The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 1

4 🩺 Isn't that...?

'Kim Sonsaengnim~!' Hearing his name, Hongjoong turned around to see a little girl running down the hallway towards him, her mother walking behind her.

Hongjoong put his patient folder down on the nurses station and knelt down to the girl's level.

She ran into his arms and gave him a big one-armed hug. 'Sonsaengnim! SonsaengnimSonsaengnimSonsaengnim!'

Hongjoong smiled widely at the little girl's energy. 'Soyeon-ah! Look at you! You look lovely today, if I may be so honest. Did mommy get you this pretty princess dress? It really is adorable! I don't think I've seen this one among your collection before.'

The little girl smiled widely, showing off the gaps where she had lost her baby teeth. 'Yes! Mommy bought it for me! She said I look just like Cinderella! I like Sleeping Beauty more, but Cinderella looks more like me!'

Hongjoong sat down and crossed his legs, looking up at the girl through his red fringe. 'Sleeping Beauty? Does that mean you have a prince that is going to come and kiss you all better?'

The little girl giggled as though he had said the most scandalous thing she'd ever heard. She covered her mouth and blushed as her mother came up behind them.

'Soyeon-ah, did you say thank you to Kim Sonsaengnim for making your arm better?'

The girl, as though she'd totally forgotten, started jumping up and down in front of Hongjoong with enough energy to run a power plant. 'SonsaengnimSonsaengnim! Look look look look look! My arm is almost better already!'

Hongjoong smiled as the girl stuck out her arm, covered in a pretty pink cast. 'It does look good, doesn't it?' he said, amused. 'Do you think Kim Sonsaeng did a good job?'

Soyeon smiled widely. 'Yes yes yes! You alllllways do a good job! Thankyouthankyouthankyouuu~~~' She jumped up and gave Hongjoong another hug as he laughed, admiring her energy.

'Soyeon-ah. What did I tell you about giving out hugs? He is working, baby.'

'Aww momma~~ But we're friends! Aren't we?!' She stuck out her pinky finger with her good arm.

Hongjoong smiled as he wrapped his own pinky around the girl's. 'Of course! So you better promise me you'll be extra careful from now on so I don't have to see you hurt again. Okay?'

The little girl smiled her toothless smile. 'Okay! Deal!'

Hongjoong smiled before putting on his serious-face-for-the-children. 'Soyeon-ah. Your mommy and I have to chat really quick. Do you wanna go see lovely nurse Hana over there and tell her Kim Saem said you could have a sweet?'

The little girl bounced up and down with a massive grin on her face. 'Okay~~! Nurse Hana is my favourite nurse! She's always sooo nice to me! Thank you Sonsaengnim!'

Hongjoong smiled as he watched the girl rush over to the nurse in charge as he got to his feet.

'Sorry, she's a little hyperactive this morning,' Soyeon's mother said to him calmly.

'That's okay. It's just a side effect of the Gabapentin. She'll be okay. We will trial her on low doses of the anti-epileptic for now and see how she fares. I'll speak with the neurology team later today and see if we can come up with a date to have her admitted so that we can monitor the seizures. But in the meantime, just keep supervising her and hopefully she won't have any more accidents like this in the future.'

The woman smiled, tears in her eyes.

'You're doing great. She's a good kid. She has a lot of strength, and a lot of loving people to take care of her. She has nothing to worry about, and neither do you.' Hongjoong gave her a comforting smile and a warm touch on the shoulder.

'Thank you, Sonsaengnim.'

Hongjoong shook his head. 'Don't thank me. It is my pleasure.'

~~~

Seonghwa leant against the nurses station in the east wing, still waiting for his Sunbae to come out from the patient's room that the patient had preferred he wait outside of for comfort reasons. He stared down the hall and noticed a small girl running up to a guy about his age with bright red hair.

A smile played on his lips as he watched the two interact. It was truly beautiful how they got along.

It wasn't until he stood up, finished talking with the mother, and turned to some papers on the nurses station that Seonghwa realised that he mustn't have been a guardian after all.

He watched as the red haired guy slung a stethoscope around his neck and picked up a patient chart.

He's a doctor?

He watched the guy friendly interact with the nurses as they discussed charts and patients.

Wow, Seonghwa thought, a spark of curiosity lighting within him as he wondered who he was, and what kind of area he worked in.

Just wow.

~~~

'- and I think we'll withhold the heparin today. We'll take some bloods tomorrow morning and go from there.'

Hongjoong picked up his next patient's chart and turned to set off down the hallway.

That's when he saw him.

Hongjoong froze for a moment.

A person leaning against the east wing nurses station abruptly jerked his head up and around, almost comically, before suddenly focussing down on some papers on the desk, flipping awkwardly through hundreds of pages in a single second.

Hongjoong tilted his head. He looked slightly familiar...

The restaurant from the night before blinked in his memory.

Squinting, Hongjoong recognised him and his eyes widened. 'So this is where I recognised him from...' I wonder who he's visiting...

'Kim Sonsaeng, are you okay?' Hongjoong's name snapped him from his thought. He turned to see Head Nurse Hana staring at him with confused, inquisitive eyes, glancing down the hall to see what had caught him in thought.

Hongjoong nodded his head and grinned kindly.

'Perfectly fine, thank you Hana.'

~~~

A/N: I loved editing this. It's been months since I've written it, and reading it again, having absolutely no recollection of what I'd already typed, it was as though I was reading it for the first time. Suddenly I'm sad that I have to write more, and can't just spam read it instead :(

Also, rlly just wanted to post this chap because it melts my heart. Okay now time to study lol.