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Chapter 1: The Girl at the Hospital

The loud alarm stirred the calm morning as the young adult, Yukino Miyazaki, fluttered her gray eyes slowly. She stood up from the sofa with her eyelids half awake and gently turned the alarm off in her bedroom.

It's 6 o'clock and the woman who used to be the stoic little girl is now in Tokyo.

She put water in the heater then went to the comfort room to do her business.

It's Monday.

She finally took her bath and just finished preparing her morning coffee to bring for her day shift at the hospital when she heard honking of a motorcycle just outside her clinic.

That's right, she lives in her very own clinic. Her personal place is on the second floor and the clinic is downstairs. She usually works at the hospital during Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And in her clinic every Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekend. Yep, she knows she's a workaholic with no family to sustain. Just her foster mother who still lives in their former apartment.

It has always been her dream to own a clinic in the outskirts of Tokyo. A dream that she shared with her best friend... Keisuke Baji, who is now deceased. It was 12 years ago when her best friend saved his friends with the cost of his life. Yukino and Keisuke were best friends that she was tortured mentally and emotionally for months, no erase that. She mourned for him for years...even now. But somehow, she was slowly getting better by reaching the dreams he had for her.

Now that she's 26 years old, she can perfectly say that she made it. She's successful. She's living her dreams. But deep inside, she knows...

"Coming!" she spoke a bit loud, enough to be heard by someone who was waiting for her just outside. She knows very well who it was. In fact, this person somehow became her friend throughout the years.

She wore her black heels, took the tumbler with her coffee on her left hand and her navy-blue coat on her right hand. As she opened her door, the back of a tall man wearing blue jacket with a shoulder-length black hair was talking with someone on his phone was leaning down on his motorcycle with his hands in his pockets. This man clearly felt her presence so he turned and saw a certain gray-eyed girl with long brown wavy hair behind him.

"---Right, I understand. Call you later." the man put the phone down.

"Girlfriend?" Yukino asked the tall man who stood then scratched his head.

"I'm...not sure. She clearly likes me but won't date me. Why are girls confusing?" The man muttered as he handed the brunette a helmet.

"Maybe you're not honest enough." the girl replied as she took the helmet. In exchange, the man took a sip to her coffee which surprised the brunette who got busy fixing the helmet.

"That's mine, you know."

"Not anymore." he smirked as he fixed his own helmet and took his seat. He revved the engine and waited for the girl to ride behind him. She just shook her head in disbelief when the man even returned her tumbler.

"Come on. Your patients are waiting." the man advised as she took her seat behind.

---

7:05 AM

Yukino got off and fixed her hair as she returned the spare helmet to the driver.

"Thanks for the ride as usual." she smiled to the long-haired man who smiled back handsomely.

"No problem. You should really get a boyfriend for more free rides." He teased which made the woman chuckle lightly.

"You really should go. Chifuyu is probably waiting for you now in the pet shop."

"It's fine. Kaori is probably there keeping him company righ--." The man replied which made the brunette lose her smile. She began to slowly look down. The man noticed this and patted her head.

"Sorry...I shouldn't have said that." he apologized.

"It's fine. I should probably get going now."

"Alright. I'll see you later, Yukino."

"Thank you, Kazutora-kun."

---

5:15 PM

Yukino didn't seem to notice the time as another day is about to be finished with her spending it as usual...fulfilling but tiring. She decided to get up for some coffee, while waiting for Kazutora. She strolled in the hospital hallways when she heard a notification from her phone. She quickly read the message from her friend with golden eyes.

'Sorry, Yukino. Can't come today. Hana is here in the shop.'

She quickly replied, 'It's ok.'

However, as she was walking while typing, she bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry, Doc." a girl in her teens apologized to the young doctor.

"It's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going." the brunette gently examined the girl wearing casual clothes who was frantic in a hospital.

"Are you here for a checkup? Do you need some he--" she was cut off when the girl shook her head.

"No! No, I don't...I don't need help. I'm just uhm...yeah I was just looking for someone."

Yukino noticed how the girl seemed like she's panicking.

"Is it a family member? I can help you look for the--"

"NO! No, please...uhm... I was just leaving. Bye, thank you for your concern." she bowed and ran away from the doctor. Before she could stop the teenager, she was far and gone.

Yukino couldn't help but frown her head. That was weird, was all she could think. Then suddenly, another message notification was heard from her phone. This time, it was from Kaori.

'Hey, you free today? Come to the Chifuyu's petshop. We prepared dinner.'

This stopped Yukino's worrying of the teen's weird behavior from earlier and looked at the time. She thought, it's probably fine to hang out tonight as she replied, 'Sure.' to Kaori, her high school close friend, who is now the longtime girlfriend of Chifuyu Matsuno, Yukino's... epic love.