Chapter Text
Chapter 4 | "Bab meokja."
Song-hwa didn't know whether her words two nights ago had some kind of supernatural power or if it had simply been good timing, but after her night shift, she was finally able to head home once she finished her morning clinic. For the first time after a week of nonstop moving, she slept in her own bed, uninterrupted, and woke up the next morning refreshed.
"Yah, Ahn Jeong-won." Song-hwa said, as she stepped into the lift. She politely returned the greetings from a couple of nurses and walked to the back to stand by an exhausted-looking man. "Aigo, look at you. Did you even sleep?"
"Just a bit. Jin-a's BP dropped suddenly last night, but thankfully, she's stable now." Jeong-won sighed, slumping back on the glass wall. Then he seemed to take note of her attire and smiled. "Chukhahae, Song-hwa-ya. Welcome back to the world of living."
Laughing softly, Song-hwa bumped her shoulder with his. "Is it that obvious?"
"You're holding coffee." He said simply, as though it was enough of an answer. When she looked at him in confusion, he rolled his eyes. "You never had time to buy your own during your benders — which reminds me, you owe me eighteen thousand won, Chae Song-hwa."
"Ne, ne, I'll be sure to pay you back, Ahn Jeong-won-ssi." Song-hwa huffed, shaking her head when she saw the man's eyelids beginning to droop. Seeing as they were nearing her floor, she nudged him again with her elbow. "You have a couple more hours before your rounds, don't you? You should take a nap. I'll wake you up."
"Oh... a nap? Hm." Jeong-won mumbled in a daze, seeming to be thinking over her suggestion. A moment later, he nodded. "Mm. Okay... a nap sounds good."
"Let's go then."
Song-hwa carefully guided him out of the elevator and led him to her office. She huffed out a laugh when the pediatric surgeon practically collapsed onto her sofa bed, conking out the moment his head hit the pillow.
(￣ー￣)ｂｄ(￣ ∇ ￣)
When Ik-jun came into Yulje that morning, he spent more than half an hour sitting in the GS call room, greeting the professors coming in and going out of the door — some recognised him, while others dismissed him as an intern. But none of them were the one he was waiting for.
It was another five minutes before he became antsy enough to send Jeong-won a text, questioning where he was. When there wasn't an immediate reply, he decided to text Song-hwa as well, hoping that she might have a clue to her fellow professor's whereabouts.
However, the universe didn't seem to be on his side at the moment, as Song-hwa, too, didn't read his message.
Ik-jun slumped forward onto the table and let out a low grunt. "I swear, if that saekki forgot about me..."
When the door opened once more, he fixed his posture and saw a young woman enter the room. He recalled Jeong-won's brief rundown on the department and recognised her to be the sole GS resident in Yulje.
"Annyeonghaseyo." Ik-jun greeted the woman. "You must be Jang Gyeo-ul seonsaeng-nim. I'm Lee Ik-jun — Kwon gyosu-nim said he filled you in?"
"Ah... ne. Annyeonghaseyo." The resident bowed her head politely, before taking a seat at the other end of the long table with, what seemed to be, a bag full of convenience store food.
The moment she took out a piece of bread, Ik-jun contemplated his next move. He spared a glance at his idle phone and came to a quick decision.
"Do you happen to know where Jeong-won is, Jang Gyeo-ul seonsaeng-nim?" He asked just as the woman tore the plastic wrap off the bread.
She paused and blinked at him. "You mean Ahn Jeong-won gyosu-nim?"
"Yeah, that sae—" Ik-jun coughed quickly as he caught himself. "He and I were supposed to meet up here at seven but, well," He gestured to the clock on the wall showing that forty-three minutes had already passed. "So I was wondering if he has an emergency that I'm not aware of?"
"Ah," Gyeo-ul looked down at her bread. "Ahn gyosu-nim should be with Chae Song-hwa gyosu-nim at the moment."
"Song-hwa?"
The only sign of her surprise at his familiarity with the neurosurgeon was by the way she lifted her head back up to blink at him. She nodded slowly. "Ne. The nurses heard Chae gyosu-nim telling Ahn gyosu-nim to sleep in her office."
Brows rising, Ik-jun's mind quickly supplied as to why the nurses would talk about it in the first place. He snorted. "Sesange. Just what kind of things are they feeding the rumour mill?"
Before either of them could say more, Ik-jun's phone rang. The man quickly picked it up before the second ring.
"Yah, Chae Song-hwa!" Despite the smile on his face, he greeted the caller with a playfully irate tone — never let it be known that Lee Ik-jun wasn't dramatic. "Is the time-obsessed pervert with you?"
Song-hwa's laughter was loud enough that Gyeo-ul could hear it chiming through the other line.
"Seriously, that Ahn Jeong-won! He was the one who kept harping on me about being on time," Ik-jun complained, as he started gathering his things and stood up. "And now look what happened — he forgot!"
"Arasseo, arasseo. Just go easy on him, will you? He didn't sleep at all yesterday. One of his kids' condition kept dropping."
The explanation did somewhat lessen his indignation. He sighed, not one to fault a doctor for prioritising his patient, and felt bad. "Aigo. Is the kid alright?"
"Don't worry, Ik-jun-a. She pulled through. Jeong-won-i is just sleeping in my office right now — and don't worry, I can assure you that no tears are in sight."
Ik-jun chuckled. "That's good to know. I'll come to you." He waved a hand at the resident watching him in silence and made his way to the door. Then as he reached for the handle, he remembered something. "Oh, right! Yah! Why didn't you tell us about the rumours about you and Jeong-won? This is the best thing I've heard all year! Wait until I tell the boys about this—"
His chortle was the last thing Gyeo-ul heard before the door shut behind him.
(￣ー￣)ｂｄ(￣ ∇ ￣)
"Seok-min-a, Seon-bin-a," Song-hwa called out to the two residents who were supposed to accompany her to her rounds that morning, tone amused. She felt a slight sense of déjà vu seeing them both frozen in the middle of her office with identical gobsmacked expressions. When they didn't seem to hear her, she huffed out a silent laugh. "Aigo, don't stare, you two. You'll wear his face out."
The man on her sofa scoffed, as though she'd just said something ridiculous. "'Wear out my face', she says." He gave the newcomers a wink. "It's okay, guys. Go on, get your fill. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."
His playful statement earned him a snort from his best friend, and seemed to snap the two residents out of their stunned trances.
Seok-min was the first to bow, quickly apologising for rudely staring. While Seon-bin flickered her gaze between the occupants in the room — from Ahn Jeong-won napping in the corner bed, to Lee Ik-jun lounging on the couch, and lastly, to Chae Song-hwa standing by her desk.
"So it's true?" The words tumbled out before she could stop herself. Horrified, Seon-bin clapped her hands over her mouth — but it was too late. They had already heard her.
Her professor raised a brow, waiting for the younger woman to elaborate. But after a moment of absolute silence, she asked patiently, "Is what true?"
"Oh, I know!" The resident superstar piped up suddenly, pointing a finger at Song-hwa. "It's about the dating rumours between Song-hwa and Jeong-won-i, isn't it?"
Song-hwa rolled her eyes in exasperation and huffed, "Will you drop that? I told you already — there aren't any rumours about us."
"There totally are!" Ik-jun insisted. He turned to her residents for confirmation. "Tell me I'm wrong."
Knowing that Seon-bin usually keeps up with the news around Yulje, Seok-min gave his hoobae a side-glance, who waved her hands quickly in denial. "That's not it." But then, the younger woman backtracked. "Ah—I mean, that rumour does exist in GS... but that's not what I meant, gyosu-nim."
Ik-jun's triumphant whoop fell to deaf ears as Song-hwa blinked in astonishment.
Just what kind of rumours have been circulating around GS?
Oblivious to the professor's confusion, Seon-bin continued, "Um, I was actually talking about gyosu-nim being friends with Lee Ik-jun baewoo-nim and—" She quickly went on to explain how she came upon the knowledge. She didn't want them to think of her as some obsessed fanatic or anything like that.
By the end of her tale, Ik-jun gave a humoured grin. "Well, Chan-young-ssi thought right." He confirmed with an easy shrug. "It's not like I was trying to be subtle that day."
"Subtle? When are you ever subtle, Lee Ik-jun?" Song-hwa remarked drily.
Blatantly ignoring the jibe, the man continued smiling at the residents. "Honestly, I don't mind people knowing I'm friends with a couple of cool surgeons, but," He let out an exaggerated sigh and shook his head in a morose manner. "They are the ones who refused to be associated with me."
"Because we don't want people asking us for favours, saekki-ya." The grumble came from Jeong-won — likely woken by their chatter. The pediatric surgeon slowly cracked an eye open and stretched his arms over his head, shoving Ik-jun in the process.
"Hey! Don't push me—and don't lie! You're ashamed of me, admit it!"
"Ugh, stop being dramatic, Lee Ik-jun."
"You're not even denying it! I knew it! Jeong-won-a, Song-hwa-ya, how could you?!"
Sighing at the boys' antics, Song-hwa walked over to her countertop to pour a third cup of coffee that morning. When their squabbling started devolving into insults, she could feel a headache starting form and rubbed at her temples.
"Geumanhae!" Her sharp reprimand put a stop to their bickering, leaving the two men to childishly glare at each other. "Fight in your own time. My residents are still here."
The reminder of their audience was enough to pacify one of them, while the other only seemed to notice the additional company just then. Jeong-won sat up properly and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Oh, Seok-min-ssi, Seon-bin-ssi, annyeonghaseyo."
"Annyeonghaseyo, gyosu-nim." The two chorused back politely, though they couldn't quite hide their astonishment.
The silence that followed was almost suffocating, interupted only by the sound of water being poured into a cup from Song-hwa's side of the room. Deciding to put the pediatric surgeon out of his misery, Song-hwa stepped in before the air could become even more stifling. She walked over and set a cup of coffee on the corner of the table nearest Jeong-won. "Here. Wake yourself up, will you?"
He reached for the steaming mug and gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Song-hwa-ya." He inhaled, enjoying the rich, robust aroma of Song-hwa's expensive blend. The smell was enough to bring him halfway back to the present and he realised why the NS residents were suddenly in the office. "Is it time for your outpatients?"
"Eo." She turned to herd her juniors out of the door. "I have to head out first." Then, narrowing her eyes slightly, she threw a look over her shoulder. "You two can stay here — but only if you behave. I don't want to come back and see this place in shambles, arasseo?"
"...Ne."
Song-hwa huffed in amusement at their bowed heads and pursed lips, looking every bit like the scolded children they were.
"Good, then. Na kanda."
She gave them a brief wave before heading out with her residents.
(￣ー￣)ｂｄ(￣ ∇ ￣)
It wasn't until long after Song-hwa closed the door behind her that Ik-jun finally spoke up.
"Yah, Ahn Jeong-won."
Jeong-won took a moment to sip on the coffee Song-hwa made for him. "What is it now, Lee Ik-jun?"
Ik-jun turned in his seat to face Jeong-won, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. "Tell me honestly — do you like Song-hwa romantically?"
The question took him by surprise and he almost choked on his coffee. Coughing violently, Jeong-won whipped his head to his right, looking horrified and spluttering, "What kind of nonsense—yah, michyeosseo?!"
Ik-jun shrugged, looking as though he hadn't found anything strange with his question. "I mean, I just wanted to make sure if me and the guys should prepare ourselves — you know, like back then with Seok-hyeong-i." When Jeong-won kept staring him down, he lifted his hands in defence. "Ani. I was just saying — since the rumour came from GS, but you never said anything about it. And the two of you are always together, so... I just had a thought, is all."
"Are you insane? Song-hwa is like, like my third sister!" Jeong-won yelled in distress. "And did you forget I'm going to be a priest? Romance isn't exactly an option."
"Well, I don't know — people change all the time. Don't you know the saying? Never say never, Ahn Jeong-won-ssi." Ik-jun wiggled his brows, leaning close. "And what's not to like about Song-hwa anyway? She's smart, she's pretty, she's kind, and she's a doctor like you. Don't medical professionals tend to flock around their own kind? At least that's what I heard."
Huffing at his friend's nonsense, Jeong-won pushed him away by his face. "Stop it, this is getting weird. Aish. It's not Song-hwa."
Ik-jun's brows shot up as soon as the words left his mouth. "But there is a someone?!" He exclaimed, which got Jeong-won's eyes widening. "Honestly, I was mostly joking about Song-hwa — but you said 'it's not Song-hwa'. So who? if it's not her, then who? Who is it, Jeong-won-a?"
The man kept pestering him as Jeong-won got to his feet in a futile attempt to escape the nosy bastard. But Ik-jun was undeterred and dogged his steps all around the room. He was like a dog with a bone, not letting it go for even a moment.
"—tell me, chingu-ya! Yah! Who is it? Tell me! I swear I'll keep your secret! Ahn Jeong-won. Ahn Jeong-won gyosu-nim? Yeoboseyo? Is anyone there? Are you listening? I can help you, you know! Is it someone in Yul—"
"No one! It's no one!!" Jeong-won burst out. "Aish, jinjja, what is it with you? It's not Song-hwa or anyone else. There's no one." He stressed. "I'm going to the seminary this December. That's it."
There was something in Ik-jun's expression that he couldn't quite decipher, but it made him feel like the man could see right through him. The weight of his gaze made Jeong-won fidget, so the pediatric surgeon crossed his arms and stared back, almost defiantly.
"What?" Jeong-won scowled.
After a bout of silent staring, Ik-jun took a step back and grinned in his carefree way.
"Nothing." The man said lightly, turning back to the couch. "Nothing at all."
(￣ー￣)ｂｄ(￣ ∇ ￣)
After finishing rounds, seeing her outpatients, and doing one last review for tomorrow's surgery, Song-hwa had to admit she was impressed that her residents held out for as long as they did. She could imagine how curious Seon-bin must've been, judging by the way her peer, Ahn Chi-hong, kept glancing questioningly at the visibly restless woman throughout the meeting.
That's why, once they walked out of the conference room, Song-hwa decided to take pity on her favourite resident — not that she would ever admit to having favourites. Turning on her heel to face the neurosurgery group, she made eye contact with Seon-bin and nodded. "Malhae. I'll give you a chance to ask your questions, so go ahead."
Those who hadn't been present — Chi-hong and Nurse Hwang Jae-shin — turned to Seon-bin in confusion, while Seok-min gasped. Seon-bin, on the other hand, wasted no time latching onto her arm and looking up at her with big puppy eyes. "Jeongmal-yo, gyosu-nim? I can ask anything?"
Smiling in amusement, Song-hwa nodded in acquiescence. "Sure. But I won't promise to answer everything."
"Ne, gyosu-nim! That's totally okay!"
Before the younger woman could start on her questions, however, Song-hwa's phone rang. Seon-bin took a step back, almost disappointed—when Song-hwa brought the phone to her ear and said, "Eo, Ik-jun-a, wae?"
"Song-hwa-ya, baegopa." Came the man's whine. "Bab meokja."
"Then go eat in the cafeteria. Why are you calling me?" Song-hwa said, though she was already checking her watch — noting they were due for lunch anyway. "What about Jeong-won-i?"
"He ditched me." Ik-jun huffed. "He got a call from one of the nurses and ran like hell."
"And you didn't follow him?"
"...I, uh, tried to."
His hesitation and the silence that followed were enough for Song-hwa to piece things together. "Jeong-won outran you, didn't he?" She surmised, not bothering to hide her laughter. "What was it, you liked to claim? The most athletic of us?"
"No—It's not—I was just caught off-guard, okay? I was unprepared! How would I know he'd just—"
Letting the man continue spluttering in protest through the receiver, Song-hwa pulled the phone away and turned to the group politely waiting for her. "Lunch?"
"Will it be your treat?" Jae-shin asked point-blank — having worked together for so long, she was the only one brave enough to be so frank with the professor.
Song-hwa considered it for a moment before nodding. "Okay, my treat. Consider it a bribe to let someone join us." She grinned, tilting her head over to her phone, where she could still hear Ik-jun trying to defend his pride.
The nurse regarded her with a raised brow. "Who?"
(￣ー￣)ｂｄ(￣ ∇ ￣)
The walk to the cafeteria was a quick one, as the conference rooms were only a floor away. It was even more so when practically everyone was looking forward to meeting their professor's friend, who also happened to be the one and only Lee Ik-jun — a fact that Seon-bin let slip in her excitement.
As they were queuing, Jae-shin leaned closer to Song-hwa and whispered, "So, that kid's going to be shadowing GS for as long as Chan-young-ssi shadows us?"
Song-hwa glanced behind her to see the three residents busy talking amongst themselves, and deemed them too occupied to notice if she and Jae-shin started their own little conversation. Though just in case, she leaned closer to her long-time friend, and lowered her voice. "Pretty much, yeah. So please — be civil, eo?"
"We've always been civil, Song-hwa-ya." Jae-shin stated innocently, though the smirk on her face said otherwise.
"Uh-huh." Song-hwa raised a disbelieving brow at the woman. But when she merely mirrored her action back at her, Song-hwa let out a chuckle. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say, eonni."
Once their food trays were filled, the neurosurgery staff waded through the numerous cafeteria tables. Despite Seok-min and Seon-bin's best efforts to find the well-known celebrity in the midst of medical professionals and patients' families, Song-hwa was the one to spot him, for she recognised the bright green bucket hat he wore atop of his head — the newest addition to his collection, picked out by U-ju from a zoo gift shop.
He was sitting rather isolated in some kind of a nook that partially isolated him from the other cafeteria-goers.
"You got here fast." Song-hwa said by way of greeting and slid into the seat next to his. "I was surprised when you texted that you're already at the cafeteria."
Ik-jun lifted his head from his spoonful of rice. "Jeong-won-i gave me the full tour, so I'm practically a native now." He stated, then he waved when he noticed the other newcomers. "Oh, hey, it's you two again." He grinned at Seok-min and Seon-bin, who took the seats in front of them, and tilted his head. "I don't think we've been officially introduced. I'm Lee Ik-jun."
Still seemingly starstruck, Seok-min stammered through his own name. And Seon-bin, while also nervous, managed to fare better than the chief resident. Fortunately, Ik-jun didn't make any comments, so they weren't too embarrassed.
Then, Ik-jun's eyes landed on the man sitting on the other side of Seok-min.
"Annyeonghaseyo, Lee Ik-jun baewoo-nim. I am Ahn Chi-hong, a third-year neurosurgery resident." Chi-hong's introduction was short, polite, and easily the calmest out of the three.
"Ah, ne, annyeonghaseyo." Ik-jun greeted the residents. "You guys can just call me by my name, you know." He said easily, before leaning forward to see the person sitting to Song-hwa's left. His friendly grin froze when he spotted who it was.
"Annyeong, Ik-jun-ssi." Jae-shin smirked, leaning her elbow on the table. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Ik-jun recovered quickly and gave her an amiable smile, albeit not as wide as it was before. "Jae-shin seonsaeng." He greeted the nurse with a more subdued cheer. "I didn't know you still work here."
"You didn't?" Jae-shin hummed, her smirk widening. "I guess Song-hwa doesn't tell you everything, huh?"
Ik-jun narrowed his eyes and sucked air through his teeth, his lips mouthing something in silence.
The residents were stunned by the scene before them, their eyes darting between the sniggering nurse and the peeved celebrity.
Stuck in the middle of the silent feud, Song-hwa deliberately leaned forward, blocking their view of one another and putting a stop to their weird rivalry that she, to this day, still couldn't wrap her head around. She smiled to her three residents, ignoring the two beside her.
"Let's eat, hm?" She said before digging into her lunch.
The younger doctors hesitantly followed her lead, all the while sending curious looks over their trays.
Song-hwa's intervention was all for naught, however, as Jae-shin continued, "So, how's divorced life?"
Her choice of topic made Seon-bin choke mid-chew, to which Seok-min and Chi-hong quickly patted her back — while Song-hwa spared her long-time female friend a confused glance. The only reason she didn't step in was because she knew the woman, and no matter how complicated the nurse's friendship with Ik-jun was, she would never mean any harm for him.
"I've been great, actually!" Ik-jun answered after a beat, a grin plastered on his face. "My son's so smart these days. Like, I'm this close to entering him into MENSA." He held up a hand, leaving very little space between his thumb and his pointer finger.
"Oh, really? Huh, I guess a broken clock is right twice a day."
The decrypt remark pulled a surprised laugh out of him. "What's that supposed to be? A compliment?"
"Of course not." Jae-shin sniffed haughtily. "I was just marvelling the miracles of the world. How your kid grew up well under your care, and how you still had offers even after a year's break."
Blinking twice, Ik-jun deliberated over her statement for a beat, then his award-winning smile softened into something more genuine. "Mwoya, Hwang Jae-shin ssaem. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were worried about me."
The nurse clicked her tongue at his words. "Why would I worry? Song-hwa said that you had a great time in Spain anyway."
"And how would you have known that?" He challenged, "Song-hwa wouldn't have said anything unless you asked her about it. Admit it, you were worried about me, ssaem."
Leaving the two to their bickering, Song-hwa didn't bother to hide her smile and brought a forkful of meat into her mouth, not feeling quite as annoyed as she had been when they started talking over her. She glanced up to see that her residents had yet to touch their trays.
"You should eat now." She reminded them once more. "Min gyosu-nim wants your reports done by today, remember?"
"Ah, ye, gyosu-nim."
The three rushed to finish their lunch, the quarrelling duo beside her finally following suit and digging in as well.
For a moment, there was only the sound of spoons clacking on the plates.
For once, there was peace.
Then Seon-bin spoke up, "Gyosu-nim... can we still ask questions as we eat?"
Now typically, Ik-jun would've thought it to be something along the lines of their profession and let the medical professionals have their complicated talk. But the way the younger woman was glancing between the three sitting across from her grabbed his attention, gaining a sneaking suspicion as to the nature of her inquiry.
So he asked, "What kind of questions?"
"They're curious about our friendship." Song-hwa stepped in to answer as she had been the one to have given her permission in the first place. "Don't worry, I won't tell them anything too incriminating about you."
At that, Ik-jun scoffed, "Cham. You should be careful of what you say, you know." He huffed, "What would you do if I told them about your misdeeds, Chae Song-hwa gyosu-nim? Don't forget, I too have two decades' worth of archive up here." He tapped his temple. His playful threat earned him an eye-roll from his best friend, but she raised a hand in acquiescence, which he took as her admitting defeat.
Shaking her head at his smug grin, Song-hwa turned back to her residents and nodded. "Go ahead."
Not one to waste the opportunity to know more about the friendship between her favourite professor and one of the country's top actors, Seon-bin immediately asked the question that'd been in the forefront of her mind throughout the day.
"How did you meet?"
Glancing at each other, Song-hwa tilted her head, asking if he wanted to answer the question. Ik-jun considered it for a moment and nodded.
"We met in college, actually. My department had a joint membership training with the medical department. Song-hwa, Jeong-won-i and I met in a random shack outside of the building to run away from being forced to perform in front of the other freshmen." He chuckled with a nostalgic smile, before playfully narrowing his eyes at Seon-bin. "Don't tell the press, alright? I can't have people knowing I'm a rebel."
Seon-bin and Seok-min nodded earnestly, with the latter adding keenly, "Does that mean Chae Song-hwa gyosu-nim and Ahn Jeong-won gyosu-nim have seen your college band perform, Lee Ik-jun-nim?"
His question gained him surprised looks from all around the table. Suddenly sheepish, Seok-min looked down at his plate, all too aware of the man sat across from him looking at him in surprise. While he'd mentioned his college band days in interviews before, Ik-jun knew it was still fairly niche information — something mostly known by dedicated fans.
"Yong seonsaeng-nim, how did you..." Seon-bin trailed for a moment before gasping, "Omo, no way! Are you a moreal too?"
"Ah, no—um, it's actually—you know my sister—" Seok-min started stuttering through his excuse, though his tone was so unconvincing that no one was buying whatever it was he was trying to say.
Ik-jun stepped in before he could dig a deeper hole. "Well, fan or no fan, it's always nice to see someone interested in our band." He winked at them, and delighted in the way they caught onto his words.
For the first time since his introduction, Ahn Chi-hong spoke up, eyes lighting up in interest at the newfound information as he stared at the neurosurgery professor. "You were in a band, gyosu-nim?"
Song-hwa was quick to wave it off. "That was a long time ago."
Ik-jun gasped, taking offense in her words. "Yah, Chae Song-hwa! We literally practised together just two weeks ago!" He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not going to let you discredit my hard work like that."
Puzzled, she raised a brow at him. "What hard work?"
The man reeled back, as if she'd just said the most dastardly thing. "What hard work?" He echoed incredulously. At that, Song-hwa sighed and relaxed slightly, recognising that it was, in fact, just his dramatic flair at play. Though it didn't mean that she wasn't taken aback when he suddenly thrusted his open hand in front of him.
"Five years, Song-hwa-ya! For five years I suffered, just so you could play the bass!" He lamented his woes, to which she rolled her eyes at. She knew exactly where he was going with this.
"Stop exaggerating. I wasn't that bad."
"Hm, are you sure?" Jae-shin suddenly chimed in, mischief in her eyes. "I think I remember sitting in one of your performances back in 2003 — I seem to recall you missing more than just a couple of notes, Song-hwa-ya."
The neurosurgeon whipped her head towards the neurosurgery nurse with a look of betrayal.
"Eo, eo! What she said." Ik-jun jumped in before Song-hwa could say anything. He then threw himself into the back of his seat, arms crossed. "Aish, it's making me angry just remembering it."
"Then don't." Song-hwa snapped, shooting him a look before shifting to flash a neutral smile at their audience of three. "Don't listen to him, I can attest that he's just a bad teacher. Eat up, eat up."
Not waiting for her residents to go back to their meals, Song-hwa had already started stuffing herself with today's lunch. If her friends looked closer, they might just notice that the speed at which she ate was faster than her usual pace.
Evidently, Ik-jun did, as he suddenly put a hand in front of her, stopping her from getting another spoonful whilst still chewing on her last. "Yah... Can't you slow down a bit? You'll choke at thi—ack." He cut off with a yelp, flinching away from her offending elbow, as he wrapped his arms protectively around his side. "Ah, wae? I was just looking out for you!" He whined to the woman sitting beside him.
Song-hwa eyed him in annoyance, taking in his pout and puffed up cheeks. Then let out an exasperated sigh. "Just eat your lunch, Lee Ik-jun." She grumbled. Though she made a point to shovel food slower than she did before.