|THE CURSED FOREST|

18

Sohee and Beomgyu were in the staff room, their faces pale and their bodies tense. They sat across from each other, as if they were frozen in time, as if they had just witnessed something terrible.

"Are you still thinking about what Dr. Yoongi was telling us before your brother called him away?" Beomgyu asked, blinking emotionlessly.

"The hell I am." Sohee nodded, her face blank.

"That Namjoon murdered Micha... I AM TELLING YOU!" Beomgyu silently screamed, scratching his hair.

"How can you be so sure it was Namjoon! Dr. Yoongi didn't tell us who murdered Dr. Micha!" Sohee leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper as she spoke.

"What the hell happened to our calm and composed Minosan! Vampires! Murders! Healers! IS THERE A MERMAID LEFT TOO!" Beomgyu puts his head down in frustration.

Sohee straightened up her back as something hit her mind.

"Yah Beomgyu, didn't Dr. Yoongi sounded a little different to you?" She raised her eyes curiously poking Beomgyu's neck who looked up at her confused.

"Different? How?" He asked pouting and blinking innocently.

"When the secret of Yeonjun and Sunghoon came out, I mean when the secret of Minerva's creature turning out to be true in front of you, me and Soobin... Dr. Yoongi was so frustrated over it. But today he was so emotional and revealed about the doctor being murdered to us." Sohee shared with her round brown eyes widened.

Beomgyu leaned back, nodding his head.

"And he is the director of this hospital, it wouldn't make sense for him to share it." Sohee nodded instantly.

"But maybe he was too lonely with this many secrets all by himself so shared to us." Beomgyu shrugs his shoulders.

Suddenly the room was filled with a sudden hush as the door slowly creaked open. Both the doctors looked up in surprise, their eyes wide with anticipation. They waited to see who or what would come through the door, their hearts pounding in their chests.

"HYUNJIN!" Beomgyu's face lit up with joy as he saw his friend entering the room and eagerly jumped to his feet to greet him. "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU DUDE!" Hyunjin chuckles weakly as Beomgyu hugged him.

"Yeah Hyunjin, you left before us." Sohee said following Beomgyu. Hyunjin looked down, trying to hide his inner conflict as he took a deep breath and slowly raised his head to face both of them.

"Just some stuff... ahh Beomgyu, Dr. Naera has come, she asked for you." Beomgyu grinned hearing the news and quickly nodded before leaving.

"The happiness he gets near Dr. Naera... I never get it with any of my mentors." Sohee scoffed and looked at Hyunjin, his eyes were drooping and his shoulders were slumped, giving off an air of exhaustion. He looked as if he had been through a great deal of strain and had not had a proper rest in days.

"Hyunjin, everything's okay? You look really pale..."Sohee reached out and gently laid her hands on Hyunjin's shoulders, causing him to flinch in surprise.

Sohee's eyes widened in confusion as Hyunjun just walked into the staff room and made his way directly to his desk.

"No.. no... I am.. I am okay..." Hyunjin stuttered.

"Hyunjin, you disappeared for a week... Beomgyu and I tried to call you so many times but you were out of reach, we couldn't contact you. Where were you?" Sohee asked concernedly as sat next to him.

Hyunjin swallowed harshly as crumpled his fist before looking at Sohee with a desperate gaze.

"You won't trust me if I tell you." He said, his voice weak and brittle.