Hearteater | kth

7. Fairy

"When is a monster not a monster anymore?

Oh, when you love it."

"Tae-Tae!"

Shocked and thrown off guard, I scooted away from Taehyung's lap, my hands shooting up to button my shirt. Twirling around, my eyes cast over a small child running towards us and screaming with delight, tiny arms spread wide apart and a mouth spread in a large, almost wild grin.

"Hyeri!" Taehyung exclaimed and fixed his clothes, dropping to his knees and taking the young girl in his embrace. Her eyes alight, she started bouncing and giggling in his arms.

"I've missed you, Tae-Tae!" she giggled, placing her small palms on Taehyung's cheeks and squeezing them.

"I've missed you, too," he chimed, offering her an earnest look and allowing her to stretch his face in every direction possible. He glanced up at me and I could see he still looked abashed from being caught in such an indecent situation, even if it was by a child. "Hyeri, I want you to meet Faye."

"Is that your offspring?" I gasped, scrunching my nose in disgust and taking an involuntarily step back when the small human reached for my hand.

"No, she's a patient of mine." Taehyung laughed, putting his hands on his knees and lifting himself up. Hyeri clung onto him, liquid eyes studying my face curiously.

Oh thank God. I hated children. Sly little creatures. They could poop on you and no one would consider this rude.

"Faye!" Hyeri beamed, pointing a small chubby finger at me. "Like a fairy!"

"Hello, little one." I deadpanned, taking another step back. If there was one thing I was terrified of in this human world, it was children.

"I like your shoes!" she shouted excitedly, looking at my black spiked peep toe Louboutins.

"Why thank you for appreciating them," I nodded politely. "Most people say I look like a hooker in them."

"What's a hooker?" a cute little scowl occupied Hyeri's forehead.

"Oookay, enough with the shoes!" Taehyung laughed loudly, clapping his hands nervously.

"The kid has nice taste," I shrugged innocently and he giggled.

"You're amazing." he admitted totally out of the blue, robbing me of the air in my lungs. His gaze lingered on me a little bit too long and I felt a sensation I had never encountered before.

My palms started sweating.

"Hyeri!" a young woman appeared at the door, breathing heavily and glaring at the little mortal. "How many times have I told you not to run away from me while we're in the hospital!" she scolded.

"But I wanted to see Tae-Tae," Hyeri pouted, her small lip buckling upwards.

"It's okay," Taehyung smiled, stroking Hyeri's soft chestnut hair. "I'm just glad to see her so vibrant and lively." He paused, gazing at Hyeri fondly as the young girl bolted to the woman I assumed was her mother, her movements so energetic and chaotic that any behavioral scientist would have troubles explaining them.

"Was she sick?" I whispered, staring ahead as mother and daughter embraced one another.

"She was born with a condition called Tetralogy of Fallot," Taehyung explained in a hushed voice. "It's a congenital heart defect. It's very complex and I won't get into details, but basically her blood wasn't being oxygenated properly. We treated it with open heart surgery in her first year of life and now she comes regularly for check-ups."

"Wow," I breathed out. "A heart surgeon who treats both adults and children? Can you get any more perfect?"

For fuck's sake, Faye. Delete yourself. You sound so cringy and pathetic.

I didn't mean to sound so cheesy, but the words escaped me before I could stop them. I didn't even think about it, and what shocked me was how genuine they were.

Shyly, Taehyung's gaze dropped to the floor and he bit his lower lip. "I'm far from perfect." he quietly said, stifling a grin as his coffee brown orbs traveled back to meet mine.

I swear to God, when he looks at me with these honest doe eyes, he's doing something to me, some kind of a spell. This isn't normal. My gut turns and my lungs stop working and on top of everything, I feel light-headed, like it's me who needs a doctor now. The feeling is so unfamiliar, so foreign that I sense a wave of soft panic overcoming me.

"Look at me, Tae-Tae!" Hyeri bounced and pounced around the room, climbing on the bed and jumping on it, bursting with liquid sunshine. "Look how high I can jump!"

"The antibiotics did their thing. Thank you so much, Taehyung," the mother beamed and Taehyung nodded.

"I'm happy to be of help, Soohyun. It's crucial that we don't allow any infection to spread, especially in her case. Her immune system isn't mature yet and what may be a mild cold for us healthy individuals could be fatal for her." He informed her politely and I couldn't help but be impressed at how thorough and attentive he was with his patients.

"Of course," the woman whose name apparently was Soohyun agreed. "Who is this lovely lady? Hyeri seems to like her very much." Her gaze shifted to me as she surveyed my face with pure curiosity.

"This is Faye," Taehyung introduced me. "She's my..."

"Friend," I cut him off, smiling warmly as I took Soohyun's handshake. Out of the corner of my eye, I registered how his shoulders slightly drooped and he let out a sharp exhale.

"Dr. Kim is an incredible specialist," Soohyun praised, her eyes sparkling with kindness and gratefulness. "He was the only one who agreed to perform surgery on my little Hyeri. She was prematurely born, you have no idea how tiny she was. I had a very complicated and difficult pregnancy. All of the other doctors refused to treat her, claiming it would be too risky and saying that even if she handled the operation, there was no guarantee that she would make it afterwards. But Dr. Kim took it upon himself to help us, and here she is, smiling and playing like all of the other healthy kids."

"That's-" I choked up a bit, stealing a glance at Taehyung. "That's very admirable."

"He's an angel," Soohyun declared, her eyes tearing up a bit. "I have a feeling he was sent to us from up above. Our family will be forever grateful to him."

"Alright, enough, my cheeks are burning now," Taehyung chuckled, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his white robe.

"We don't want to take any more of your time," Soohyun gave an apologetic look. "So we'll get going. Once again, thank you. Come on now, Hyeri, say goodbye to Taehyung."

"Bye, Tae-Tae!" Hyeri squealed, throwing her arms around Taehyung's neck again and planting a butterfly kiss on his nose.

"Bye, Hyeri," he beamed, putting her down carefully.

"Bye, pretty fairy Faye!" unexpectedly, the small human enclosed her arms around my knees and I gasped, completely stupefied. "I love your hooker shoes."

"Um- Bye." I let out in a hoarse voice, almost reeling back from the shock. Hyeri carried on waving her little hand at us as her mother led her to the door and they finally stepped out.

"Kids seem to love you," Taehyung commented, lips spread into a wide rectangular grin. There it is again, that smile. My heart ricocheted against my rib cage.

"Can't say the feeling is mutual," I grumbled darkly which only seemed to entertain him more.

He glanced down at his watch. "Looks like we missed lunch today," he sighed. "I have another patient scheduled for... right now."

"Bummer." I pouted, pressing my hand against my stomach when it growled the next moment.

"I promise I'll make it up to you tonight," Taehyung reassured me.

I frowned. "What's tonight?"

"Our second date."