Scope of Life || Yeonbin

chapter 3: secret session

Soobin's POV:

I was nervous; I always am. Only Chan knows that I see a therapist since he set it up for me, but I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone else. I mean, it's his wife after all. She works upstairs in the same building, which is actually how her and Chan met in the first place. Their story is kind of cute, but they got together way before I started working here. I went to their wedding, though. And you'll just have to trust me when I say, it was adorable and mushy.

Taehyun offered to go get drinks after work, and I had to make up an excuse that I was too tired. Chan understood, covering for me as well and letting me come here instead. It's just a few floors higher in the same building, so I pretended to go home by driving around the block a few times until everyone left. I know it sounds a little crazy, but I'm too embarrassed.

I took the elevator to the fifth floor, smelling the air fresheners as soon as the doors opened. The entire floor is a workspace, kind of like how the first floor is set up for us. You can tell it's a therapy office from a mile away, flowers and little stress balls everywhere to keep people comfortable.

I slowly walked over to the receptionist's desk. It's someone new, never seeing her here before. She picked her head up when I was close to her desk, giving me a little smile, "Hi, sir. Are you here for an appointment?"

I gave her a little smile back, knowing my dimples popped out, "I'm here to see Dr. Hwang."

She looked down at her computer, "Name?"

"Choi Soobin..." I replied, holding my hands in front of me, "S-Sorry, I'm a little late."

She typed a few things on her computer, and then looked back up at me, "No worries. You can have a seat and I'll let her know you're here." She replied, standing up from her chair.

I bowed to her, turning on my heel to sit down in one of the chairs. There wasn't anyone else in the waiting room, probably since I'm always her last appointment. I have to come after work, and our shift ends at four on a good day, but normally goes later. I usually feel kind of bad, but she always tells me not to worry about it.

"Soobin-ssi?..." I heard my name, and I already knew it was her. I turned my head, seeing her standing right outside of her office. She still had one hand on the door, adding, "You can come in."

I stood up from my chair, giving a small, "Thank you." As I stepped inside her office.

I always get anxious right before my appointment starts, pausing right when I take a few steps inside. There're three chairs: one for her and two for patients. I never know which chair to sit at, and it stresses me out for some reason. Dr. Hwang calls it situational anxiety, but I don't know, it's just how I've always been. My eyes were darting around the entire room, noticing all of the little things. Everything seemed to be the same, except—

"Go ahead..." Dr. Hwang said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was sitting down in her seat, her notebook and pen already in her hand. I pursed my lips, and she looked at me with a little smile, "Let it out. It's ok."

I took a breath, and then said really fast, "There's a pen under your desk. Must've dropped it earlier today and couldn't find it. You have a new plant. Makes sense since the last one was dying..." I brought my hand up, rubbing the back of my neck, "The left seat cushion is still deflated a little, so I guess the last person was sitting there. That means I should sit in the other seat, right? O-Or maybe that's being too rude, and I should sit in the left seat anyways. But then umm..." I slid my hand up from my neck to my hair, scratching a little, "I-I don't know."

She hesitated for a moment, "Well, thank you about the pen..." She replied, standing up and looking for a few seconds before she saw it. She picked it up so it wouldn't bother me, and then went back to her seat, "And yes, it's a new plant. My brother stopped by for lunch the other day and brought it as a gift..." She added, giving me a little smile, "I say this every time, but you can sit anywhere, and I'm not going to judge you."