24 visits || SOOSHU

Visit Twenty

Reason: Check up, B12 shot

Symptoms: leg fracture, fatigue

Time in: 2:00 pm March 1st, 2016

Usually the one who was supposed to have sweaty palms and an accelerated heart rate was the patient. And, yes, Shuhua did have those traits, but she also had a condition. What was Soojin's excuse?

In her life, Soojin had had one and a half girlfriends. The first, a girl from her freshman year of college. It lasted six months, and Soojin ended it to focus on studies. She had felt bad, but wasn't exactly devastated about the whole thing.

The half had been in Soojin's failed residency. A weird thing with another resident that never really got off the ground. Again, Soojin had been focused on other things. In that case, it had been the new practice, which in her defense, was a lot of work.

It had never exactly been love. Soojin never did stupid things, or felt silly or had momentary lapses in breathing. She didn't stay up late at night thinking about it. She was able to focus, always clear headed.

Shuhua came into her life and hit her with a metaphorical train that hadn't stopped on impact.

Soojin thought that maybe it was because from the moment Shuhua Yeh entered her life she'd felt strongly about her. Annoyed, primarily. Annoyed, and yet; when they first met there was a spark. Physically and mentally, when their hands touched for just a second Soojin remembered feeling a faint jolt like touching a stove that was too hot.

And she was curious. Somehow along the way, Soojin went from finding Shuhua completely insufferable to, well, still insufferable but in a different way. She made Soojin's head fuzzy, made her skin heat up, made her think about dumb things like holding hands. All concepts that Soojin was sure she'd never be juvenile enough to feel.

Juvenile. Yes, that was the word. Shuhua made her feel young - and not in a good way. The terrifying way when you don't know what the hell happens next, except in Soojin's case she always knew what was going to happen. Since she was 13 her plans had been laid out, the next step simply a mark on the calendar, a new day.

New days with Shuhua were like walking into a bees nest blindfolded.

Soojin kept telling herself she should just refer Shuhua to a new doctor. One who wasn't an idiot that fell in love with patients, perhaps. But then Soojin would think, well what if I never saw her again. From there she'd think of the year Shuhua was gone, how she came back, and her condition. And it just became clear that she couldn't do it.

Her father used to say don't get too attached to patients. Soojin regretted the fact that it was the one piece of advice from him she'd ever utterly failed.

Soojin pressed her hand against her temple, looking at Shuhua who was looking at her with wide eyes. She already had the shot in her hand, now it was just about helping Shuhua get into position. For some reason when it was just the two of them, the action made her skin tingle more than it should.

Shuhua sighed, then looked down at her dress. "You know, I meant what I said at the hospital. You should be buying me dinner for this." She gave an exaggerated wink, cocking her head to the side.

Soojin walked up, seeing that Shuhua was ready to be positioned. "Maybe I should. Would that get you to eat better?" She took Shuhua's hand, pulling her over and guiding her until she was faced down on the exam table.

Shuhua hummed, then made a popping sound with her lips. Fuck. "I think it might."

This was flirting. Flirting, right? It was definitely flirting. But Shuhua was an idol, half of her job was flirting.

Soojin was a doctor, flirting was a huge no for her. She breathed in through her nose, closed her eyes. "Incredulous," she muttered. "Underwear." There was no way in hell she was going to drag Shuhua's underwear down, her skin was reaching tomato levels of red.

"Not even a drink, jeez." She tugged down a pink thong and Soojin forced herself not to choke.

Once again, Soojin took in a deep string of breath. She was a doctor, and this was not meant to be erotic or sexy. She'd done this with several other patients. One time a patient had gone in completely commando.

She lifted Shuhua's dress once her calm returned, swabbed down the right side and prepared the injection. And then Soojin saw that damn freckle again. How could a freckle be so cute?

"Um, Soojin?" Shuhua asked.

Soojin looked at her hand, her other hand - the one that wasn't holding the needle. She was touching Shuhua's butt. When did that even happen? "I was seeing if that would be a better injection site." She snatched her hand away.

"Dinner is all it takes," Shuhua said again before letting out a short squeak when Soojin inserted the needle. Why was she pressing this date joke so much? Why was she so damn annoying?

Why was she driving Soojin absolutely insane?