The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 1

77 🩺 Excuses, Excuses...

Yeosang buzzed the apartment number he'd been given, and was met with Jongho's voice, lower than he'd expected, but still as chirpy as usual.

'Come on up! I'll buzz the elevator for you.'

Looking around, Yeosang wandered up, pressed the floor level and made his way to the apartment door.

It opened after a few moments without him even needing to knock.

'Come in!'

Yeosang peered inside. It was small - cosy... 'Nice place.'

Jongho smiled widely. 'It's pretty good. We haven't lived here too long, but I like it. Very central. Probably about as good as apartments get.' He led Yeosang through the living room towards a small, short hallway. 'Mom's not home. It's just us, so you don't have to be awkward.'

Yeosang raised an eyebrow. No father...

As he glanced up, he saw Jongho staring at him. 'I can see what you're thinking,' he said, walking over and sitting down on his bed behind where a laptop, textbook and notebook were already open as though he'd been just sitting there. 'I'm used to that look. And yes, my father's not in the picture. He died of cancer when I was five. It's fine. I'm not going to cry.'

Yeosang almost laughed at how brazen he was. 'Oh, I see...' So he was used to talking about it obviously... But Yeosang had seen first hand and knew well enough what loosing a parent at that age could do to a person...

He decided to drop it - not that he'd started it in the first place... He put his bag on the floor and wandered over. He was fully intending on remaining standing, but Jongho patted the mattress beside him, and Yeosang felt quite shocked all of a sudden at the situation he was finding himself in.

Hopping up, he pulled at the collar of his work button-down shirt. 'So, what have we here?'

'Lymphatic transport of malignant cancerous cells.'

Yeosang nodded. 'I see. And where should I start explaining? What are you struggling with?' He glanced down at his notes and markings in his textbook, but as he did, he started to notice a few things...

There seemed to be already quite a few green and yellow highlighter marks and quite a few notes already written...

Jongho closed up his laptop and put it on the bedside table. He then laid down on his stomach as he flipped through his textbook.

Yeosang smirked to himself when he noticed a few pages here and there with lots of red markings and question marks that had someone else's (probably Yunho's) handwriting in blue written over the top of. However there were no red markings in the Lymphatic chapter...

'Okay, so I think I get it... But I'm a little worried that I have my concepts back-to-front.'

Yeosang looked at him trying hard not to smirk. 'Is that so? Okay hun, why don't you tell me what you understand?'

Their eyes met for a moment before Jongho bit his lip and glanced down. He flipped to the beginning of the chapter and began talking him through the processes.

However Yeosang noticed that as he did, he kept 'bumping' into him 'on accident,' repeatedly and without warning. It made Yeosang have to stifle his amused smile and hide it with his hand.

'Seems to me, like you have a pretty good understanding already,' Yeosang said amusedly once the boy had made it to the end of the chapter.

'Really?'

Yeosang definitely caught the glance that the younger gave him - one that knew very well that he'd already known the content.

'Yes, I don't think you need me to teach you anything.'

He watched as Jongho rolled onto his side, moving so that he was sitting, leaning on his hand facing Yeosang. 'So I guess that means we suddenly have a couple of hours free...'

Yeosang laughed, out loud, at the boy's words. 'My my. Choi, Jong, ho. You are quite the cheeky little one, aren't you?'

The boy shot him a painfully innocent glance. 'I have no idea what you are referring to.'

'Oh I think you know quite well what I am referring to.' He caught Jongho glancing down at his neck for a moment, and Yeosang felt like he wanted to laugh. This, he had not expected. In fact, if there was a list of the things that could have possibly happened in this study session, this, would have been on the opposite end of that list...

'I heard you drink coffee?'

Yeosang rolled his eyes. 'Jongho, you know, you could have just asked me to come over for a 'drink.''

Jongho batted his eyelashes at him. 'Whatever do you mean?'

'Oh, so you're going to play innocent now, are you?'

He shrugged.

'You are a nineteen year old man, Jongho. You can't play innocent forever.'

He shrugged. 'It worked though, didn't it?'

Yeosang rolled his eyes.

'So. Coffee?'

'Pass.' Yeosang levelled his eyes as he looked at the younger. 'I'm here now, no need for coffee excuses.'

And as their lips collided and their bodies pressed together, textbooks were swept aside, leaving the pages to stare up from the ground helplessly forgotten as the two boys fell into the sheets.

~~~

A/N: oop 👀👀👀👀