Idiosyncrasy 특질

Chapter Three 🔥

 "At times he entertained the dream. Two men can defy the world."
                                                                                         - E.M. Forster, Maurice

Taehyung was on his way to the nurse's station to see if he could charm the head nurse out of one of her tasty cups of teas she had been brewing up with her new fancy Japanese machine when he heard his name being called behind him.

"Kim Taehyung-ssi?!"

The young doctor turned at the sound of his name and came face to face with his boss Oh Yoon-Shik, the head of the paediatric ward as well as the head of surgery, Kim Taeyeon. Of course, his professor had to come up with another task right before the end of his shift, Tae thought and he did not remember a day when he left the hospital on time anymore.

"Seonsaengnim." Taehyung bowed in front of his two seniors before looking at the couple beside them.

The young woman was pregnant and wore a designer maternity dress that showed off a bit too much leg for a pregnant woman but who was Tae to judge. She was holding a small girl of perhaps two years on her hip while her older partner who from the looks of it could also be her father age-wise stood unconcerned beside her, obviously impatient to be gone from the hospital.

The man was a tall and impressive man and wore a very expensive slate grey silk suit, with a red tie and a matching silk kerchief in its breast pocket and while everything about the couple screamed money and high designer brands, there was some kind of nouveau riche flashiness to them that old money lacked. In his mind, Taehyung caught himself and reeled his thoughts back in. Who was he to judge indeed? He almost sounded like his arrogant and class conscious parents. And if he was anything he was not like his conceited father. So anytime he showed any kind of signs of his parents' mind sets, he tried to do a mental one-eighty. Like right now. He put a neutral smile on his face.

"Jeon Kwan-ssi," Professor Oh said and beamed at the man. "This is one of our best young hopefuls, Kim Taehyung-ssi. Your little daughter will be in the best hands with him."

Taehyung bowed to the couple, and then smiled at the little girl that hid her face shyly in her mother's hair.

"Hello little one," Tae said softly and wiggled his hands in front of his face in a cute aegyo. "My name is Tae. DocTae-nim. And what is yours?"

The little girl peeked out from her mother's hair.

"Her name is Jang-Mi, we do not have all day, so if you get her the shots, we can be on our way," the older man's voice was harsh and unnecessarily loud, holding a dismissive, almost imminent tone.

"Well of course, Jeon ahjussi," Head of Surgery Kim said and bowing, gestured towards one of the examination rooms. While Taehyung prepared the vaccination shots, checking the routine vaccination chart in the file, his professors and the man were making conversation.

"So did my man send you both the boxes of wine the other day?"

"Yes, Jeon Kwan-ssi, it was very good of you to think of me," Taehyung's professor bowed and smiled.

"My wife and I have already enjoyed a bottle. It is excellent wine and shows your excellent taste," Kim Taeyeon also remarked, sweating a little bit.

Taehyung tried not to grimace. He hated the boot licking, but it had become clear to him over the years that at the hospital as well as other places it was common to kowtow those people that simply expected preferential treatment just because they had money or influence or both.