"You..." Sana was obviously furious.
"Sana, humans are all like this. Kindness is always returned tenfold. I know you're unhappy, but I didn't use any tricks to get promoted. This is the hospital's decision."
"It's all because Director Jung likes you, people all say that you had a thing with Director Jung back when you worked at Asan medical center."
Sana was so furious that she forgot to filter her thoughts.
"You can eat crap, but you can't talk crap. If you're going to spread untrue rumors, then you have to provide proof. Plus, if I really had a thing with Director Jung, do you really think that I would still be just a head nurse?"
"Who knows, maybe you're showing off on purpose."
"I'm not obligated to explain any more to you. Anyways... if we can work together harmoniously, we can be colleagues. If you can't stand me and have to satisfy yourself by talking smack about me every day, go ahead, but... don't ever ask for my help during your shift because I won't help you, not even once."
"I don't need your help, you're not Jesus."
"Good for you, we'll see."
Lisa saw right through people like Sana. Like Dahyun, she was also dark and twisted inside.
On the surface, she pretended to be close to you. However, she becomes jealous as soon as she sees that you're doing better than her.
There was no need to argue or be afraid of people like her, and the best solution was to just ignore her.
Now that Sana worked under Lisa, she had so many ways to make her life hell.
But she didn't want to do that, because it was lame...
People shouldn't spend every day thinking about ways to plot and take revenge on others. If so, that person would be doomed for life.
Those who complain and hate have no future, and Lisa wasn't that stupid...
*
Since the day Jimin was admitted into the hospital, Lisa was the only one allowed into Jimin's room.
Slowly, Lisa became Jimin's personal nurse, even though she hadn't actually taken care of him.
But to Jimin, she was already a special existence.
- During the routine ward visits -
"How are you feeling today? Does it hurt anywhere?" Lisa asked will reading his reports.
"No." Jimin, down in the dumps after rejection, just played with his phone.
"Take your meds on time and take care of that injured knee. No strenuous exercises for now."
Upon hearing this, Jimin lifted his head and looked at Lisa, "What do you mean by 'strenuous exercises'? I don't know what that is, can you explain it to me?"
Lisa read between the lines and felt her face heat up a bit...
"What I mean is that you should not run, jump, or drive a racecar. It's dangerous, and if you get hurt again, it'll become more serious."
"Yeah? What about... physical needs? I'll be fine as long as I don't take too much initiative?"
Jimin jokingly asked...
"I'm sorry, this isn't within the scope of my responsibilities. You should ask experts in this area."
Then, Lisa turned around to leave...
Suddenly remembering something, she turned back around and looked at Jimin. "Mr. Park, thank you for giving me an 'A'."
She then opened the door to leave ...
Jimin's expression was complicated; he should've given her a 'D' on her evaluation form and complained about her. She was clearly drawing a line between them by addressing him formally.
However, he couldn't complain about her. Objectively, she was a very responsible healthcare provider.
The only reason why he would give her a 'D' was because she rejected him, but seeking a grudge like that was too petty of him.
"Young Master, your mother sent people here to help you pack since you're being discharged tomorrow."
"Come in," Jimin said, his spirits low.
He had been staying here for so long that he didn't really want to leave...
He was no longer looking forward to drunken nights at the club or being reckless just for the sake of it.
This was all because of that damned girl, Lisa.
*
That afternoon, while Lisa was creating next month's schedule in her office, she heard the sound of knocking on the door...
"Come in."
Lisa looked up to see who it was. She was dazed; this was certainly a surprise visitor.
"Why are you here?"
"Why can't I be?" Krystal was wearing a black dress with a red beanie. Her pregnant belly was showing, just a little bit.
"Oh, can I help you?" Lisa had a lot of work to do, so she wasn't in the mood to bicker with Krystal.
"I passed by a Tteokbokki place on my way and bought you some."
Then, Krystal put a takeout bag on her desk...
Lisa glanced at it - there sure was a lot of food. There were desserts and macarons too along with milk tea.
Did Krystal get up from the wrong side of the bed this morning?
"Why are you doing this?" Distracted, Lisa put down the pen in her hand.
"I know when to be grateful," Krystal answered simply.
Lisa immediately understood what she was talking about. Truth be told, she never thought that Krystal was one that knew how to be grateful.
Lisa thought that Krystal would tell her to mind her own business.
"You don't have to, I would've saved anyone," Lisa said nonchalantly.
"Lisa, I envy you. If I were you, I definitely wouldn't have helped my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Plus, I picked on you so much back then."
"That's why you're not me." Lisa smiled.
"My uncle is right, you're an extraordinary woman. I've never admired anyone in my life, but you've truly surprised me. If it weren't for you, my baby wouldn't still be safely in here," Krystal said as she stroked her belly.
"That's why you need to be careful when driving. You need to remember that you're pregnant."
"I will. Anyways... thank you. You're Kai's ex, and I will continue to hate you. But, that's a different matter. You saved me, and I'm not an ungrateful bitch. I owe you one. If you need a favor in the future, I promise I will pay it up."
"That's not necessary, I wasn't thinking about getting you to pay me back when I was saving you."
"I hate that you act so high and mighty all the time like you're a savior or something. You have this 'I can save the world, but the world does not have to thank me for it' complex. But still, I finally understand why you're so successful as a human being."
Lisa didn't respond, because she was suddenly at a loss for words...
"I heard you were promoted."
"Yeah."
"Do a good job. I hope that we can have a surgical competition in the OR one day. Everyone's been saying that your skills are advanced, but I'm not convinced. I'll wait until you become a doctor; meanwhile, I'll be working on my own craft."
Then, before Lisa could say anything else, Krystal turned around and left...
(a/n - looks like, someone had a character development)
Lisa stared at the milk tea Krystal brought her with mixed emotions...
Krystal was indeed a conflicted person; she wouldn't become gentle and grateful all of a sudden.
However, she could tell right from wrong, and she knew that it was Lisa who saved her. That was probably enough.
She wasn't expecting Krystal to pay retributions to her. After all, she did save Krysral mostly because of Director Jung.
Plus, she was Kai's wife. No matter what happened in the past, she couldn't ignore two lives like they were strangers.
After another night shift, ten luxury cars appeared outside South Side.
They were all Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porches, and other "can't afford" cars.
There was also a limited-edition Rolls-Royce; apparently, that was Mrs. Park's car.
Everyone knew that Jimin was being discharged today.
The welcoming ceremony was extremely over-the-top. Jimin was feeling much better; he no longer needed help walking and left his room on his own.
He walked slowly, hoping that he would be able to see Lisa send him off. Maybe she would say something to him.
However, after looking around, he failed to see Lisa anywhere.
"Young Master, Miss Lisa is at the morning meeting," one of his bodyguards reminded him.
"You talk too much; do you still want your job?" Jimin cursed at him angrily.
"Yes." The bodyguard immediately shut up.
"It's time, everyone's waiting for you at the hotel. Let's go, Jim." Mrs. Park smiled gently.
Reluctant to leave, Jimin looked back one last time, but Lisa wasn't there.
It wasn't until all the cars left that Lisa came downstairs.
"Lisa, Young Master Park was discharged," Soojin said thoughtlessly.
"That's a good thing."
"Hm... aren't you going to miss him... even a little bit?" Soojin looked at Lisa in disbelief.
"Why should I?" bewildered, Lisa asked Soojin.
"But everyone's saying that Young Master Park has a thing for you."
"Those are just words, don't take them seriously. Mr. Park has a bucket of girlfriends, and most of them are celebrities. He's just looking for a way out of boredom at our hospital. Don't make a fuss over it."
"Yeah, you're right. Young Master Park has so many women around him anyways. I don't think we'll have another chance to see him now that he's discharged," Soojin said, her expression grim.
Lisa smiled without saying anything else...
The best move for her was to avoid seeing Jimin. Although Sehun was not a good person, his warning made sense; she didn't want to be involved with a man like Jimin.
Entertainment headlines for that day read: 'Seoul's most eligible bachelor and the president of BigHit entertainment , was discharged. Luxury cars welcomed him, and popular celebrities were all there celebrating the great occasion. It was like a movie festival.'
Apparently, A-tier celebrities including actress Kang Selugi, and other big names were all there.
It was like a harem rivalry TV show...
In the end, Seulgi was the one who sat with Jimin in his car. Obviously, her status was slightly higher than the rest of his side chicks.
- Late Night -
The lights inside Jimin's private mansion were all on, and the music was blasting on high. Dozens of pretty girls in bikinis danced around the pool.
A couple of men sat together in armchairs, one next to the other, enjoying the night as well as the beautiful women. The atmosphere was exhilarating.
However, Jimin didn't seem to be in the mood to party. He held a glass of red wine in his hand, occasionally taking a sip.
His other hand scrolled through his phone, while his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"What's wrong? You seem out of it tonight." Sehun came up to him with a wine glass. He pulled up a chair and sat down across from Jimin.
Jimin immediately clicked on the home button and then locked his phone.
"It's boring, living the same life, day after day," Jimin said casually.
"You were at the recuperation center for a while, you must have been bored to death."
"It was fine," Jimin answered vaguely.
"How's it with my sister? Have you succeeded in impressing her yet?" Sehun asked.
Obviously depressed, Jimin licked his lips and said, "I think your sister is a lesbian."
"Haha, why would you say that?" Sehun burst into laughter.
"I don't think she likes men, and I'm too lazy to bother with her."
"So what you mean to say is, Lisa rejected you?" Sehun deduced.
"I think she rejected me to spark my interest. Aren't all women like that? Playing games of this sort."
"This just means that you don't know her well enough," Sehun laughed again.
Jimin immediately rolled his eyes at him. "You don't know her either. Don't forget, she hasn't been back to your family for years; she even made a public announcement about it."
Sehun's expression changed, and he smiled bitterly. "Yeah, she's stubborn like that, and no one can do anything about it."
"But don't worry, any obstacles are only temporary. No woman that I like can escape from me, it's just a matter of time."
Jimin seemed confident; he was rich, good-looking, and powerful, and he basically had everything any woman would want in the world.
He was sure that Lisa would one day fall for him...
After hearing what Jimin said, Sehun immediately stopped laughing and said, "I suggest that you give up on her."
"Why? You don't think I can take care of it?"
Sehun shook his head, "That's not it. Lisa... isn't a woman you can touch."
"Fuck, what the hell do you mean by that? What do you mean I can't touch her? There isn't a woman in Seoul that I can't touch."
Jimin became immediately angered by what he said...
"I'm not looking down on you. There's someone Lisa likes and by likes I mean she is heads over heels for that person, and she'll never accept you. She only has eyes for that person." although Sehun was warning Jimin, he still couldn't hide the bitterness in his words.
"I know, she told me that she has a boyfriend, but so what? People who are in relationship can always breakup or people who get married can still divorce. Even if she has a daughter with someone else, I can still do it. I'm not willing to give up on her."
Then, Jimin picked up his glass and drank every sip of his wine...
Sehun looked at him meaningfully, "You don't know who she likes, do you?"
"Is that important?" Jimin broke into laughter.
"Of course it is. Once you find out, you'll understand what I was talking about today."
"Why are you being so cryptic? Don't tell me that it's you." Jimin looked at Sehun profoundly.
"Of course not, Lisa is my sister."
"It's not like she's related to you by blood." Jimin went straight to the point. Sehun's expression changed, but just for a second.
"You're thinking too much, Young Master Park. She isn't my type."
"Right, you have always liked 36D or bigger."
"Haha, you know me well."
Then, Sehun and Jimin proceeded with small talk; neither of them brought up Lisa's name again.
However, they also discovered something about each other.
Sehun realized that Jimin was genuinely interested in Lisa.
When he was walking up to him, he peaked at Jimin's phone and noticed that he was looking at a photo of Lisa.
Although Jimin quickly pressed the home button and locked his phone, Sehun still saw it.
Jimin, on the other hand, discovered that Sehun's expression became weird whenever Lisa's name was mentioned.
Although he had been trying extremely hard to cover up his feelings.
Jimin wasn't just another stupid man with a lot of money, he was part of the military for several years.
As an elite in the special forces, his brain and physique were all top notch.
His sharp instincts told him that Sehun didn't just treat Lisa like a sister.
He felt something towards her that was inappropriate to feel towards a sister...
*
Lisa kept her promotion on the down-low; aside from the people that already knew from the hospital, she only mentioned it to Jungkook.
However, although she wanted to keep it low-key, Jungkook immediately reserved a table at Seven Aromas Hot Pot as she loved Chinese hot pot.
Seven Aromas was known for its spicy-broth hot pots. The broth was delicious, so they were very popular in Seoul.
Plus, this was a high-end, expensive restaurant, where even the beef was supplied by free-range cattle ranches.
Over there, hot pot was expensive...
Not only did Jungkook reserve a table at the hot pot restaurant, he also decided to invite Bambam and Chaeyoung on behalf of Lisa.
Therefore, when the four of them met up for dinner, the atmosphere changed again.
"Oh wow, new car? Seems like you're dating someone new." Bambam commented looking at Chaeyoung's new car.
"What does that have to do with you?" Chaeyoung glared at Bambam.
"I was just wondering how blind the guy must have been to agree to date someone like you."
"There are lots of blind guys in this world. Either way, at least I'm better than you, Mr. Forever-Alone. You're gonna be alone for the rest of your life, that's too bad."
"Who says I'm single? Let me tell you, I have quite a few admirers. There are buckets after buckets of policewomen at our bureau who are all into me. It's not like you'd understand."
"Buckets after buckets? Are you sure you're talking about women and not potatoes?" Chaeyoung snapped back.
Bambam and Chaeyoung were like mortal enemies from birth; they wreaked havoc onto each other every time they met.
Lisa watched and laughed as they fought...
Jungkook, on the other hand, quietly put beef onto Lisa's plate...
"Come on, can you guys not be so cheesy? Are you trying to kill us single people out here?" Bambam wailed unhappily looking at how sweetly jungkook and Lisa were looking at each other.
"Hey, not us, just you. I'm not single," Chaeyoung emphasized.
"Soon you will be."
"Phft, I can't believe you cursed me. If we really break up, I swear I'm going to..."
"If you break up, you should date Bambam. You guys will be great together," Lisa suggested while eating hot pot.
"Don't, ma'am, don't do that to me. My eyesight is fine, I'm not blind yet."
"Don't worry, it's just a matter of time," Lisa laughed.
"Jungkook, get your wife in order, she's openly cursing a common policeman."
Bambam sent help signals at Jungkook...
"My wife has a point."
"Dude, seriously...? you're basically controlled by your wife. It's too late to save you."
"That's why a single person like you would never understand what it feels like to be in love." Chaeyoung laughed.
"You guys eat, bye." Then, Bambam got up and pretended to leave.
"Remember to pick up the bill on your way out," Jungkook said slowly.
"Shit, where's your humanity, President of JC empire? I can't believe that you would make a small cop like me pay for the bill. Where did you get the audacity?"
"Not all cops have the ability to drive Jaguars. Therefore... you're a capable cop." Lisa burst into laughter.
"Hey, you ungrateful woman, I even asked for time off to come to celebrate your promotion. This is how the two of you treat me? The friendship boat sure sinks fast."
Bambam's remarks sent Chaeyoung and Lisa into a hysterical laughter.
"Don't sink the boat, it's my treat today." Lisa immediately raised her hand, signaling that she would be the one paying.
"Hey, Lis, I saw on the news that Park Jimin was discharged today?" Chaeyoung suddenly asked, hoping for some gossip.
Lisa nodded, "Yeah, he was discharged."
"I saw the formation outside the hospital, so many female celebrities went."
"Yeah, there were a few that I didn't even recognize. A lot of people were watching, and a lot of the media attended." Lisa added nonchalantly.
"I saw from one of the smaller news outlets that while Jimin was staying at South Side, he was really flirty with one of the nurses there. Do you know who she is? Come on, tell us what happened?"
"What's so fun about entertainment news? At most, it's a rich boy trying to get in bed with someone. It's boring," Bambam took a big bite of beef and interjected.
"Guys won't understand topics like this." Chaeyoung immediately grabbed Lisa's hand and asked, "Come on, tell me about it."
A little guilty, Lisa glanced at Jungkook, and then she answered, "Actually...I'm not sure either. Jimin always has bodyguards around and is hard to get close to, so his private life is kept pretty discreet."
"Oh, you have a point. Even if someone like Jimin screws himself into a scandal, the media won't be able to report about it."
Chaeyoung mumbled to herself, finally putting an end to this topic...
While they were eating, Chaeyoung took a photo of them on her phone; Lisa, Jungkook, and Bambam were all in it.
Then, she uploaded the photo to their class group on WeChat...
The group immediately exploded...
"Chaeyoung, did you take that photo? Is it real?"
"Is that Lisa beside Jungkook?"
"Where are you guys eating? The hot pot looks good."
Chaeyoung rolled her eyes and cursed, "Idiots, that's not the point."
Soon after, Eunha signed on as well. She asked, "Is this Seven Aromas?"
She definitely knew her stuff - she could tell it was Seven Aromas just by looking at the pot in the middle of the table. Eunha was indeed impressive.
"Yeah, why? Do you want to come?" Chaeyoung provoked.
"You think I don't have the guts to?" Eunha replied.
"I'll be here waiting, if you don't come in 15 minutes, I'll assume that you've chickened out."
Chaeyoung always wanted to throw a wet blanket over Eunha's arrogance...
She never had the chance to do it in the past. Now that this opportunity appeared before her, how was she going to pass that up?
Lisa and Jungkook had already exited the group chat, so they didn't know what was going on.
After ten or so minutes, Eunha barged through the huge door of restaurant, leaving Lisa dumbfounded.
"Not bad, you're punctual," Chaeyoung said as she looked at Eunha.
Eunha didn't say anything. She glanced at Jungkook, then walked up to their table and sat down on an empty seat.
"Um... who is this...?" Bewildered, Bambam looked at the woman who suddenly entered the scene.
Lisa didn't say anything either; she was a bit dumbfounded as well.
Jungkook's face, on the other hand, was expressionless...
"She's a high school classmate, I invited her to come, but I didn't think she actually would," Chaeyoung explained.
"Jungkook, have you been busy?" Eunha looked around before her gaze finally stopped on Jungkook's handsome face.
Jungkook, who did not plan to reply, carefully put a shrimp ball in Lisa's bowl.
Proud of herself, Chaeyoung laughed, "We're here to celebrate Lisa's promotion."
"Oh really? Congratulations on the promotion," Eunha looked at Lisa and said unwillingly.
"Thank you."
"Jungkook, my dad said that our companies are partnering up, and that Uncle Jeon was the one who personally proposed the partnership. It's a good project. My dad said that you're really good at your job, and JC's doing even better than it used to."
Jungkook gracefully wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. Then, he said, "I didn't hear about a partnership with your dad's company. If my dad was the one who made the decision, that is just his decision. There's no guarantee that the board will approve it."
Eunha's expression darkened upon hearing what he said...
Jungkook was still unwilling to help her save some face...
"Kook, what's going on? Is she a fan of yours?" Bambam pointed out thoughtlessly.
Jungkook immediately stared at him with a murderous expression...
"I do like Jungkook. I've... liked him for many years," Eunha suddenly confessed.