so the next day Ash woke up at 2am and she got ready because she had to get to the hospital at 3am. She quickly changed into her regular clothes, sweatshirt and pants, she wore her joggers and took her bag and ran out of her apartment. As she was managing to close the zip of the bag Haneul also came out of his apartment. He looked super tired and he was wearing glasses instead of his blue lens. Also instead of fancy suit and tie he was wearing shorts and a hoodie.
"oh hi!" Ash said as she finally closed the bag
"hey!" Haneul replied as he walked to the elevator, Ash followed him
"it's like we can read eachothers minds! how did you know my hey meant, 'lets talk in the elevator'?" Haneul asked as the door closed behind Ash
"well..I don't know..OH MY! YOUR EYES!" Ash exclaimed as she looked at Haneul's face closely
Haneul looked away embarrassed, "LOOK SO..average.." Ash rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall
"thank you..where are you headed to?" Haneul asked
"to the hospital. You?" Ash asked casually
"work..It appears that a cockroach army attacked this time..you know how hard it is to kill those freaks right? so they had to call the expert pesticide" Haneul winked which made Ash laugh
"so you do admit you're a pesticide..you look really tired.." Ash said as she lowered her head and rubbed the back of her neck
"it's not your fault so don't feel guilty..I stayed up CLEANING THE MESS YOU MADE!" Haneul joked
"I didn't do anything? Oh shoot, did I break that bowl of those little glittery balls? I feel like I was playing with it really..violently.." Ash made a guilty face
"..yes you were actually throwing them around and not picking them up afterwards..but I'm talking about the drawings you made on my brand new coffee table!" Haneul exclaimed
"oh!" Ash covered her face. "hey but I was drawing with my fingers!" Ash replied after thinking
"..dude you used your hairpin to draw, no, to CARVE on my table..i have evi-" the door of the elevator opened, so they stepped out, "I have evidence..your hairpin! it's still there..I'll send it to the forensic lab.." Haneul said
"..oops..?" Ash whispered, "I'm sorry.." she gave her best smile but you could see the guilt in her eyes clearly
"oh so that's what a true culprit looks like!" Haneul joked
they were now in the parking lot standing next to Ash's car, "alright..this is me.." Ash said
"right..so, when are we gonna see each other again?" Haneul asked as he took a look at Ash's car
"we live right next to each other Haneul.." Ash replied as she unlocked the car, opened the door and threw her bag inside
"but you're not home most of the time.." Haneul said
"true..we'll see, I gotta run now. Bye! oh and best of luck killing those cockroaches!" Ash exclaimed as she got in and Haneul nodded proudly.
~
Ash was busy in the hospital, running around from one ward to the other, after all, she was still a newbie. She wasn't talking to Jisoo, she was actually avoiding Jisoo.
"Dr.Ash? aren't you going to eat anything? you've been working since 3!" one of the nurse's at the reception said
"nah..I just feel really full for some reason", Ash saw Jisoo coming to the reception,
"where did you eat last night?" the nurse asked Ash
Ash looked at Jisoo, who looked guilty and couldn't make eye contact with Ash, "I ate ramen at the local supermarket.." she said clearly and slowly and then she walked away
"Ash..I'm sorry!", Jisoo said from behind, "we..stopped to buy a gift for his friend..and I left my mobile in the car, and when I came back, I saw your missed calls and tried calling back but the call didn't go through and..then I read your message so I thought there was an emergency at the hospital..I even went to your place at about..11pm or something, I got worried as your phone was switched off and so I woke your neighbour up, and asked him if you were home and..he said that you were probably sleeping by now..so I went back..I didn't mean to hurt you Ash.." Jisoo explained everything
Ash turned to hug Jisoo but Jisoo hugged her first, "it's alright.." Ash whispered
It was..okay, because Ash felt guilty for some reason and felt like a bad friend for so many reasons..
~
"Aren't you going to tell me about your good looking neighbour?" Jisoo asked as she sat on the couch in their office
Ash was busy doing something on the computer that she didn't hear Jisoo at first
"Ash..you get so engrossed in what you're doing that you shut off the rest of the world!" Jisoo said pulling Ash's chair away from the computer table
"Jisooo, I need to submit this before the professor leaves!" Ash cried
"you have time! tell me first!" jisoo insisted so Ash told her that she only knew that he works in some big company and nothing else..for some reason Ash didn't want to tell Jisoo about the fact that she met him 3 years ago and that she had coffee with him or that she talks to him. Ash just didn't want Jisoo to know Haneul.."we haven't really talked much except hello how are you..and stuff" Ash lied
Jisoo looked disappointed but this much information was enough to keep her silent for a week or so.
~
"okay! my shift's over..bye jisoo!" Ash waved excitedly as she ran out of the office and quickly drove back home to sleep
When she entered her apartment building, she noticed a familiar figure leaning against the wall, "haneul!" Ash waved at him, he waved back
"oh man! you look sick!" Ash exclaimed upon seeing him
Haneul took his glasses off and raised his eyebrows, "I'll take that as a..compliment?" Haneul knew what Ash meant but he still joked about it
"not the modern day sick..but like tired and ill.." Ash said stepping inside the elevator with him
"..the cockroaches aren't easy, you know.." Haneul replied
"your eyes are red.." Ash pointed at his eyes
"isn't that normal after staring at a computer screen for 9 hours?" Haneul asked
"..man..cockroaches really are tough.." Ash whispered
"put a wet towel on your eyes once you go in..no wonder your eyesight is weak.." Ash said as they got off the elevator
"thanks for the advice doc!" Haneul smiled, going inside his apartment
Ash threw her bag away and fell asleep on the couch. She always had a blanket lying on her couch because she knew herself, she knew she can doze off anywhere..and there she was drooling on the couch. Again!
"ahan? no, no Simon will do the rest.." Haneul was talking on the phone as he rubbed his temples with his fingers, "no, let me talk to him! Give him the phone!..simon, listen man, tell me if you can do it..I'll come back if you can't, don't pressurize yourself...no? alright alright, I'm coming, give the phone to the secretary.." Haneul got off the couch, quickly wore his shoes while holding the phone between his ear and the shoulder, he got out of his apartment and paused, "yea uh..yea Jaehyung, tell everyone else to go home..except Simon and the other guy..Clark..you-" Haneul stopped to listen to the other person across the line.
Ash woke up when she heard him talking loudly, she opened the door and saw Haneul talking, he didn't seem to notice Ash
"No, listen! I cannot attend that meeting! I can't call him right now he must be sleeping! call those game makers as soon as you wake up tomorrow and tell them that I'd be meeting them at lunch, if it's alright with them and then I'll have the next meeting at it's original time..yes so we'll have about..30 minutes to meet the sponsors..right! You go home now and there should be no one else in the office but-" Haneul stopped when he saw Ash standing next to her door, "simon and clark.." he put his phone in his pocket and smiled weakly
"how long have you been standing there?" he asked
"since you started changing your schedule..I..don't get me wrong, I didn't come out to eavesdrop, you were just being exceptionally loud and I couldn't sleep, so I came out to shut you up but it seemed like something important.." ash explained herself
"Right! important..shoot I gotta run! Bye Ash and I'm sorry I'm not used to the fact that someone else also lives here..see you later!" Haneul waved before getting into the elevator.
He took his phone out as soon as he got in, Ash saw it and just shook her head, "..poor thing.." she whispered as she went back inside to sleep.
