We will never break the chain
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You had never felt uncomfortable with a patient before. Not that being around Hyunju made you uneasy—on the contrary, she warmed your heart in ways you didn’t understand. But you did find it amusing to be in a situation like this.
While you ate in the dining area, Hyunju ate in her bed, watching TV. You looked like a married couple going through relationship issues. Or was it just the “professionalism” of your job brushing against the empathy you felt for your patient? (Of course, it was much more than just empathy.)
Your phone vibrated—it was a video call from Bryan. You missed your colleague so much.
“Hey, you didn’t have to call me, I’m in the middle of something,” you joked, pointing at your food as you placed your phone on top of a fruit on the table to get a full-frame view of yourself.
“Sorry, I haven’t been able to read your messages. An elderly couple was transferred to the hospital, and we’ve been taking care of them intensively,” Bryan said, also on his lunch break in the hospital cafeteria.
“No problem!” you replied cheerfully.
“Let me read the messages you sent me—I’ve been so busy that I even forgot to reply to my mom!” Bryan said as he scrolled through the messages you had sent him. He adjusted his glasses while reading them one by one.
“I can only say—WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOUR PATIENT?!” Bryan yelled, and to your misfortune, you had him on speaker.
Your smile dropped instantly. You had been messaging Bryan about the feelings you (possibly) had for Hyunju… and there he was, screaming it at the top of his lungs. You prayed to every god that Hyunju was either asleep or, at the very least, hadn’t heard anything Bryan just said.
You immediately ended the call, and six hours passed before Bryan received another message from you.
From the other side of the room, Hyunju was struggling not to choke on her food. Her sharp hearing, trained from her time in the military, allowed her to pick up sounds barely perceptible to most people.
— Obviously — she had heard a certain phone call from a certain friend she already knew about from what you had previously told her.
It had just completely caught her off guard. She had been chewing a bite of chicken with salad when she heard it! She immediately choked, her lungs struggling for air. Lightly pounding her chest, the piece of chicken finally dislodged, and she could breathe normally again—though not without a fit of coughing at the end (which she prayed you didn’t hear, because she didn’t want you to see her choking at that exact moment).
She placed a hand on her chest as she tried to steady herself. Had she heard that right?
𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼
You were working on your laptop, reviewing hospital records and patient files. You took one last look at Hyunju’s care schedule for the day—there was something you felt you were forgetting, but you didn’t know what.
You opened her file, a document created on the day of her surgery (the same one that had been personally handed to you but was left forgotten in your apartment). You scrolled through the list of care instructions—meals, cleaning of the treated area, and… Oh, of course. How could you be so careless to forget? It was the unchecked box for personal hygiene, which you had neglected to review.
You sighed as you checked your watch and the calendar. The doctor had strictly instructed that your patient should take warm baths every other day for the first week.
It wasn’t that Hyunju was completely weak—in fact, you were surprised by how strong she was despite being in early recovery from her surgery. However, you were her assigned nurse, and once again, you locked away any previously entertained feelings deep within a mental safe.
Something so routine, something you had done multiple times with multiple patients, was not going to compromise your professionalism…
You shut your laptop and headed toward Hyunju’s room.
The door was open, yet you still decided to knock before entering.
“Come in, you may enter.” Hyunju was in her usual position, reading a new book. Her eyes sought yours the moment you stepped into the room. A bit of bossa nova played softly from her television, a vanilla-scented candle burned on her bedside table, the window was open, and the curtains were drawn back to let in fresh air.
Your eyes instinctively avoided hers as you gathered your professionalism into words.
“Miss Hyunju, the doctor has instructed me to assist you with bathing and cleaning your wound as part of your post-operative care. Your medical file indicates that you should take warm baths every other day for at least one week,” you stated, maintaining a serious yet kind demeanor.
Hyunju narrowed her eyes and paused before responding.
“I told you that you could just call me Hyunju.” You bit your tongue, remembering.
“And that’s fine, I’ll take the shower. My clean clothes are in the drawers of my closet—you can grab them.”
𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼
For the first time since her previous implant surgery, Hyunju was able to look at her wound. She saw it accidentally in the reflection of her bathroom mirror, and to her surprise, everything seemed fine.
Showing you her chest was no longer something that made her nervous. She had gotten used to the idea of you changing her bandages, and most importantly, she had never seen a bad reaction from you—no trace of lust or inappropriate thoughts.
The only things she associated with those moments were your skilled hands and focused eyes, solely dedicated to doing a good job. She perceived nothing but genuine, professional concern from you.
But this was different—showing you her lower body, and worse, completely naked.
It wasn’t personal; it was just that no one had seen her naked since she underwent previous aesthetic procedures. She didn’t feel comfortable looking at herself, so it was logical that she wouldn’t feel comfortable with someone else seeing her.
Especially if that person was you.
Hyunju was trying to find the right words to express that she wasn’t comfortable with you bathing her completely. She opened her mouth to speak when you beat her to it.
“Hyunju, don’t worry. I’ll place a towel over your lower body to keep it covered. Once I’m done with my part, I’ll leave the bathroom so you can wash yourself completely. And I’ll make sure to clean the wet towel properly, so please, feel at ease with this routine bath.”
Now, it was Hyunju’s heart that skipped a beat at your kindness.
You had thought about how she would feel before she could even bring it up or mention it.
Why were you always this considerate?
Her cheeks warmed, taking on a slight rosy hue.
“…Thank you.”
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