How to save a dog's life and potentionally find love?

Nayeon is not ready for today.

First she got woken up by Ryujin for her to tell her adventures of today, which is not anything spectacular except for what she had dreamed of last night, something along the lines of unicorn and alien mutation thingies, Nayeon is not sure.

On top of that, the little girl has spilled orange juice on her white carpet. Nayeon should not get angry at her daughter, she knows she should not have a white carpet in a house with an eight year old. She also should not have expected Ryujin to pour her own drink into her cup, the girl still has no control of her strength. So the woman blames herself.

To make the day even worse, Jihyo should be arriving at her house in ten minutes because they are going to the hospital together today. So she has no time to clean everything up. Nayeon is going to lose her mind. And it’s not even 11 AM.

Jihyo arrives shortly after, she eyes her best friend cautiously. The best friend quickly notices that Nayeon is having a hard time. She doesn’t say anything to her, lets her be and goes handels Ryujin for her. That is true friendship right there.

“Ryujin let’s go get your coat, while your mom cleans up the table.” Jihyo takes the kid and they slowly leave the house and go into Jihyo’s car.

Nayeon sits on the chair of their eating table for a bit. Her hands covering her face. She really wants to cry but she does not. She can’t not right now. She tries to hold her tears in until she arrives back home, or at least when she is around the terminally ill children. That area is going to be supervised by her anyway, she can at least shed a few tears there. Okay, I can’t cry now, I’ll cry later when I am supervising the children, she thinks to herself.

The stress of the day has already made her tearful.

The car ride was mostly quiet on her side. The only sounds coming from Ryujin and the radio. Nayeon doesn’t have the mind to listen to anything she is saying right now.

They arrive at the hospital quickly. The little event had started already but Jihyo and Nayeon were both scheduled to arrive later and stay till the end. Today's program is simple, Jihyo will be helping at the workshop section for the kids and she will take Ryujin with her. Nayeon will be at the terminally ill section, she will be supervising and getting the visitors to the right rooms and tell them a bit of background information about the patients. The visitors are some popular people in the media today that the kids themselves requested. Nayeon wonders if there would be anyone she recognizes.

Most of the ill kids can’t leave their room so they won’t be able to see all of the celebrities that arrived today, so they have a tight schedule. Most of the kids will be seeing up to five celebs. To everyone's relief there are not that many terminally ill kids, so eight nurses are assigned to one visitor each and they will spend the day together.

She hopes she will be with someone she knows. Or if she doesn’t she wants to be assigned to someone she can have a good time with. God must have heard her because suddenly she sees a rose from her peripheral view appear, if it was a bit closer she would have a few scratches on her cheeks.

“One pretty rose for one pretty lady.” A voice says. And she wishes she didn’t wish for someone she knew, maybe God will grant her this last wish too. God doesn’t. Because when she turns to see the person holding the flower, it’s no other than the strange girl she met yesterday. The girl who is best friends with her daughter no less. Nayeon doesn’t know if she should blush or strangle the person in front of her. She chooses neither one and instead she chooses to speak.

“What are you doing here?” She says trying to muster up all of her judgy voice.

“Giving you a flower of course!” The girl says with a big smile, as if they weren’t in a hospital.

Nayeon lets out a deep sigh. She just prays from the deepest place in her heart that this is just a joke and that the woman in front of her will disappear.

“Why are you closing your eyes?” The woman asks. Still holding the rose really close to Nayeon’s face.

Nayeon hadn’t even realized she closed them. She opens them slowly still wishing the woman would vanish but she doesn’t, to Nayeon’s dismay.

“Are you okay?” The woman asks, now sounding worried. She drops her hand that is holding the flower. “Do we need to get you a doctor?” The woman asks.

Nayeon wants to roll her eyes. She can handle herself, this woman doesn’t need to worry about her. “I’m fine.” She responds and decides to leave the situation. She’ll just find somebody that is willing to switch with her.

“If you are trying to run away, I have bad news for you.” The woman says, still following her, “You are stuck with me.” She is smiling like this is funny. The urge to cry from earlier returns full force and she can’t hold it in.

A few tears come out. And above all the sadness, Nayeon feels shame because she can’t control her emotions in front of strangers and that she has to cry for something so insignificant. The few tears turn into a few too many and she can’t stop. Jeongyeon grabs her gently and leads her to somewhere more private. Once she is sure they are alone she gives Nayeon a gentle hug.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make your time worthwhile.” The woman whispers to the crying girl. “If you hate it this much I can still just leave, you know.” She says, still with a smile, she lets go a little so she can look at Nayeon. The nurse doesn’t want her to leave, the kids will be disappointed. So Nayeon has to improvise.

“No, no, it’s okay. Really it’s just the kids you know.” Nayeon says, trying to debunk the situation. She doesn’t want it to grow and make a big deal out of it. The only thing she is hoping for right now is the day to be over quickly.

“Are you sure you are okay?” The woman asks, still a bit suspicious.

Nayeon can only nod and wipe away the traces her tears left behind. She walks past Jeongyeon back into the hall. She does not look behind her to see if the other girl is following her. She probably does because there is a second pair of feet that are making noise besides hers.

Jeongyeon gets her stuff from the table she left them on and quickly starts following Nayeon again. She had learned her name earlier in the day when her and her group members came here. They all got assigned to some nurses. Tzuyu and Sana had to go with a nurse called Park Jihyo. While she and Mina were in this section of the hospital because of a few special requests. And no one knows where Momo is.

They know she is somewhere in the hospital but the girl is probably lost. Jeongyeon is not surprised by that girl’s behavior. Momo is like that most of the time. She hopes the other nurses like her members and that they will treat them well. Not like Nayeon with Jeongyeon right now. But she knows the only thing Nayeon needs is some time. Some time with Jeongyeon. That way everything will be alright again.

They first visit a little boy and from the looks of the room, the boy is a big fan of music. He has a guitar and a piano in his room, and he has a big smile when he sees her come in. They spend a whole hour together singing and dancing. The dancing part was a little less because his doctors advised him to stay seated as much as possible. But God did they wave their hands in the air together. Jeongyeon even got Nayeon to join in. She even got her to smile, that is a win for Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon gifted him an album of their group and her own saxophone because he mentioned that he always wanted one but that his parents couldn’t afford it. Jeongyeon left that room with a really good feeling. She did something good today. A few more rooms to go! She can’t wait.

Nayeon is under the impression of the other woman’s ability to make people smile. The once somber room was filled with laughter and music. Nayeon expected today to be very emotionally draining but every room went this way she could even applaud the other woman. Nayeon also found out in the span of an hour that Jeongyeon is in a kpop group. And that she is the leader of that said group. And the girl is younger than her by a year.

To Nayeon’s luck most of the rooms did go that way but one little girl was very emotional because she got sad news yesterday. She lost her battle against the virus she was fighting and that she really had not much time left. That was the last room they went into and Jeongyeon facetimed every kpop idol she had the phone number of to wish this girl a happy day.

When the little girl saw her original request appear on the screen she almost lost her mind. The little girl is apparently a big fan of red velvet and Seulgi promised to visit her in the near future. The girl also got signed albums from Red Velvet, Newjeans, BTS and from Jeongyeon herself too of course.

So to say the girl was happy was an understatement. The girl's parents thanked the both of them profusely by not letting them go from their tight hug. The little girl also joined in. They left every patient's room with a smile and this one room too. Even Nayeon smiled because of Jeongyeon’s sweet gesture.

Her original plan to cry in the patients’ room left the building and instead she really enjoyed her day. Maybe that is also why Ryujin seemed that happy yesterday, maybe Jeongyeon used her magic on her too.

Nayeon would never admit that she had a good day though. She still thinks the other woman is annoying. And the woman even proofs it right after they left the girls’ room.

“So do you wanna go eat something, like a date?” Jeongyeon asks.

“I have to be somewhere.” Nayeon lies. It’s not entirely a lie, she wants to go to Ryujin and ask how her day went.

“Where are you going?” The woman asks, Nayeon should have known she could not escape from this woman because when Nayeon started walking away after her earlier statement the girl just started walking next to her.

Nayeon doesn’t respond to the other woman, instead she thinks the woman will find out eventually.

Jeongyeon just follows her. She doesn’t know where to go anyway in this hospital the safest thing to do is to follow the other girl.

Well that is what she thought until they arrived in a room full of children with markers in their hands. And in the middle of the room sat Momo, her hands and feet tied up to a chair. Her face is full of drawings of the kids. Jeongyeon is glad no one cut Momo’s hair otherwise they would get in trouble at the company.

But that relief quickly disappears when she sees what is about to happen. The children run to her and tackle her on the ground and before she knows it she is sitting in a chair next to Momo with her hands and feet tied up. The other girl looks at her, no thoughts behind those eyes.

“I’ve seen some stuff.” She says her face morphed into a disgusted expression. Jeongyeon looks ahead. She sees Nayeon laughing so hard she is doubled over. Jeongyeons heart is about to burst out of her chest at the sight of the girl being this happy. What makes the smile disappear are the kids that begin drawing on her face. Jeongyeon will be stuck here for a while.

Nayeon closes the door to the playroom. Her heart is going to plummet from all the laughing. Jeongyeons face, her eyes full of fear. Nayeon has never seen anything funnier in her entire life. Her irritation from yesterday is a bit satisfied. She will sleep peacefully today, for sure.

–
Meanwhile Jihyo and Ryujin had the time of their lives. Much like Nayeon but the older girl would never admit that she had a good time with the other woman. Jihyo was there with a few famous people. Under which is a girl group Jihyo is a fan of, Thrice. THE Sana and THE Tzuyu are here with her. They might be the two cutest people Jihyo has ever seen. Her heart might explode because Sana has come to her a few times to talk with her, with the strangest excuses.

“So what is your shoe size?” She asks, the other member is watching her from the corner. If they were in high school Jihyo would think Sana was asking that because of a dare. The girl looks a bit flustered and all Jihyo can do is answer.

“I am a size 7.” Jihyo says she really wants to continue talking to the Japanese girl but she quickly runs back to her friend. Her friend's disappointed look tells Jihyo everything she needs to know. She’ll ask for the other girls’ phone number later. Jihyo smiles to herself, finding this whole situation a bit funny.

“Why are you smiling?” Ryujin asks her, appearing out of nowhere. The girl has so much glitter in her hair, Nayeon is going to lose her mind. She tries to shake some of it away but the glitter just sticks to her clothes and to her hand so she gives up rather quickly.

“You look so good Ryujin. Your mom is going to love seeing you like this.” Jihyo says but regrets it right after, the girl is too young to understand sarcasm, how can she forget that.

“Thank you unnie, I'll add more blue glitter.” The little girl says and walks away. Jihyo really should go after her but Sana and her friend came to her, Jihyo doesn’t know how to keep her cool. A second of eye contact with Sana makes her feel warm inside and blush. Get yourself together, she thinks.

The girl’s friend starts talking “My friend here,” She points at Sana, who is standing next to her, “Wants to take you out for drinks.” Speaking Jihyo went through a thousand emotions unlike the girl that was speaking who didn’t let her see one emotion. Not even when Jihyo said yes and Sana squealing and clinging to Tzuyu’s arm. Sana was the cutest girl Jihyo had ever seen in real life. Not that there are cuter girls in the not real life thing.

Nayeon was on time to see the little interaction with the singers and Jihyo, and behind the little group Ryujin was putting glitter in her hair. The nurse runs to her little girl. Already mad that the girl's hair is sticky with glitter. She should have gotten rid of Jeongyeon sooner. This will take ages to clean off. She really wants to go home now but she still has to be here till the end of the event which is still a few hours away.

–

Jeongyeon doesn’t know how long she has been stuck in the chair with Momo but she finally was able to bribe the kids with candy in exchange for her freedom. Momo is going to have to buy a few hundreds of chocolate bars for the kids for their freedom. And all Jeongyeon wants to do now is go home but she has a schedule with the members after this so she has to wait for them. That will last a few hours because weirdly Sana, Tzuyu and Mina are still not done with their things.

The only thing the woman can do is wander around the hospital. She doesn’t know where everything is but the farther she wanders away the less decoration there is hanging on the walls and the whiter the hospital looks. Jeongyeon realizes what kind of depressing environment it must be on normal days. She is glad the children's section looked at least a bit colorful. It did not look as depressing but still it was not a happy place.

Jeongyeon smiles thinking about the children she visited today, all of them were really kind souls. It must really be depressing for someone like Nayeon to work in a place like this, she thinks, if she were to have children she would not want to think of the possible sickness they could have or catch. She must be a great mother to be able to handle a job like this and be a mother, Jeongyeon thinks dreamily.

Walking back to the more decorated area’s of the hospital she hears a high voice call her.

“Jeongyeon unnie, come here.” A little girl's voice called to her, she did not need to guess who it was because she already knew. It is her new friend from yesterday.

Nayeon was going to lose her mind for the third time today. While she tries to run away from Jeongyeon, the girl keeps finding ways to spend time with her. And just now Ryujin called the woman’s attention and she was literally walking away from them, her own child betrayed her.

The girl comes into the bathroom with a big grin directed at Ryujin and then a more cocky one at Nayeon. “Aren’t you tired running through my head all day?” She says to Nayeon paired with a wink and finger guns.

Nayeon slaps her hand on her forehead. That was a mistake because now her face is covered in glitter. And the dreaded girl laughs out loud. That is the first time she hears her laugh and she freezes to the ground. Why did her heart jump out of its place? She hates Jeongyeon even more now. That stupid laugh, she thinks.

She still does not move though and Jeongyeon takes matters into her own hands. She wets a bit of toilet paper and comes a bit closer to Nayeon to wipe away the glitter sticking to her forehead. In the process of cleaning, the girl gets really close to Nayeon and the nurse is still frozen to the ground. She sees the caring look Jeongyeon gives her and tries to hold onto something because her knees are going to give out. She grabs Jeongyeon’s arm and unfortunately the girl steps out of Nayeon's personal space, giving her a sheepish smile.

Wait a minute… Hold up. What is going on, Nayeon thinks. She didn’t think that that was unfortunate, right? Nayeon wants to slam her body to the ground for reacting like that. What was she, a typical schoolgirl with a crush? She is not even crushing it’s just that she needs to get laid. Yeah, she tells herself, it’s been a long time since someone was this close to her and showed interest, that must be it. Because she will not lower her standards to this annoying person.

“Jeongyeon unnie, do you want to help me instead?” Her daughter asks and Nayeon thinks that maybe that her little kid is not a traitor after all. She just saved her from a very long and awkward silence.

“Of course, buddy, what do you want me to help you with?” The woman takes on a very gentle tone with her kid.

While Ryujin tries to explain that she was just trying to be a pretty mermaid, Jeongyeon works on her hair. Gently getting a few strands of hair and washing it out and they were in the meantime even talking and laughing. It looked a lot like the scenes earlier in the hospital room with the kids and everyone having a good time with the singer. Nayeon secretly smiles at the pair and then gets herself together to kick the intruder out of the bathroom stall.

“Okay, that was enough of Jeongyeon for you today.” She says to Ryujin the little girl's face dropping immediately. The singer's face is identical to the little girls.

“I am sure the woman has much better things to do,” She says now looking at the woman with a stern face. “Don’t you?” She asks, her voice is drowned in sweetness but Jeongyeon got thrills hearing that sweet laced voice.

“I actually still have to be here for an hour or two. I really do not mind helping Ryujin out a bit.” She says, her nervous face replaced with a small smile when she turns to Ryujin again and starts to wash the glitter out of her hair again. The two girls continue talking like Nayeon is not in the room. Maybe she should not have wished for some peace and quiet this morning.

–

Jihyo feels a bit concerned for her friend after she arrives with Ryujin smiling ear to ear and holding a woman’s hand. The woman being THE Yoo Jeongyeon. The little girl is chatting with her and walking over here with the woman in one hand and her mother in the other. What makes Jihyo a bit worried is the fiery look she is giving Jeongyeon. It looks like pure hate. The other girl doesn’t even seem to mind it, giving Nayeon a big smile and just going on with her conversation.

Weird, Jihyo thinks. How do those two know each other?

Then it downs up on her. She herself has helped Jeongyeon in the hospital. She was there with the dog, the reason Nayeon wasn’t on time yesterday. But why does she look mad? Jihyo should ask about that later.

The two girls that were chatting with Jihyo also saw Jeongyeon with Ryujin and started laughing and squealing from delight.

“Jeongyeon unnie, is that the girl you were talking about yesterday?” Sana asks.

The woman nods and the two women surround the kid and start pinching her cheeks like an old grandma with baby fever would. Calling her cute and all. Ryujin does not even waver a little bit at all the attention she is getting. The girl is used to it because of her cuteness.

Watching the display Nayeon wonders how she, a socially incapable adult, can have a child with so many social powers? The girl is having a conversation with everyone while they are butchering her with attention, Nayeon would have asked the ground to swallow her.

They stay like that, the singers chatting with children and playing with them while Nayeon and Jihyo take a second to relax and get coffee. They are walking towards the coffee machine and Nayeon sees all the happy faces of the children and the parents and she reminds herself that this is the reason why she does what she does, even when she sometimes can’t spend a lot of time with her family and child. She is already making so much difference in so many people's lives. She is smiling thinking of that.

Jihyo and her are mostly quiet, having run out of their social batteries already. But Jihyo does talk to make her promise to get a signed album from Jeongyeon. Because in her words, ‘You two already seem like friends just ask one for me.’ Nayeon doesn’t ask for one and she is going to forget about Jeongyeon after this day anyways. So why make her have a reason to come back?

The girl group had to leave a short while after the managers had found Mina and that meant that Nayeon’s life was going to turn back to the way it used to. She was happy.

But is that really what she needed? ‘Yes,’ one voice says, ‘that girl only made you stress more and she was annoying anyways.’ The other voice simply says, ‘We’ll see.’

She gets a hug from all the girls even from Mina, who she didn’t even interact with. They are really nice, she thinks.

Jihyo got hugs from them too, and even a fist bump from Jeongyeon and she never saw her fangirl harder, until the girl got a kiss on the cheek from Sana. Jihyo was about to have a heart attack.

A few hours later Nayeon was home, a glass of wine in her hand she relaxed on her sofa. Ryujin was already asleep in her room, and she sat there mindlessly scrolling through the TV channels. Her phone vibrated and she saw that she got a message from an unknown number.

“Did your license get suspended?” The unknown number asked. Nayeon got to her feet to check her license, it wasn’t so she thought it must be a very weird scammer, until the next message came in.

“Because you are driving all these girls crazy 😎”

It seems like Nayeon has still not gotten rid of Jeongyeon…