"Hyejin!"
"Psssst..Hyejin-ah!"
"Yah, Kim Hye Jin!"
"You're dead meat"
Nothing but a puddle of drool meets the eye, amidst Hyejin's scattered and unkempt mane.
If one were as close to her as her comrade aka ride or die aka twin brother, Jin, they'd be able to hear the rhythmic snores that flared out of Hyejin's mouth with a bubbling of drool finding it's way out of the corners of her mouth and dripping down over the Mahogany table she rested her head over.
Jin leans over the table, sniffing Hyejin's hair and fans the ends of his nose, desperately gasping for air.
"You smell like hell…you're lucky we're related..else, I'd never be able to stand you…" He mutters in a nasal twang, with his nose clipped shut.
"Get up before Dr. Choi comes in for his rounds and you find yourself at the Emergency Department for another month!!!"
To no avail.
Jin slaps the back of his sister's unbothered head, with a thump.
'That should do the trick!' He thinks to himself.
A loud groan is heard and Jin knows at once that he's unleashed his twin's Shrek alter-ego.
The green greasy monster was coming to life and this wouldn't sail right for Jin's own life, for all he knew.
"UGH" Hyejin groaned for the second time.
"You have 10 seconds to flee because once I wake up, you're dead meat Jin." Hyejin voices out bringing her knuckles to her eyes and rubbing furiously and Jin knows in that moment, he's royally screwed.
Talking feeble steps away from the table, Jin buries his hands in his pockets, picking at the scab adorning his thumb as he bites down his lips and recedes as fast and as quietly as he can.
He mutters a silent prayer thanking the busy atmosphere in the hospital for being able to scramble away without a scratch.
The man was 26 years old and was scared of his fraternal twin.
The strength the woman bore in her fist was unimaginable.
He mentally winces remembering the time Hyejin had almost cracked his wrist into two when being challenged to arm-wrestling.
Something about who among the twins was stronger.
Jin exits the Emergency Department, huffing out a loud breath of relief, patting his chest with a heavy fist.
"Oof, I made it alive…Thank you God, I'll never take you for granted." He clenches his eyes shut, hands folded outside the doors of the ED, heading to his Paediatric Ward posting.
Hyejin on the other hand wakes up to a grotesque puddle of viscous exudate greeting her dest amidst spread apart paperwork.
She pulls forward the sleeves of her lab coat and runs it across the puddle in a circular motion, staring around her surroundings to watch if anybody was witnessing her do this unhygienic deed.
Just as she's about to exhale a yawn, she's met by a pair of feet.
Spotless black leather shoes.
The ones with the zirconium buckles on the ends.
She knew these pair of feet like the back of her hand.
'Oh Lord, not today.' She prayed.
"AH, if it isn't our ever-hardworking Dr. Kim Hye Jin battling sleep and hunger at the ED! I'm in awe of just how determined this resident is! No one would believe that she and Dr. Kim Ho Jin were twins! They entered the program together but are separated by a huge class in between. Of course Ms. Hye Jin isn't quite the brightest tool in the shed.."
Hyejin looks up at Dr. Choi's disgruntled face, an expression of disappointment reflecting his curled upper lips and furrowed eyebrows.
Hyejin stays silent, hands intertwined over her front, head down.
A respectful pose.
"Hyejin-ssi, you're in the ED! The department can't have interns like you slacking off..not when the most direst of cases arrive at unannounced hours and here you are, laying in your own drool and using your prestigious white coat to dry it clean! Speaks a lot about your dedication to this field…Also, theres white crust along the angles of your mouth.."
Hyejin runs a thumb along the edges of her lips and clenches her eyes shut at the crusty feeling of dried saliva coating the left corner of her mouth and chin.
Dr. Choi bends down to Hyejin's level to have a better look at her state.
His eyes run over her hair, that rest as a troubled mess atop her head and the dark blue eyeballs that adorn her eyes much like a raccoon.
Hyejin's eyes have a sheen of glimmer, the kind of glimmer someone who's just slept well has in their eyes.
"How long has it been since you went home, Dr. Kim?" He asks, watching as the food that she may have eaten decades ago finds itself as spilled droplets along the bust area of her white coat, which seems to have lost it's elegance.
'She really manages to make the white coat look as though it's her pyjamas..' He thinks to himself as he tuts.
Hyejin straightens her posture, removing the stray strands of her shoulder length black hair out of her face.
"2 d-days, Dr. Choi…" She answers.
"That's not too bad! That's not even the minimum for the Emergency Department..Nurse Jung, how long has it been since you went back home?" He asks a crisp-looking neat and clean Nurse who passes by to take her seat behind the reception.
She stands up and bows beside Hyejin.
"It's been 4 days, Doctor!" She answers, enthusiastically.
Dr. Choi pats her on the arm and motions for her to carry on.
"C'mon Hyejin..if she can do it, so can you…or have you lost, already? Are you really that weak? If I share this story with the other doctors from your graduating batch, they're going to break into hysterics..An intern who looks like a zombie from a 2 day posting at the ED! You have 28 days more, don't make me make it 48 days..Clean yourself up and get back to your duty, this instant.." He scolds, scribbling in his Intern monitoring chart book and Hyejin slumps her shoulders knowing she's probably earned herself an extra 20 days at the ED.
She bows before him and gathers her locker keys and pager.
Dr. Choi watches as she leaves out the doors of the ED, headed towards the Female Staff Locker room to change into a fresh pair of clothes.
Hyejin walks with her head drooped down as she exits the ED to get to the elevator, crossing the Hospital Reception on her way.
She spots her best friend, Chae-Won stood at the reception, chatting the ears off of the new good-looking receptionist and twirling a strand around her pointer finger, biting down over her lip trying to look cute.
Hyejin scoffs a little and smiles to watch the embarrassed flushed cheeks adorning the receptionist's cheeks in response of Chae-Won.
He was totally into her.
Then again, what was new?
Just as she's creeping one last look at Chae-Won, she feels her a hard block smack her left shoulder, causing her to stumble backwards from the impact.
She watches a ladder being carried past her and sees her own self fall in slow motion, back against a hard chest.
A manly chest.
The ripples of the pectoralis coming in contact with her back as she falls into his arms, until.
Until he hurls her falling figure forwards.
"Bloody hell!" A loud voice booms, causing Hyejin's eyes to widen.
She processes how she'd been pushed forward by the man who was supposed to have held her in place and stopped her from falling on her bum.
She turns around, running the palm of her right hand over her shoulder, where the portable ladder had hit her.
She watches the man, dressed in all-black, staring down at the puddle of dark brown liquid smeared over the spotless marble flooring.
Hyejin's eyes widen as she realises the debacle she's caused.
She watches how the hot coffee had spilled over the man's hand and wrist and he winces, tapping his foot heavily on the ground.
As though on cue, the janitor scurries into the scene, carrying the styrofoam cup with tongs and throwing it into a garbage can and wiping the floor clean with the dettol-tinged mop.
Hyejin's eyes rake over the man's appearance.
How absurd was his dressing sense.
He was dressed in black jeans, slits on both of his knees, wearing a large black jumper and a black Yankees cap.
She could view his pale white hands peeking out, drenched in the hot liquid.
She bends a little, trying to see his face.
"Excuse me." The man bites back, in a dangerously low voice.
Hyejin is broken out of her imagination as the man raises his face.
He's standing with his arms wide open, flinging his wrist, causing the brown fluid to spray against the freshly cleaned floor.
He's even wearing a black mask.
But his eyes, they're so dark.
Much like his dressing but they're so well shaped.
They're beautiful monolids, resembling a dragon's fierce eyes.
Hyejin feels as though the air has been sucked out of her lungs as she watches him look at her.
His eyes empty yet, demeanour that bears an intimidation, beyond words.
"I said, excuse me." He repeats himself, louder than the previous time and Hyejin realises she's standing in his way.
But then again, the hospital lobby is a big space, he could just move past her but he stands before her like an immovable rock.
"I-I'm so sorry…S-so here's the story, the ladder pushed me back into you and i-it was a complete accident.." Hyejin mutters, clumsily.
The man walks closer to her.
"Great story, I didn't ask for it to be told in the first place." He bites back.
Hyejin runs a hand through her hair.
The man was being rather difficult and sarcastic.
Basically, Dr. Choi had already crossed the quota for sarcasm and here was this strange looking goth, pushing her buttons.
"So what do you want?" She asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
The man eyes her up and she stiffens under his glare.
"I want you out of my way, Ahjumma." He responds.
[ Ahjumma = Korean term for an elder lady.]
Hyejin scoffs a little.
"Excuse me? I-I'm not of an age when you can call me tha—"
"You yap too much..do you get paid for it?"
"You, are incredibly rude, sir…I apologised."
"YOU made me late and now I'm all sticky and drenched."
Hye Jin can't process the mouth this guy has on him as he has a sharp response to every statement made by her.
"It's literally just coffee, didn't think it was acid.." Hye Jin snarls.
The man walks closer to her, till there's a tiny gap between their chests.
He overshadows her and watches as she stares right back at him.
"I'd like if you would respect my personal space, sir." She comments, trying to take a step back but just as she's about to recede, the man grabs her arms, the warmth of his coffee stained hands seeping through her white doctor's coat.
It takes a moment for her to realise what the man is doing and until she figures out, he's already left her sight.
Hyejin looks at her arm, brown finger prints smeared over her white coat, causing her fists to clench as she races over to the elevator where the man appears through a slit of the elevator, one that's closing.
"How dare you?!?" She screams, knuckles striking against the clear gates of the closed elevator.
The man's muffled voice finds its way over to her.
"It's only coffee, Ahjumma.." Is all she hears before the lift heads up.
She catches his eyes forming narrowed slits, giving Hyejin the idea that she was being mocked.
She feels the sticky fluid escape past the fibres of her coat and touch her scrub-laden sleeve.
"Sick…" She mutters, teeth clenched tight.
Hyejin walks towards the reception, towards Chae-Won and the receptionist, pulling out two wet wipes from the front desk as she watches a large clamour of mob, comprising of women from all age groups beating their hands over the front gates of the hospital.
They're being held back by the Hospital's security.
Hyejin stands beside Chae-Won wiping her sticky hands dry and smelling them, after.
"What's the mob for?" She asks, casually.
Chae-Won walks forwards, trying to read the message over one of the cardboard placards, being held by a crying frantic fan.
"Holy shit…" Chae-Won says, signalling for Hyejin to approach her.
Hyejin's irritated eyes walk over to Chae-Won as they read the placard.
With bright red colours it reads,
"Saranghe Min Hyunki!
Stay safe, Oppa."
"Min Hyunki's in our hospital and we had no idea? WHAT are the chances! I love his music so much! Don't you just love Min Hyunki?!" Chai-Won claps as she grabs Hyejin's hands excitedly and jumps up an down, like an infant.
Hyejin passes her a small smile.
"He's too scandalous for my liking, bro."