CHAPTER 90
Song Areum
"Everyone's talking about you recently, Doctor Superstar." Doctor Lim waited for Areum outside the OR as she finished an Emergency Surgery to a patient from a car collision accident
They walked beside each other as soon as she stepped out of the Operating Room, stretching out her neck and limbs.
A small smirk formed her face as she pressed the elevator button.
"You're even more lucky to have been invited to this superstar's wedding," she rode onto their banter as they stepped inside the elevator.
He scoffed humorously and pressed the Neurosurgery floor but Areum pressed the button again to cancel and decided to head onto the floor below to check up on the residents and interns.
"I didn't see any patient's relatives waiting up there," she suddenly brought up as they stepped out of the lift.
"I heard your patient is all the way from Jeju, I think his family is still on the way. One of your fellows assisted you, why don't you go home and let her discuss the surgery with the family when they get here?" he suggested.
Areum stopped outside the Intern's lounge and faced her friend with a raised eyebrow.
Hyeon gave her an obvious look. "You're not even supposed to be here. If it weren't a major surgery, the Director wouldn't have even called you. You're still on a break, you should be somewhere with your husband—especially now that you're both hot topics of the century."
"You sound like my best friend Jana. And yes, I will go straight home to my husband after terrorizing my interns." she gave him a manly smack on the shoulder before a disturbing sound caught her attention.
A loud thud echoed from the inside of the lounge all the way to the hallway outside, a commotion filled with superiority and gibberish rang in her ears. It didn't take a second for her to realize what was going on inside the lounge. She stormed inside abruptly in her scrub suit and neat hair bun straight from surgery to put an end to the childish attitudes of the Interns.
Inside, Areum and Hyeon found a crowd of Interns, men and women, ganging up on one of them over their lockers. The girl looked like she was shoved forcefully hard in a corner and she looked beyond scared from her own peers. Areum recognized her from the recent surgery she just finished. The Intern was dismissed early because she was called to another surgery in the Pediatric Department—given that the Attendings were already eyeing the intern, she must have been doing well already. Despite that, she looked like an abused puppy among the interns.
"What's going on here?" she asked, though it was clear what was happening. Areum just wanted one of them to step up and admit what they did—if in case there was even one bystander in the group at least to do just that.
Hyeon stood tensed behind her as they both eyed their juniors.
The interns dispersed but none of them was willing to talk, not even the sole victim who slowly got back on her feet, eyes low and tormented. Areum saw that look once—when she first saw Da Reum. She knew then, the bullying among their interns had been going on for a long time.
"You spoke to these guys about this?" she quietly asked Doctor Lim.
She knew he was smart and quick to act just like her. If he knew about it, he'd surely act upon it.
He gave her a defeated look as Areum frowned at the fact that he hadn't done anything to stop the madness. She wasn't even supposed to be working and she barely had time to educate the interns regarding their behavior towards one another. They weren't kids in school anymore, they were in the real world.
Areum turned to them and decided to settle things quickly before she lost her patience and gave all of them a negative recommendation and lose the chance to redeem themselves.
"No one's going to tell me what the hell you're all doing during your shift?" she asked.
She has always been an alpha, the interns and residents feared and resented her for it.
"Alright, since none of you is willing to talk, you're all going to have a demerit record in your charts except for Doctor Han. If this happens again, the Hospital would get the court of law involved. Hell, I would make sure none of you gets to touch a single patient ever again. People who needs real help are in grave danger in your hands if you don't drop this kind of attitude towards your colleagues. You're doctors, you're not supposed to hurt and threatened people—especially your own people."
Doctor Han Jaehya was the victim of the bullying—it was clear she would be. The Fellows and Attendings liked her because she was an incredibly smart student and intern. She stood out on Areum too because the girl had a photographic memory, she couldn't help but excel in Medicine which just happened to have a lot of memorization and deep understanding. It's not her fault she's smart, or that she was born with a gift.
"You're not going to tell me who pushed you on the wall and gave you that bruise on your arm, are you?" Areum asked Jaehya.
The girl flinched and avoided her gaze. Poor girl was already traumatized. If there was one thing she learned about Medicine, it was that it doesn't get easier.
She felt her phone vibrate inside her pocket, it was her husband checking up on her—she didn't have any time to scold the low life interns and so she made it quicker.
"You must think you're all big and mighty now that you're on your last year of Internship, huh?" she asked casually. "If you're already picking on one of your peers now, then I assure you not even half of you violent psychopaths will get into the next step of the Program. I'll make sure of that. If you can't take care of your own team now, how on earth are you supposed to save your patients in the future?"
She briefly pointed at Han Jaehya. "She is one of you. One of you. And she's doing a great job carrying your names on her back, which you should all be grateful for. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't even trust any of you to scrub in the OR."
The interns glared at her harsh words but it was true. Most of their interns that year were suck-ups and privileged that they refused to follow orders and were quite hardheaded.
"The next time any of these suckups hurt you or say something bad to you again, you kick them in the nuts, hard. If it's a girl who's picking on you, make sure to make them pay for another nose job in return, you understand, Jaehya-ssi? It's self-defense, they've been terrorizing you after all. You won't get in trouble,"
The interns finally turned to her in surprise and despise but Areum couldn't care less. She was going home to her husband.
Hyeon motioned her to step out and closed the door to the lounge after Jaehya walked out to get some fresh air on her own. Areum watched the young intern as she weakly turned to an opposite hallway, her frail figure shaking from what had happened.
"I can't believe you just encouraged her of violence," Hyeon spoke quietly.
She turned to him with a fierce expression. "You think it can be settled with a mere punishment of banning them in the OR? Things like these don't go away unless she toughens up and shows them she's in control of herself—I can't believe you knew about this and did not do anything about it."
His face hardened as he clenched his jaw. "I did! It just. . . it made things worse. The bullying got worse because they thought I was sleeping with her,"
"Are you?"
Hyeon gave her a contorted expression. "Of course not!"
She shrugged and let him continue on with his explanation.
He let out another sigh and placed his hands low on his hips. "I'm not you, Areum. I'm not like you—I'm not everyone's favorite nor am I feared here. You're the Director's right hand, you take over when he's not around, of course everyone's going to listen to you. I'm just one of the Attendings here, I don't have that much power like you do, so I can't just barge in anywhere and punish them as they deserve."
"The last time I tried to stand up for Doctor Han, she got cornered by the female interns. It kept me wondering whether I'd done good or I just made things worse for her," he added and avoided her gaze.
Areum softened up humanely all of a sudden. It had been almost over two years since they've both been transferred to Gamja Hospital, she did not intend for Lim Hyeob to feel or even think she was superior over him. As far as she was concerned, he had as much power as her to delegate tasks and take care of the Hospital when the Director wasn't around. It was the only reason why her transfer had been easy, because she did everything with Lim Hyeon, she was not alone in making Gamja already more than half as good as Hwangyeon's reputation in just two years.
"You're as much as the acting Director as I am. Don't ever think otherwise, I wouldn't even be here in a healthy state if I didn't have any of your help. If you think I have that much power then so do you, we're equal." she reminded him.
He studied her for a while, his eyes went from cold to warm as his muscles eased up. They resumed walking, and she heard him let out a small snicker.
"I probably sound pathetic just then," he muttered.
"Not at all." she gave him another heavy pat on the back as they reached the elevator.
When they entered the lift, Areum instinctively pressed the button to her floor as she checked her phone.
My Baby
𝙸'𝚖 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎. 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚎. 💞
🌹
"They're still following us," Areum sat properly on the passenger seat after looking back to check on the paparazzi following them home.
They all got the pictures they wanted from outside the Hospital, it was disturbing how they were still being followed. Jungkook had been driving around their neighborhood for a while to tire them out but it was a failed tactic.
"Let's just drive home. It's not like they haven't found out where we live," she suggested.
He just gave her a smirk and held onto her hand tighter before leaving a lingering kiss at the back of her hand.
"Or we could go to Hye Yoon's place up the road," he suggested back.
Areum frowned and studied the suspicious smile he wore. He was nervous and quite bothered by something.
"We're leading the piranhas to her house? Are you insane?" she raised an eyebrow but not her voice. They've both agreed to never raise their voices on each other, that way they could communicate well and just.
He turned to her briefly before driving uphill towards Hye Yoon's place.
"They have no idea Actress Hye Yoon leaves here," he checked the rearview mirror to check if they were still being followed. "Looks like they've given up too—surprisingly,"
Areum shook her head but let him drive wherever he wanted. She missed a couple missed calls from Jimin earlier anyway, perhaps Hye Yoon made some of her odd delicacies that she wanted them to try again.
They parked on the alley beside Hye Yoon's house. It was already dark out and the cold breeze of September sent chills all over her body in which Jungkook instantly pulled her into his thick coat as they walked. She let out a chuckle and wrapped her arms around his perfectly thin waist. He smiled and left a kiss on top of her head as they pressed the Intercom to Hye Yoon's place. They both stepped in as soon as the gates were unlocked and both of them rushed inside the warm living room of their friend.
Soo Ah and Sung Kyung were already at Hye Yoon's and they gave the newlywed an innocent wave as they ate strawberries. Areum gazed up on Jungkook and he too, looked confused and lost as she was.
"Fuckin' hell, I've been sick for days—oh, you're here." Jana came out of the powder room with swollen eyes and red nose as she joined the others. Hye Yoon was still nowhere in sight. "Why'd you bring your husband?"
"Actually, my husband brought me here." Areum turned to Jungkook with a raised eyebrow.
Jungkook's eyes were wider than usual as he shrugged. "Jimin-hyung asked me to check up on Hye Yoon-noona. I'm pretty sure they fought,"
"Again?" Areum whispered, so only he could hear the surprise in her voice.
Lately, Hye Yoon and Jimin had been fighting a lot for unknown reasons. They were so much alike that sometimes they clash vey easily on small things they don't agree on. It was a good thing none of them had a big ego like Taehyung when he fights with Eun Ah. Those two were a different story.
"You guys, I made peach mango pie!" Hye Yoon finally resurfaced from her kitchen with a steaming hot pot of pie and a bright smile. It was only then Areum noticed the intense smell of flour, fruits and sweeteners all over the house. They definitely fought big time—Jimin and Hye Yoon. She only ever baked like crazy when she's mad at Jimin.
"Oh, my favorite girl! Come, try this out," she waved her hand to both Jungkook and Areum.
Jana gave Areum a wide-eyed look, signalling her to just obey and not ask any question. Jungkook being his innocent self, wasted no time taking a large slice of pie for him and his wife to share.
"Baby, we should bake this weekend." He told her before offering her a forkful of the peach mango pie.
Areum nodded as the sweetened fruits and dough melted perfectly in her mouth. Hye Yoon was the best baker among them, at least next to Zara.
Soo Ah reached over to hand Areum a tissue paper before hinting her to praise Hye Yoon's baking skill.
"Eonnie, this is the best pie I've ever had." Areum stated genuinely.
Jungkook leaned down very close to her ear and whispered cheekily. "No, it isn't."
She elbowed him secretly and warned him to not get started with his sexual jokes—although she liked it and found it actually funny most of the time. Still, one of their friends was having a post-argument baking obsession and they were supposed to make her feel better, not goof around.
"Mr. Jungkook Jeon, please do not finish all the pie. Zara and Eun Ah are coming, they just got held back from work," Jana reminded him.
"Oh, I can just make another one!" Hye Yoon cheerfully inisisted, though it was evident she was only faking her bright attitude that time.
"Oh, no honey. You've done enough baking for tonight," Sung Kyung instantly shared before eyeing the kitchen.
Areum and Jungkook extended their heads and widened their gaze as they both noticed the dining table filled with baked pies and brownies.
"What the hell are those—can we take some Brownies home?" Jungkook innocently spoke which earned a glare from the girls and a hard pinch from his wife. He muttered an apology before feeding Areum another bite of the pie.
Soon, Zara and Eun Ah came with a Mexican Food takeout from Zara's Restaurant. Taehyung came over shortly and possessively claimed the space beside his fiancée. They greeted one another before settling on the couch, exchanging obvious glances about Hye Yoon's sudden change of mood. Her once cheerful attitude was replaced with anxiety and quietness. She held out until all the girls were complete, it seemed like she wanted to cry but she wouldn't.
"She couldn't cry because Taehyung and Jungkook are here," Jana stated.
Jungkook sat straight up and glanced at Areum as a permission to leave. She didn't really want to be away from her husband, it's only been two months they were married and they were still in the phase where they wanted each other's presence anywhere they go, but if Hye Yoon's more comfortable without him, Areum have just got to suck it up and be there for her friend first.
Hye Yoon spoke up. "They can stay. Jimin always hijacks our Girls' Night anyway, it's only fair Jungkook and Tae stays too."
"We can go, really. It's no big deal," Jungkook offered nicely. "I'll wait for you in the car." he kissed Areum on the lips briefly and was about to stand up when Taehyung spoke.
"Speak for yourself. I'm staying," Taehyung insisted and tightened his grip around Eun Ah.
"I actually need to ask you two something," she looked at Jungkook with cold yet worried gaze. "I meant, some things."
The girls scooted in as Jungkook nervously intertwined his long fingers with Areum's smaller ones.
It was odd that Jimin wasn't there with them on Girls' Night. He liked to crash their night and gossip with them—the girls secretly enjoyed he mixed well with everyone.
"What was between with Jimin and Willow?" Hye Yoon asked weakly.
Areum frowned because she remembered Jungkook mentioned before that Jimin used to date a girl from a K-Pop girl group named Willow exclusively. She was in the same group as the girl of who happened to be Taehyung's first love, and so it was almost pretty serious between her and Jimin too.
"She's old news. You don't have to worry about her," Jungkook confidently answered.
Hye Yoon glared at him briefly. "But I do. She's sending inappropriate pictures to my boyfriend, that's worrying."
"What the fuck now?" Zara blurted out with a deep frown as the others let their mouths fell open in surprise.
Areum immediately reached sideward to cover Eun Ah's ears momentarily as if she was still a child. Eun Ah covered her mouth and avoided everyone's gaze in embarrassment over someone else's profanity but she was uncomfortable for a reason.
Eun Ah cleared her throat. "Taehyung's ex-girlfriend had been sending him inappropriate pictures too, is that a coincidence or?"
Taehyung inched down on his space as he avoided everyone's gaze.
"I knew it. She did it on purpose. If I hadn't seen it first, Jimin might have seen it himself." Hye Yoon confessed. "Can someone please tell me what was the real score between them before I went in the picture?"
Taehyung cleared his throat. "You sure it wasn't an old picture?"
"You mean, Jimin keeps nude photos of her all this time he's been with me?" Hye Yoon asked in perplexity.
Areum mentally face-palmed herself and glared at Taehyung. Hye Yoon was already paranoid enough and he wasn't being mindful of his words.
"You're not helping," Areum warned Taehyung before she turned to Jungkook for help. "Please shut him up for fuck's sake,"
Jungkook immediately reached over towards Taehyung and covered his mouth for a good 10 seconds before setting him free again—all whiny and defensive.
"I'm sure Jimin wouldn't condone such thing," Areum tried to erase the absurd idea that Taehyung unintentionally planted in Hye Yoon's mind. "You changed him. We all know that,"
Soo Ah spoke quietly, her voice soft and kind. "I've known these boys for a while. They might be rascals but they never cheat. Willow's group have always been wild and adventurous, I styled them before. They're really comfortable with their bodies and even often asked their stylists to take such photos of them in the dressing room and wherever. Geokjeong hajima, it's probably a wrong sent image."
It was the first time Soo Ah talked that much and still, she was too nice to water down the possibility of those pictures being sent as a mistake was slim. If Taehyung received one from Sarang, then there's something iffy going on in that Girl Group or at least with those two girls.
"I hope you're right. I don't want to stay mad at Jimin," Hye Yoon conceded.
Jungkook cleared his throat. "It's okay if you feel hurt and confused or even angry. You don't have to feel bad about something you can't control,"
As Areum was just about to quietly praise her husband, she felt her phone vibrate vigorously from the continuous flood of messages and so she impatiently took it out and saw Hye Jin's multiple missed calls and messages.
윤혜진 (Yoon Hye Jin)
𝙴𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎! 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 (𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙤 ** 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚)
Areum tapped on the link with unbothered expression before her features went cold and dark as soon as she digested the title of the article.
𝙉𝙀𝙒: 𝘽𝙏𝙎 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜-𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙜𝙪𝙚? 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙀
A picture of him and Hyeon laughing and walking towards the elevator was attached atop the article and was captioned : 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘮, 𝘛𝘰𝘱 2 𝘕𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢. 𝘈 𝘋𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘫𝘢 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘉𝘛𝘚 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺.
Another article popped up under that read:
𝘽𝙏𝙎 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙤𝙤𝙠'𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚—𝘿𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙣𝙖𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣?
She instinctively played the recent scolding she did with the Interns, how her voice sounded dominant and dismissive or how the other interns never talked back to her—it was like she'd been abusing them for a long time when it was the only time she'd ever raised her voice like that ever to any of them. Perhaps, there were more appropriate ways to address the bullying but she did what she knew was going to stick and work. Areum was never the one to fight evil with kindness and in this world full of vicious creatures, evil can only defeat evil.
The last article was entitled :
𝘽𝙏𝙎 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙒𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙋𝙍 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙩
There were three leaked Wedding photos attached and a novel-like article that Areum did not even bother to read because there was no point feeding her anxiety with more lies and accusations. She was not even bothered at that point, what was important is that she and Jungkook know the truth, their close friends and families included. There was no need to validate the truth to anyone as they don't owe the world anything.
"That's it. I'm releasing a statement tomorrow," Jungkook announced with clenched jaw and trembling eyes as he tightened her grip around her.
Their friends watched them with perplexed look before Sung Kyung turned up the volume of the News in Hye Yoon's TV. Flashed on the screen was Jungkook and Areum's leaked Wedding Photos and other ones from earlier that day when he picked her up from work.
It was clear he'd also read the articles on her phone. He was furious and far beyond humane consideration. It was the only time he looked terrifying. Tomorrow, all hell will break loose.