small words || jeongcheol

39: ghosts of the past.

Back at the house...

"Everything okay?" Minghao asked as Nurse Josh let his mobile phone fall from his ear. The older nurse frowned as he put it down on his desk.

"Seungcheol has to go away for a few days," Josh relayed, sounding a little confused. "He said something to do with his family came up."

"Right," said Minghao. He leaned back in his chair, absently crossing his arms over his dark green sweater. "Did he say how long it's gonna take? We're a short-staffed without him, now that Moonbyul is at Dr Kim's new facility most of the time."

"I know," said Josh, rubbing his forehead. "I'll call Dr Kim, see what he thinks."

"Okay," Minghao agreed, nodding. He glanced back at his computer, stationed at his now-permanent place in the nurses' office. After speaking with his university program director, with a good progress report from Josh and Seungcheol, Minghao had been able to increase his hours at the house. He still had to study two to three days a week, but now he was even working weekends at the house (which was more to his, and the patients', liking).

"You're right, though," Josh sighed, "There's two of us, and six of them."

Minghao made a noise of agreement. His hand moved to rest on the file on his desk, to the left of his potter cactus. It was Junhui's. With Minghao only part-time and nowhere near fully qualified to be anything more than an assistant to Josh, he had a bad feeling about Seungcheol's absence.

"Dr Kim says he'll send Moonbyul over tomorrow," Josh said, putting down the landline. Minghao had been so distracted that he hadn't even heard Josh talking on the phone.

"Okay," the Chinese man said again. "I'll go see what everyone's up to."

"Thank you," Josh said, offering a tired smile. His mobile buzzed as Minghao got up and made for the door. The younger glanced back to see Josh blushing as the message flashed up on screen.

Minghao chuckled to himself before leaving the room. Now he'd have something to tease Josh about later, once he found out who was texting him.

"Oh, hi, Minghao," Wonwoo mumbled as the nurse rounded the corner at the end of the corridor.

"Hey, Wonwoo," Minghao said, smiling briefly. "Sorry for nearly bumping into you."

"It's fine," Wonwoo replied with a shrug. He fiddled with the long sleeve of his too-large sweater, gaze flickering.

Minghao sensed something was on his mind. "You okay?" he asked gently, brow furrowing slightly.

"It's nothing," the dark haired boy said, shaking his head.

Minghao caught his arm, and Wonwoo snatched his sleeve from the nurse's grip.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Junhui just seems a bit off."

"What do you mean?" Minghao questioned, his mind moving at a hundred miles an hour.

"Well, a bit more off than usual," Wonwoo added. "Maybe you can talk to him."

"I will," Minghao said immediately, "Thanks, Wonwoo."

"It's nothing," the younger said. "It's just- you know, he's not my friend or anything-"

"It's okay, Wonwoo, you don't have to explain," Minghao told him. "I understand."

"Right, well, I'm in the middle of an origami dragon, so..."

Minghao gave a quiet sigh as he let Wonwoo pass and go to his bedroom. The nurse was still thinking about Junhui. Was he alright?

***