Golden Time

“Did you call me?”

She nodded at his question. She was shy enough not to meet her eyes with his.

The nurse, looking at his tiptoes, barely opened her mouth,

“Well...”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Here you are!”

She suddenly held out both her hands. A folded piece of paper was in her hands.

Suhyuk received it with a dubious look.

“What is this?”

He could not continue asking though, because the nurse was disappearing from him as if she were fleeing.

When she was completely out of sight, he opened it.

It read like this: ‘h.e.l.lo, Mr Lee Suhyuk. I’ve been watching you since the days you’ve been a PK trainee. Only now can I pluck up my courage and appear before you. May I have coffee or dine with you when you’re available? If you don’t mind, please call me on 010-4827...’

Reading the note, he laughed with a puzzled look.

Is this a sort of a love letter that he heard about people receiving before?

***

The nurse, who escaped from him, was letting out a short breath, leaning against the wall. Her heart thudding against her chest never stopped. She tried to calm down, caressing her hot face with her hands, but could not calm down at all.

“I wonder if I did that uselessly...”

“No, you did it well!” popped out a voice from the side. It was a fellow nurse two years older than her.

“What should I do sister? I’m afraid he won’t give me a call...”

At her crestfallen voice, she told her not to worry, saying, “In my opinion, he’s going to call you for sure, 100%. You’re pretty, so be confident. You deserve it! You declined when others doctors confessed to you? Then, why? Are you so nervous because you’re the one who confessed first?”

“Yes.”

She nodded weakly. Han Binna. She has been watching Suhyuk since he was a PK student.

It was more correct to say he naturally came to be favored in her eyes.

When she first saw him, she thought that he talked much less than other PK students. She just thought that was all there was to him, but at some point she came to see him often, even though he was a PK student going around the wards for clinical practice.

Was it because she became conscious of him at some point? Was it because he was handsome? No, it seemed that’s not the case.

Is there any particular reason why someone likes another?

Pa.s.sing by him, she came to notice him, and at some point he was deeply ingrained into her heart. That’s it. To add a little more, he was less talkative than others, and made an occasional smile. His smiles that he gave patients were so warm.

She’s kept a sort of one-side love for him in her heart for the past one year.

“The way I see it, he will contact you today.”

At her fellow nurse’s words, she really wished he would do so.

***

A woman in her early fifties.

Suhyuk was disinfecting her sutured belly. As she had surgery only just two days ago, she might develop complications and inflammation, so she needed constant care.

“Oh, I feel so good.”

At her reaction, Suhyuk grinned a bit.

“Do you feel uncomfortable in any area?”

“No, I like your disinfecting work. When other doctors do it, I feel so much stinging.”

Im, standing in the distance, could not help but smile bitterly, because the doctor she was referring to was he.

After he was done with the disinfection, Suhyuk was cleaning up.

Shaking his head, he said, “He’s an alien.”

Whatever a.s.signment he’s tasked with, he was doing it with great effort, and completing task to the end. There was nothing he could not do. So Im decided to stop fixating on him, thinking like this: ‘he must be a genius or an alien.’

When he felt that way, he felt much more relaxed.

He felt it was only natural that he was more than a match for him.

“I’m done!” said Suhyuk.

He approached Im.

“Good job man.”

His calm face indicated that he did what he was supposed to do.

Im was not surprised about it at all anymore.

“Let’s go.”

Following him quietly, Suhyuk asked him, “What kind of patient is it this time?”

“Just go back and take a break at your lodging.”

Suhyuk made a dubious expression. It was 5pm.

Usually it was the rule for the interns to go around the hospital until 9pm.

He recalled the woman resident of the pediatrician department, called a Witch by the interns.

When interns are doing something wrong, or make mistakes, she did not give them any a.s.signments and let them take a long break. Was the resident walking weakly with shoulders drooping the same sort of person from the same cla.s.s?

Until now he felt that he did not make any mistakes in the surgery department, but he wanted to ask anyway,

“Sir, did I make any mistakes?”

Im grinned wickedly.

“Yes,” he said, murmuring to himself, ‘You’re doing what I’m supposed to do myself.’

But he did not speak what he had in mind.

Im turned around and folded his arms, asking, “How many patients did you complete the rounds for?”

“Thirteen patients.”

“Yes, I’m in charge of 13 patients. How about their condition?”

“They’re all good.”

“Now, what should you do?”

Suhyuk was speechless. Interns are supposed to learn and carry out duties under the supervision of the primary physician. Then, Suhyuk made the rounds with all the patients and offered appropriate treatment already. In other words, his job was done.

Contrary to his thinking like that, there were an indefinite number of things interns were supposed to take care of. For example, checking patients’ conditions from time to time and reporting or waiting indefinitely at the ICU while watching the patient monitor. In addition, they had to carry out other ch.o.r.es.

However, Im did not give them such instructions out of consideration for Suhyuk.

He carried out any instructions without any problem. He did not make any mistakes or cause any difficult troubles. And today Suhyuk prevented him from making a possible perforation in the patient’s intestine.

“I won’t call you unless I have to, so go and take a sound break.”

Saying so, he turned back. Then he raised one of his fingers and said, “Didn’t I tell you already? Reserve your weekend for me. Let me treat you to a drink.”

A pleasant smile was on Suhyuk’s face.

“Yes, sir.”

When he arrived at his lodging, he lay on the bed. When did he ever lie on the bed at this hour?

It’s been really a long time. He even felt it’s something unexpected.

What were his fellow interns doing now?

Were they doing well or were they getting a scolding? Most likely it was the latter.

When he recalled each one’s face, he smiled. When they tried hard and made a lot of efforts in their studies, they would certainly be reliable doctors later on.

He turned around on the bed. Then he heard a rustle of paper getting folded in the middle of his pocket. “Oh, that’s right...”

Rising from the bed, he unfolded the letter from the nurse.

She said she liked him for one year. Such a long time.

Suhyuk took out his cell phone. He anyhow felt thankful for her as she cared about him like that. He wrote down a text message and sent it to her cell phone.

When he was about to lie on the bed again, his phone rang.

“Thanks so much for your message. I thought you wouldn’t send one. Thanks. When can you take time out? I’d like to treat you to a meal or coffee.”

Suhyuk did not agonize about it that long. He was done early for the day, and the resident told him to take a break.

“Shall I see you at the bus stop in front of the hospital at 7pm?”

“Yes, I’ll see you then.”

Confirming the message, Suhyuk checked the time. 6pm sharp.

He had enough time. He closed eyes while lying in bed. When he opened his eyes, 30 minutes already pa.s.sed.

Casually dressed, he moved right away. The hospital lobby was crowded with people when it was already evening time.

“Sir!”

Suhyuk heard a voice coming quietly from the side. It was Han Binna.

With a blush on her face, she bowed her head.

“h.e.l.lo.”

As if she met him for the first time today, she said h.e.l.lo to him.

Suhyuk also bowed his head.

“h.e.l.lo, where shall we go?”

At his asking, she felt as if her hairs were becoming white.

She was trying to calm down her pounding heart at the thought of she meeting him exclusively.

She tried to remember some delicious restaurants that she knew of, and fortunately she could think of one.

“Have you eaten yet?”

With a slight smile, he shook his head.

“That’s good then... Do you like spaghetti?”

“I like any food. Let’s go.”

When he moved first, she came close to him cautiously. No, she walked a bit away from him.

She felt as if she was going to have a heart attack if she got any closer to him.

Going out of the hospital, they got on a bus. They were heading for a famous pasta restaurant in Sinchon.

Even though it was the closing hour of the day for the bus service, there were not many people on the bus so as it to be crowded.

Yet, there was only one seat vacant.

Suhyuk yielded the seat to her.

“Please have a seat.”

Staggering at the trembling of the bus, she waved her hand, saying, “I’m fine. Please have a seat.”

Smiling quietly, he gestured with his eyes to her, pointing to the seat.

She then sat on it helplessly, and looked outside.

She had to say whatever she wanted to, but she could not because her thoughts were all mixed up. She tightened her grip on her hands on the bag. It was clear that she was nervous. He could feel it.

“By the way, may I have your name?”

At his soft voice, she answered, “My name is Han Binna.”

“It’s a beautiful name.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you work in the surgery department?”

“Yes!”

People on the bus began to pay their attention to them slowly, because she came up with an answer clearly like a robot whenever he asked her a question.

Her appearance like that made the hearts of other young guys on the bus pound.

For not only did she have a cute dimple but also her face was pretty.

“We have to get off here.”

She pushed the bell and stood up. Guided by her, he walked to the pasta restaurant.

“Do you know about it, sir?”

“What is it?”

Suhyuk looked at her. At that moment she, who was glancing at him, turned her head instantly. She felt it keenly today that it was so difficult for her to meet her eyes with someone else’s.

“You’re so famous among the nurses.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

He asked with a puzzled look.

“Why?”

“You’re so good at collecting blood and a.n.a.lyzing CT. Rumor has it that you’re already like a resident. And they say you are so handsome...”

He smiled bitterly. It was neither good nor bad for him. But he was only a novice.

Then, his eyes became wide. The woman walking toward him was familiar to him.

Thinking about it, he grinned before he knew it. She looked like Hana.

‘Did she finish work at this time?’ Yes, it was likely that.

“We are here, sir.”

At her voice, Suhyuk turned his head to the side.

It was a wooden restaurant specializing in spaghetti, emitting a warm atmosphere.

A glimpse of the restaurant was seen inside the window.

Very crowded. ‘She said she liked spaghetti.’

Suhyuk, who thought of one woman in his mind, followed Han.

“Hey!”

He turned back at the sharp voice, and murmured to himself,

“Well, speak of the devil...”