Nocturnal Buddies ✩ Yang Jeongin

Chapter 78

Hyunjoo had grown accustomed to the quiet hums and beeping filling the halls of her unit. She quietly navigated through the dimly lit space, peering into each of her patients' rooms. When she reached the back of the unit, finishing her usual rounds, she made her way back to the nurse's station. As she grew closer, her eyes fell on her friends, who were sitting together. A smile pulled at her lips when she realized they were bickering as usual.

"Let me look at my patient's charts in peace!" the younger girl quietly shouted, pushing the boy away once again.

An amused smile was plastered on Jaehyun's face as he continued to pester her. "Come on, entertain me, I'm bored."

"Go entertain yourself, what do I look like to you?" Areum asked, shooting him a glare.

"A clown," he said without missing a beat.

Areum mouth had fallen agape as she looked over at her friend, offended by his comment. Jaehyun just gave her an innocent yet playful grin. He started to quietly shout for help when she started to lightly slap him in the arm, scolding him.

"Alright, that's enough, guys," Hyunjoo mused, stopping the two from drawing any attention to them.

Regardless of her attempt, multiple eyes were already on them, on her. They bore their way into the girl's skin, following her every movement as she sat down. Hyunjoo kept her eyes on her friends, not daring to look around. She hadn't built the courage to make eye contact with those who looked at her with burning jealousy- at least, not yet. It had only been two weeks since the announcement, so she was still new to the attention she had been receiving as of late.

Although she had experienced a similar situation once in a while, this was different. The attention she garnered wasn't because of some claim online, one that only a few people would know about. People are able to recognize her nowadays, making it impossible for her to escape the millions of eyes lingering on her. The pressure was suffocating, but she tried her best to push through, moving ahead with each passing day.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Quiet laughter roamed around the three friends as they played rock-paper-scissors to help pass the time. Their attention would frequently flicker to the monitors, making sure everything was fine and no call lights were pressed. They waited for their shift to draw to an end as they continued to play, occasionally going around to do check-up rounds.

"All she does is play around when she's on shift- I don't understand how he can date someone like her," one of the nurses complained, making sure she would be heard by the group of friends.

Areum immediately shot a glare at the nurse, who decided that creating some workplace drama was appropriate. Jaehyun even glanced over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow at the nurse before looking away, not wanting to give her his time of day. The younger girl rolled her eyes before copying the boy.

"Don't listen to her," Jaehyun quietly said, directing his statement towards the older girl.

"For real, she must be blind if she hasn't seen the amount of work you've put in during your entire shift," Areum grumbled. "I didn't know we had a wannabe high school mean girl working here."

"Thanks guys," Hyunjoo breathed out a chuckle, grateful for their constant protection.

As the end of their shift grew closer, the three left the nurse's station to do their rounds. They gave their end of shift reports to the incoming nurses before meeting in the nurse's lounge. After gathering their belongings, they left their unit, wishing the other nurses goodnight. Most of them returned the friendly farewell while others blatantly stared at Hyunjoo, expression filled with disdain.