Closed in his office before he started to see the patients, his morning's euphoria ceased, as Jun Hyeon glanced at the name of the clinic in the embossed letters behind his desk.
Dr. Kim heavily sighed. There was a lot of work to do.
Before everything else, he went into the closet to change, passing the small hallway that separated the private part of his office from the service area. There, in a wall, a picture of him and Ji Hyeon, smiling for the camera in a fraternal hug, both sporting limpid eyes and braces on their teenage smiles. It reminded him of his daily mission at the Foundation that borrowed her name.
The intercom rang with precise timing when he returned with his medical coat on. There were moments that Dr. Kim suspected that Senior Secretary Ma managed to install a hidden camera in his room. Either that or he was even a very predictable and methodical man.
"Yes, Secretary Ma?" he answered, intrigued by this new pressing question in his mind, for which he didn't have a pleasant guess in either case.
"Dr. Kim, Mr. Go, your grandfather, is on the line. Before that, can I confirm with Mr. Lee Dae Won the squash game at the club, next Friday afternoon?"
"Oh ... yes. It's confirmed," Kim was not all that excited to see an old friend he'd barely met nowadays, but he rationally knew he had no real reason to avoid seeing Dae Won. The idea seemed much better when Kim Jun Hyeon received the invitation, than when it became an actual event on his agenda.
His grandfather's call was transferred.
"Well done."
"Well done?" Kim asked, subtly teasing his grandfather about his condescending, grave and imperial tone on the phone.
"Your secretary called me, saying you're sending two dozen roses to Ms. Ye Rim."
"Yes, it's true."
"I recommended that she sends the flowers to the Pearl Club, where Ms. Ye Rim will sing tonight. I don't know her personal address, anyway."
"Alright, hal-albeoji, that's enough, thank you."
"You did just right."
Jun Hyeon smirked in the middle of the call. "So we're okay?"
"Uhn ... I do not know. You interrupted something important and meaningful to me and my friends, offended a young woman who I cherish for dearly, and stood me up that other day, waiting for you in the restaurant."
"What?! Hal-albeoji?!" his tone rose, surprised by the plot twist. His grandfather was bringing back a subject from three months ago! But that should be expected. 'Why people after a certain age can be so grudgy?' he wondered.
"What, what, kid?" the grandfather pretended to be as confused as his grandson. "It is true. You owe me, Dr. Kim Jun Hyeon! It was my birthday present, and you left me waiting in the restaurant!"
"But, Grandfather, I had a medical emergency that night!"
"I don't mind, and your debts only pile up, boy! My only grandson, tsk tsk..."
'Oh, here we go again...' Dr. Kim knew his grandfather's sense of humor, and that he was indeed a romantic man. At that moment, Kim was probably either on the verge of being made of fool, or incurring the risk of hurting his dear grandfather. He couldn't pick the right guess on that right now.
"Right. I have corrected my mistake with Miss Nam, and now, as for you, what could I do, Albeoji?"
"I'll think of something."
"Okay, I got caught."
What?
"Nothing, Grandpa. See you tonight? Can we have dinner together, perhaps?" this involved clearing a previous appointment with some friends, but everyone who was close of him knew how close Kim Jun Hyeon was to his family, especially his grandfather by mother's side.
"Ehhh. I'll see," the older man on the other end of the line wasn't making things any easier to the doctor, but Kim Jun Hyeon was sorry for not having fulfilled his birthday promise on that earlier occasion, so he wasn't really annoyed. "I call you later. Now get back to work, Dr. Kim."
"Yes ... See you, Grandfather."
"Uhmm," Mr. Go hung up, leaving his grandson thoughtful about how involved his grandfather was with these people from his favorite club, Pearl, to take offense and choose a side on what happened between his grandson and the singer.
He then pressed the intercom button to tell Secretary Ma that he was ready to start seeing the patients.
...
Around this same time, Ye Rim was returning from her morning jogging, bravely forcing herself to go up the stairs of the suburban and average building two steps at time, to the third floor where she shared an apartment with Eun Ha. Earlier, as she was running, she wondered if she should increase her series, after being exposed to the fabulous ripped abs of a mere physician. 'Should I engage more? Did he spot any cellulite? Well, he's a doctor specialized in plastic surgery, cellulites shouldn't put him off. Maybe he only thinks of profit when he sees them... Should I do a liposuction? Would he recommend me liposculpture?'
She opened the door of the apartment in a fuss.
"Unnie, good morning! Do you think I should do liposculpture?"
"If it's in the brain, totally. Good morning," Eun Ha moved from the bathroom into the kitchen, applying her thick eyeliner as she walked, as if was no big deal. Ye Rim always marveled at this talent of her unnie, "Let's eat ?"
"Are you going somewhere, unnie?" Ye Rim sat at the table, checking out the dishes her friend had prepared in her absence, but also realizing that Eun Ha was dressed to go out in some of her heavy, gloomy black garments.
This was the kind of clothing Eun Ha had worn since her late teens, when they dropped the high school uniforms, and they both came together to the capital to go to college. Ye Rim didn't even remember what had made Eun Ha decide on this flamboyant, peculiar and unconventional clothing style, but in fact, her friend used to draw attention anywhere she went _even if it was not always the best kind of attention. But as Eun Ha was a talented graduated fashion designer, Ye Rim thought it was just fitting and fair that she sported an exotic style of garments that matched her unique style of thinking and acting. Contrary to what might seem based solely on her somewhat intimidating style, Eun Ha was sweet and humorous. On a second thought, in fact, she also had a side full of quirks and eccentricities.
"I'm going back to Park & Zhang. That was last time that your trainee-era sunbae, Cha Eun Mi, who works for Zhang now, barred me with a tattered excuse. Oh, I just so hate her!" Eun Ha helped herself to the food with cranky, full of frustration moves. It was the seventh time she was being treated like crazy, just because she insisted on getting an appointment for business talk with one of the country's top fashion designers.
"Who does she think she is? Does she think I would be there, trying to arrange an appointment with Mr. Zhang, if he had not given me this right?"
"Unnie, maybe there's another way to try if it did not work out. These staff just don't know who you are and why Mr. Zhang is looking forward to seeing your stuff."
"He said it, didn't he? And he was emphatic on it, by the way. He said:…"
"When you have a collection, come and see me, Eun Ha ssi. Really. I want to help you. I'm sorry, you should have won this contest," Ye Rim quoted Alexander Zhang's words by heart, thinking she would chorus with her friend, but spoke alone as Eun Ha chewed her food. She got truly embarrassed when it didn't work as expected and sudden silence fell in the kitchen. Her unnie looked at Ye Rim with wide eyes:
"Wasn't it?! That's what I'm saying! His personal advisor knows who I am. But this annoying newbie thinks she's doing everyone a favor by keeping me from seeing him. She really is... A BITCH!"
Ye Rim patted her friend's shoulder, comforting her, "Unnie, today is Wednesday and you have already said that he always show up in his main office on Wednesdays. Why don't you set up an... ambush in the parking lot?! Yes! Enough making it the conventional way! "
"Ye Rim?!" Eun Ha blinked in shock.
"Hahahaah, it would be funny, wouldn't? But these things don't work well in real life and you can end up spoiling everything. It must not look like you're begging for his attention, unnie!"
"Do you think I shouldn't pay Mr. Zhang a visit in his office today?"
"Well, Unnie, I think it's a day for..." Ye Rim got up and went to the kitchen's window, which had a strategic view of the side street, where there was a greengrocery that serviced the neighboring blocks. She glanced at her watch: "It's about time. Run! Here he comes!"
Eun Ha got up and came to join her friend at the window. A pickup truck parked near the service gate of the greengrocery, and a tall, athletic man jumped up, straightening the bandana protecting his head. He took off his T-shirt and went to the back of the truck, taking out crates of vegetables and fruit, while exposing a sexy torso defined by physical labor.
"Today is day ... It's day for paying a visit to your future boyfriend! We need carrots and perilla," they spent some time enjoying watching the physical effort of the tall, strong Yoo Kang Dae carrying the crates to the greengrocery. The girls were sure he could guess he was being watched, but they didn't care being caught doing it.
Eun Ha laughed at her friend's teasing, but shook her head as the heavenly vision that brighten them up almost every morning disappeared behind the service gate.
"Aeee ... I don't know. He always wants to give me things for free, or almost it..."
"I hope he gives that body of him for free to you, unnie!" Ye Rim giggled, "How can he be so handsome and so shy at the same time?"
This time Eun Ha felt truly embarrassed and a self-serving woman for accepting Kang Dae's little niceties every time she went to the greengrocery store without honestly giving anything back. He was not as shy as Ye Rim used to think, but maybe he was the wrong combination of a stunning body with a goofy personality. Eun Ha shook her head, returning to the previous subject:
"Okay, maybe I should not look so desperate about seeing Mr. Zhang. And I wouldn't look like that, if Cha Eun Mi wasn't insisting on blocking me out."
Ye Rim sighed, unable to think of anything that could help Eun Ha pass this undeserved blockade.
"But what about you, did you apply for that DJ job opportunity?"
"Yes, I applied for it last night. I recorded some voiceovers and sent them along with my resume and portfolio. I know it's a very disputed position, but I'm sure my stuff is good. I think I have good chances. If they call me for the interview..."
"They will, you will see. It will be good if you do not just depend on gigs and the ridiculous earnings you make at the Pearl."
Ye Rim gave a slightly embarrassed smile, but was not really offended by Eun Ha's comment. "It's going to be great, Unnie! So we're going to pay an expensive lunch for that ratchet sunbae of mine, and she won't ever again look at us from above just because she's employed in a prestigious brand. Who does she think she is? She's a failure like any of us!"
"That's right!!!"
They laughed at the idea, returning to the already cold meal with renewed energy.
As experience dictates, lonely women are very rare. A woman has a least one true friend, somewhere, to who she can be herself unrestraintly, chat endlessly, and oggle hot guys with.
Call/message yours and say something nice to her/him!
Also, invite them to read my novel! :-)
XOXO