Time Magic

6

For a moment, which lasted only seconds but also 28 years, it went black around us, but I could still see Jongho, who was clinging to my hand. Then it became light around us again and we were standing in a relatively quiet hospital corridor. I had used my projection to merge us with the appearance of the wall, but as there was no one to be seen, I immediately released the spell. Jongho let go of my hand and clutched his head.

"Are you all right?" I asked worriedly.

"Everything's ok, I'm just spinning... I'll be better in a minute." he assured me. Considering it was his first time traveling through time, he was holding his own anyway; on my first trip, which had lasted years, I had been worse than after food poisoning.

"We have to think about how we can get into the delivery room without being noticed and later into the hospital room," I said as I tapped my finger thoughtfully against my chin.

"If by delivery room, you mean the birthing room, then I'll pass..." Jongho replied in disgust.

"Ah, I know what, come with me, let's go to the nurses' room." I simply ordered and pulled him along with me again.

"Hello, we're from the midwifery school and are supposed to do our internship on your ward. I'm Choi Y/N and this is Choi Jongho." I introduced us to the ward nurse and thanks to my projection, not only did we appear to be wearing the clothes that all the nurses wore here, I also held out a work permit from the administration, which didn't actually exist. But she only looked over it briefly and then smiled at us with delight.

"Heaven sent you, we've just had four births here at the same time... What year are you in?" she then asked.

"The first, we're still very new," I explained to her and she nodded.

"Good, then you're not allowed to do anything with the patients yet, but you can make yourself useful, fetch things the midwives need, take down values, clean the rooms, push the patients into their rooms... and most importantly... Bring us coffee." She laughed a little at the end. She was definitely likeable.

"Are you two related or are the last names a coincidence?" she asked as she led us to the delivery rooms.

"Oh, he's my little brother... Nursing runs in our family." I lied with an icy smile and Jongho made choking noises behind my back. I didn't understand why my mother wanted me to choose him so badly. All our lives, we had behaved more like siblings who were always annoyed with each other but would never admit that deep down they really liked each other. But really just like siblings, there wasn't a spark of romance.

"Can I volunteer to make coffee?" Jongho asked the nurse, who grinned in response.

"Sure, if you don't want to, then you don't have to go in with the women giving birth. It's your first day," she assured him and took him to the coffee kitchen.

"I'll keep an eye on everything on the ward, you go in with the births. Ok?" he whispered to me and I nodded. She led me to the delivery rooms and handed me over to the head midwife.

"Here, I'll bring you Y/N, she's your new intern." was all she said before hurrying back to Jongho to take him under her wing.

"Well, come along then. Is this your first birth?" she asked me curiously and I nodded.

"Yes, I've only been with our cat so far," I replied, which made her laugh.

"Well, it's similar, except that cats don't get so exhausting." she said with a grin before opening the first door.

"Hello, are you all right? Is the pain getting worse?" she asked the couple sitting inside, she on the bed and he on the chair next to it, holding hands and talking quietly.

"Nothing new yet, all five minutes and still holding up well." reported the woman, who still seemed quite relaxed.

"Then we'll come back later, if you want, you can go for a walk for an hour," she suggested, before closing the door again.

"It'll take a while with them, first child and cervix still closed," she explained and I nodded as if I knew what she was trying to tell me. The next door was different, when she opened we heard a deep animalistic moan and I wanted to get out backwards. Another midwife spoke soothingly to the woman.

"That's what it sounds like when the birth is imminent. Do you want to stay here and watch, or will you come with me on my round?" she asked and I looked closely at the woman, this was definitely not Namjoon's mother.

"I'll come with you and have a look around first," I replied and she closed the door again. It was quieter again in the next delivery room, but the woman who looked like Joonie was sitting on a ball, panting quietly and gyrating her hips.

"Mrs. Kim... why are you all alone? Where is your husband?"