TIME AFTER TIME ; jjk

50

Chapter 50

PARK SOOHYUN

I'd been living out of my overnight bag for the past couple days in the hospital and I needed clean laundry. I could ask Jungkook to pack me a few clothes but I wanted to come home and spend the night with him, so I'd promised him a bucket of fried chicken for dinner—the one from his favorite food truck en route to Bucheon. He'd sent a bunch of kissy emojis so there was no way I would disappoint him even unintentionally. We'd already ended up canceling on dates more often than not. It would break my heart if we missed each other again tonight.

If I could successfully make it out of obligatory work dinner plans, that would be great. I'd just make something up and convince my boss that I couldn't ditch the family thing that had been settled long ago. Anyone from work except Taehyung didn't know that I had a new living arrangement with my boyfriend, not that it mattered to other people, but I knew I'd get a lot of unwarranted questions about it and they would provide insights that they thought I would need, too. Jimin had already given me ideas-the possibility of getting married was one of them, which was absolutely something to think about. I didn't have an immediate answer to that because I honestly hadn't thought much of it.

The infancy of our relationship made it a little odd to talk about anything related to marriage. They felt big and heavy to take things further. Sure they were passing ideas in my head, but none of them felt serious to get deep into. We were trying to work through what we had right now—we'd just bumped it up by living under the same roof—so we were focusing on that. Jungkook and I were at different stages in our career and I was certain that he also thought we weren't in a position to consider beyond living together. Maybe we could in a few years? Whatever, Jimin shouldn't have brought it up.

My boss was standing in the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently as I grabbed some clothes, cramming them into a bag. "Dr. Park, you're coming with us, right?"

"Well, I'm—I have to pass, actually. I'll be there next time, though." I slipped into one of the changing cubicles and pulled my scrub top up over my head, taking it off. As soon as I got changed into a T-shirt and jeans, I stepped out and folded my scrubs into neat squares before tossing them right into the bin next to the lockers.

Dr. Kim grimaced, looking disappointed about me not going this time. "Why not? We're getting drinks after. There's this new pub I wanna hit up with the team. You've been stuck here for days, you need to have fun."

I imagined Jungkook busying himself with his laptop at his desk or on the couch, waiting for my message to come through. He'd probably been looking forward to seeing me home, and God, I was terribly missing his face, his warmth, his easy personality. I didn't think anything could get any more fun than spending my time with him. I didn't want to spend yet another night away from my boyfriend. Plus my entire body hurt. I would grab any chance to lay in bed for a long time. I could be relaxing to Jungkook's domestic chatter right now.

I lied, "It's my Auntie's birthday. She's expecting me to join them for her birthday dinner." I wasn't even close with my mother's sister, and even if it was really her birthday, my absence wouldn't possibly be a huge deal.

"Oh, okay, send her my greetings. You won't bail on our next hangout," she said, finality in her voice.

"Yeah, I won't." I checked the time on my phone. Half past eight.

"Great. We're leaving then, you come home safe!"

I returned the smile and yelled back, "Go have fun, Doc."

Finally. As much as I loved my job and the hospital was the closest thing I had to home, I couldn't wait to leave it. I still wanted to be somewhere else, away from the noise and constant motion though it was familiar.