Bad Reputation (In A Relationship With EXO DO✅)

Nine

"Why haven't you had your dinner yet?"

I halted my actions, and lifted my head to stare at the man, who had been on my mind this whole day. DO Kyungsoo. He tilted his head and smiled, confusing me further with his actions. Wasn't he mad at me? He left me alone yesterday because I spit out the bitter truth. So, why was he back again?

"I'm not sorry for my words." I turned back to study my file. "I'm sorry about the careless way I said them, because no way the wording was false."

"My question still stands. Dinner. When are you going to eat?" He pressed, and I gritted my teeth. "Don't be mad at food. Skipping meals isn't healthy."

Fed up, I stood up and slammed my hands on the table. "This." I gestured towards the space in between us. "isn't healthy too. You can't walk away from me, getting mad about the truth of your life, and then come back, showing your care. I don't need it. As you've said repeatedly, we're not friends, so let's stop pretending otherwise. Thank you very much." I made sure to give him my best bad bitch look before I sat back to work.

He sighed. Not a simple sigh, but a long, deep sigh, as if he was done with my bullshit. Good for him. "Dinner. I'm going to make you something. Finish your work till then."

My lips parted in disbelief and I opened my mouth to comment, but he just saluted me and jogged out of the hall. What was he trying to do? My phone rang at the exact moment, and I grumbled under my breath when saw Fei's ID flashing on the screen.

"Dr Kang here." I received the call, and put the phone between my shoulders as I turned the page on the file.

"Jia. Did you fight with Kyungsoo?" It wasn't Fei talking, but someone else. Sana unnie. "Hey, you there?"

"Oh yeah. Hi Sana." I twirled the pen between my fingers and bit my lip. "I don't talk to Kyungsoo that much. What happened?"

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't know. Actually earlier I asked him about you. I mean we hadn't talk in a while and Hana told me that you're there with Kyungsoo, so I thought I should ask how you're doing, but he kinda refused to let me talk to you." Sana seemed flustered. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Completely fine." I gulped. "I'm a private person, so we don't usually talk in front of the soldiers or my team. No one knows we're acquainted with each other."

"Oh." The realisation in her voice was astounding. "I had no idea. Now, I feel stupid. I'm really sorry."

"No. No. It's fine." I cleared my throat. "Can I ask you something?" I gathered some courage and she hummed. "How do you feel about your acquaintance with like the most popular people of the country? Like doesn't it scare you?"

"Are you scared of your relationship with us?" Sana inquired, and I turned silent, not knowing how to answer her question without hurting her feelings. "It's perfectly normal, Jia." Her answer surprised, and I frowned.

"Really?" I blurted out.

"Yeah." She chuckled. "Normal people like us dream of becoming a known person, but never for a negative audience. I've my own position as a writer in the country but I have a clear image of what people will call me once I reveal my relationship with Minseok. I'll be nothing but known as his woman for those people."

She continued. "I wished it could be other way, but it's how it is. Other thing, it won't effect me much, because I've build my own reputation and the people might be few but some will be there, who would recognize me as me. It scares me to lose my identity. Plus the negative attention that it would bring."

"I can imagine," I mumbled.

"I'm already under spotlight, but this upcoming future still scares me, so for someone who is totally new to the star gaze world, I don't blame you if you feel uncomfortable with it. Your feelings matter, Jia."

My eyes teared up. "I wanted to hear that. Thank you." I took a deep breath to get my emotions into control. "It just suffocated me because I thought I was feeling wrong things, but it's me. I don't like to come under spotlight and lose my privacy. That's not me."

"It's fine to feel that way, Jia. People who tells you that you are in wrong to feel that doesn't know who you are." Sana consoled me. "It's not normal for anyone to be okay with these things. So, Don't worry about it. Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay." I wiped my tears. I heard voices in the background. "I'm sorry I kept you up. You can go and do the work."

"I'm so sorry. It's Fei. She's angry that I didn't cook her dinner." Sana grumbled. "I'll talk to you later. Okay? Take care of yourself."

"Sana unnie!" I called before she could hung up. "Sorry for not being in touch when things got ugly between Sehun and Hana. I... I really am sorry. I just couldn't-"

"We understand!" Fei screamed in the phone, and I jumped, my phone almost slipping my hand. "Now, hang up. I'm hungry!" And then the line went silent.

I chuckled. They really were one of the kind. The door opened and Kyungsoo walked in with a bowl, filled with I don't know what, but it smelled delicious. Standing up, I gathered my files and tried to walk past him, but he held my hand. Kyungsoo had never been this bold, and it made me feel all kind of things.

"Don't disrespect food like that."

"I never asked you to cook it for me." I shuddered when he placed the bowl on the table, and turned me to look at him. "I'm not sure what you're trying to do right now, but your staring is making me uncomfortable."

"You were right that time." He sighed, and I met his gaze. "I know how things go in the industry and I've had a lot of ugly experiences in the past, so your comment kind of triggered me. I wasn't angry at you, but on the things I had to go through. Not good experiences."

I dropped my eyes. "The comment did come in a harsh way. I apologize." I swallowed my extra words. "To be honest, I would have liked it if-"

The sudden high pitch alarm startled me, and I jumped close to Kyungsoo as he placed a protective arm around my shoulder. "Relax, it's an alert. Something is happening." As soon as those words left his mouth, the door opened and my team walked in with some soldiers.

I straightened up, still shook with the sound. "What's going on?" I asked, and raised my brows at Ray, who, for some reason looked at loss of words. "Everything alright?" I walked to him, and he hummed.

"It's a covid 19 safety protocol kinda meeting announcement. A team of doctors is heading towards us as we speak. We've two options either we work with them in the military or we go back and perform our duties in the hospital."

"Okay. And?" I knew there was a catch. Soldiers around us started leaving for the meeting, and my eyes met with Kyungsoo briefly before he walked out of the room.

"He's the head of the team, Jia." Ray's words made my heart dropped as soon as I grasped their meaning. "Kevin. He's the leader of the team."

Hwanhee gave me a sympathetic gaze. "I'm sorry it's your ex man."

"You can leave if you want. We don't want you to feel uncomfortable. You can resume your duties in Seoul." Ray turned me to him. "A doctor's responsibility is to make sure that he or she gives their best to treat people in need. So, you can do do it in the hospital too."

I looked away from them, and covered my face with my hands, wondering how bad this day could get. If I leave, then I would never be able to forgive myself. This would be a coward move to leave my duties behind, my team behind. But, if I stay, I would have to face my past. The bitter part I've had tried hard to overcome.

Funny, life didn't give me a chance to make this decision. The door opened again. This time my ex man, Kevin walked into the hall with his team, and smiled at me.

"Hello Dr Kang. Nice to see you again."