Moving On With You, Jinjoo

16: Five Minutes

In the bustling corridors of the hospital, the scent of antiseptic lingered in the air as Ryan strode purposefully down the polished linoleum floor with a clipboard in his hand. The rhythmic cadence of his leather shoes harmonised with the distant hum of medical equipment.

As he rounded a corner, his keen eyes caught sight of a familiar face. Minju stood by the elevator, flipping through the pages of a medical journal. A small smile crept across Ryan's face, his pace quickening as he approached the girl.

Tapping on her shoulder, he goes to the other side when Minju turns. "Boo." An elbow went into his stomach, causing him to wince softly.

Minju realised but thought he deserved it for trying to creep up on her like every other day. "I thought you had a meeting with the seniors."

"Ended early," he said. "SDU( Step Down Unit)?" Minju nods, closing the medical journal. "I heard they handed you two more."

"Apparently, I've become a caretaker." The brunette sighs. The elevator dinged, its doors sliding open to reveal an empty interior.

"It's good practice. You'd appreciate the responsibility when you go for sub-internship." He entered the lift after her, pressing the second floor where the SDU wards were. They are spaces for stabilised coma patients. "When's yours anyway?"

Minju leans against the railing, watching the numbers on the panel decrease. She sighs, not even wanting to think about the sub-internship because that only means she'll be posted somewhere away from the city, away from wherever they are now. "I'm not sure if I'm considered lucky but they're taking me in December, for two months."

As to what Ryan has gone through, sub-internships happen any time between the first half of the year for fourth-year students for a month. But two means she'll get to learn more. "Do you know where?"

Minju shook her head. "Not yet. They said they'll get back to me."

He puffs a breath. "Does that mean you're spending New Years away from home?"

"As if I haven't spent it away from home for the past three years." Minju scoffs, getting out of the lift. He tagged along, only because he was done with his schedules for the day. The brunette tapped her lanyard on the reader, letting them enter the premises of the SDU.

Ryan followed her to the reception, grabbing two pieces of white masks, and handing one to her to put it on. Minju smothers her hands with sanitiser before going to the patient ward she was allocated to, cross-checking the patient's details with the information she has on the clipboard she got from the nurse.

While she records the data shown on the screen, Ryan asks, "How are things?"

"What things?" Minju flips the page upwards, taking down the blood pressure of the patient. When greeted by silence, she looked at the guy who had an obvious grin under that mask.

"You know..."

"Good," Minju answers when she catches on.

Ryan's eyes followed her to the other side of the bed, checking the IV drip. "Define good." His smile reaches his eyes as he rests his palm on the foot of the bed where the handles are. He felt that bit of delight blooming in his chest when positive things entered his head. "Is it an honest good or is it an I don't want it to sound bad so I'll just say good for the sake of it kinda good?"

The brunette glances at him as she settles the IV tube back to where it is, next to the patient. Ryan waited for a response and was greeted by a slight eye smile. "What's that supposed to mean?" He tailed behind his junior who gave him no exact answer as they entered the second ward.