. Besides, Sungyeol noted, the director wasn't that bad after all. 

“Sure, if you want to.” he stood up, too and walked out of the lounge. The young director followed him suit.  

Sungyeol pulled out his hair tie, letting his brown hair fall loosely onto his shoulders. He went through his hair once with his hand and pulled it back into a ponytail before he knocked onto the door twice.  

He waited a few seconds and Hoya just opened the door and went in. 

There, the doctors saw a middle aged man sitting beside the bed, talking softly to the woman lying unconscious on the bed. 

“Hello, Mr. Oh I assume.”  

Hoya spoke up, adjusting his tie by the way.  

The man looked up, worry etched in his face, eyes heavy with sleep.  

He didn't say anything but stared at the two males.  

“I'm Dr. Lee Howon and this is my assistant doctor, Dr. Lee Sungyeol.”  

Sungyeols eyebrow twitched at the description yet he kept his mouth shut.  

Hoya pushed the file into his hands.  

“We are here to check up on Mrs. Oh. So we have to sadly ask you to wait outside until we are done.” 

The man looked at the doctors with suspicion but didn't say anything other than an “okay.” 

As soon as the door closed Sungyeol set the chart down onto the now empty chair and went to disinfect his hands.  

Hoya handed him a pair of gloves. The doctors pulled them on. 

“Mrs. Oh, we will now feel your head up and down.” 

Hoya started to slowly press onto her skull whilst Sungyeol calmly talked to Mrs. Oh. Then he pulled out a small lamp and carefully lifted one of her eyelids and shone the light onto her pupil.  

Ignoring a patient was no good, especially if said patient was in a coma.  

“Sungyeol, you should see for yourself.” Hoya retreated his hands and went around to switch places with Sungyeol.   

Said man was now standing on the opposite side now. Sungyeol put a bit pressure onto the skull and started to feel it from all sides. He could immediately tell the difference.  

“This is no good..” he mumbled.  

“It really isn't. Now, what will you do Mr. Lee?”  

Hoya had a pen in his hand, the chart open. He was ready to write. 

“A CT, for sure. And then an MRI.” Sungyeol took a step back and hived a sigh. “I should draw some blood now and get it checked again. This time I want a full report..”  

Sungyeols colleague scribbled everything quickly down and shut the chart. 

“At this point I would postpone the transplant.” the younger added.  

Hoya looked up from the closed chart, raising his eyebrows. “And why would you? You know she needs the transplant.”  

“Yeah, she does but if her the edema keeps swelling or if it's already at a size where the brain can't keep up with the pressure... The surgery will do no good either. What's the use of a new liver if your brain won't make it?” 

Sungyeol crossed his arms, now raising one eyebrow at his boss.  

He was being unreasonable.  

“Besides that she's getting a dialysis. That should leave us at least a bit of time to figure out how bad the swelling is.” 

Sungyeol took the gloves off and threw them into the trash, his stethoscope dangling a little.  

“It's stupid in my eyes, if you're asking me.” Hoya followed him suit, clipping the chart under his arm and throwing the gloves away.  

“But I'm not asking you right now, am I?” Sungyeol shot him a look, grinning brightly. He opened the door and walked towards the husband of the patient, no other word directed at his boss.  

Hoya watched him sit down next to the man, silently explaining what would happen, arms crossed. The man had his eyebrows crinkled up in worry, but continued to listen intently.  

After a few minutes he stood up, bowed slightly and left the man alone with his thoughts. Hoya had contemplated to just tell the husband that they'll do the transplant but ended up leaving after Sungyeol without mentioning it.  

Hoya caught up, matching Sungyeols long strides though he had, visibly, a hard time keeping it up.  

“Are you really sure you want to postpone the transplant? If you do, she will have to wait for another god knows how many months.” 

Sungyeol stopped in his tracks.  

“If you really need to discuss this can't we do it in my office then?” 

Hoya stopped next to him. 

“Yeah, I really need to discuss this because her life is depending on this transplant.”  

Sungyeol was about to pull on his hair but controlled himself.  

“Fine, follow me.” He put a few strands, which had fallen out of his ponytail, behind his ear and continued to walk.  This time towards his office.  

He passed Woohyun, who was currently getting the ultrasound to Mrs. Oh's room.  

“Hyun, put it into the room and I'm gonna be there in a few minutes.” 

Hoya raised his eyebrows at the nickname, didn't question it further though.  

Woohyun sighed and continued to roll the device down the hallway. 

Once Sungyeol had closed the door to his office, he straight up went to the coffee machine. 

“Want coffee?” Sungyeol didn't look up from the machine. 

“Mhm, sounds good.” Hoya sat down onto the single arm chair, facing Sungyeol with his back, putting the chart onto the small coffee table. 

Sungyeol went around the occupied armchair, sitting down onto the two man sofa opposite of the head of the department.  

A few minutes passed as Sungyeol opened the chart and placed it back onto the table, only the dripping sound of the coffee machine breaking the silence.  

Hoya leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs, Sungyeol leaned back, crossing his legs and arms.  

“Why shouldn't I stop the transplant? What are your reasons? I need valid reasons.” 

Hoya raised his eyebrow. “It's a perfectly valid reason, you know, to prolong her life.”  

Sungyeol rolled his eyes.  

“You know very well what I meant.  You're ignoring the fact that her brain might be swelling!” Sungyeol leaned a little bit forward, arms still crossed. 

“You can always lessen the pressure by giving her medications and if all of it doesn't help you can order a decompressive craniectomy.” Hoya said nonchalantly.  

Sungyeol sat up in fury, grabbing the chart and flipping through the papers until he found what he needed. 

“Do you see this?” He threw the chart back onto the table, balling his hands to fists and loosening them again a few times. 

“She can't get another complicated surgery done like that! Not in her current state! Are you insane? Are you out to kill her?” he snapped. 

“You as a chief of the department should know better than I, a mere assistant doctor, right?”  

Hoya rolled his eyes.   

“Do you really want to risk it? I can't believe I have to tell you this? Seriously, get a grip! Performing a craniectomy will maybe give us the results for a short time but did you even consider the risks? In the long run it will only make her life even harder!”  

Sungyeol took a deep breath to calm himself down.  

Hoya stood silently up, angering Sungyeol even more. He followed the smaller with his eyes. 

“Do you want coffee?” Sungyeol thought the sturdy man was kidding him.  

“Did you even listen to me?” Sungyeols voice broke out of anger.  

“Yeah I did and I'm asking you if you want coffee?” A confused look crossed Hoyas face.  

Sungyeol scoffed an “of course I do” and got up himself, pushing Hoya out of the way to grab two mugs and fill them with coffee himself. 

On his way back he pushed one mug into Hoyas hands, the hot liquid nearly swapping over onto his hands.  

“If you need milk you need to get it from the lounge.” Sungyeol noted and sat down again, blowing the few strands out of his face in frustration. His cheeks were heated due his rage.  

Hoya snickered as he sat down. Sungyeol looked at him, a frustrated look gracing his face.  

“You're so adorable when you're angry.”  

Sungyeols frustrated look was replaced by pure shock, his mouth falling open a little, the coffee mug still in his hands. He closed his mouth again just to let it fall open again. 

“What?!” was the only thing he managed to squeak out.  

Hoya looked a little baffled at what he said himself so he quickly changed the topic.  

“I know what the risks of craniectomy are. You don't need to list them. And I don't know if you didn't listen or if you ignored purposefully that part but I said if nothing else helps.” 

Sungyeol shook his head and heaved a sigh.  

“I'm going to stick to conservative therapy methods and see how it goes.”  

Hoya took a big gulp of the coffee, instantly crinkling up his face in disgust. He really didn't understand how Sungyeol could drink the bitter liquid without milk and sugar.  

“I'm going now. I need to get that ultrasound done or else Woohyun will have my head.” With that he stood up and threw the keys to Hoya who caught them with ease.  

“Leave the mug on the table when you're done and lock the door. Give the keys to Woohyun if you can't find me.”  

Those were Sungyeols last words before he closed the door and left Hoya with his own thoughts alone. 

A few seconds of silence lasted until Hoya let out a frustrated screech. It was barely audible though, because it was muffled by his hands covering his face, holding it in a death grip.  

“Lee Howon you are ing insane! 'You're so adorable when you're angry?' Are you sane?!” 

He let out another screech before slumping even deeper into the armchair, trying to disappear from the world. 

Wordcount: 4149.

Sorry for the slow update! The past few months were filled with exams and health issues! I'm so sorry ;; 
I actually wanted to update last weekend but I couldn't upload it via mobile since I was in Infinite Effect ;_;