The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 2

224 🩺 Hospital Gossip & Morning Social Support

Jogging into the main hospital entrance out of the cold, Hongjoong could see his breath in the air around him. Pulling his coat tighter around his shoulders, when he made it inside, he heaved a sigh of relief. It was getting cold in the mornings.

'Morning Kim Saem,' a young nurse said chirpily as she walked by, and Hongjoong nodded, smiling.

'Morning~' he responded.

Carrying a little coffee cup container in one hand, he used the other to wave.

'Oh? Kim Saem!'

He turned to see two Junior Fellows he had worked with walking together from the suites - siblings. They both held wide smiles as they hurried over. 'Are you back at work?!' one asked with sparkling hopeful eyes.

Hongjoong smiled, shaking his head. 'Not yet. Just visiting today~.'

'Ya, Noona! You can't ask things like that!'

Hongjoong watched as the young Fellow by the name of Youngmi was smacked in the shoulder by her younger brother.

Hongjoong laughed it off, shaking his head as they began to walk down the hall in the direction they were all headed. 'It's totally okay.'

'Then can I ask another question?!' she quickly added.

Hongjoong shrugged. 'I guess so. What would you like to know?'

She pushed her brother away, before looking up at him. 'What are you doing here then?'

Hongjoong laughed. Out loud. If it were any other circumstance, he would have asked himself the same question. 'I'm here to see someone.'

Youngmi gasped, and her brother hit her in the shoulder again as though to shut her up. 'Then it's true!'

Hongjoong frowned. 'What might that be?'

Her brother hit her again, forcing words quietly through his teeth, but she just flicked him off. 'Ya Youngsu-yah, stop hitting me.'

Hongjoong smirked at the siblings' little spat. 'I feel like I have fallen out of the loop. What am I missing?' he asked, feigning a little shock, although he was genuinely curious as to what had them so worked up.

Youngmi Haksaeng glanced around, before covering her mouth with her hand and leaning in towards him. 'There's a dating rumor in the hospital about you,' she whispered.

And Hongjoong's eyes widened. 'I, have a dating rumor?' he gasped, only half acting...

But just as she went to speak more, a voice called from down the hallway, and both the sibling's stiffened.

'Ya! Do you live in the corridors? Or are you here to learn?!'

The voice wasn't too angry... Perhaps just enough to spook, while only half kidding. But immediately the two fellows beside Hongjoong stood to attention. They both bowed deeply, even though the person yelling had been more than fifteen meters away down the hall, and as they stood back, Youngmi winked at him.

'I'll keep our secret safe,' she said, poking her pinky up, before starting to get dragged away by her brother. 'Hwaiting!' She cheered, and it made Hongjoong laugh.

Putting his free hand in his pocket, he idly continued strolling down the halls, watching the two run with their lab coats flying behind them. But he hadn't made it too far when a hand came down on his shoulder.

'You're a celebrity round here I see.'

Hongjoong felt his lips pull into a smile, before he had even turned around.