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Chapter Text

Monday, mid-January

Ikjun has just finished reviewing his patient’ medical report when his phone started ringing. It’s a number he didn’t know. “Hello?”

“Hello, is it the number of Prof. Lee Ikjun? I’m sorry for calling you this late, but it’s kind of emergency. I’m Sung Siwon, from tvM. We met a few years ago.” said the woman on the other line. Ikjun checks his watch, well it is 8 PM—not so late, but not a good time too for calling a person who hardly in contact with you after years.

“Oh, Sung Siwon jakkanim, how long has it been? What kind of emergency? Is someone sick?” Ikjun replied. He remembered her. She was the junior scriptwriter when he appeared on Good Doctor a few years ago.

“Ah so… Professor, the emergency is… are you busy this weekend?” Siwon asked him cautiously.

“Huh? I have to check my schedule first, but I think I have some time this weekend. What is it, jakkanim?”

Siwon heaved a sigh. “So, the thing is, Professor… We’re having an episode about life of doctors special with title: Wise Doctor Life, which will be aired in three weeks from now. In this episode we will show to the audience that doctors are living just as normal as other people too, but our special guest unfortunately has to go out of town and couldn’t make it for filming next week. That’s why I’m calling you…”

Ikjun raised one of his eyebrows, he’s getting the reason why she called him. He’s being casted again. Another sudden casting, just like the previous one. Clearly, he can’t just bring people from the broadcasting network to the hospital and films his daily life, he’s not Prof. Min who frequently appeared on TV and is the Chief of Neurosurgery Center. He is just a doctor, who happened to know the scriptwriter of the show.

Ikjun heaved a sigh. “Well, jakkanim, I’m sorry for your situation. I would love to help you, but I think I need to talk with the hospital first. I don’t really understand the regulation about stuffs like this, so I can’t assure you that I would be able to help. But I’ll let you know.”

Siwon smiled hearing his answer, she waved her hand unknowingly even though she knows that he can’t see her. “Oh, it’s okay, it’s okay, Professor. I will wait for your call. Don’t be burdened. I thank you already for picking up the call, Prof. Lee Ikjun. Please let me know your answer, Doc. And… let’s meet and have a meal one day, it’s been a long time...” Siwon chuckles awkwardly at the end of her sentence.

“Oh, yeah… let’s meet sometimes. It’s been a long time since we met. Take care, jakkanim.” Ikjun hang up the call. He scoffed. It is, it’s been a long time.

Ikjun then call the Hospital Director, explaining the situation and asking for his permission for filming. The Hospital Director agrees immediately, as he loves it when the hospital being exposed to the media. More exposure means higher chance of getting more patients, and he sees no reason in refusing the offer.

Jakkanim, it’s me Lee Ikjun. I just got the permission from the Director. We can do the filming next week. Please let me know if there’s anything I should do. He texted Siwon.

Siwon jumped happily when she saw his text and she quickly call him to set up the schedule for pre-filming interview in the next two days.

Wednesday, that week

Sung Siwon arrived at the hospital a little early. Her meeting appointment with Ikjun was scheduled at 10 AM, but she arrived thirty minutes earlier. Yoonjae drop her early just because he had a court trial at the same time with her appointment. If it wasn’t for her stupid car that breaks, she would’ve drive herself to the hospital. And if it wasn’t her stingy husband, she would’ve just ride taxi to get there.

Siwon texted Ikjun to let him know that she has arrived and that she is waiting at the lobby café, also that her team will arrive around the appointment time.

Joonhee-ya, guess where I am right now? She texted Kang Joonhee, her high school best friend.

Where are you? Joonhee replied.

Free for a call? Siwon asked.

Okay. Joonhee replied.

“Hello?” Siwon asked as soon as the lines connected.

“Oh, so where are you right now?” Joonhee answered, slightly uninterested.

“I’m at Yulje. Meeting your classmate. You must've known him, Professor of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Dr. Lee Ikjun.” Siwon replied excitedly.

“Oh? Ikjun-ie? Why? Is he appearing on your program again?” Of course, Joonhee remember him. Well, who in their classmates that doesn’t know Lee Ikjun—the famous Lee Ikjun of Class ‘99? The smart party animal, always the top of their class. Joonhee was dubbed Busan’s top student between their classmates but he can never beat him, his scores are more on par with Kim Junwan, Changwon’s number 2. He and Junwan are always on the competition to get the second rank in the class.

“Yes, he is. And guess who I saw just now?” She asked, excited.

“Aish, why so many questions? Are you playing 20 questions game or what? I’m hanging up, I’m busy.” Joonhee pretended to hang up on her.

Siwon laughed. “Okay, okay. I saw someone just now… who was it again? Kim… Junhwan? Kim Junwan? I forgot his name… But I’m sure it was him.”

“Kim Junwan? So what?” Joonhee paused for a beat. “Well, it’s not strange, Kim Junwan and Lee Ikjun always sticks together since high school. They’re best friends. It looks like they're working at the same hospital too lately.” Joonhee answered her.

“Well, I don’t know about that. I saw him walking past me just now and I suddenly reminded of that… you know, that Hawaii incident.” Siwon answered, suspiciously. Joonhee laughed at the mention of Hawaii incident. “So? Did you greet him?”

“Of course not. How can I? Annyeonghaseyo, Prof. Kim Junwan, my name is Sung Siwon who happened to saw your Hawaii incident on Cyworld some few years ago… He’d flip, you know that.” She imitates her own voice then laughed.

“Well, I was shocked too when I saw that. But I don’t think my classmates know about this, though. If it wasn’t for that punk, I’d probably wouldn’t know it either.” Joonhee paused for a second when one of his residents enters the room, “Oh, I gotta go for rounds, Siwon-ah. Tell Ikjun, I said hello. Let’s talk later. Bye!”

Siwon hang up her call and just then she realizes that Ikjun already standing in front of her. As if it’s a reflex, she stands up. “Oh, Professor. Why didn’t you tell me that you’re here already?”

“Ah, it’s okay. I saw you’re talking and the phone and I don’t want to disturb you, so…” Ikjun shook her hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you. Please have a seat. Do you want to order something?” Siwon asked before she gets back to her seat.

“It’s okay. I ordered my coffee earlier. Are we having the interview here or…?” Ikjun asked, confused. It’s been probably seven or eight years since the last time he met Sung Siwon jakkanim, but she didn’t change at all. She was the maknae scriptwriter back then, and now she’s the main scriptwriter for a program. Time does flies.

“Oh, if it’s okay to film your office room then it would be great. Too many people come and go in this café, I think it would be better if we have the interview in a quieter place. But it doesn’t need to be in your office.” Siwon waved her hands, assuring him that she doesn’t want him to be burdened by this sudden filming. “Anywhere is okay for us, as long as it’s not too noisy.”

Ikjun nods. Seeing her sitting alone in the café, Ikjun couldn’t help but asked, “Well, then let’s go to my office. It’s pretty small, but it’s okay. Anyway, are you gonna do the interview alone? I thought you’re the main jakka?” Ikjun referring to main scriptwriter meaning that she’s not supposed to do all the work alone.

“Oh, my team is still on the way. I arrived early because my husband has a court trial at 10 AM. He dropped me off before work.” Siwon answered, then she sips her coffee. “As for…”

“Oh, Judge Yoon. How is he doing lately? Is he still serving in Daejeon?” Ikjun interrupted her. He remembered her husband, Judge Yoon Yoonjae, the young and rigid judge who always sticks to the law.

“He’s fine. He’s back to Seoul a few years ago.” She replied.

“Oh…”Well, of course, how many years has it been since they last met.

“Anyway, do you mind if we wait for my team here? I told them that I wait here before.” Siwon tried to divert the topic as she started to feel the awkward air between them.

“No problem.” He answered nonchalantly. They fall into silence as they don’t really have something to say to each other. They were quite close back then, because she was the one who connects Go Ara to him years ago. She got cursed by her seniors though for giving other people’s contact number without consent—just because she was a newbie and kind of clueless in front of famous people. But later they got closer because both Ikjun and Siwon happened to be haek inssa.

“By the way, I heard you mentioning my friend’s name—Kim Junwan, when you are on the call earlier. How did you know him?” Ikjun suddenly asked. He remembered that he was going to ask her that when he heard Junwan mentioned. Trying to lift up the awkwardness.

Siwon chuckles nervously. Damn, how should she tell him? Siwon shakes her head to the thought of telling him the Hawaii incident. Ikjun got confused seeing her reactions to his question.

“Eh... So…” Siwon racked her brain trying to find the answer. Joonhee! Right, let’s just use him as an excuse. “So, I was in a call with my best friend, he was your classmates. SNU School of Medicine Class ’99, Kang Joonhee. You must’ve known him.” Siwon replied, trying to divert the focus of the topic. “When I told him about you, he said that you and Dr. Kim Junwan always sticks together like glued, even working together in the same hospital.”

“Oh Joonhee? Of course, I know him! He’s also a professor at SG Hospital, right?” Ikjun remembered him. Kang Joonhee, he was famous between their classmates for being openly gay; he came out not too long ago though. His coming out story three years ago making him appears on news articles, most of them titled “SNU Medicine Alumni: The first openly gay top surgeon in South Korea”. Hence, all of their classmates now know who Kang Joonhee is. “Now that I think about it, why didn’t you ask him instead to appear on your show? I mean your rating would rocket if he appears on your program.”

“Ah, so the problem is, despite the fact that he is a well-known person because of you-know-what, he refused to be on TV. That’s why I have no choice but contacting you. I can’t force him to be on my show just because we’re best friends, right?” Siwon shrugged one shoulder, signing for his approval. Ikjun nods in agreement. “Besides, I think I still think of you as a close friend, Professor. You know, for what happened in the past...”

Ikjun can feel the awkwardness in her answer. Well, he loves helping other people so he doesn’t mind the sudden casting offer. They were indeed quite close after what happened in the past as he and Ara would go on a double date once in a few months with her and her husband. But they lost contact as soon as he broke up with her.

“I see.” He responded a few seconds later. “Well, since we have the same age let’s go back to being comfortable, jakkanim. Please drop the honorifics.” Ikjun smiled.

Siwon chuckles nervously. “Oh, should I do that? How should I call you? Ikjun-ssi?” She didn’t realize she was speaking in her Busan accent. The accent she tried to fix so hard; she barely managed to speak in perfect Seoul accent just two years ago, after 18 years living in Seoul.

“Well whatever you’re comfortable with, jakkanim.” Ikjun replied her in his Kyungsang-do accent. She laughed because of his jokes.

They talked for a few more minutes, reminiscing memories of the past until the junior scriptwriter and the cameramen arrived at the café. Then heading to Ikjun’s office room and brief him about the concept for the program; how they would film him, what kind of scenes they needed for the preview broadcast, the questions he need to answer and stuffs. They also explained to him that they will need to film his daily activities later to make it more natural, hence they will change the filming date to one day earlier so they could film in on weekday instead of weekend. Ikjun agrees when she told him that, because for him there’s no difference be it weekday or weekend—he is always busy anyway.

As expected from Yulje's haek inssa, Ikjun adapted pretty fast with the camera and the filming. The filming only took less than two hours and finished before lunch time. After the filming ends, they head out for lunch together. Ikjun bragged to the gang with a selfie in front of the camera, telling them to wait for his comeback as Dr. Lee Ikjun of Good Doctor.

Chapter Text

Friday – filming week

Today is Friday on the filming week. Siwon and her team arrived at the hospital early in the morning. Because of them, Ikjun had to wake up and go to work early—way too early. They arrived at 6 AM to set up Ikjun’s office room to create a studio-like ambience, also checking to see if the filming equipment works properly.

“Good morning, Ikjun-ssi. I’m sorry you have to wake up early. Did you have a good sleep?” Siwon greeted him as soon as he approached her at the lobby. He bowed lightly to her, still half-asleep. He covered his mouth with a hand then yawned—a yawn so big that his hand couldn’t cover his whole mouth.

“Whoaa-annyeonghaseyo, Siwon-ssi. Good morning.” He rubbed his eyes to wake himself up.

“Aigoo, I don’t think you had enough sleep, Ikjun-ssi. I feel bad. Eotteokhae…” Siwon folded her hands in front of her chest, feeling sorry. Ikjun looked terrible today, Siwon thought that he will need quite a lot of make up to cover the fatigue shown on his face.

Ikjun told her not to feel guilty, he is used to being sleep deprived; hence, getting a six hours sleep can be considered as a luxury. He greeted the other crew as well and help them lift up some filming equipment to his office. Siwon told him that she will asks some of his patients to be filmed as well. His outpatient schedule today starts at 8 AM until 11.00 AM. Out of twenty patients he had, she managed to get interview consent from five patients.

“Hello again, Mr. Lee Changhak. How have you been?” Ikjun greeted him. Lee Changhak, the guy who miraculously getting a liver transplant donor last month. They got a brain-dead patient with conditions that happened to match his conditions—even though he was supposed to be getting treatments from internal medicine doctors before getting a donor because he is number three in line to get a donor.

Ikjun waved at Dongju, the patient’s son and greeted the kid with sign language. He replied him with a bright smile. His parents turned to see him talking with Ikjun, they’re thankful for him.

Lee Changhak then shift his attention back to Ikjun and answered his question. “I’ve never been better, Professor. I did all of the things that you and the nurses recommend to. I tried to eat more healthy foods. I also exercise a lot. I thank you for giving me the chance to live.”

Hearing his answer, Ikjun looked at him proudly. “You did good, Mr. Lee. I saw your chart and you’re progressing really good. I see that you’re taking your medications diligently, it must’ve been hard for you… but you have to keep doing that, okay?” Ikjun waits for him to respond to him and when he nodded, Ikjun continue the consultation.

After the patient left, Ikjun give another quiz to Hongdo. He turned his chair and point a ballpoint to Hongdo, making it looked like a microphone. “What is the type of medications he needs to take to lower the risk of liver rejection after the transplant?”

Hongdo flustered. He clearly didn’t anticipate Ikjun to ask him that question, he was memorizing the name of the medicines not the type. He started to stutter. “Err… Uhm… Ack, I know the answer, Professor, it’s just… err… it’s something related to immune systems. What was it called again…?”

Ikjun scoffed at his student. He found the frustrated Hongdo adorable. “Ttaeng. The answer is Immunosuppresive drugs. I’ll give you an A for effort and for being adorable.” Hongdo mouthed the answer and he clenched his fists in frustration.

After the outpatient schedule ended, the crew followed him to the conference room. The General Surgery Dept are having a conference meeting today while having lunch. The meeting was tough, it was a very rare case of children breast cancer. An eleven-year-old girl, got diagnosed with breast cancer. Ahn Jeongwon and Prof. Choi—who specialized in breast cancer had a heated argument about the best option to treat the patient. Jeongwon doesn’t want the kid to get whole breast removal and opted to search for other options while she gets radiation treatment. It’s a rare sight for Ikjun to see the Yulje’s Buddha arguing with someone way more senior than him. His love for children is truly admirable.

The filming took an hour break after the conference meeting ended at 1.30 PM. Ikjun insisted that the crew should get proper meal before they continue filming. He even offered to buy them meals using his card. Siwon refused his offer politely and tell her team to get lunch somewhere near the hospital while she stays there and accompany the guest.

Ikjun was drinking his coffee while listening to Siwon complaining about her daughter Sooyeon for being a die-hard ARMY. How her daughter is worse than her in the past as an H.O.T fan twenty years ago. They fight all the time because Siwon is now handling documentary and press & report programs which means less chance of her meeting her oppas because the department hardly invites idols to be guest star at its programs. “What’s the use of having a family member who works as a scriptwriter if I can’t meet my bias! You’re useless, Mom!” Siwon imitates her daughter.

Ikjun was listening to her faithfully when his phone started ringing. “Oh, wait a minute Siwon-ssi. I got a call.” Ikjun excused himself to take the call. “Hello, Principal Yoojung. Why do you call? Is everything okay? Did something happen?”

Siwon couldn’t exactly hear what he was talking about. She only catches that he got a call from Principal Yoojung. Is she her Principal Yoojung she knew?

Ikjun got back to his seat in panic. Siwon asked him why. He told her that was head teacher in his son’s kindergarten telling him that his nanny didn’t come to pick him up. Uju has been waiting for almost two hours and no one came—all other kids have gone home already. And it’s only less than an hour until the kindergarten closes. The nanny’s number is also unreachable, but Ikjun can’t just go to the kindergarten and pick him up. He has to go for round visit in less than thirty minutes and have a surgery scheduled later this afternoon.

“Can’t you ask someone from the hospital to pick him up? You can take him here.” Siwon replied. Someone from the hospital… yeah, right. He thought.

“Oh, you’re right. Excuse me for a moment, Siwon-ssi.” Ikjun took his phone and call someone.

“Songhwa-ya… I need your help.” He said as soon as she picks up the call.

Hearing his voice, Songhwa felt her heart dropped. He sounded so panic. She’s worried something bad happened. “What? What is it? Is there anything wrong?”

“Uju. Can you help pick up Uju for me? He’s left alone at the kindergarten and Imonim is undreachable. You’re my last hope, Songhwa-ya.” He let out a long sighed. Songhwa heaved a sigh, relieved that he’s okay. “I’m sorry for bothering you, Songhwa-ya. You can take him here if you’re in a hurry to go back to Sokcho.”

“It’s okay, I’ll pick him up. I’m not in a hurry anyway. I was going to have dinner at my Oppa’s place, but there’s still a few hours left.” Songhwa checked her watch, there’s still five hours left until dinner. “I’ll pick him up and take him to your home. Just focus on your work and filming, and make sure to get off work on time today. Okay?” Songhwa made a deal with him.

“Okay. Oh, thank you so much. You saved my life.” Ikjun hung up the call.

When he’s back to his seat, Siwon asked her if the head teacher’s name is Mo Yoojung. Ikjun said yes and asked how did she know her. “Oh, that’s my best friend from high school. I thought I heard it wrong. By the way, I didn’t know that you have a son already, Ikjun-ssi. I thought you’re still single. You don’t look like a father.”

Taking her comment as a compliment, Ikjun smiled. A little bit embarrassed. “Yes, I have a son, Siwon-ssi. His name is Uju, he’s five years old. Oh, I didn’t know that a small thing like him can be so cute and adorable. Every day just feels different with him.” Ikjun bragged to Siwon about his son. Later he showed Uju’s pictures and videos to her. He forgot that he was so panic just a few minutes ago.

“Well, babies are the cutest at their age. Now that I have a teenager daughter and a nine-year-old son, we never have one quiet day in the house. Fighting and arguing every single day. Oh, also my husband would sometimes join the fight.” She shook her head in frustration, scenes of her kids fighting flashes in her head. Ikjun laughed.

Professor, I’m sorry I forgot to tell you that I couldn’t pick up Uju at the kindergarten. My father got admitted at the hospital this morning. I’m on my way back to my hometown. I was panicked. I’m so sorry, Professor. New message from Aunt Wang. He wanted go on full wrath mode for her mistake but also felt sorry for her.

I’m sorry for your situation, Imonim. Please take care of your father. Uju is safe now. Songhwa will pick him up. Take care. Ikjun replied.

“Anyway, Ikjun-ssi. Can we film your son as well?” Siwon asked him cautiously.

“Of course!” He replied, excited. “Oh, I have to ask him first though. Well, if he refuses then you can just blur his face.”

Honey Kindergarten, 2.30 PM that day

Songhwa parked her car at the parking lot near the kindergarten address that Ikjun gave her. She walked as fast as possible to reach the kindergarten, almost half running.

“Excuse me!” Songhwa finally reached the front door. Most of the lamps are already turned off. There are no kids around. Did she run late? Had someone pick him up? Songhwa thought.

“Oh, hello Ma’am.” A woman emerged from side door. “My name is Mo Yoojung, I’m head teacher here. You must be Uju’s mother. Please come inside. He is napping in my office. Looks like he got too tired waiting for you.”

The woman calling Songhwa as Uju’s mother feels like a punch in her stomach, but it doesn’t hurt. Songhwa smiled in bitterness but didn’t even bother to correct her. When she entered the room, she saw him sleeping peacefully.

“Actually, it was a good thing that you came today. I have to talk to you about Uju.” Yoojung gestured her to sit. The smile now left Songhwa’s face.

Yoojung told her that for the past few months, Uju has changed a bit. Well, he is still bright and very social with other kids—he’s especially stuck with Mone, his girlfriend. Songhwa chuckled when Yoojung mentioned that Uju has a girlfriend.

“But there are times when his teacher would find him sitting alone in the corner of the class. When his teachers asked him why, he won’t say a word. It’s been almost two months since we saw him behaving like this. So, I thought maybe something happened at home?” Yoojung paused for a moment and saw changes in Songhwa’s expression. Songhwa looked as confused as she is. “We rarely met your husband since he seemed to be very busy with the hospital and I didn’t know that you already back from Germany. Thank God that you’re here now, because I think that it would be best to talk about this in person instead of phone call.”

Songhwa didn’t say a word. She turned to see Uju, feeling sorry for that little kid. “Thank you for telling me this, Principal Yoojung. I didn’t know that Uju is having a trouble recently. I will try and talk to him later at home. For now, I don’t know what is going on as well.”

Yoojung nodded. She understood that raising a kid is not an easy job, especially when you lived apart for years. “But now that Uju has his mom back here, let’s hope he will be more open about his feelings.”

“Let’s hope so. Anyway, thank you for telling me this, Mrs. Mo.” Songhwa replied.

Yoojung saw her clock, it’s already 3 PM. “Oh, I didn’t realize that I’ve hold you in hostage for almost half an hour. I’m sorry, Mrs. Lee. Do you want to wake him up before you leave?”

Songhwa smiled and shook her head. She carefully carried him up in her arms, “Thank you for taking care of our Uju, Mrs. Yoojung. Good bye.”

“Good bye and take care, Mrs. Lee.”

Songhwa carried him to her parked car. She laid him down at the back seat slowly, trying not to wake him up. She studied his facial features and mumbled, “If only I am your mother, kid. I wouldn’t let you having whatever problem you’re having right now. Poor kid.”

Songhwa climb into her car and start the engine, then headed to Ikjun’s apartment. It’s a fifteen minutes ride from the kindergarten. She drove in silence. No music, no radio; not wanting to wake Uju up because of the sound. But when she arrived at the apartment’s parking lot, she saw that Uju is awake and sitting quietly.

“Oh, our Uju is awake already. How it must’ve been hard for you waiting at the kindergarten alone. Are you okay? Are you not hungry?” She opened the conversation.

“Hello, Aunt Songhwa.” Uju replied her nonchalantly. Songhwa wondered why, because Uju is not that kind of kid. “Thank you for picking me up.”

“Lee Uju, are you sick somewhere? Or hungry? Why are you feeling so blue? How about we go on a drive, instead of going up to your house? We can get something nice to eat.” Songhwa tried to be as cheerful as she can.

“No, Auntie. Let’s just go up.” He answered. Songhwa nods her okay and they headed to the apartment.

Arrived at the apartment, Uju is changing his clothes right now. Songhwa texted Ikjun, letting him know that his son is safe now.

Uju walked to the living room and turn on the TV after he changed his clothes. Songhwa watched him closely. He was extremely quiet today.

Songhwa sat beside him and said, “Uju-ya, do you want to eat some snack? I saw that there’s chocolate ice cream in the fridge. Let’s eat that behind your Dad’s back. How?”

“Can I do that?” Uju showed a little interest at the mention of ice cream.

“Sure. Come here. Let’s sit here and I’ll take the ice cream for you.” She got up and they walked towards the kitchen. Songhwa helped him up to sit at his chair.

She took two cups of chocolate ice cream from the fridge. She watched him eating while waiting for the right timing to ask. She started to talk when she saw the cup is almost empty. “Uju-ya, when I was picking you up from school, I heard something from Yoojung ssaem. Do you want to hear it?”

“Is it a story? Yes, I’d love to hear it.” He answered, excitedly. Giving him ice cream had successfully lifted up his mood.

“Well, it’s actually a story about you.” Songhwa paused. “Uju-ya, is something troubling you? Your teacher told me that sometimes you would sit alone at the corner of the class and not saying anything. Do you want to tell me why? I’ll keep this a secret just between us.”

His expression dimmed. He looked up to her and asked, “You promise that you won’t tell Daddy about this?” Songhwa nodded. “I miss my mom, Auntie. Almost all of my friends come to the kindergarten with their mothers. When it’s time to go home, their mother would pick them up and they would welcome them running. I can’t do that before, because Mommy is in Germany. And I can’t do that now because she now lives with uncle.”

Songhwa felt her heart sinks hearing his answer. She felt bad for him. Of course, Uju missed his mother. He is a kid after all, he is at the age where he needs his mother the most. Her memories brought her back to two months ago, on the day that she came in rushed to their place because Uju got sick and Ikjun was called back to the hospital.

October 2019

Ikjun has left the house due to the hospital call. She sat beside him as she watches him sleeping. She was dozing off a little when she heard him whimpering in his sleep.

“Eomma… eomma… eomma…” Uju talked in his sleep, calling for his mother. Songhwa immediately awake and hugged him. She laid down, still hugging him, patted his back and tried to calm him back to sleep. It’s almost three hours since he drank the fever medicine, but his body is still burning hot.

Uju wrapped his arms and hugged her back, tightly. Songhwa flinched in surprise but she let him be. Slowly he stopped whimpering and sleeping soundly.

02.00 AM, it’s been four hours and his fever still not going down. It’s getting worse instead. Slowly, she got out of the bed, checked to see if he awakes and walked to the living room. She took her phone and call her mother for advice.

“Take off his clothes and wipe him with lukewarm water repeatedly for a few times. And let him sleep without blanket. It’ll make the fever go down.” Her mother told her.

“Okay. I’ll try that. Sorry for waking you up at this hour, Mom. You can go back to sleep. Good night.” She ended the call.

Songhwa did exactly as her mother instructed her. She wiped him for almost ten minutes until she can feel the fever actually went down. She checked his temperature, 37.5. She heaved out a long exhale in relieve.

Her phone started ringing. It’s her mother. “How’s the kid? Has the fever gone down?”

“Yes, Mom. Thank you. Why are you still awake? I told you to go back to sleep.” She was surprised that her mother checks back on her.

“How can I go to sleep when my daughter sounded so worried like that?” Songhwa gulped. “You weren’t even this panic when your nieces got sick. You would insist to take them to the hospital. Look at you now... You sounded like a mother instead of a doctor. Do you realize that?”

She flustered. “Aniyaa, Eomma… you’re saying nonsense. Just go back to sleep now. Good night.” I’m just worried for my friend. Nothing more. Songhwa tried to convince herself.

She laid down and finally she’s able to sleep.

January 2020

“Auntie?” Uju called her. Songhwa didn’t realize that her mind was wandering somewhere. She responded to him.

“So, you missed your mom, Uju-ya?” Songhwa leaned her body forward. “Why didn’t you tell Dad that you miss her?”

“I can’t tell Daddy about this because it would make him sad.” He answered.

“Uju-ya, if Uju misses mommy, you can just tell your dad. Daddy will be sadder if he knows this. In this whole universe, Uju is Daddy’s number zero priority. Meaning that your happiness is the most important for him. So, don’t think that missing your mom will make him sad. Okay? If you feel something, you have to let other people know. People can’t read minds.” Songhwa told him.

“Uju too love Daddy a lot. Daddy is my number zero priority too, Auntie. I want him to be happy always. But Mommy made Daddy sad, that’s why I didn’t tell him I miss her.”

“Aigoo, what a sweet boy. Just tell your dad everything, he will be happier if you do that.” Songhwa caressed his hair. “And if you want me to pick you up again like this, just call. I’ll fly from Sokcho to pick you up from school. If your mom can’t come to pick you up, I will. Because I am your favourite aunt, right?” Uju nodded and smiled.

Chapter Text

Ikjun's Apartment

Ikjun get off from work earlier than he usually does. He clocked off exactly at 6 PM, so the crew can have some time to set up what they need for filming. He said he will cook dinner for them before the filming starts. They arrived at Ikjun’s house around thirty minutes later.

“Appa!” Uju exclaimed as he ran into his arms when he heard the door lock opens. He saw the people behind his dad and confused, but he greeted them anyway. “Oh, you’ve brought friends, annyeonghaseyo.”

A few seconds later, Songhwa emerged to hallway as she calls out for Uju. She and Ikjun was both taken aback at Siwon’s first comment when she saw her, “Oh, you must be Prof. Lee Ikjun’s wife. You’re beautiful. I’m Sung Siwon from tvM, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“No, no, no, she’s not my wife.” Ikjun corrected quickly. He’s afraid that Songhwa felt uncomfortable for the sudden intrusion and there are cameras following him.

Now it’s Siwon and the crew’s turn to get flustered. “Oh, I didn’t know that you’re practicing… Western lifestyle.” She gestured her hand to Uju and Songhwa, assuming that they were unmarried but having a child together.

“No, no, no. We’re not in that kind of relationship, Sung Siwon….?” Songhwa denied, then she realized that she didn’t know how to address the woman behind Ikjun.

“Scriptwriter of Good Doctors. You can call me Sung Siwon jakka or just Siwon, since I’m also class of 99.” Siwon answered.

“Sung Siwon jakkanim… I’m Chae Songhwa, Lee Ikjun-ssi’s best friend. I’m not his wife and we are not in that kind of relationship. I’m here because Ikjun-ssi asked me to help pick up Uju from the kindergarten today. That’s all.” She explained calmly. For a split of second, Ikjun felt a little disappointed because she was very calm and unlike him, she doesn’t seem to be disturbed at all by Siwon’s mistake.

“Oh, I apologize then. I wasn’t thinking.” Siwon bowed a little to Songhwa.

“It’s okay, jakkanim. Now, let’s go inside and you can set up all you need to do while I cook for dinner.” Ikjun replied. He gestured his guests to follow him inside. While the crew setting up the living room for filming, Siwon asked if Songhwa is okay to be filmed as well. She refused, saying that she has another appointment and has to leave in a moment.

Ten minutes later, Songhwa told them that she is leaving. She took her car keys and her coat on the buffet, ready to leave. “Don’t go, Auntie. I still miss you.” Uju ran to her and hugged her waist as he asks her to stay. He looked up to Ikjun who was setting up the table and said, “Dad, please make Aunt Songhwa stay. Uju still missed Aunt Songhwa.”

Ikjun was flustered. He looked at her for a second and said, “You heard him. Just stay for dinner. Then you can leave.”

Songhwa was hesitant. She then saw Uju was looking at her deeply with his puppy eyes. Seriously, how can I leave when you look at me with that eyes? Songhwa broke away from his hug and kneeled down to meet his eye-level. She sighed. “Okay, I will stay for dinner just for you. But I will leave after dinner, okay?” Uju nodded. Then Songhwa texted her brother, telling him that she couldn’t make it for dinner with his family.

The filming continued with Ikjun having a dinner with Songhwa and Uju. Songhwa refused to be filmed at first and insisted to go home right after dinner, but she eventually agreed to and stay during the whole filming session because Uju asked her. Uju kept saying that he still missed her and don’t want her to leave so soon. Songhwa gave in, every time. She eventually agreed to be interviewed as well, because Siwon convinced her that she will put her statements as a fellow professor.

The filming ended at 10 PM, but it took almost an hour until they finish taking out all of the setting and equipment. Uju was already fast asleep when the crew left the house. “Thank you for your time today, Ikjun-ssi and Songhwa-ssi. We will send you the edited video prior to broadcasting date as a preview for you, you may also request if you want to change anything. I’ll contact you later. Good bye.”

Now it’s only Ikjun and Songhwa left in the hallway. They can feel awkwardness between them filling the air. It has been a while since they left alone, just the two of them—they never left alone after Sokcho actually. “I think I have to go too.” Songhwa turned around without looking at him and walked towards the living room.

Ikjun stopped her. He grabbed her arm and twisted her around. “Where do you think you’re going at this hour?” His eyebrows furrowed, just to think about her driving alone all the way back to Sokcho worried him already.

“Sokcho, of course. It’s not even that late Ikjun-ah. I’m fine driving there alone.” She forced a smile, assuring him that she is fine—as if she could read his mind. “I have a surgery tomorrow afternoon.” Throwing him an excuse he couldn’t refute.

But Ikjun knew she was lying. Ikjun memorized all of her schedule. She didn’t have anything scheduled tomorrow. She made that up, so she can avoid him. Again.

“No. I won’t let you drive alone to Sokcho at this hour. Spend the night here. You can sleep in the guest room.” Ikjun stared into her eyes. “You can leave as early as you want tomorrow morning, but not tonight.”

Songhwa stared back at him, she could feel the tension as his grip started to felt stronger, “Ikjun-ah, you’re hurting me. Let go off my arms.”

Ikjun didn’t realize that he grabbed her hand so hard that he is hurting her. He let his grasp off and apologized. He was carried away.

“I can’t stay here. You know that.” Songhwa said.

“Why?”

“Don’t pretend. You know why.” She said while rubbing her arms. Did he know I was lying and he got mad at me? Songhwa thought.

His expression changed. Ikjun heaved a sigh. “Okay, since it’s only the two of us now, let’s just talk about that.” He grabbed her hand again and dragged her to his living room. She tried her best to release her hand off his grasp but to no avail. Ikjun has had enough of waiting for her to naturally talk about their relationship. There’s no next time, he wants to hear it now.

“Lee Ikjun. If you want to act like this. I think we have nothing to talk about. I’m leaving now.” She said when he finally released his grasp. Songhwa turned around and walked towards the buffet to take her coat and her bag. Just then she felt Ikjun abruptly hugged her from the back.

Songhwa felt her heart stopped for a beat. This isn’t the Ikjun she knew. “Don’t do this, Ikjun-ah. I beg you.” She said, her voice cracked.

“You know how I feel about you, Songhwa-ya. Let’s talk about this. I’m sorry that I hurt you. You know I didn’t mean to.” He replied softly, nearly whispering.

“No, I’m not ready to talk about anything. I just know how you feel about me, but I don’t know how I feel about you. How can I give you the answer when I’m not so sure myself?” Songhwa replied. She can feel a lump in her throat as she tried to hold back her tears.

Ikjun broke away from the hug and turned her petite body around; she’s now facing him. He gazed into her eyes deeply, not saying anything for a few heartbeats. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

Songhwa didn’t answer his question. She’s just staring back at him with her eyes shaking, she barely managed to hold back. “When your heart and your head playing different songs and makes you confused, just follow the beats of your heart.”

Ikjun told her the advice he gave to Jeongwon when he wasn’t sure of his life choices. The same advice that push him to drive all the way to Sokcho last month and confessed his feeling to her.

Ikjun then placed her hand on his chest, letting her to feel his heartbeat. Songhwa hold her breath. “Can you feel my heartbeat getting faster the longer you touch? That’s how I feel whenever I’m with you, Chae Songhwa. It raced this fast twenty years ago and still racing this fast twenty years later. I once followed what my head told me, and look what happened to me…”

Their gazes are still fixed into each other, but Songhwa hasn’t said anything yet.

“I love you, Chae Songhwa. I loved you before, I love you today, and I will always love you for the rest of my life. I won’t regret everything that happened between us. For all I care is now and next.” Ikjun said.

“I…” Songhwa stopped mid-sentence. Trying to arrange her thoughts. “I still don’t know, Ikjun-ah. Please don’t force me to give the answer to your question.” She shook her head, practically begging him to let her go.

Ikjun then placed her hand on her own chest. Letting her feel her own heartbeat. “Does your heart beats as fast as my heart, Songhwa-ya?”

It does. And it is driving me crazy! Songhwa screamed inside.

“Songhwa-ya…” Ikjun called her softly and stared into her eyes. He didn’t say anything, still waiting for her to answer. She started crying, it shocked him. They just stood there for a minute without saying anything. Songhwa is still crying and Ikjun froze, not knowing what to do.

“You know what? My heart beats faster than yours.” She finally spoke up. She placed his hand on top of her heart, letting him to feel her heartbeat on his own. “It has been racing like this for you since the first time I saw you in that damn campus hallways. And I hate the fact that it’s still racing this fast even after everything that happened between us. You don’t know how much you’ve hurt me, Ikjun-ah. You were the reason I wanted to die—once, but you’re also the reason I wanted to live. You have always been the reason for my dilemma, then or now.”

“Songhwa-ya…” He’s almost speechless at her answer.

“Now let me ask you for an advice. This damn heartbeat... it can never align with what my head told me. What should I do?” she asked, desperately gazing into his eyes. He looked into her eyes in disbelief.

He didn’t answer her but his lips slowly curved into a smile. He hugged her tiny figure and stroked her hair. Then he broke away from the hugs and wiped her tears. He looked at her and smiled. “Let’s be happy Songhwa-ya.”

Songhwa looked back at him and smiled. He slid his arms into her hips and lifted her. She let out a small squeak, surprised. “Let’s be happy, Chae Songhwa. Oh, I’m so happy right now I could kiss you!”

Songhwa looked at him, adored. She smiled and lowered her head and kissed him. “Let’s be happy. I love you, Lee Ikjun.”

“Chae Songhwa, you little… Come here…!” He said when she pulled away from the kiss. He holds her tighter and walked towards the couch. He laid her down on the couch gently and kissed her. “Oh, how I wish to be with you every day like this, Songhwa-ya. I really, really, really love you.”

You’re not gonna regret this, Chae Songhwa. Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? She thought.

“Don’t let the boys or anyone know about this, yet. Or I’ll kill you with my own hands.” She said at last.

“As you wish, my love.” Ikjun replied then kissed her one last time.

Chapter Text

A week later

Ikjun-ssi, I sent the video preview to your e-mail earlier. But I was hesitant about the dinner part. Well, you should see it for yourself to get what I mean. If you want that part to be edited out, just let us know. -Siwon

Thanks, Siwon-ssi. Will check my email later after work and let you know if I want anything to be edited out. Have a good day. -Ikjun

Ikjun was about to go to the cafeteria to get lunch when the message arrived. He replied her text, sat back to his computer and opened his email to check the video she sent. The video starts with an introduction to the special episode, then it continues to introduce him as the guest, then it shows highlights of the episode. Grrrr. His stomach growled.

He skipped the video to the dinner part, which Siwon mentioned earlier. There Songhwa was, having dinner with his little family, smiling and laughing to Uju, nagging him to eat more. She was more like his wife, rather than a close friend who stopped by their house as written on the screen. He felt overwhelmed with happiness, hope, but also worried about what people might think. He continued watching the video for a few more minutes where Songhwa was interviewed about their workload as a surgeon and how she balances between work and personal life.

When the interview part ended, he called Siwon to tell her that they might have to edit out Songhwa from the dinner part entirely and use only the interview part. He doesn’t want to cause any misunderstanding about Songhwa. “But, can I keep the unedited video for me? Just for my personal use.” He asked, because despite his worries he still wanted to see Songhwa acting motherly to his son.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Ikjun-ssi. We have a strict rule about video usage before broadcast. I can send you the cut-out part later after the broadcast though. But it might take like a month, if it’s okay for you.” Siwon replied apologetically. Ikjun said okay, he could wait for that.

“By the way, have you discussed with her as well about the editing? I mean, we still need her consent.”

“I’ll talk to her about the editing. Don’t worry. I’ll watch the whole video tonight and let you know later about my thought. Thank you for your hard work, Siwon-ssi!”

“Cool then. Thank you for sparing the time in your busy schedules, Prof. Lee Ikjun. Have a nice day. Thank you for your hard work as well!” Siwon hung up the call.

Don’t forget to watch “Good Doctor special: Wise Doctor Life” live broadcast on Thursday 9 PM this week. Ikjun sent a broadcast message to all group chat where he’s in. The Dinosaur Ridge chat room started ringing. The members are replying to his broadcast notification.

Junwan Prick: you’ve been telling us that for the past three weeks, that’s why I deliberately took a surgery schedule on that day so I don’t have to watch you. what a show-off.
Father Andrea: seriously, I still don’t get why did they choose you. I mean, my specialty is rarer than yours. you could’ve introduced me to them.
Seokhyung Bear: okay. I’ll watch it with my mom.
Father Andrea: see, Songhwa not replying your message explains a lot of things.
Chae Ssong♥: I’ll watch it if I have time

Reading her reply, Ikjun called her immediately and complained. “Seriously?”

Songhwa accepted the call and got confused because he asked her that without giving her context first. Then Ikjun went on a full rant about how she as his girlfriend should be more supportive of him instead of bringing him down like she did in the chat room. Songhwa laughed at his silly complaints. “You memorized all of my surgery schedule for what? Now you’re complaining like I wouldn’t watch the broadcast at all?”

He pouted. She was right. She even delayed her surgery schedule for almost two hours so that she can have the time to watch the episode. “Ah, mian. I didn’t know you were joking.”

Thursday, live broadcast day

Ikjun and Uju were sitting in their living room while having some cookies as late-night snack, waiting for the episode broadcast. Ikjun was so noticeably excited than Uju asked him, “Appa, are you that excited?”

“Yeah. I’m excited to appear on television with my son! Lee Uju, we’re gonna be on TV!” Ikjun replied giddily. Uju rolled his eyes, mocking at his dad for being tacky.

“Tsk, you forgot Aunt Songhwa. She will be there too.” Uju reminded him. Dang, I forgot to tell him that Songhwa was edited out.

“Ah… yes, Aunt Songhwa will be there too. Anyway, Lee Uju you will see how cool your Dad is when he is working.” He tried to divert his son’s attention.

Ding Dong. Their bell ringed. Ikjun and Uju exchanged glances. Who on earth that visit them this late at night? The broadcast will start any minute now and he doesn’t want to miss any seconds of it. Ikjun ignored it.

“Daddy, bell.” Uju chided him when the bell ringed again. Ikjun groaned as he stood up to get the door.

“SURPRISE!” The boys appeared in front of his door and brought cans of cola and fried chicken in their hands.

“What is….?” Ikjun looked at them, confused.

Junwan, Jeongwon, and Seokhyeong made their way inside and told him that they planned this behind his back. Songhwa is the one who planned the whole prank. The boys were just following her instructions.

When they reached the living room, Junwan laid out all the food they brought. Seokhyeong waited for the food to be served. While Jeongwon instantly put Uju to sit on his lap. Ikjun who was the last to reach the living room were dumbfounded, still not believing that Songhwa dared to pull a prank on him. It’s only been a little over a week since they started dating and yet she already has the nerves to prank him.

“Aish. Just get your ass here and let’s watch the episode. It’s starting now!” Junwan chided Ikjun who was still standing next to the television, frozen.

“Don’t swear in my house!” Ikjun retorted as he sits down. Junwan forgot that Uju was with them, he mouthed sorry to him.

They watched the episode while munching their food. The boys would comment on his interview part. They scoffed when he started using difficult medical terms in his statement. The broadcast took a break after 45 minutes to show some advertisements.

“Jeongwon samchon, thank you for the chicken. It was delicious.” Uju thanked Jeongwon, thinking that he bought all those chickens.

“Uju-ya, King Crab uncle bought this. Your favorite Jeongwon uncle is so poor, he doesn’t have any money to buy you anything.” Junwan replied him instead, his mouth was still full of chicken.

“Is that right, Uncle? Are you poor?” Uju asked for his confirmation. Jeongwon scratch his head and smiled awkwardly. “But last time you’re here you bought me a box full of hotdogs.”

"REALLY?" Junwan turned to Ikjun in disbelief. Ikjun nodded indifferently. Then he told them that the poor Father Andrea had never visited them empty-handed. He always brings something for Uju, be it foods or drinks or ice creams. Junwan glared at him and swore inaudibly, feeling betrayed by his roommate.

“It’s starting again, it’s starting again…” Jeongwon tried to divert their attention back to the screen. Then Songhwa appeared on the screen. The boys turned to Ikjun all at once in confusion.

“Huh? Why is she there? When did she shot this?” Seokhyeong asked.

“You made the crew TV went all the way to Sokcho just to get her on screen when we’re working in the same hospital?! Wow, Lee Ikjun you’re really…” Junwan added.

“Oh? But that doesn’t seem like her Sokcho house.” Jeongwon and his quick wit suddenly noticed the difference of the lighting.

“Songhwa imo was here on the filming day, uncles.” Uju answered them on Ikjun’s behalf. “But Daddy, why isn’t she appear on the dinner? She ate dinner with us…” Ikjun’s eyes were shaking. He felt them staring at him. What should he answer him?

“Oh, Songhwa said that she helped Ikjun that day. She was in Yulje and apparently Uju’s nanny was unable to pick Uju up from the kindergarten and she help him instead. I texted her just now.” Seokhyeong explained nonchalantly. Thank you, you silly bear. You saved me. Ikjun thought.

The boys turned to look at Seokhyeong and then looked back at Ikjun. “Why didn’t we know that Uju were left alone at school? You could've asked us instead.” Jeongwon asked. He couldn’t care enough about Songhwa visiting Ikjun’s house, he only cared about Uju being left alone at school.

“You were all busy that day. Thanked God she was here in Seoul and have the time to pick him up. Basically, she saved me.” Ikjun gave an excuse. “Now, let’s just continue watching. There’s not much time left.”

Thirty minutes later, the show ended. Siwon did a good job with the editing and screenwriting. Many people messaged Ikjun and praised him for the broadcast. Some were comforting him for raising Uju as a single father, while some said they laughed at the part with Hongdo and said that his expression was hilarious. Some people also commented on being touched by the liver transplant patient’s story. Director Ju also messaged him and thanked him for he did a good job in promoting the hospital as it made the hospital’s name appeared on the “top 10 real time search”.

I’m a proud girlfriend. Songhwa texted him also. He smiled. His cheekbones raised so high that the boys asked him why. But he ignored them.

“YAH?!” Junwan shouted at Ikjun. “We’re leaving. Can’t you hear us?”

“Just go, then. You don’t need to yell at me.” Ikjun replied him nonchalantly. “Don’t forget to clean up before you leave.” The boys snorted at him, but they did clean up the table before leaving the house.

“Uju-ya, we’re really leaving now. After this don’t forget to brush your teeth before sleep, okay? Good night and have a sweet dream.” Jeongwon said and caressed his hair. Uju nodded then he hugged his uncles one by one and send them off.

Chapter Text

The day after the broadcast

Ikjun was getting ready to go home when Siwon called her. She thanked him for appearing on her program and saved her from the director’s wrath should she unable to find replacement for this special episode. “Also, I would like to invite you and your friend—Songhwa-ssi for dinner, Ikjun-ssi. Because last night’s episode rating finally reached 8-point mark. After almost four months of struggling, we finally able to regain our viewer’s attention. Thanks to you.”

“Aigoo, you’re exaggerating, Siwon-ssi. You and your team are the one who did the good job. Even I shed a tear when I watched it yesterday.” Ikjun replied, in a way praising himself.

“Awh, don’t say it like that. Anyway, as a thank you for you, I want to invite you for dinner because my birthday is around the corner. Oh yeah, and you can bring your other friends as well because it seems like we’re all connected somehow. So, by this opportunity I thought why don’t we meet up together with the groups.”

“Well it’s fine by me, but I’ll have to ask my friends if they’re okay with it.” He answered. “Since Songhwa moved to Sokcho recently so she might not be able to make to your invitation. And I don’t really know if my friends would accept the invitation as well.”

“Well, do let me know if it’d be only you or your friends will come along. We’re planning to have the birthday dinner next weekend since one of my friends lives outside the town as well. It would be great if we all can meet. Text me...” Siwon hung up the call.

Ikjun quickly ask about the topic to the Dinosaur Ridge chatroom. He told them that Siwon invited them to her birthday dinner. Junwan and Jeongwon was hesitating about the invites, Seokhyeong refused to come as he is not comfortable meeting new people—let alone eating dinner together, Songhwa unexpectedly said yes to the invites.

Junwan Prick: Chae Songhwa, what’s gotten into you?
Seokhyeong Bear: My thought exactly.
Chae Ssong♥: k k k why? Is it that weird?
Father Andrea: Ng, it’s weird, Songhwa-ya. I mean, you’ve been behaving weird lately. Is there anything that we don’t know about?

Ikjun called Songhwa immediately after reading Jeongwon’s reply. “He didn’t on catch on, did he?”

Songhwa chided him as soon as she accepted the call, “Yah, why are you calling me? It’ll make them even more suspicious. Let me reply them. Bye.”

Chae Ssong♥: I mean, it’s a birthday treat. There must be a lot of food. Right, Ikjun-ah?
Haek Inssa: Food! Of course ~ food, meat, drinks, you name it.
Junwan Prick: Food? Okay, I’m in.
Father Andrea: Well, if you guys are going then I’ll go too.
Haek Inssa: Seokhyeong-ah, what about you?
Seokhyeong Bear: Ok then, I’m in too.

After he got all of his friends’ confirmation, Ikjun told Siwon that they accepted her invitation. He told her to let him know when and where the birthday dinner would take place and they’ll be there.

Siwon’s house that night

Yoonjae got home a little early today, he usually didn’t get home before 8 PM. “Honey, I’m home!” When she heard her husband’s voice, Siwon hurried to the living room get him. Yoonjae frowned at her strange behavior “Why are you acting so strange? You did something again, didn’t you?”

“Aniyaa, Jagiya… I didn’t do anything, it’s just that I’m happy that you’re home early. Let’s eat dinner, you must be hungry.” She answered him in aegyo and make him even more suspicious.

They walked to the dining table and Siwon set up dinner for him. She made him a dwaejigukbap, Busan people’s favourite food.

“You called me jagiya earlier. What do you want?” said Yoonjae when he finished his meal. Yoonjae is very quick-witted, but it took him more than ten years of marriage to Sung Siwon to finally able to tell what she wants or what she’s thinking.

“Ah, you catch on really fast lately.” She grinned. “It’s just that, you know… that next week is my birthday. It’s been a long time since you throw me a birthday party. And things at work are great recently thanks to Prof. Lee Ikjun. So, I invited him—the one who saved me from the Director’s wrath, he appeared on the show yesterday. I invited him to the birthday dinner.”

“So?”

“So… I invited him to come for my birthday dinner next week. Along with his friends, the 5-member group I told you about a few days ago. You know, we’re all class of ’99 and they are also Joonhee’s classmates. So, I think why don’t invite them altogether and introduce them with the gang. Who knows, maybe it’ll open more opportunities to us.”

“What opportunity?” Yoonjae squinted his eyes, suspicious that she has other ulterior motive behind this invitation.

“I don’t know, a lot.” Siwon shrugged her shoulders. “For work.”

“Well, you’re the one inviting them. You get the benefit from them. Then you should be the one who pay for it.” Yoonjae refused to do what she asked him to.

“Yah, Yoon Yoonjae!” Siwon pissed at his answer, but she has no other way but getting him to pay for the treat because Yoonjae does earn more money than her. “If you pay for his dinner, I’ll do whatever you want for a month. Come on...”

Hearing the deal his wife is trying to make, Yoonjae’s eyes glistened. “Really? Whatever I want?”

Siwon noticed the glistening in his eyes and she knew what he wanted. “Anything, but a third child! Aish, you disgusting jerk.”

Yoonjae laughed. He wanted to have a third child for a few years now, but Siwon refused to have more child. Since she said she would do anything, he thought maybe she would grant it this time. “Well, then forget it. Just give your new friends grasses and veggies for your birthday dinner then.”

Siwon rolled her eyes, trying to find a way to get what she wants. She got up from her seat and sat on his lap, pleading to him again. “Jagiya…” She said in aegyo, hoping that he would be persuaded.

Yoonjae scoffed and he still said no to her request. Siwon didn’t give up, she kissed him. “Please? I said I’ll do whatever you want for a month, please? Please do this for me. Besides, don’t you miss our friends as well? It’s been a while since the last meeting.”

Yoonjae smirked. Siwon knew that she knows her husband very well, she knew what he’s gonna do. He carried her in his arms, then headed to their bedroom. “I’ll pay for that damn dinner. But first, let me finish my dessert.”

Siwon tried to get out of his arms, but failed. “YOON YOONJAE! YOU PERVERTED JERK!” Siwon cursed at her husband. Yoonjae laughed. He loved it when Siwon got pissed. And he thanked God that his kids are away in Busan for their holiday so he and his wife have plenty of time for fun.

Siwon birthday dinner, 6.45 PM

Ikjun and the gang arrived in the restaurant exactly fifteen minutes before the appointment time. Siwon booked a private room at the restaurant so they can talk freely without worrying to be stared at by people around them. The waiter escorted them to the room, and there are Siwon and Joonhee already waiting for them.

“Oh, Joonhee! Annyeong!” Ikjun waved when he saw him. Joonhee got up from his seat and walked towards them. He greeted the guys with a handshake and greeted Songhwa with light hug.

“God, how long has it been, Professor Chae Songhwa.” Joonhee greeted her. Songhwa and Joonhee were quite close during their internship. Even though they were registered intern in two different hospitals, she’s always there to give him alternative solutions and answers to the professors’ questions. Also, Songhwa was the first few friends in college who get to know that he’s a gay and kept it secret within her until he eventually came out.

“And you’re still beautiful as ever.” Joonhee praised her and hugged her one more time. Joonhee can feel a strange aura staring at him when he hugged her. He glanced at Ikjun and he teased her, “But something has changed, definitely.”

Joonhee rolled his eyes and giving her a sign that he knew something is up between her and Ikjun. Her eyes widened, she gulped. Damn, I forgot this guy knows a lot about things in the past. “Yah, of course things changed. I got older too, you know!”

Joonhee laughed. “Well, no one can beat in me when it comes to changes isn’t it? Let’s sit. Let’s have a catch up before the other guests coming.”

Joonhee moved to sit next to Songhwa’s right, while Ikjun sitting on her left. Junwan, Jeongwon, and Seokhyeong sat next to each other across Songhwa while Siwon sat at the edge of the table near the door so she can see who is coming.

It was only Siwon and Joonhee in the room when they arrived, but slowly her guests came in one by one. Sungjae and Yoonjae arrived around five minutes late. Then Hakchan and Yoojung came in quarrelling around five minutes later. When she saw Songhwa, she recognized her right away and said, “Oh? Uju Eomeoni? I didn’t know that you…? Oh right, your husband went to SNU. Wait, didn’t you two got divorced last year?”

Siwon, Ikjun, and Songhwa was taken aback while the other guys were dumbfounded. They looked at Songhwa, Yoojung, and Ikjun back and forth. Confused with what is happening and demanding an explanation from any of them.

Ikjun cleared his throat and he stood up. “Principal Mo Yoojung, annyeonghaseyo? I think I need to clear up the misunderstanding here.” Songhwa looked at him, worried. God, what is he gonna do?

“Let me introduce you to her. Songhwa here is not Uju’s mother. But she IS my girlfriend.” Ikjun put his hand on her shoulder.

“SHE’S WHAT?” the boys reacted to his introduction and Junwan being the loudest of them all. Seokhyeong and Jeongwon now looked at Songhwa in disbelief. Songhwa lower her head and swore in silence, she knew that Ikjun would do this one day, but why today? Yoonjae, Sungjae, and Hakchan are looking back and forth between the 99s gang as they don’t understand what is happening.

Ikjun put his hand on her shoulder and rephrased his introduction. “She’s my girlfriend, Prof. Chae Songhwa of Yulje Medical Center.”

Chapter Text

Siwon’s birthday dinner, 7.15 PM

“So, let me get this straight. You two, are an item now?!” Jeongwon asked them again after Songhwa explained what happened between her and Ikjun for the past two months since Sokcho. She let out a nervous chuckle and nodded. Siwon—the party owner, and her guests can only watch them in silence while shifting their heads back and forth each time any member of the Lacking Five opened their mouth.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, guys.” Joonhee started talking. “But, why are you so surprised with them being an item? I mean isn’t it a go…” his eyes met Songhwa’s and he saw her mouthing in silence—pleading for him to shut up desperately. “Uh, forget it.”

Ikjun saw Songhwa quietly sighed in relieved. He got curious to what Joonhee was about to say. “You mean what?”

“Nothing. Just forget it.” He said and shook his head.

“Ani, Joonhee-ya, you see we’re not gonna go against them getting together. It’s just that, we’re speechless that they’d hide this from us. That too, for more than a month!” Junwan answered him instead. He felt his teeth grinding—still angry of the two for making fool of them for the whole month, during their band practice, in the group chat room, and even when she had to visit Yulje for her special lecture.

“Yeah, and if Miss Yoojung here didn’t mistake her for Uju’s mother, they’d probably keep this fact with them even longer.” Jeongwon added, it’s a rare occasion that he’s agreeing with what Junwan said.

“Eyyy, so what if you these guys kept this from you for a month. Songhwa kept her feelings hidden for twenty years already.” Darn it, I let it slipped, Joonhee thought. He looked at her, feeling guilty. She lowered her head and started massaging her temple—suddenly she’s having a headache.

“And you knew about that all along?!” Junwan asked him. The boys, including Ikjun now looking at him in surprise. “I thought you two stopped being in contact from years ago?!”

“Songhwa-ya, mianhada. Malhaeyagettda.” He told her sorry before he continued with what he knew about Songhwa and Ikjun.

He told them that one day, during first year of pre-med, he was paired with her for a group task in Biomedical Science. So, he sat with her during the class for that semester. For that whole semester, he caught her looking at Ikjun from her seat every so often—and she would be smiling when she found him. “Even though you know nothing about me back then, I was quite… perceptive? Especially when it comes to who likes who.”

Joonhee continued, “So, I asked her if she likes you, Ikjun-ah. She denied it at first. She even laughed it off, she said that I went too far with my imaginations. Then I asked her if it’s okay if I go after you.”

When Joonhee said that, suddenly the room became so quiet that they could probably hear if someone’s breathing.

“I was just joking.” Joonhee laughed awkwardly, trying to change the awkward mood.

“I thought you only liked me even when we’re in college?” Yoonjae and his tactless brain blurted out unnecessary comment which brought back the tension in the air, Siwon thought and slapped her husband’s head. He groaned and glared at her—swearing at her in whispers.

“It was just a crush. Everyone liked him back in the days.” Joonhee answered, trying his hard to explain to them. “And why do I have to explain about this to you now? You’re not even my husband. Geez.”

Ikjun was slightly terrified at Joonhee’s unintentional throwback confession. “Chill, Ikjun-ah. I have a lover now. And just like what I said, it was just a crush, a momentary one. Anyway, what did I say again?”

“You asked her permission to go after this prick.” Junwan answered him nonchalantly.

“Yaishh…” Joonhee hissed, almost cursing at him. “Anyway, after that she looked at me with a puzzled look that I still remember vividly until today. So, I told her that I’m gay.”

Joonhee then continued his story. He said that after the group task and his private-coming out to her, they became closer and after that they would often sit together during classes. Songhwa on the other hand, would look around the whole room before the class started just to see where Ikjun sat. “And when you’re not around, she would lose her focus in the study—worrying about you skipping classes, worried that your grades might drop.” He chuckled. “What an unnecessary concern, right? You always got perfect grades, not even once your grades dropped, not even after those parties and nightclub visits that you did during our college years. Tsk, son of a bitch.”

“But she really cared a lot for you. You made her studied even harder so she can catch up to your grades. You probably don’t remember it, but there was this time when a girl chases after you and she intentionally sat next to you in every class for a whole semester, it was probably during our second year of pre-med or by the end of the first year. She was following you everywhere. Did you know what happened that semester? Songhwa’s grades dropped drastically. She went from top 10 to…”

“20.” Songhwa muttered faintly. Ikjun shifted his gaze to her, surprised that she’d participate in Joonhee’s story telling session.

“Wait, is that what happened then?” Jeongwon looked at her in complete disbelief. “Is that why you didn’t tell us why your grades dropped back then? Because you were disturbed by that girl?”

Songhwa’s head still hung low, she can’t meet any of her friends’ eyes. Ikjun looked at her, memories from the past coming back in and he felt guilty for what he did to her at that time. When she was struggling with her dropping grades, his immature self wasn’t comforting her and instead he made fun of her. He said that maybe she wasn’t that smart anyway because she definitely can’t keep up with her bass lesson either.

“Anyway,” Joonhee continued. “I told her to tell you about her feelings. But she rejected my idea. She said how could she compete with numerous girls who chases after you every day, they were all prettier than the dorky Chae Songhwa. She said that you are out of her league, you would never bat an eye to her if she ever competes with those girls. She said that being your friend is probably the best decision for her to take.”

“But it wasn’t true. You know that.” Ikjun said in a low voice, almost whispering.

“How could she know that, Ikjun-ah?” Joonhee replied him instead, slightly annoyed. Ikjun was surprised with him being annoyed. “You were practically friend-zoned her. I mean, what kind of guy who would tell a girl that another girl been hitting on him? If you ever thought of her as a woman, you should never do that.”

Now Songhwa regretted her idea of coming here. Should she know that Joonhee would be such a tattletale, she would never agree to come to this birthday/reunion dinner. She knew he meant well, but this is just so wrong—bringing up bad things from the past, when she just started to build a relationship with the man of the story.

“But I told Siwon when Yoojung asked me out? I never not thought of her as a woman. And look? She’s my wife right now…” Yoonjae and his brainless head did it again, Siwon thought and she rolled her eyes.

Joonhee shifted his gaze to Yoonjae who looked quite irked with what he said. “Yoonjae-ya. When you told Siwon about Yoojung hitting on you, you begged her not to let you date her, didn’t you? This prick right here, he told Songhwa that a girl confessed to him while smiling like a fool, he even asked her what is the best thing to say to get her impressed. Oh, up to this day, I still remember how she cried in front of me, telling me about that. I know how painful it is when someone you love said those things to you. I felt really bad for her then.”

Ikjun reached for her hand under the table, holding it tight, hoping that she could also feel that he is sorry for what happened. Songhwa looked at him and smiled. She cleared her throat and said, “Well, now that he and I are an item. Let’s not talk about what happened in the past again. Okay, Joonhee-ya?”

Joonhee looked at her—his eyebrows drew together, then he nodded a few seconds later. Siwon chimes in and asked them to stop talking about the past and she raised her glass to congratulate the new couple instead.

“Anyway, we live in the world where people lived until 100 years old now, even if they start their relationship at forty, they still have sixty more years to spend and get bored with each other. Unlike me and my husband, we spent almost forty years together and we’re already bored now that we’re married.” Siwon wittily joked after the cheers.

Even though he laughed at Siwon’s jokes, Ikjun was still feeling bad for Songhwa. He barely ate his meal. He suddenly lost the appetite because of the new sides from past incidents that came into light today.

“Well, even though my wife said that she’s already bored with me, that’s not the case for me. I’m still finding new things about her that makes me excited as the day goes by.” Yoonjae opened his mouth and told them his perception on their marriage while waiting for the meat on the grills.

“You mean new credit card receipts as days goes by?” Sungjae mocked his friend. Yoonjae threw a piece of kkakdugi kimchi towards him.

Yoonjae then continued to tell them about his own love story with Siwon. “Anyway, my relationship with my wife too was kind of complicated at first. We were friends since birth, then I liked her but she shoved me out, then we kind of drifted apart, I even avoided meeting her for a years because I loved her too much and cannot moved on from her, but then we crossed path again, in a very unlikely place at a very unlikely time. When we got to be honest to each other, our love managed to bond us together in a very mysterious way. That’s how relationships are.”

“What the heck.” Siwon responded to her husband. “I’m sorry guys, my husband has this kind of occupational disease of throwing out wisdom out of nowhere. Please understand, this is what happened when you’re 40 and work as a judge, you think you’re the wisest of all the people in the world.”

The guests laughed at Siwon’s wit.

“Aniii, I was saying the right thing, wasn’t I? Just like how we gather here tonight, we were just a bunch of strangers up until few hours ago, and considering our backgrounds and jobs, it is very unlikely for us to know each other. But we were diligently fulfilling our own roles until suddenly our paths crossed and we realized that we’re connected with each other. Like we were friends with Ikjun-ssi, Joonhee was friends with Songhwa-ssi, Songhwa-ssi met Yoojung-ie and misunderstood her for other person…”

“Arasseo. Arattdago!” Siwon lost her temper to her husband, she hit the table.

“That’s why you don’t need to do anything to force a relationship, because it will find its way to meet you. It might be there all along since you breathe your first breath, or struck you by chance when you’re older, or you might recognize them after they matured with you. That’s why it’s called fate, because it connects people. Eventually, we’re all connected.”

“Stop preaching now and just eat your meat.” Siwon was extremely annoyed so she fed him a chunk of grilled meat. Yoonjae flinched because the meat was still hot. He cursed while munching his meal. The guests laughed at how fun Siwon and Yoonjae are as a couple.

When they were solemnly eating their meat, Hakchan who sat next to Siwon nudged her and whispered. “Yah, why does that guy over there felt familiar to me? I think I’ve met him somewhere.”

“Who?”

“That guy, the loudest one.”

Siwon gulped. She tried to sound as calm as possible. “Aniya… how on earth you’d met him. You spent more than ten years of your life in Hawaii.”

“Geuchi? That probably just my feeling.”

When she saw that Hakchan was over the thought, she sighed in relieve. One revelation of the past is enough for her birthday party today, she doesn’t need another one from Hakchan and Junwan relationship.

Chapter Text

Siwon’s birthday dinner, 9.00 PM

Time has passed for a while since they first gathered there to celebrate Siwon’s birthday, they ate a lot, told stories about things in past, recollecting nostalgia from the 90s and early 2000s, they even shared about each other’s love stories. But it was Saturday and the night are long, so Siwon told them for another round of meat and drinks. She was amazed though at how these doctors—including Joonhee refused to drink anything than coke because they’re afraid to get a call in the middle of the night while Sungjae was already on his third bottle of soju and still functions perfectly fine.

“By the way Hakchan-ssi? Did you ever get treated at Kangwoon University Hospital? Your children or family member maybe? I feel like I’ve met you somewhere. You look familiar.” Jeongwon suddenly asked him when he reached for a can of coke next to him and saw his face a little closer—now he thought that his face was a familiar face.

“No, we never went to Kangwoon University Hospital to get treated, yet I also feel familiar with some of you.” he gestured his hands between Jeongwon, Seokhyeong, and Junwan. “But I have difficulties remembering people’s face or name, so I’m not sure either.” He shrugged his shoulders off.

“You don’t? Well, maybe I mistook you with other person.” He replied—agreeing with him. Just then he saw Junwan taking more meat from the grill into his plate—Jeongwon was the one who put in on the grill. “Yah, Kim Junwan! That was mine. Why can’t you just grill for yourself. You crazy jerk.”

When Sungjae heard Jeongwon’s complaint, he tilted shifted his focus from the grill and said “Did you just say Kim Junwan?” Jeongwon looked around, not sure if he was talking to him. “Is he the SNU Medical Class ’99, Dr. Kim Junwan?”

Suddenly everyone shifted their gaze and looking at Sungjae. Jeongwon answered him, “Yes, he is the Kim Junwan of SNU Medicine Class of ’99. How did you know about him?”

“Wow! He was famous! I can’t believe I met you here. Daebak.” He loudly remarked, and none of the lacking fives understand what he meant by that—only the Busan gang now looking at him, they all looked rather panic.

Joonhee opened his mouth hurriedly. “Uh uh, Sungjae-ya. I think you must’ve seen him from the news. He was recently appointed as the youngest Chief of CS Department of Yulje Medical Center, you must’ve seen articles on that, right?” His eyes narrowed as he looked at him, signalling him to stop talking.

“Aniya! I don’t even know where he's working before you mention it. Don’t you remember him? Isn’t he Kim Junwan, the famous “Hawaii” guy?!” Sungjae said it out loud. Junwan now looked at him, horrified. Gosh, Bang Sungjae and his stupid mouth, Siwon thought.

“Hawaii?” Ikjun, Songhwa, and Seokhyeong asked him in unison.

“He was famous?” Ikjun added.

“Well, he was famous among us. Because of that Hawaii story.”

“OH Right! I met you in Hawaii!” Hakchan exclaimed, now that he recalled his memory of the famous Kim Junwan. “Eojjeonji… I thought you looked familiar earlier.”

Junwan felt uneasy at the mention of the Hawaii topic and he denied it, he said he didn’t remember meeting any of them in Hawaii. But Ikjun, Songhwa and Seokhyeong won’t have any of it, they kept pressuring Hakchan to tell them what happened in Hawaii, while Sungjae tactlessly blurted out “Russia” to them.

“So, those girls that you said cried over you in Hawaii were all Russians?” Songhwa asked, she remembered that time when Junwan mentioned it one day at lunch around last year.

“Aniya! Russian museun…”

“Hakchan-ssi, tell us what do you remember about this Kim Junwan in Hawaii…” Songhwa turned to him.

He flinched when Songhwa looking at him with her laser stare, he opened his mouth unknowingly—ready to tell them the story about Hawaii. “So, what happened was…”

Jeongwon burst out laughing at the possibility of his long-kept Hawaii secret to be exposed today, while Junwan glared at him—cursing. Hakchan noticed that Joonhee and Siwon was glaring at him too, he hesitated for a few seconds until Songhwa asked him to continue.

Just like what the lacking fives knew that after Medical Board Exam, Junwan went to Hawaii and stayed there for a month. Hakchan told them that he met Junwan at the time because he was staying at the hostel owned by his family. Back then, Hakchan was just a student who studied film and one day he introduced Junwan to his film collection. Hakchan told them that Junwan was especially hooked at his Russian films, but he didn’t tell them what kind of movie he introduced him to.

“Russian unnies was the best indeed.” Sungjae said, reminiscing his memories of the unnies. How tactless, Siwon thought. Junwan stared at the ceiling, he didn’t understand what kind of bad luck he has so early this year that now they are talking about his decade-old secret.

“Russian unnies?” Songhwa glared at Junwan, demanding him to give her more explanation, but he ignored her—he didn’t hear what she said actually.

Joonhee replied her instead, “Nothing, Songhwa-ya. You really don’t want to hear it.” Seeing him replying to her like that make her even more curious about the thing that apparently even Joonhee knew about, but she, Ikjun, and Seokhyeong know nothing about it.

“Wait… what Russian unnies? I thought it was about your embarrassing Hawaiian dance?” Jeongwon turned to Junwan, confused—now that he realized they mentioned several times about Russian unnies in this conversation. Seeing that they were apparently talking about two different cases of Kim Junwan in Hawaii caused confusion among the Busan gang as well. They exchanged glances with each other, asking Hakchan about what was going on.

“Hawaiian dance? Russian unnies?” Songhwa asked. Then she pointed at Junwan and Jeongwon in turn and said “Do you want to tell me? Or you want to tell me?”

Hakchan as the only witness from all those incidents trying to keep his mouth sealed, he remembered about the traditional dance that Jeongwon mentioned and he knew about the Russian unnies as well. He quietly fell back onto his chair and almost not breathing. But then he accidentally exchanged glances with Songhwa—she was just glaring at Junwan and Jeongwon and he felt that she glared at him too, his coward brain chickened out and he opened his mouth. “I… I… I will tell you what happened.”

When Junwan was staying in his hostel, Hakchan who was the only Korean he knew somehow turned into his tour guide because he has been living there for a long time. They grew rather close with each other. He took Junwan all over Hawaii. He told him about fun things to do while in Hawaii. Junwan was so excited with this information that he said he wanted to do it all—especially things that you can’t try anywhere else in the world.

So, he recommended him to take a Hawaiian dance lesson and he became extremely excited to try it out. He told him that at the end of the two weeks dance lesson, he might need to perform the dance for a special event hold by the dance studio at the end of the month. It was the tradition of the dance studio to have their students performing on stage. Junwan said he doesn’t mind performing on stage, he said that he was in a band back in Korea so he’s used to stage performance. Thus, Hakchan registered him for the dance lesson—he even got him a discount because the dance studio was owned by his close friend.

Just a few days before his dance performance, Jeongwon arrived in Hawaii to go surfing. He stayed at his hostel as recommended by Junwan. One night, he saw Jeongwon walking towards Junwan’s room when he was doing night shift watch. Since he knew what Junwan was doing from his rounds earlier, he decided to follow him just in case he got shocked when he found out what Junwan was doing. Jeongwon stopped in front of Junwan’s room and heard women’s voice crying and moaning from inside. Jeongwon was terrified. He thought that Junwan been hooking up with girls during his stay in Hawaii.

“God, now I remember about that. He was right, I thought that was why that idiot extended his holiday in Hawaii which was originally planned to be a two weeks holiday into a one month stay.” Jeongwon added enthusiastically now that he recalled his memory.

“But then I approached him. I tapped on his shoulder and hushed him to silence. I told him that Junwan-ssi was just watching some of his porn collection. I even offered Jeongwon-ssi one of my collections for $5, but he rejected me even looked at me in disgust. That was the story of Russian unnies, which he was addicted to.”

“Oh God, I totally forgot about that night.” Jeongwon added and the scoffed at his friend in disgust. Junwan glared back at him and swore inaudibly.

“But why did he become famous?” Ikjun tilted his head, still not understand how Junwan and his addiction to porn got him famous.

Hakchan flustered. He told them that there was another secret that he kept from Junwan. He said that he once unintentionally posted something on Cyworld about Junwan and his Russian unnies addiction. He was going to ask if Joonhee knew Junwan, because they were classmates, but he made a mistake. Instead of sending Joonhee a private message, he posted it in Joonhee’s homepage. That is why everyone found out about Kim Junwan of SNU Medicine Class of ’99, because he told Joonhee that he met someone as crazy as Yoonjae about those unnies.

“You did what?!” Junwan asked. He raised his voice, surprised to found out the truth he never knew about.

“I’m sorry, Kim Junwan-ssi. It wasn’t intentional, really. By the time I deleted the post, my friends here already saw that, and after that they joked about it a lot—to make fun of Yoonjae actually, saying that he got a contender for his love for the unnies. I’m so sorry, it was my mistake.” Junwan was mouthing a curse when he heard that. Hakchan added, “Well, so what if a guy likes porn? It’s not a sin. Isn’t it?”

“It was ten fucking years ago!” He exploded. “I never watch any porn again now. I barely got time to sleep. If I have more time, I’d rather to sleep than watching those unnies.”

Everyone became quiet after Junwan’s exploded. None of them dared to make even the slightest move. Seokhyeong saved the day when he said, “Seriously Junwan-ah, I could never imagine that you used to loved porn.” Junwan scorned at him.

Chapter Text

Siwon’s birthday dinner, 9.30 PM

After Junwan exploded at everyone for making fun of him, everyone stayed quiet for a while. It was Songhwa, who broke the silence by asking about the other Hawaii case of Kim Junwan. Leaning her body forward, she asked “And what about the embarrassing dance?”

“Oh, yeah, that. Like I said before, at the end of the class the student was assigned for a special performance. Do you guys know how traditional hula dance outfit look?” They all shook their heads, so Hakchan explained to them about the dance and its outfit. “Well, they were performing topless and wore nothing than a loincloth to cover that part.”

After Hakchan showed them images of the traditional outfit, they all looked at Junwan with horrified look—they could never imagine him in that outfit, not even in their wildest dreams. He told them that Junwan had no choice back then. “On the day of the performance, I saw Jeongwon-ssi walked back to the hostel after sunbathing at the beach in front of the hostel. I was on my way to the dance studio, so I asked him why was he still there instead of Junwan-ssi’s dance performance. But turned out, he didn’t know that Junwan was performing at all. So, I told him about the whole thing and he asked to join me. The performance was held in front of the studio building, about 5 minutes ride from the hostel.”

Hakchan paused and took a sip of his beer. “When he saw Junwan-ssi coming on the stage along with five others foreigners, Jeongwon-ssi started cracking up. Junwan-ssi was wearing a green coloured malo or the loincloth, flower garland on his neck, and flower crown on his head. I bet that he thought he was going to perform in Hawaiian T-shirts and the signature flower necklace when his dance teacher told him about the special performance. But his teacher wanted his students to perform as traditional as possible, so he has to wear the traditional outfit on stage. I bet he couldn’t refuse it, since the owner of the dance studio was a big, tanned skin Korean-Hawaiian muscleman and he watches their performance from the side of the stage with arms folded together in front of his chest. Just imagine someone as big as a UFC fighter asking you to perform, of course you can’t refuse. That was how big the studio owner was.”

“Geureoge why did you sign me up to his class…” Junwan replied in a voice smaller than a whisper and sighed.

“Did you say something, Junwan-ssi?” Hakchan asked. Junwan shook his head, so Hakchan continued with the story. “Jeongwon-ssi, brought a camera with him back then, he immediately took pictures of this performance. But seriously, Junwan-ssi’s performance wasn’t even bad. It wasn’t anywhere near to the real performance by real dancers though, but it was good. The girls were clapping and cheering at them. After the performance, he got off the stage and Junwan-ssi was embarrassed when he saw Jeongwon already waiting for him at the backstage. He was embarrassed that his friend saw him performing in such outfit—you could say he was close to dancing nakedly, in front of the public.”

Everyone was so shocked at the new truth that they all looked at Hackhan with their mouths open, without any reaction.

“Okay! Now that you all know about the Hawaii incidents—ALL OF IT. You are welcome to make fun of me for the rest of your lives.” Junwan finally opened his mouth, unable to handle the silence any longer. “You see, Ahn Jeongwon might have this pure and religious image and he once dreamed of being a priest, but he could be extremely wicked when it comes to how he treats his friends. He exploited me with that Hawaii picture for ten years now. If you ever wonder how did Young Master Ahn Jeongwon always managed to get everything he wanted from me for the past ten years, that’s because of this bastard using that picture to threaten me.”

Jeongwon burst out laughing again, he remembered the first time he threatened him about exposing the Hawaii picture if he didn’t take him to be his roommate—he said he’ll pay his share, but he didn’t and he lives in the house for free. It was not long after he finished his duty as public health officer and he has nowhere to stay in Seoul because his mother has moved to Yangpyeong the previous year. He was just starting his fellowship years, while Junwan was in discussion to be promoted as a Junior Professor at Kangwoon University Hospital. Since he’s back to completing his fellowship years in Kangwoon University Hospital, he went to Junwan and asked to be his roommate using that Hawaii picture that was stored in a private album in his Cyworld account.

“By the way, Jeongwon-ah, do you still have that picture? Let me see that.” Ikjun asked excitedly.

“Eobseo. I deleted it from long ago.” He answered, then he glanced at Junwan and grinned evilly.

“WHAT?!” Junwan asked, surprised.

“Wow, and you still used that to threaten him?” Ikjun commented. “What an evil son of a bitch.”

“Ha, you know what? It was a great relieve that you give up on being a priest. And you’re lucky that you’re a doctor. Otherwise, you and your wicked mind, you might be a fraud somewhere and ended up on police fugitives list.” Junwan retorted.

“Hm, still it’s a pity that he deleted that picture. Now I want to see that.” Seokhyeong commented at last. Irritated Junwan head-locked him from the side. The others shrieked in shocked when he saw Junwan did that. Yoonjae and Hakchan had to step in and break them off because Junwan won’t let go of him easily.

The clock read 10.15 PM and they were about to leave the restaurant. Before leaving, Ikjun thanked Siwon for inviting them for this dinner, although there were things that occurred unplanned.

“Let’s meet again sometime. We had so much fun hanging out with you guys.” She said to them in front of the restaurant before they parted ways to each other’s car. Ikjun welcomed her idea as he was having fun as well.

All of the lacking five members climbed to Ikjun’s car. He had to drove them home as an apology for not telling them about his relationship with Songhwa earlier.

“By the way, Songhwa-ya. Where are you staying tonight? Don’t tell me that you’re gonna drive back to Sokcho at this hour?” Jeongwon asked her, worried.

“Where do you think she’s staying, of course she’ll spend the night in my house.” Ikjun answered him instead. Songhwa’s face flushed red at his answer, not knowing how to react now that the guys know about her new relationship with Ikjun. “I mean, isn’t that obvious?” He added.

“Ugh, disgusting jerk.” Junwan, Jeongwon, and Seokhyeong replied him in unison.

“Geundae, Ikjun-ah, Songhwa-ya, how far did you guys…?” Jeongwon asked.

“Ah jinjjaish… why are you asking about that?” Songhwa retorted at him. She turned to the backseat glaring at her friends.

“Just because.”

Ikjun grinned and decided to tease his best friends on the back seat. He looked at them through the mirror. “What do you guys think?”

Songhwa gasped at his jokes, shook her head, and chuckled. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You, silly.”

“Aish! Jeongwon-ah! Why did you ask such question? I don’t want to imagine ahyuu…” Junwan chided Jeongwon who sat next to Seokhyeong and he shivered—he shooked his head, preventing it from creating mental images of them together. Jeongwon and Seokhyeong reacted almost simultaneously after Junwan, they also shivered at the thought of that. Ikjun burst out laughing knowing that his prank worked out.

While Songhwa buried her face in her palms because of her friends childlike behavior. She sighed. “Boys.”

Chapter Text

Ikjun’s house, 00.30 AM

After making the trips all around Gangnam-gu to drop everyone home, finally they arrived at Ikjun’s house at midnight. When they arrived at home, Songhwa walked to the kitchen and drink a glass of water while Ikjun putting back his bags to his bedroom. When he found her back at the kitchen, she was checking the fridge. He smiled at the sight. “I have enough food to feed you late night snacks if you want, Ma’am.”

She turned her head to see him and chuckled. “Nah, I’m not hungry. I don’t know, my hands just naturally reached out for the fridge. It’s a habit I can’t fix. Anyway, I’ll take a shower first, and then I’ll sleep in the guest room. God, I’m so tired.”

“Guest room? Why?” Ikjun pouted as he walked towards her.

“Why what? Your son is sleeping with his nanny next to your room. What if he wakes up in the middle of the night and found me sleeping next to you? He’ll got shocked.”

“It IS in the middle of the night, and look… he’s still sleeping safe and sound.” He pointed out at Uju’s room. He reached his hands and pulled her into his embrace “Oh come on… I’ve missed you, Songhwa-ya. I promise I won’t do anything. I just want to cuddle you to sleep.”

She smiled at him but then she freed herself from the hug. “Nope. Next time, okay? You big baby…” She gave a peck on his lips. “Good night.”

He pursed his lips, but then he gave her a peck on her lips. “To return the favor. Good night, Love.”

*

Ikjun’s house the next morning

6 AM on Saturday morning, Songhwa was already awake and was making some breakfast at the kitchen. Aunt Wang who was just woke up, found her in the kitchen and greeted her. “Why are you wake up so early, Professor?”

She didn’t find it strange to see Songhwa around the house these days. A week after the “picking up Uju at school” incident, she saw Songhwa walking out of Ikjun’s bedroom in the morning when she just arrived at the house for work. Both were stunned at the sight of each other at first, but then she understood what was happening. While Uju were just excited to be able to spend time with his favorite aunt more often than usual at the first time he saw her in their house.

“Good morning, Imonim. I’m not early, I usually wake up around this hour. Did you have a good sleep?”

She said that she had a good sleep and asked Songhwa the same question. Songhwa told her that she also had a good sleep before apologizing to her for coming home late last night. “We’re sorry that you have to take extra hours yesterday. Come, come, let’s have some breakfast. Are you okay with coffee and toast?” Aunt Wang ended up sleeping with Uju yesterday because they didn’t come home until midnight.

She walked towards the kitchen and took a seat next to Songhwa. “It’s okay, Professor. Uju is like my grandson anyway. Hm, the coffee tastes really good, Professor. Wow, is there anything that you can’t do, Professor?”

Songhwa reacted with a bashful smile at her compliment. “Eyy, Imonim, you’re such a sweet talker. I’m glad if it suits your taste.”

After finishing her breakfast, Songhwa told Aunt Wang that she’s going to wake Ikjun up and she offered to clean up the dishes. Songhwa walked towards his room and sat on the bedside watching him sleeping for a few breaths before she woke him up. “Wake up, babe. It’s almost 7 AM already. You said you want to go running this morning.”

Still sleepy, Ikjun shifted his body towards her but still have his eyes shut. She caressed his hair and calling him to wake up with a low tone, but he didn’t even flinch. “I’ll count up to three, if you don’t wake up by then you knew what’ll happen.”

“One… two…” she counted.

“Three.” He reached his arms and wrapped it around her waist. She got startled. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her, “I said three. So, what will you do?”

“Nothing.” She answered calmly. She let go of his arms and kissed him. “Just wake up already.”

He sat right up. “Tsk, I thought you’re gonna do something to me. I shouldn’t have expected anything from you.”

She laughed. “Just go get ready. You said you’re going to run this morning. I’ll stay here just in case Uju wakes up. Besides, we have to send Aunt Wang home. It’s weekend and she spent the night watching after Uju because we’re late yesterday.”

“Right away, Mrs. Lee.” He jumped off the bed.

“Yaish, don’t call me like that!” She chided him and threw a pillow at him. He laughed. He once called Songhwa like that when they were on a phone call. She protested strongly and after that he use the title to tease her.

Uju woke up at 9 AM. He rubbed his eyes and looked around to search for his dad but when he walked a few steps out of his bedroom, he saw Songhwa reading a book in the living room. He smiled widely to see her again in their house. “Aunt Songhwa!”

Songhwa turned her head around when she heard him calling. “Oh, you’re awake. Our Uju, did you have a good sleep?”

Uju rushed his steps towards her and sat next to her. “Ng, I had a good sleep. When did you arrived?”

She put the book aside and then caressed his hair. “I arrived early today. I missed you.”

“Really? Uju missed you too…” He hugged her. “What are we going to do today then, Auntie?”

“I don’t know… Hm, is there anything that Uju want to do?”

He took his time to think what he wanted to do for the weekend. Last week his Dad and his Aunt Songhwa took him to Han River Park where they played with bubble gun, ate ice cream, and watched a water fountain show. He wonders what should they do for the day. “What about we go to the park again? Uju had so much fun last week!”

“You did? Okay. We’ll go to the park after your dad’s home. In the meantime, how about having a breakfast first? Aren’t you hungry?” He nodded. They walked to the kitchen and Songhwa prepared him egg fried rice for breakfast.

Ikjun arrived home thirty minutes later and found them eating breakfast. He walked towards them. “Uju! Tsk, how could you eat breakfast without me.”

“Appa, good morning!” Uju greeted him. “Appa, Appa, can we really go the park again like last week?”

“Park?” He asked Songhwa inaudibly what was his son is talking about. She mouthed Han River Park, while he walked towards them.

When he reached his side, he lowered his head and kissed Uju’s cheeks. “Ugh, Appa you’re sweating!” Uju reacted to his kiss by covering his nose with hands. Songhwa laughed at the father-son duo’s interactions.

“Tch. I don’t care, I’m gonna hug you anyway…” He loved it when his son reacting to his prank with his high-pitched voice.

Songhwa slapped his back for bothering Uju. “Just go clean yourself. The sun is high already. Uju wants to go to the park again and we don’t want to be stuck in weekend traffic.” Songhwa said to him.

“Tch, you’re not giving me breakfast?”

“Go.”

“Alsseo.” He pouted and walked away from the kitchen.

They spent that Saturday at the park before they went back home. Although Ikjun had to visit the hospital for an emergency call and left Songhwa and Uju for two hours. But it seems like Uju didn’t even bother with his dad leaving.

“Aunt Songhwa, are you sleeping over at the house again tonight like last time?” Uju asked her on their way back home. Songhwa turned her head to the back seat and said yes. “Can you not sleep in the guest room and sleep in my room instead?”

“Well, if you want it.” She shrugged her shoulder.

“Yeay!” He exclaimed. Uju loves falling asleep in her arms. She always caresses his hair and pats his back until he fell asleep.

*

Ikjun's house, 9.00 PM

When they reached the house, Ikjun told his son to brush his teeth before he changes into his pajamas. Songhwa couldn’t help but following him everywhere because he asked her to. She brushed her teeth along with Uju, she helped him changing his clothes, and she hummed nursery rhymes while cuddling him to sleep.

Ikjun himself had just finished changing into his sleepwear and when he open Uju’s door, he saw her still patting Uju’s back although he’s already fast asleep. Their eyes met, both smiled to each other. “Thank you.” he muttered.

“Good night.” She whispered and smiled. Ikjun closed the door.

It’s been only the third time she spent the weekend together with them, but there’s one thing she realized whenever went back to her house in Sokcho. She loves them even more day by day and she always waits for the weekend to meet them.

Chapter Text

Ikjun’s house, 8.00 AM

Songhwa woke up in Sunday morning to the sound of her alarm. It was unusual for her to wake up after it rang. She’s always, always wakes up before the alarm rings. Oh? Uju is not here? Is he awake already? She realized that wakes up without Uju sleeping next to her.

 “Aunt Songhwa! Wake up!” She heard Uju’s steps walking into the bedroom. He was all set, like his about to go somewhere this early. Songhwa looked at him with a puzzled look. “Hurry up and get ready.”

She sat up and asked him. “Uju, why are you awake already? It’s 8 on Sunday morning. You should’ve got more sleep.”

“Daddy woke me up early this morning. Yesterday he told me that we’re going somewhere fun today with you. Come on, Auntie. Let’s go.” he answered her with excitement sparkled in his eyes.

“Huh? Where?”

“Uh… some place called gyo… err… ah, gyohwan!”

Songhwa laughed at his cuteness. “You mean gyohwoe? The church?”

“Maybe…? Come on, Auntie. Let’s get ready. Daddy is waiting, he told me to wake you up. He’s making breakfast right now.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of bed.

“Alsseo, alsseo. Just wait for me in the kitchen with your Dad, okay? Tell Daddy I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” She caressed his hair and kissed his forehead before leaving to the bathroom. Uju follows her instructions faithfully and sat on the dining table waiting for her with his Dad. Let’s ask him about this later, Chae Songhwa. We’re running out of time. She thought.

Fifteen minutes later, she appeared in front of them, clothes changed and ready to go. A little bit more excited for having company to the church today. “Eat your breakfast first. We still have plenty of time before the service started. Why go there with an empty stomach just to be early.”

“Okay.” She pouted when Ikjun lowkey scolding her for skipping breakfast. But Uju was calling her to sit next to him, and the smell of coffee he brewed is still filling the kitchen and it smells nice. She walked towards him and sat down.

As the prima donna of the church, Chae Songhwa has always been coming to the church early and greeted the people there. It’s the only place where she can be dancing and jumping without being judged just because of the gyosu title behind her name. Though later she found out from the twins that people thought she’d gotten so much stress from the hospital work that she’d dance so energetically—which wasn’t entirely wrong.

Ikjun passed her a slice of toast bread as soon as she got seated. She took a bite. “By the way, you guys are really coming with me to the church?”

“Yes.” Ikjun answered, while sipping his coffee.

Songhwa looked at him, eyebrows raised. “I thought you don’t practice any religion?”

“Yes, I don’t.” He said. Songhwa looked at him, even more confused. “I just wanted to be with you. We just wanted to be with you for as many hours as we could. Right, Uju?”

Songhwa felt her heart flutter at this answer. It was nothing big, but she felt nice to know that he's willing to do things he never did just to be with her. She turned to Uju, he was nodding his head answering to his father while munching on his cereal.

“Auntie, Daddy said that we’re going to have fun where there are singing and dancing. Is it true?”

“Hmm. It’s true, honey. We can sing and dance in the church and no one will judge you but God.”

“What is God?”

“Huh?”

“Uju, just eat your breakfast quick. We're running out of time. We need to leave in less than 10 minutes.” Ikjun diverted Uju’s attention from the question by hurrying him to eat. As a non-believer, Ikjun realized that he never taught his son anything about God or religion. He never thought that he’d ever ask about it anyway. Songhwa looked at him and chuckled at how nervous he was earlier because he doesn’t know how to answer that question.

 “Uju, God is something beyond us. It’s something that someone believe. But it is your choice whether you want to believe in God or not. Some people believe in God, some people don’t. Like I believe in God, but Daddy don’t.”

“Why?”

“I can tell you why, but it's a long answer and I bet Daddy will be mad at us if we didn’t finish our food in five minutes. So, what do you say we have a battle of who will finish it first? Because I can finish my meals in a few seconds.” Songhwa glanced over her plate which still have two slices of bread, two sausages, and one slice of ham—successfully diverting his attention from the topic.

“Aaaa, no, no, no. Uju will finish first!” He answered and hurriedly spooning his cereals. Ikjun chuckled at the sight. Partly relieved and partly amazed at how good his lover is at dealing with a child. If this is just a dream, he doesn’t want to wake up ever. But, thank God it wasn’t. What he was seeing was real. It’s Songhwa and his son having breakfast together. If he’s allowed to be greedy, he’d wish to call him their son.

*

“Thank you for accompanying me here.” Songhwa said as soon as she buckled her seatbelt. She felt so happy today because Ikjun and Uju accompany her to the church.

Uju was dancing along happily throughout the service, though he didn’t know any of the lyrics of the songs. The people at the church loved him. They said he looked cute and she’s proud of how nice and polite he was to everyone who greeted them.

“Why, it’s fun to be in the church. Look at him, he’s still excited with those singing and dancing from the service.” Ikjun pointed at Uju at the back seat who is now humming the tune of the song he heard earlier.

“Uju, did you have fun today at the church?” Songhwa turned to him at the back.

“Yess! Auntie, can I go to the church again next time?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Can I? Really?”

“Well, next time I’m here, we can go to the church again. But for now, how about we drop by the Egg Drop to fill our hungry stomach?” She suggested. Uju screamed gleefully at the mention of his favorite sandwich. Ikjun shook his head, he bet he can never understand how an unmarried career woman like her can be so good at dealing with children like Uju.

I have three brothers, that’s why. She’d answer him with that statement to any of his question concerning food, how she’s dealing with people, and how she’s dealing with children. As if having three brothers could magically explain all the wonders about her.

*

Monday, the next day at lunch

“Where’s Junwan?” Ikjun asked Jeongwon as made his way into the room. He was praying in the corner of the room. Jeongwon might have gave up his dream of being a priest, but the devout guy still has a long way to change his lifestyle from praying whenever he has the time to live a life of a commoner like him.

“Still stuck at his consultation room with this talkative patient and his guardians. They brought the whole family to the consultation, oh God, I hope he didn’t lose his temper at them.”

“Yah, Kim Junwan might be mannerless, but he doesn’t shout at his patient. He shouts only at his residents…” Ikjun replied him.

Jeongwon laughed then mouthing right silently as he walked to the couch where Ikjun sits. “So, what’s for lunch today? Why do you suddenly asked us to eat in my room?”

Ikjun fix his position and turned to Jeongwon. “Seokhyung is on the way from getting the food from the delivery man. And I have something to tell you guys.”

“Just in time for the news. Yah, the food and the bear are here. What is that? Jjajangmyeon? Ah, I had this for dinner yesterday. Why didn’t you tell me you were ordering this?”

“He ordered other things as well. Ah, I really shouldn’t have told him that I was at the bank when he asked me earlier. Those bags are really heavy. The delivery man even asked me if we’re having a feast.” Seokhyeong put the bags on the table and massaging his tired arms.

Jeongwon opened the bags and taking out the food one by one, wowing at how many foods he ordered. “Jjajangmyeon, tangsuyuk, bibimbap, kimchi bokkeumbap, ojingeo dopbap, kimbap, even fried chicken… Yah, what are you up to that you’d bribe us with this many foods?

Ikjun shrugged his shoulders and grinned. Then he told them that he invited Shiwon and Yoonjae to their band practice in two weeks. Seokhyeong’s face looked displeased with the news. “It’s my house. Who are you to invite anyone to come to my house?”

“Your son.”

“You, come here!” He grabbed Ikjun’s hair and fight him.

Jeongwon immediately stand up and tried to separate them. It took him a few minutes to separate the two and he had to sit in between them to make sure they don’t fight for the second round.

“Yah, you weren’t mad at Songhwa when she invited Jeongwon’s mother and Director Ju to your house. Why are you so mad at me?”

“It’s Director Ju and his mother, I know them very well. Why would I be angry if they visit my house? But you’re inviting someone I met just a few days ago to watch our band practice? What are we? Entertainer?”

“Ah molla. I invited them to come anyway and I’m not cancelling it. Besides, I want to do something for Songhwa for coming back and forth to Seoul every week for the past month, although she was supposed to be resting in Sokcho.”

“She visited Seoul every weekend and yet we only met her twice, for the practice and the dinner last weekend?” Junwan walked his way into the room. “Wow, what’s going on here? Why are there so many foods? It’s no one’s birthday today.”

“He’s bribing us to let Sung Siwon jakkanim and her husband watch our band practice. Seokhyeong hit him earlier for inviting stranger to his house without asking his permission first. Ikjun is planning an event for Songhwa at our next band practice.”

Junwan took his bowl of jjajangmyeon and nodding his head at the news. He was starving, he doesn’t give a shit about people wanting to watch him perform. All he cares about right now is just food. “So, what event are you planning?”

Ikjun stop eating his food and said, “I’m going to propose to her.”

The other three got shocked and choked on their food. “What???”

Chapter Text

Monday, Jeongwon’s office

Dinosaurs Ridge Group Chat

Ssonghwa My Love: Babe, did you really fight with Seokhyeong today?

Junwan Prick: Chae Songhwa has changed!!!

Ssonghwa My Love: Oops, I’m sorry guys. I didn’t realize I wasn’t chatting him in private

Haek Inssa: MY BABY!!

Ssonghwa My Love: You! Why did you fight with Seokhyeong? What are you? Seven?

Junwan Prick: Yah Chae Songhwa, you really gonna continue talking about this in this room?

Ex-Father Andrea: Chae Songhwa has really changed. Dating Lee Ikjun has changed her.

Ssonghwa My Love: k k k k

Ssonghwa My Love: So, why did you two fight anyway?

Ssonghwa My Love: Oh, where’s Seokhyeong? He’s not replying.

Haek Inssa: Seokhyeong is on a lunch date with Minha.

Ssonghwa My Love: What?

Junwan Prick: WHAT??!!

Ex-Father Andrea: What??

Haek Inssa: It’s a joke, guys. I’m just kidding.

Seokhyeong Bear: Seriously Lee Ikjun, what is your problem with me? You’ve been picking up fight with me since earlier.

Haek Inssa: k k k. I’m sorry, Prof. Yang Seokhyeong.

Ssonghwa My Love: So, what is it then? Why did you guys fight?

Ex-Father Andrea: Ikjun is inviting Sung Siwon jakkanim and her husband to watch our band practice in two weeks.

Ssonghwa My Love: Heol. Why did you do that?

Haek Inssa: Because she invites us for dinner. You’re okay with this, aren’t you, Babe?

Junwan Prick: If you two weren’t my best friend I’d be kicking you two out of this room already. Geez.

Haek Inssa: Seokhyeong gave me an idea about the song we can perform for her.

Ssonghwa My Love, Junwan Prick, Ex-Father Andrea, Seokhyeong Bear: what is it?

Haek Inssa: Hope and Happiness, by H.O.T

Ssonghwa My Love: We’re doing two songs?!

Junwan Prick: She’s right. Are you trying to show off? Pick one!!

Ex-Father Andrea: Well, since Sung Siwon jakka is a huge fan of H.O.T, I think she would be happy to see us performing those songs. I’m happy if we can make other people happy watching us performs.

Haek Inssa: Yes! See? The Drum Genius Ex-Father Andrea has said it. End of discussion. We’re doing Hope and Happiness.

“Neo, jinjja motdwaetda.” Kim Junwan shifted his head towards Ikjun on the other side of the couch. “You’re really mean.”

Ikjun shrugged his shoulders. “Why? It is fun teasing her. She didn’t know that we’re sitting in the same room while chatting to her. It’s fun…”

“No, I mean you’re really mean to us. To me! How could I spend the rest of my life seeing you two calling each other jagiya like that? You’re really mean.” Junwan replied, he looked like he is seriously pissed about it.

Jeongwon laughed at his complaint. “Junwan-ah, you’re gonna be sorry for him when he found out about your secret.”

“He has another secret?” Ikjun and Seokhyeong asked in unison.

Junwan glared at him for blurting out unnecessary information in front of them. “No. I don’t have any more secrets from you.”

Jeongwon’s laughter became louder at his reaction. He wished to be there later when Ikjun found out that Junwan and Iksun has been dating for more than six months now. Being his roommates for ten years, there’s nothing that Junwan can kept secret for a long time from him. He eventually found out about Junwan and Iksun’s relationship when he accidentally saw the gift box and the recipient’s name laying on a table in their house. He asked Junwan about it and he begged him to keep this as a secret, especially from Ikjun. Junwan said that he will tell him when time come, but not now.

Junwan pretended to check on his watch. He looked awkward. “Oh, it’s time for my rounds already. I have to get going now. Bye!” Then hurriedly walking out of the room.

“He’s acting strange, isn’t he?” Ikjun asked Seokhyeong and Jeongwon.

Seokhyeong nodded, while Jeongwon tried to divert the topic. “Anyway, we still have many foods left. What you’re gonna do about it? You’re not gonna throw it away, aren’t you?”

“No, of course not! I’ve asked Changmin and Seongyeong to come and take all these and share it with the others.” Ikjun stand up from his seat and added. “He said he’ll be here in ten minutes. I also need to go for my rounds. Please help them when they arrive, okay?”

“Yah, I have things to do as well!” He shouted at Ikjun when he left the room, but he ignored him. Not long after, Seokhyeong followed him outside. Jeongwon was left dumbfounded. He called the nurse station to delay the outpatient schedule for ten minutes. Exactly ten minutes later, Changmin and Seongyeong came and took the leftover food. They asked him if they were having a feast because there’s still a lot of food left. Jeongwon can only answer them with an embarrassed chuckle.

*

Seokhyeong’s house, two weeks later

Yoonjae and Siwon arrived at the address Ikjun gave her. A huge house, like those chaebol houses that often appeared on television dramas. They parked the car outside and get out of the car. Yoonjae asked his wife, “You’re sure this is the right one?”

“Well the navigation says we’ve arrived at the destination but I’m not sure either. Wait, I’ll call Ikjun-ssi to let him know that we’re here.” She took out her phone and looking for Ikjun’s number.

“Oh! Sung Siwon jakkanim, annyeonghaseyo!” a familiar voice greeted her. She turned her head and saw Songhwa walking towards them.

“Oh! Hello, Songhwa-ssi.” Siwon bowed lightly to Songhwa, so does Yoonjae.

Songhwa replied their greetings with bow and a smile. “Hello. You must be here because of Ikjun’s invitation, right?”

“Yes!! Is this where the band practices? We were kind of confused earlier because the navigation takes us to this big house instead of a studio.”

Songhwa chuckled. “Yes, we do our band sessions here. It is our friend’s house. Let’s get in. Seokhyeong said he already opened the door.”

The three then walked into the house with Songhwa leading the way. When they reached the basement, the boys were already there waiting for them, while tuning their instruments.

“Hello, Siwon-ssi, Yoonjae-ssi! I was about to call you to see if you have difficulties finding the way…” Ikjun greeted them.

“I was about to call you too because we thought we were going to see you practice in a studio or something, but then Songhwa-ssi appeared and saved us from confusion. Thank you for inviting us, Ikjun-ssi. We bought you kimbap and some snacks because we’re not sure if you guys already eaten or not. It’s past dinner time anyway.”

“Oh, you’re so thoughtful. You really didn’t have to, though. What do you say guys? Snacks or song first?” Ikjun turned to his band mates to see what they’d preferred.

“It’s probably better if you guys eat the snack first.” Siwon replied them instead. She saw Junwan staring at the bags she and Yoonjae brought with a hungry stare. “Songhwa-ssi must be hungry too, didn’t you live outside from Seoul? You must be tired from driving. Let’s eat first!”

Quickly, they all gathered around the table to eat the food that Siwon brought. They talked about the weather, the traffic, and stuffs. Siwon told them that Ikjun’s special episode was so impactful that the viewers demanding another special appearance from them, but this time with Songhwa as the guest. She said that the comment section was flooded with requests to invite the beautiful professor to the show.

Songhwa smiled a little when Siwon called her as the beautiful professor, not used to be praised by a stranger let alone on a TV program's comment section.  The boys were also proud when they heard that and pushing her to agree to be the guest next time. But Songhwa rejected their idea and told them to shut up, saying that she’s now working too far from Seoul and it would hard for the team to bring all the filming equipment to Sokcho.

“Are you saying that you’ll agree to appear on our show if we’re okay to film the episode in Sokcho, Songhwa-ssi?” Siwon asked her with a slightly excited voice. Yoonjae shook his head. He finally understood why did his wife agreeing to come to this invitation. Apparently, she has an ulterior motive.

“No, no, no… that’s not why I meant…” Songhwa waved her hand, still trying to refuse her appeal while Siwon is looking at her with hopeful eyes.

“Because we’re really, really okay to go to Sokcho for filming if it’s okay for you. Going to Sokcho is nothing compared to how far we’ve travelled just to shoot an episode. Seriously.” Siwon tried to convince Songhwa.

“Well…” Songhwa looked at her friends. They all looked hopeful just like Siwon did—as if they’re waiting for her to say yes, especially Ikjun. He looked at her and nodding his head trying to convince her. She heaved a sigh. “Well, okay if you say so.”

“Yess!” Siwon got excited and almost jump from her seat and she grunted when her knees hit the table. She shook Songhwa’s hand, saying that her team will contact her later to inform about the details.

Siwon was smiling from ear to ear while she continues eating her food. After they finished eating, they get ready to their position in behind the instruments. Ikjun on the front greeted his guests and introduced each of his band mates. Siwon and Yoonjae watched them with their fascinated face. He told them the song they’re performing that night will be dedicated for Siwon “This is special for Sung Siwon jakkanim. Enjoy…”

Seokhyeong started the melody with his keyboard. Just within a few notes, Siwon immediately recognized the song and gasped. She got excited, she slapped Yoonjae’s hand repeatedly. “It’s H.O.T! They’re doing Hope!!!”

Jeongwon followed with his drums, then Songhwa and Junwan on bass and guitar joined them. Lastly Ikjun joined them with his guitar and the first part of the song. “I didn’t realize how precious you were because you’re always by my side. Sometimes I feel tired and alone that I forgot about those who always stays by my side and became my strength…”

The band continue playing while Ikjun walked forward and let Siwon sang the rap part. After the rap part ended, Ikjun continue singing the next verse. “Let’s all join our hands together and look at the sky. Picture the world we’ll be making together in the sky. How radiant and beautiful it is. Let’s all make it together with our joined hands.”

He walked back to the stage and then the band moved to play Happiness, which made Siwon even more excited. “Now the time has come. I’m standing in front of you, crying with nervousness. You wiped my tears then held my hand, and I will rise and give you happiness.”

He turned his body towards Songhwa. She looked at him with a puzzled look, but she continues playing the bass. “I picture you when I close my eyes. I’ve found you in my heart. You’re the light that brightens my life, I can’t let go of the eternal happiness. Can you see me? Call my name and I’ll be by your side. I love you, let’s be together forever, you and me.”

Ikjun fell on his knees in front of her. “I’ll be by your side, I love you, let’s be together, you and me, forever."  He took out a velvet box and opened it in front of her. "Chae Songhwa ssaem, will you marry me?”

Siwon from the audience seat gasping at what she was seeing. She tugged Yoonjae’s clothes and repeatedly saying that Ikjun is proposing, as if he couldn’t understand what was happening in front of their eyes.

Songhwa who was looking at him in confusion when he turned towards her, now taken aback by the situation she’s facing. She glanced back and forth between Ikjun and the ring in front of her. A simple ring with a little diamond completing its look. A simple yet beautiful ring sitting on the box blinking in front of her. She was speechless. “Lee Ikjun…”

“I’m not saying that we have to get married soon. I know very well of your views on marriage and with my previous failure, I know I really shouldn’t rush anything. It’s just that… I don’t want to miss another chance of a lifetime happiness with you.”

Songhwa looked at him with her eyes squinted and then she smirked. “You’re sure you wanna marry me instead of Sung Yuri?”

“Huh?” His eyes widened. Why would Sung Yuri appear out of nowhere here?

“I was on a call with Junwan a few days ago and we were talking about the past because of this week’s practice. Suddenly Junwan-ie said that he remembered how you were a passionate fan of Fin K.L back in the days, especially the beautiful Sung Yuri. He said that back in Changwon you’d go telling people that Sung Yuri is your first love. And your fandom ID was… what was it again? Sung Yuri’s husband?”

Ikjun turned his head and darted a curse glare at Junwan. He glared back at him. “Mwo? Mwo?”

Songhwa continue, trying her best to sound pissed. “And you actually went to their reunion concert in Pochon last year? The weekend trip with Uju that you told me about was actually a decoy?”

“Songhwa-ya…” His voice was shaking. He felt cold sweats all over his back. He wanted to hit Junwan for giving away his lifetime secret of being a die-hard Fin K.L fanboy to his girlfriend. He wouldn’t mind being known as a Nightclub Rat, but not a ppadol-ie. He has a reputation to keep.

Looking at how nervous he became, Songhwa bit her lips, hesitating whether she should continue this act of mischief or not, but she couldn’t. It was satisfying enough to see the great Lee Ikjun became nervous and speechless like that. “Well…”

She held his hand and leaned her head forward then she kissed him. “Fine, Sung Yuri’s husband. Let’s get married.”

The boys gasped at the sight they were seeing. Junwan scoffed and complained at them almost shouting, “Never in my twenty years of knowing you guys I imagine I’d see you two kissing in front of me. And Chae Songhwa was the one who started it!!”

Songhwa laughed at how horrified Junwan looked. “Well, you’ll have to get used to it, Junwan-ah.”

“Ikjun-ssi, what are you doing? Put on the ring and hug her!” Siwon commented at last because she was frustrated that they were bickering with Kim Junwan instead of putting the ring on to Songhwa’s finger.

Ikjun slapped his forehead at Siwon’s comment, he totally forgot to do that. He put the ring on to her finger, then strapped her off her bass guitar, putting the guitar back to its stand, then he hugged her and lifted her up. She squealed when he lifted her. “Saranghae, Chae Songhwa!”

Ikjun kissed her once again. Siwon screamed excitedly at the sight. “I’m not the one getting married, but why does my heart flutters. Oh, I envy them.”

“Guys, stop it already. Mind the audience, please. We’re not alone here.” Seokhyeong speaks up at last. He can’t stand his best friends acting like a love-birds for five minutes straight. Ikjun then pulled off the hug and apologized to Siwon and Yoonjae.

“It’s okay, Ikjun-ssi, Songhwa-ssi. We’re used to seeing other people acting like that in front of us. We’re past that phase anyway, we’re cool. Right, Honey?” she poked Yoonjae in the ribs, followed by his low groan.

Yoonjae stroked his ribs and congratulate Ikjun and Songhwa. “By the way, giving my family experiences of living with ppasunies, I wish you good luck Songhwa-ssi. You’ll gonna need it.”

Looking at how Yoonjae looked dead serious when he said that, Songhwa pursed her lips. “Hmm, jagiya…” Ikjun turned his head towards her. “Now that I think about it, I have something to confess to you.”

“Hm?” Ikjun looked at her with eyebrows raised together.

“Nice to meet you, Sung Yuri’s husband. I am Eun Jiwon Oppa’s Baragi.” She shook his hand and laughed. “I guess, we’re really a match made in heaven because turns out, my first love wasn’t Lee Ikjun, it’s Eun Jiwon.” Ikjun looked at her, dumbfounded but then he smiles because she looked adorable when she laughs.

He chuckled. “Chae Songhwa, you really... Arattda, we’re not each other’s first love.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Anyway, who cares about who your first love was? I don’t care if it’s Eun Jiwon or any other else, because I am the one who get to spend the rest of my life together with you.”

“Ahhh I can’t take it anymore. Get a room! And stop acting like two teenagers in love…” Junwan complaints at them.

Ikjun laughed at his friend. “Get a room? Arasseo. Seokhyeong-ah, can we use one upstairs?”

“YAISH!!” Seokhyeong throws the partiture at them, followed with laughter by everyone in the room.

They call it a night half an hour later and go their separate ways.