You were just finished your shift. It was an exhausting one. You barely had time to sit down. Traffic accident victims, accident at work victims, cardiac arrest patient and some children cases came to your ER this afternoon. Usually you would have an easy one in the ER, but lately, your shift has been the hectic one that the nurses started to tease you. You sat down on the bench in the doctor changing room, massaing your calves when your phone buzzed. You looked at the name on the displayed with frown eyebrow. You thought he was supposed to be out of town for the whole week.
"Hey," you answered the phone and you were greeted by his soothing voice.
"Hey. Are you in the hospital right now?"
"Yeah. I've just finished my shift. I thought you're in Jeju until next week," you couldn't hide your curiousity.
"Well, today is my last shooting and I thought I still had time so I reschedule my flight. Are you going home now?"
"My feet is killing me. I'll be in 10 more minutes."
"Okay then, don't move a muscle. I'm picking up some food so stay put. I'll pick you up," with that he ended the call, didn't let you to voice your objection as you have told him not to pick you up at the hospital anymore. People have been suscpisious about him visiting the hospital a lot. At first they thought he was dating Ellie, but later as he kept denying it, they gave up on the idea and thought that he was seeing other person which might be in close relationship with Ellie, so your name has been coming up in several rumours, but nothing was confirmed yet. You haven't talked about your relationship that much, with both of you were busy with work. You knew he was all in about going public, after all, he said that he had hidden bigger secret than your relationship, so admitting your relationship to the public wasn't a big deal for him. You were hesitant about it though. You didn't want people to see you differently just because you're dating him. You just wanted to keep doing your job as usual. And it would be a nuisance if fans, especially the sasaeng one, started to show up at your workplace. It would disturb your coworkers and the patients as well.
You put your stuff in your locker, tossing the scrub in the laundry basket before putting back your usual clothes. You decided to wash up in the hospital while waiting to be picked up. Just when you were finished putting your stuff in your bag, your phone buzzed again. You saw that he texted you to inform you he'll be waiting in the lobby. You dragged your feet toward the lobby. Even though it was late, you were still wary. You spotted him standing near one of the pillar, with cap on his head and face mask on. You raised your hand to wave at him but stopped halfway when a pair of girls walking toward him. You were just few steps away, so you could hear them loud and clear.
"Jinyoung oppa?" You saw his head jerked up and both girls squealed when they found out that they were right. He immediately put a finger in front of his lips to calm them both down. They immediately lowered their voice down and approached him.
"Oppa, can I get your signature?" you heard them asked and he politely agreed to it but he refused their request when they asked for picture. You didn't dare to move and hoped that they would go away before spotting you. But, Jinyoung had different plan from yours. He spotted you when he gave them back their books that he signed, and waved at you. You got no choice but to returnhis wave and obviously it made both girls turned their heads to you. You felt their eyes studying you, giving you a do over from head to toe. You dragged your feet toward them as you felt he would make his way toward you if you didn't walk over yourself.
"Hey," he greeted you and you saw wrinkles around his eyes, indicating he was smiling under the mask.
"Hey," your voice croaked a bit when you tried to return his greetings.
"Oppa, who's she?" you heard one of the girls asked him.
"Is she your girlfriend?" the other shot another question before he managed to answer the first one.
"Yes, she's my girlfriend," you felt your eyes widened in shock when you heard his answer. More over when he reached and grabbed you hand, squeezing it a bit.
"Omoo.. ," they squealed a bit before Jinyoung repeated his gesture earlier, to remind them to keep it down. "Wait, then are you okay? Are you sick unnie?" they asked you, worried written in their eyes.
"Um.. ," you couldn't find the right answer so you shot a begging look toward Jinyoung to help you getting out of the situation.
"It's okay," Jinyoung stepped in, "She's just getting a check up and I'd appreciate if you girls keep this a secret. Anyway, it's late already, so excuse us." And with that he managed to save them both from the fans from asking anymore questions.
Once you both out of their earshot, you didn't waste your time scolding him. Nagging him for opting to wait for you in the lobby instead of his car.
"I'm bored," he simply said. "And they were harmless. You don't need to worry about them." You were about to protest some more when you felt his hand on your head, covering it so you wouldn't bump it when you ducked to get into the car and then helped you buckling the seat belt.
"Don't worry," he turned toward you once he was inside the car. "I won't say anything until you're ready. But that doesn't mean that we should keep hiding all the time. You need the practice. You won't ever be ready if you never try," he squeezed your hands again. "Don't worry, I'd be by your side everytime. But...let's go home for now." You sighed as you felt that he was right. One step at a time, he said. And he'd be there offering you a hand in every step. What more can you ask?
