philophobia | j.hoseok

3

"so these are the medications your husband needs directed from doctor choi. is this right?" i asked the woman as she checked the label. she gave a nod of her head. "yes, everything looks right."

"alright, well, if your husband seems to still be experiencing more pain, then he can take some pain killers. and he only needs to take one of these," i explained to her.

"okay, thank you so much," she said politely as she bowed. i bowed back, "you're welcome. have a good day."

i stood there behind the counter watching the customer leave the pharmacy and then a small sigh escapes from my lips. "another hard working day, eh?" a voice behind me speaks.

"just another day passing by like any other," i softly reply. i turned to look at my workmate who smiled as she was placing more supplies of medications being sent in from different hospitals and prescribed from many different doctors. "we need to drink out again haesoo. it's been a while, don't you think?" chaeri said while placing away some medications up onto a higher shelf.

"i can't go back to that old habit again," i told her. i walked over to a cart with boxes of other medications that came in different colored bottles. "do these also need to be arranged?" i asked looking at her. she looked at the medications in the cart and nodded her head. there were so many to be divided into that two people couldn't even finish in a day.

"did luna not come in today?" i asked as i read the medication description in my hand, and placed it on the low shelf. "mm, no, she said she wasn't feeling well," she replied. "it seems like everyone is getting sick," i muttered softly.

"yeah, with it being autumn already. it's getting cold again," chaeri said before putting up the last medication onto the shelf just eye-level to her. she walked over to the cart full of medications next to me as she started placing them in the correct places.

"can you believe we're already in our mid-20s? i still haven't found myself a decent man to marry," chaeri started to say as we continued putting away the bottles. "next thing you know we'll be in our 30s," she begin to trail off. and then i heard her pause. "haesoo! what if i end up as a single woman the rest of my life?" she asked.

"chaeri, if you want to go get married, then go ahead. but i won't have you complain about it here. so if you're going to talk about marriage, please don't talk about it in front of me." she was quiet right after that. there were no exchange of words between us from that point until it was closing time. chaeri was the first to say something. "i really do hope you can find sometime to ease your heart. bye haesoo."

no, i don't need anyone of any sort.