Work Text:
I guess you’re on duty today.
Yes, the three of us are on duty today.
…
Hold on. How did you know I’m on duty tonight?
You told me, just now.
Right.
…
Professor, have you eaten yet? Please join us for lunch.
Sure, let’s go.
I wonder what’s on the menu today.
Dumpling soup, probably.
Huh?
(I want seaweed soup.)
They probably have dumpling soup and kimchi fried rice. I mean, th-that’s what I saw in my dream last night.
*****
Seokhyeong wanted to bang his head against the wall.
Sometimes he wished he hadn’t taken Songhwa’s advice. Especially with that embarrassing word vomit he had just now. Of course he knows what’s on the menu, he just finished two bowls of soup. Minha doesn’t need to know that, though. He should stop speaking while he was still ahead.
He even pretends to be magnanimous and let the youngsters go ahead of him in line, though he could tell they were a bit disconcerted by the arrangement. Hopefully they’ll be too preoccupied with the lunch in front of them to pay attention to how little food he got for himself. Or notice how the lunch lady raised one brow while trying to suppress a smile when he approached her with his tray.
The truth is, he didn’t plan to come to the hospital today. He’d been planning to take home his textbook last night, and wasted five minutes in an internal debate that convinced him to leave it. The research library with the more recent cases can also be accessed from his laptop at home, and he had thought that would be enough. All he knows is that after an hour staring at his laptop screen this morning, he was too distracted to get anywhere and needed a change of scene.
It took him one look at the bubbly resident standing in front of him at the elevator lobby to realize all of that hemming and hawing was just a lie he kept telling himself. He was meant to be here today all along.
*****
He pulls the door shut on his way out from his office, adjusting his bag strap across his chest as he heads to the elevator. He tries to recall the cafeteria menu and smiles as he remembers what’s for dinner - bulgogi is always a popular choice and it was surprising they were serving it on a Saturday. His steps inevitably take him to the OB GYN floor, and he doesn’t think twice about the detour to check up on his juniors before leaving for the day. He knows he’ll be roped into having dinner downstairs as the ward is not as busy tonight.
When he hears the high-pitched “Gyosunim!” from the hallway, he resigns himself to the inevitable.
Somehow, against all expectations, staying in orbit around this brilliant star and basking in her warmth is no longer a waste of his precious time.