a little bit of black with a little bit of pink

Lifeline

When Jennie applied for her internship months ago, she only considered the hospitals near her apartment. The work itself is already a hefty list and she doesn't want to add commuting long distances to said list. That's why when she got accepted at Seoul City Hospital, which is just a short walk from her place, she quickly seized the opportunity.

No need to rush in the morning, she said to herself.

Well, except now.

Jennie runs through the sterile white halls of the hospital. A quick glance at her watch shows 8:56am. Shit, her shift starts at 9:00am. Jennie runs faster to the directions of the elevators, dodging patients and doctors. She didn't mean to oversleep, but there was a Harry Potter movie on HBO last night and turns out it was a marathon and she may have watched it all until the wee hours of the morning.

She skidded to a stop in front of the elevator and quickly presses the up button.

8:58am

She presses the button again. And again, and again, almost breaking her finger in the process. When the door slides open Jennie quickly shuffles in and presses the 8th floor button. She prays to every existing god that she knows to have mercy on her and to not make it stop at every floor.

A minute later the elevator stops at the eighth floor and Jennie jumps out as soon as the door opens. She runs to the left and turns quickly to the giant glass doors of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department. Jennie makes her way to the front desk and lets out a sigh of relief because the head therapist, Jisoo, isn't there yet.

"Hey." She greets Irene, another intern, as she puts her bag down under the desk.

"Hey, you look like a mess." Irene greets her back, not taking her eyes of the phone.

Jennie runs a hand through her hair and puts it in a quick ponytail. "Where's Jisoo?"

"Just went to the canteen real quick." Irene replies, her eyes still glued to her phone.

"Who are you texting?"

Irene finally tears her eyes away from her phone and grins at Jennie. "You remember Junmyeon?"

Jennie raises her eyebrows. "Junmyeon?"

"Yeah, tall guy who plays football. Was here yesterday?"

"Ohhh." Jennie remembers now. Junmyeon is this tall quarterback who calls Jennie little nurse hottie even though she explained to him that she's not a nurse but a therapist. And he reminds her of a cat, she doesn't know why, must be the eyes. Junmyeon sprained his ankle during a game and has been taking therapy for the past weeks and it was his last day yesterday.

"Wait," Jennie narrows her eyes at Irene. "Are you guys seeing each other?"

Irene's face turns into a deep shade of red. "No! Just, erm, getting to know each other! You know, since he's still staying at home he's bored so he gave me his number. So you know, we could catch up... And stuff..."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Irene."

Irene opens her mouth to reply but is cut off when Jisoo enters the room, clipboard in one hand and a paper bag of food in the other.

"Morning Jennie, morning Irene. Hey, why is your face all red?"

Irene mutters something about the heat even though the air conditioning in the room is on full blast. Jennie stifles a laugh and she walks further in the room, her eyes scan the surroundings. The rehab facility is pretty big. There's the front desk by the entrance and two sofas across it. Behind the front desk is Rosé's office, she's the head of the department so she gets her own space. The rest of the room is full of equipment's that are used for the therapy. There are bars in the east corner, the north side is full of mirrors, on the west side are three hospital beds with leather cushions, and in the middle are some 4 step stairs, ramps, a stationary bicycle, and aerobic balls.