FLATLINE| JK

twelve

"I've said it, and I'll say it again: you smooth motherfucker." I exclaim, and Namjoon chuckles. We enter the retaurant, and it's just as nice as it looked from the outside. We sit down in a little booth, and the waiter pours us some water. Namjoon orders us some wine. "This is seriously too much, Namjoon. Just the wine is a lot...can we please each pay half?" I ask shyly, and Namjoon shakes his head adamantly.

"Nope, I've got this one. But, if you're so set on paying, you can cover it next time." Namjoon says, sipping his wine at me, the ever present twinkle still in his eyes.

"Bold of you to assume there will be a next time." I tease, making the statement firmly to mess with him, but it seems to throw Namjoon off his game. His flirtatious grin is replaced by a look of mild worry for a splitsecond, and I immediately explain. "I'm just kidding, Joon." I reassure him, placing my hand on top of his across the table. He breathes a sigh of relief before laughing quietly. For once, the one blushing is him, not me. 

"Damn. Dr. Jeon must be rubbing off on you, because that was just mean." He says. Although he's clearly joking, my heart sinks at the mention of Dr. Jeon. I can't get the stupid look of...what was it? Hurt? Jealousy? Whatever it was, I can't get it out of my head. "Speaking of him, that reminds me," Namjoon continues, "let me tell you about my internship."

"Oh, Namjoon, you really don't need to tell me anything." I explain. I'd really rather not talk about anything that has to do with Dr. Jeon, but it looks like Namjoon won't take no for an answer.

"You deserve to know." He says, before launching into the story. "I started out similarly to you, as an intern. I was young for my group, since I had skipped most of elementary school. So was Jeongguk--Dr. Jeon. He was even younger than me, but we stuck together, because of how similar we were in that sense--two barely adults trying to keep up with everyone else."

"You're both geniuses." I observe, and Namjoon smiles a little, shaking his head modestly. He must be so insanely smart...which makes it even more difficult for me to understand how he came to be a coffee cart manager instead of working alongside Dr. Jeon as a resident. 

"Maybe, but Jeongguk and I are different in some ways. My parents always wanted me to be well rounded. Even though I was smart, they always had me in some sort of hobby, like a sport or an instrument of some kind. Jeongguk's parents...I'm not really in a place to say just what they were like, but he was always taught to focus on medicine and medicine alone. Anything else was a distraction." Namjoon explains, and I nod, trying to imagine a younger Dr. Jeon and Namjoon together. 

"Medicine was all he had." I state, and Namjoon nods in agreement.

"Exactly. We were both in the running for being chosen to assist on a groundbreaking surgery near the end of our intern year. It was the week before we were set to take our medical boards, and Jeongguk...he wasn't doing very well. He hardly slept, spent every waking moment studying for the boards or researching for the surgery. It was taking a toll on him to the point that he started making mistakes. It started with little things, like misspelling words on charts or forgetting where he put his pager. But the day before the surgery...he messed up. Big time." Namjoon says. He's clearly uncomfortable. I can see it in the way he shifts in his seat and swirls the wine in his glass, fidgets involuntarily.

"You don't have to keep going, Joon." I tell him, trying my best to be considerate since the topic clearly makes him squirm. He doesn't listen.

"It was a routine appendectomy. Open, rather than laparoscopically." Namjoon says, and I remember the first day I met Namjoon, when Taehyung was chosen for the same surgery and Namjoon had shocked me by his knowledge of medical terminology. "Jeongguk and I were both assisting the resident in charge. It seemed like it went well, we closed up the patient...a few hours later, the patient is tachycardic, having trouble passing stool, complaining of sharp pain in his stomach." Namjoon inhales shakily, opting to put down his wine glass due to the sudden tremble in his hands. Concerned, I gently put my hand overtop one of his once again. "They opened him back up, and...Jeongguk had left something in him. Had forgotten to remove one of the clips."