wen junhui was nervously tapping his feet as he sat in a doctor's office.
after searching for what felt like hours through the maze of endless white corridors he found a decent receptionist that was able to tell him on which floor he had to be. it only took him a particularly awkward elevator ride with a small amount of silent patients, who seemed fascinated by a new face, until he reached the fifth floor.
to his luck, he was quick to find the familiar name tag on the door of doctor yoo kihyun's office. although the hospital didn't hold a welcoming atmosphere at all, the orange haired doctor had been polite and friendly up until now and seemed pretty mature in his work for his young age, which junhui appreciated in his situation.
especially in his situation.
"well, junhui. i'm scared i'll to have to disappoint you.." doctor kihyun spoke, pushing his oval glasses a little higher up his nose bridge.
"let me guess, it's not what you initially thought it was?" for the first time since junhui had set foot into his office, his smile momentarily vanished. junhui, who usually was optimistic about everything in life, now felt his heart drop.
"it's even worse than we thought.. that's why i need to have you intern in our hospital." kihyun grabbed a pile of paperwork, hastily going through them in an attempt to find a specific test result regarding junhui's health. "i prefer to take you in tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at its latest."
"but you said i completed the entire test process? what do you need me here for?" junhui obviously disagreed.
it was summer break! time to spend time with his friends, careless about school and responsibilities. this year would be their second-last summer break together, one of their last chances to live their youth to its fullest. he couldn't let the fun slip by getting locked up in a hospital.
"look junhui, i get that it's a little overwhelming at your age to hear such thing. but in your situation we can't exactly do anything else." doctor kihyun tried to explain, so junhui would be able to see the matter of things.
"but i don't feel anything. if it wasn't for those three stupid nosebleeds i wouldn't even have been here in the first place." junhui complained, sinking a little further in his seat.
"i'll try to explain myself more clear. yes, we have indeed ran all possible tests on you. but the results came out as unclear. or better said, a type of disease that is new for us doctors too and yet to be discovered. the symptoms you have are similar to a mixture of several other diseases we've been able to cure before. but since we don't know what exactly you have, we can't give you a specific treatment until we're certain of what it is."
"it may sound pretty boring, but i need to have you somewhere safe so the doctor's and i are able to observe further symptoms and how the disease develops so we can find a cure to whatever is going on. having you running around in society can only make things worse and that's exactly what we're trying to avoid here."
junhui didn't saw it as a lack of knowledge. perhaps there might indeed be something wrong with him that the doctor's were oblivious of. but after all those scans and tests, junhui started getting sick of his continuous visits to the hospital.
being captivated here would only bring his optimism down until there was nothing left of him than a lifeless young man.
"and what if i just stay at home then? i can't just disappear without my friends knowledge. we had the greatest adventures planned for this summer break.." junhui desperately tried, anything would be okay with him as long as he could avoid the hospital. just the thought of having to live in the hospital's eternal white and cold atmosphere sent a shiver down his spine. not even to start about the tasteless food they served..
"well there is one option left.." doctor kihyun sighed, knowing how desperately junhui tried to talk himself out of it. he took off his small glasses and rubbed up and down his nose bridge, before offering his final option. "look, i barely ever do this. but i don't think it's an option to keep such a lively boy like you in a hospital like this."
"since we still have absolutely no clue what disease you're suffering from, i can send you off to a lake house we're using for some secretive and experimental project. there are six patients allowed inside at once and as far as i know we only have four at the moment. a doctor will visit you once or twice a week to run a full check up so we can see how your physical strength develops. in the lake house itself are also three doctors who will keep an eye on you, one of them actually owns the place and is a great friend of mine."
"the lake house is built in a remote valley. a grocery store, for example, takes about thirty minutes to reach by car, just so the patients inside are able to find rest and revalidation. it's the only option left i'm able to offer you, else i'm unfortunately going to have to force you to stay here."
"i take it." junhui sat straight in his chair and took the offer without hesitation. a lake house in a remote valley didn't seem so bad, does it? "when do you want me to go intern?"
kihyun visibly appreciated junhui accepting so easily, nodding his head as he scribbled down something on a note. "here's the direction on how to get there. i'll make a phone call to the owner of the lake house later this afternoon and call you for all the remaining information around six. do you want a nurse to drive you there? or can you drive yourself? seeing you're already eighteen."
"i coincidentally refueled my car today, so driving myself wouldn't be any problem." junhui wisely spoke, knowing it wasn't allowed to include more people. the location had to remain a secret as well, of course.
"excellent. in that case i wish you the best of luck, junhui."
