But Beautiful

part 19

The next day when Jungkook arrived at the facility, he was greeted at the door by Sohee.

“I heard you took Taehyung out yesterday!” she exclaimed with a smile, gesturing for him to follow her. “How did that go?”

Jungkook smiled, bowing his head before walking beside her. “It went well,” he began. “I have to report to Dr. Yoo this morning about the outing. How has work been for you?”

“Work has been fine,” she said, sighing wistfully. “One of my patients was transferred to home care. I believe her husband was in Hong Kong for a year for work, but now that he’s back she’s able to go home. I’m happy for her, this isn’t exactly the place you’d want to retire to.”

“There are plenty of worse places,” Jungkook replied, looking at the woman with a smile. “Plus, she was your patient, I’m sure she was happy with her care.”

Sohee slowed down, the smile on her lips warming as her eyes softened. “Thank you, Jungkook. That was really sweet.”

“It’s nothing,” he laughed, a little shy. “Just speaking the truth.”

After looking at him for a moment, Sohee laughed as she said, “you’re going to make me fall in love with you!”

Jungkook’s eyes widened, almost comically, and the doctor threw her head back in laughter. “Don’t worry,” she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze, “I won’t cause any scandals in the workplace. But that does remind me of this soap opera my mother used to watch,” she trailed off, telling Jungkook about the show as they eventually reached Dr. Yoo’s office. “Anyway, please have a good day! And if you need anything, I’m always available, Tuesday to Saturday.”

“Thank you,” he replied, bowing to her once more before knocking twice, peeking his head inside before entering.

“Come in,” the doctor said, gesturing to one of the seats across from him. Jungkook walked in, sitting down as the man stared at him expectantly. “Tell me everything that happened.”

The resident took a deep breath, telling him about their outing, from the car ride to the park to Jungkook making sure Taehyung got to his room when they returned. The doctor listened, nodding every now and again while he spoke, clearing his throat when Jungkook went silent.

“It looks like he’s going to have to work on building up his stamina,” he started, leaning back in his chair and swiveling a bit. “I’ve been worried about his muscles atrophying due to his refusal of regular exercise, so I do hope you can get him to be proactive about gaining strength. I also want to mention, his diet has been pretty consistent since his arrival, so I’d caution about him having too many things that deviate from the norm too fast, to prevent any gastric distress. These are just things I want to mention,” he continued, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. “One thing that I didn’t mention, because I didn’t think it would come up, would be that you shouldn’t be spending your money on gifts for the patients. Even if it’s just Taehyung, and it’s just once, and he’s not your patient, I’d advise against it. That being said, it was very kind of you to buy him a notebook. I haven’t tried getting him to write since he first arrived, and because he didn’t even acknowledge me nearly any time I tried to get him to engage, I left it alone.”

“He’s the one who decided to get it,” Jungkook gushed, a smile on his face. “I hadn’t thought of asking him to write, but as soon as he showed interest, I was very excited. I hope he uses it, no matter what he uses it for. It would be great to see him communicate that way, so I’ve got my fingers crossed he’ll do so,” Jungkook said. He paused after a moment, following it up, “oh, why shouldn’t I buy him anything? I understand that I shouldn’t spoil him, but is there a reason specifically I can’t get him things, especially if I take him places where there may be souvenirs or special offerings?”