My Psychology Professor

CHICKEN SOUP

~Chapter song: B.A.P 'I Guess I Need U'~  

The moment the elevator hit the ground floor and Jin-Goo counted down the seconds till the doors slid open. He figured his halmeoni would come soon enough, but he wasn't thinking it would be this soon. As the doors opened, he immediately pushed So-Hyun back inside making sure she was hidden before pressing the button for the tenth floor "I... Can we talk another time? I'll explain everything sooner or later. I promise." He whispered in a hurry, watching as a very confused So-Hyun disappeared behind the doors.

Heaving a sigh of relief, he scanned the entrance of the building for her whereabouts, looking at the other elevators around but he didn't see her. Walking out towards the revolving doors, he then saw Min-Jae who looked like he was being reprimanded by her.

"Secretary Kim!" Jin-Goo called as he approached them making faint eye contact with his halmeoni before focusing on Min-Jae.

"Mr Yeo" He said, being careful not to call him Hyeong in front of his halmeoni.

"Shouldn't you greet me?" She cut in, her cold voice ruining whatever appetite he had for lunch. She looked the same as always, old and like a lot of money.

"Afternoon. Why are you here?" He asked, keeping this conversation short, not reacting when he heard her scoff. He liked that he could get to her now that he was in charge. His halmeoni worked so hard to trap him into coming back and after stripping him of everything, she thought he would be the puppet to her games, but he wasn't going to cut it. He's never been the type to live according to other's orders.

"I came to check on you- "

"You've been doing that well enough without having to come all the way here." He said cutting her off. "Now that you've checked can you leave?"

"Don't forget I'm still a part of this company, even if your harabeoji handed it over to you-"

"Halmeoni, let's get one thing straight. This place" He made a circular motion with his index finger to indicate the building "Is all mine. The only reason you're a 'part' of it is because I respect harabeoji... Looks like your plan to have me be your errand boy didn't work. Next time a phone call will suffice." He spat, swiftly turning away from her.

This was a close call and, on his way back to the office he made the decision to ask Min-Jae to appoint someone at the front doors for safety measures, to avoid anything like this happening again. They can't meet yet.

Not yet.

^^^^

Somewhere in a usually quiet apartment in Seoul, the moans of a 28-year-old man could be heard harmonising with the birds that fluttered by his window. Seung-Ho was in bed and sick with a fever. People around him had always called him a baby for not being able to handle being sick, but he didn't care, he really hated it. The feeling of being weak and on the constant nausea was not something he wanted to take pride in.

When he was younger his mother would always make him chicken soup that, although didn't heal him, helped him feel better. It worked like a sort of placebo, taking it would make him think he would get better instantly.

His mother, however, wasn't there and he was all alone in his apartment. Rolling off the bed and onto the floor, he crawled his way into his living room, the smoothness of the wooden floors helping him get there quicker. After what felt like an eternity, he managed to locate his phone on the counter and sent a text message to his mother asking her to come with chicken soup, making sure to let her know his new passcode.

He had moved away from his old neighbourhood where So-Hyun stays, and he hadn't told anyone where he lived besides his mother and older brother. At the time even though he wanted to be wherever she was, he knew it wouldn't be safe and it hurt more than he imagined. Being so close to her but not being able to be with her.