Walking into the mess hall, Seonghwa didn't pay much attention to the lunch line.
Not until he noticed that the person he was walking up behind, was Yunho.
Seonghwa felt a wave of irritation roll over him, but pushed it down, replaying Hongjoong's words in his head from their date.
As he came to stand behind him, Yunho turned, genuine surprise showing on his face.
'Hey,' he said, his voice kind and respectful.
Seonghwa nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. 'Hi...'
'Busy in OT?'
Seonghwa nodded. 'Fairly... ED?'
Yunho nodded, pocketing his hands also. 'Out of control... Like usual...'
A weird silence fell over them as Yunho glanced up at the walls like there was something fascinating upon them, and Seonghwa tapped his heels on the floor in his boots...
Awkwardly looking around, Seonghwa at least knew why he wasn't too keen on talking... But he couldn't help but wonder why Yunho was acting strange. Unless of course it was that obvious that Seonghwa was slightly pissed off at him...
As the long moved forward, they all took a step forward, cringing under the absurdity of the situation.
'Did you hear Wooyoung was discharged from outpatients the other day?' Seonghwa asked, looking over at him for his reaction.
But instead of awkwardly looking around like he hadn't spoken to San about anything since he found out about his sexuality and relationship, Yunho just nodded like it was nothing new to him. 'Yeah I saw him, Mingi and Yeosang when they were leaving. San mentioned everything is going really well. He seems a lot less worried too.'
Seonghwa frowned, not having expected that. 'Yeah.. I think Min is doing most of his physio. He said he's recovering really fast.'
Already scrutinising his reaction, Seonghwa easily picked up on the sudden ever so slight change in his expression. Sucking the corner of his bottom lip in for a moment, he nodded. But what Seonghwa initially pegged as uncomfortable avoidance, he found himself questioning. Especially, when his next words were;
'San's really worried about him I think... He's working too hard...'
Concern. He's concerned.
And just like that, More than half of Seonghwa's irritance towards San's friend seemed to evaporate. 'About Min?'
Stepping forward up the line, Yunho nodded. 'San mentioned the other night that he's doing too much... Does Mingi burn out often?'
Seonghwa frowned. 'No.. Not really. Maybe once every few years. He just gets sick and sleeps for two days straight, we all think he's dead and then he's fit as a whistle, back at it...'
Yunho seemed to tilt his head a little, considering his words, before a look of concern, and possibly even slight upset, crossed his face. 'He should be more careful...'
Seonghwa nodded. 'I can't really disagree with you there...'
Making it to the head of the line, Yunho picked up a plate and handed it to Seonghwa before picking up one for himself. Putting only a few vegetables and one scoop of rice onto his plate, Seonghwa raised an eyebrow. 'Diet?'
Yunho rolled his eyes. 'I wish.' Putting the smallest piece of tofu onto his plate, he offered the tongs to Seonghwa, passing them to him as he nodded. 'Every time without fail, if I pick good food, I never get to eat it.'
Seonghwa laughed. 'Fair enough. I heard they treat you like a resident around here?'
Groaning, Yunho nodded. 'When I'm in ED, General Surg and Neuro, yes.'
His irritations slowly disintegrating, Seonghwa remembered something he'd heard years ago. 'I vaguely remember San mentioning your parents... I'm assuming that's their areas?'
'Yeah... My mother was a neurologist and if my parents hadn't been chased out of the hospital, my father would have worked in Emergency for forty years. He missed it by eighteen months.'
'Damn. That's an impressive amount of time to hold up the fort...' Seonghwa tried not to put the dots together and think back to whether or not he had trained with one of his parents...
Making their way down the line, Seonghwa waited for Yunho to pay for his meal first, before it was his turn. Scanning his ID, he groaned as the machine spat the dummy.
The lady serving laughed, knowing full well that he struggled every day. 'You need to put in for a new tag when you have time,' she said, giving the matching a shake and smacking it for good measure.
Seonghwa nodded, blowing on it and rubbing it on his shirt. 'Yeah, when I have time, unit.'
Scanning again, a tick lit up on the screen, accompanied by a ding, and he smiled. 'Have a lovely day,' he said, bowing politely, before letting the next person pay.
Turning around and surveying for where Yunho had gotten to, it didn't take long for him to spot him. However as his eyes fell upon him, not too far away from where he was standing, he saw Yunho's face suddenly go as white as a sheet of paper.
Talking to some doctor that looked vaguely familiar, Seonghwa saw Yunho suddenly drop his platter down on the nearest table with an impressive thud that drew every single pair of eyes in his immediate five meter radius, before he suddenly turned and ran, leaving everyone, including his lunch, behind.
~~~
Stepping away from the counter, Yunho heaved a breath as he looked for a table to reserve, one with two chairs, since he doubted now was the time to be stingy about being social.
However as he started walking towards a nearby table that was free, he ran into one of his preceptors from a previous shift a couple days ago.
'Yunho!~ Fancy seeing you here. Hell I feel like I see you more often then the staff round here.
Yunho nodded politely. 'I do suppose I am here a lot...'
'Those universities push you kids all too hard I reckon. It's impossible for you to be able to cope! Even as it is, I heard on my way here that a student went down just this morning.'
Yunho looked up in surprise. 'Oh really? Nursing or med?'
'Oh no, definitely med. In fact, I think it might have actually been one of your uni's students actually.'
'Oh.' Yunho pursed his lips together. 'Unfortunate.'
'Would you happen to know them d'you reckon?'
Yunho shook his head. 'Probably not. It's a big uni. I haven't met too many other students.'
His old preceptor nodded. 'Fair enough. Poor thing. Apparently the midwives were all up in arms back on the ward.'
Midwives-
Yunho's head snapped to the doctor. 'Did you say midwives?'
The doctor nodded. 'Yeah. Poor kid went down before going into a Ceaser I heard.'
Yunho's heart suddenly thudded in his chest as his brain worked faster than it had ever worked in his life. 'Ob-gynae?' he asked, his voice sharp and to-the-point.'
The doctor nodded. 'Sure was. Apparently they had to wheel the poor kid down to ED. Knocked himself unconscious he did.'
And suddenly Yunho couldn't breathe.
Dropping his plate, not even looking where it landed, he pushed past the doctor and ran for the staff stairs, the fastest way to Emergency. His chest was heavy and his pulse was screaming in his ears, and as panic coursed through him, all he could think about was the words of the doctor floating around in his head.
A student went down this morning...
The midwives were all up in arms...
Knocked himself unconscious he did...
Unconscious....
Yunho could barely think straight.
There was only one thought on his mind.
Pleaseeeee, be a mistake...
Pleaseeeee, don't be Mingi.
~~~
Confused as to what the hell had just happened, Seonghwa walked up to where Yunho had just dumped his tray, seeing the doctor still standing, looking out after where he'd run off to with a confused look on his face.
'He left in a hurry...' Seonghwa said, glancing down the hall in the same direction.
'Yeah well, I guess the lad does have an emotional bone in him after all.'
Seonghwa frowned. 'What do you mean?'
The doctor shrugged, sighing as he turned around to look at Seonghwa. 'He's a student I've been working with. Hard as nails. I heard he even let the Director of the hospital have it.'
'Yunho did?!'
The doctor's eyes widened a little. 'Oh, you know him?'
Seonghwa nodded, glancing down at his untouched meal left on the table. 'Friend of a friend, I guess.'
'Oh well I'm sure you know how resilient he comes across.' He chuckled as he dug his phone from his pocket, checking his messages. 'I think he scares the other students,' he said, seeming quite amused. 'He lacks that naive young spark they all have.'
Seonghwa looked between the lunch and the doctor. 'So if he's cold, what had him running off like that just then?' Seonghwa asked, frowning.
The doctor shrugged. 'Dunno. All I did was ask if he knew the student that fainted on shift earlier. Apparently they're the same uni.'
Seonghwa thought for a second, dots aligning incredibly fast. Yes, Yunho could be incredibly distant and cold... Not caring about much other than his work, Seonghwa had even seen just how intimidating he was to his peers...
But who was the one person that could make him suddenly drop his pretence without a second thought...?
Seonghwa's blood ran cold. 'A- a student fainted... who was it...?'
The doctor rubbed his neck, yawning. 'No clue. I just heard through the grape vine. Some second year on ob-gynae ended up in ED.'
Seonghwa's heart stopped. There was only one student on that ward, and he knew exactly who it was.
It took all of one half of a second for Seonghwa to drop his tray right next to the other with a thud before running off down the hall. A thousand different scenarios flooded his mind, and each was as terrifying as the last.
Seonghwa couldn't get to ED quick enough.
~~~