Quiet music plays in a quaint little bar 15 minutes south of the Min residence.
December 31st at 11:56 p.m., Harper is accompanied by her date.
It took a bit of reassuring and some ebbing of mom guilt to get her out of the house without Onyx, but she's here. She's done it.
Mrs. Min suggested that Yoongi 'show Harper around the city'. She offered to keep Onyx for a few hours while they were out. Mr. Min reminded Harper that she does need time for herself. It's okay to accept some time for that.
But neither parent pressured her into it. The offer was put on the table and Harper was given two days in advance to think it over. Ultimately, she decided that she would accept it.
Who knows when she'll have the opportunity to have a proper date with Yoongi again. She might as well take advantage of it before they go home.
Harper had a dress packed anyway. Just in case Yoongi or his parents had something more formal planned. Just in case they were going to other dinners or other family would be introduced.
She never wants to be standing next to him and making him look bad. She's his guest and therefore, a reflection of him. She never wants to taint that image with her own.
"This is my first time being out without Onyx since I had him." Harper says as they sway lightly to music playing in the bar.
There's also people laughing, talking and watching the countdown on the television.
"I promise that he's in good hands." Yoongi assures. "Great hands. In fact, we might pick up a baby much more spoiled than the one we dropped off."
Harper smiles at that. Her hands rest on his shoulders as she looks up at him.
"Oh, don't tell me that." She laughs. "I don't think I'll ever leave the house again. I was already worried about coming out this time."
"Worried?"
"Well, nervous, rather." She rephrases. "I haven't put on a dress since before I got pregnant. Months before. I didn't know how I'd look in it." She shakes her head.
"You look beautiful, Harper." Yoongi says. "And if it makes you feel any better, I was nervous, too. I am nervous, too."
"Why? You always look nice."
"I haven't been on a date in a while." Yoongi admits.
"Really?"
Harper is mildly surprised by the statement. Though she doesn't think that he's a serial monogamist, she does think that he's attractive enough to pull whoever he wants. She would think that he'd never run out of options.
"Yes." Yoongi responds. "Either they run off the second I tell them what I do for work, or they get upset when they realize I work 50 to 60 hours a week."
"And you're on call once a week. Right?" Harper asks.
Yoongi nods but wonders how she knows. He can't remember if he's ever told her that or not.
"Garrett told me." She says. "Well, not about you, specifically. But he told me that all the surgeons are."
"He's right. We all rotate days during the month so that not everyone is being called in on the same days. But we try to keep our days off, just that. Days off."
It's apart of what keeps the energy and morale of the doctors and surgeons up. The nurses have their own system but the surgeons do things in a particular way that benefits all of them.
A lot of them have families that they go home to at night; or just significant others. They know that they can get busy but that doesn't mean that their relationships have to suffer or be strained because of that.
This is what they chose as a career path. This is how they provide for their lives and families. That's a piece that they can no longer help. But they can help how their time is managed in between.
Their days off are off limits unless it's an absolute emergency. This gives them specific days committed only to their families. This gives them time to spend with their families for bonding and just every day activities.
It keeps the normalcy in the family without the stress or guilt from either side.
"That's good that you guys look out for each other like that. You saying 50 to 60 hours sounds like a lot but I still feel like I see you a fair amount." Harper thinks.
The number of hours sounds realistic. But had he not verbalized them, she'd have never thought about them like that.
"I think that's because you live right next door. I see you every day. Even before we officially met. Your bright pink slippers are kind of hard to miss."
"Oh my god." Harper says, embarrassed that he's seen her in them.
The only time she really wears them is to go grab the mail or to run the trash out.
"I didn't think anyone saw me."
"I have to get up early so I did. You hair would either be pulled back in a bun or you'd have your bonnet on. You'd always be yawning or rubbing your eyes."
"I was exhausted." Harper remembers. "I'd always have milk stains on my shirt." She cringes.
She can't believe that he ever saw her like that. It's so embarrassing.
"And you were still so beautiful." Yoongi adds.
Harper blinks at him, because he's gotta be bullshitting.
"I'm serious." He defends. "I've always thought you were beautiful. It just wasn't the first thing that initiated our meeting. Nobody approaches every single person they find attractive as a possible partner."
"That's true. I think the same. I thought you were attractive the first time actually got a good look at you but that's all it was at the time. A thought."
"See?" Yoongi says. "Now look at us. Dancing in a bar on New Year's Eve... patiently waiting for midnight."
Harper looks at the clock and smiles.
"You don't have to wait too much longer."
Yoongi looks at the clock as well.
11:59.
"The countdown will start soon." Harper says.
Yoongi holds her closer and admires her side profile. He finds himself doing that a lot since they've been on the trip.
Just looking at her. Simply admiring the woman that's got him in a chokehold. How so suddenly? He couldn't tell you. But he doesn't wish to change it.
"Good. Gives me an excuse to kiss you again." Yoongi responds shamelessly.
"Why do you need an excuse?" Harper rebuttals boldly.
"Are you implying that I could kiss you for no reason at all?" Yoongi puts his forehead on hers.
"Why not?" Harper says back quietly.
He grins just before he kisses her.
Before the countdown is over. Several seconds before the clock strikes midnight. At the perfect time for the pair of them, they indulge in each other.
When the confetti blasts go off, as people blow on kazoos, Harper is swept up by a charismatic surgeon. He kisses her like nobody is watching while keeping everything completely modest for the public.
It isn't him who they would give their side glances to. It would be Harper.
It never matters the year or the state of the world outside of it. The Min household, specifically the father, raises its men the way that chivalry intended.
Opening car doors for their women, tying their women's shoes if need be, defending their women in the public and in the privacy of their own home. Showing them respect and setting the example of how to respect them to others.
Setting the expectation of how their women should be treated. Whether they're present or not.
It's an automatic effort from Yoongi. It's all that he's ever seen growing up from his father. He saw how his father treated his mother. He knows of the respect that she was always given. Even when they were having a disagreement, Mr. Min never once raised his voice at her.
He's never once intentionally cut her off while she was speaking. He's never once raised his hand to her. And he has never once disrespected his wife in any fashion that would make it okay for others to do so.
Yoongi was raised on the pillars of respect toward both his parents and women. Even though it was instilled in him to respect his parents, he'd still say that they earned it tenfold.
They love Yoongi like he's their son, because he is. They respect him because he's human. They don't expect him to just respect them because he's their son. They don't treat him like a subordinate. He knows that they're his parents.
Yoongi respects them as parents and people. And it's never not returned in perfect reciprocity.
Harper's heart becomes inflated as the beating gets faster. Her conscious thoughts are silenced, drowned out by the feeling of his lips on hers.
This is such a vaguely familiar feeling. She knows that she's felt it before. In varying degrees, she's felt this amorous rush of affection.
It's just been so... long.
It feels like it's been forever. All of her life, she's gone without it.
Or that's what it feels like with Yoongi in her direct line of infatuation, at least. With him being the focus of her bouts of hopeless romantic thoughts, late in the night when no one's around to hear, he makes it so difficult to process any other men that her starting passion has been placed upon.
And this is her problem, she believes.
The potential of men often get to her long before they do.
The possibility of what they could be. The image that she portrays in her head from simple interactions.
Yoongi's smile when she drops Onyx off could turn into a smile for her every morning.
The respect that he shows when he gives her eye contact while she speaks could turn into adoring looks, full of fondness.
The tender hold that he's got on the small of her back could turn into a fantasy of how gentle he'd be with her if they were alone.
Delusional, she is.
On the brink of insanity, she's sure of it.
But she could live in the personal facade just a little longer.
Just... a little...
Yoongi's forehead rests on hers as they breathe the same air. Their eyes stay closed for several seconds after their kiss. Harper begins to feel a sense of doubt rather quickly.
Yoongi's nose brushes her forehead as he brings to it. He presses a kiss there and the pending heartbreak forming in Harper's chest dissipates. The subtle tension in her shoulders drops.
Her fingers unknowingly grip the fabric of his shirt. Yoongi opens his eyes and looks down at her. Her eyebrows are pinched together with a little fold in between them.
Keeping one hand on her waist, the other brushes her jaw. His thumb runs along the cut on her feature, pulling her head up toward him. She slowly opens her eyes and looks at him.
"Are you okay?"
Even the genuine concern in his tone is soft. His eyes are soft. His touch is gentle.
It's overwhelming.
She feels the lump form in her throat for reasons she can't quite explain. She licks her lips and holds her tears at bay.
"Yes." Harper replies. "I'm sorry."
She quickly wipes her cheeks as her tears fall anyway. She looks around to make sure that no one saw her. She sniffles as she takes a step back him.
"Are you ready to go?" Yoongi asks, not wanting her to cry in front of people.
She deserves her space. She should have her time. But to cry in front of people this way? When she isn't feeling at her best? He won't allow them to see her like this.
"Please." Harper says as she looks to the floor. Her hands fumble nervously as she picks at her nails.
Yoongi holds his hand out for hers and she places hers into it. He leads the way to their booth and puts his jacket over her shoulders. It's thicker and does more justice than her thin one.
When they're out of the building, she's grateful for the cool air that hits her. It levels her mind and brings her back down.
All that can be heard is the hushed sounds of the wind as a breeze blows past them.
Yoongi opens the door for her and she gets inside. She keeps his jacket around her shoulders as she buckles her seat belt.
The drive home is filled with quiet holiday music. The pair goes to pick up Onyx to get him back to the house. It's a quick transaction due to the cold. Hugs, kisses, baby carrier, waves, smiles. Gone.
Harper bathes Onyx first and gets him dressed. Yoongi offers to feed him once more before bed while she showers.
She takes her shower and by the time she's finished, Onyx is asleep. Yoongi showers and Harper goes into the kitchen for a glass of water. She picks at her nails as she stands at the counter.
"Are they peeling?" Yoongi asks as he walks into the kitchen.
"No. I picked at them and didn't realize. They're just a little chipped. Well, one looks like it's going to come off but it's okay. It'll grow back if it does."
Yoongi holds up two nail polish bottles.
"I've got coconut oil and clear polish. It has vitamin E in it." He holds his hand out and she slips hers into it.
He walks with her to the living room and they sit on the couch. He sets the clear polish on the coffee table and twists the cap to the coconut oil open.
Harper looks at his nails as he holds her right hand in his. He applies the vitamin E to her thumb nail first, spreading an even coat of it.
Yoongi's nails are clipped short and clean with healthy cuticles. There's not a single sign or speck of dirt under them. He doesn't have any hangnails or cuts by his cuticles. They even have a bit of shine too much.
"You use this?" Harper asks.
"Yes. My mother used to, every morning, put vitamin E on mine and my father's nails. It keeps them hydrated and strong. If we did chip a nail or damage it somehow, she'd put another coat of vitamin E and then a layer of clear polish."
He remembers those days clearly.
"My father used to be a nail biter. When they met, she told me. It's his nervous tick thing, too. And my mother hates it so much when people's nails are below the tips of their fingers. Like when they've bitten them into the nail bed." He cringes and shivers.
"So that's how my mom got him to stop doing it. Vitamin E and clear polish. She used to vitamin E to grow his nails back healthy and strong. And the clear polish because he hated the taste. When he would go to bite his nails, he'd get so upset with myself. Eventually, he stopped doing it."
"Negative reinforcement." Harper states.
"Correct." Yoongi commends.
He finishes applying the vitamin E and puts the clear polish on next. He blows on her nails to help them dry quicker. When he's finished, she looks at them and smiles.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He sets the polishes on the table and looks at her.
Harper's hair is pulled back into a ponytail and covered with a blue and gold scarf. Her ears have been pulled from under it due to her discomfort of the feeling otherwise.
"You're beautiful." Yoongi says quietly.
Harper's cheeks are hot before she even looks at him.
"You've been saying that all night."
"It's true. Plus, I've been holding it in for a while, For every time that I didn't say it before, I'm saying it now."
"And how many more time is that?"
"Well, it's been three months of build-up so.." Yoongi pretends to count on his fingers.
Harper smiles and laughs. "Okay. Quit it."
She looks at her fingers as she smiles to herself. The polish shines under the dimmed lights of the living room.
She looks around and realizes that this is temporary. This.. space. This isn't where they live. This isn't where she lives. This isn't her home.
"What are you thinking, Harper?"
The look in her eye has changed and he can see it.
"We have to go home soon. In a couple days."
"Right." Yoongi says with a nod.
It's a bittersweet feeling. He loves work and can't wait to get back to his job. But he knows that he will miss his parents terribly. He doesn't know when he will have the time to see them for days at a time again.
Harper is concerned for a different reason. Getting away has allowed them to be more personal with one another. She's met his parents. They've met her and Onyx. They've waited together, they've talked and laughed together.
Harper and Yoongi have gone on two dates.
They've advanced in their....
Well, she doesn't know.
And maybe that's what's bothering her.
Will everything go back to normal when they're home? Whatever their normal is? Teetering on the edge of admittance but never taking it any further?
Will this entire trip have been just an experience for him? Something that he can cross from his bucket list and never speak of again? A conquest of sorts.
"What happens then?" Harper asks.
She avoids the eye contact with him.
"What do you mean?" Yoongi asks softly.
She looks down at her nails. Ready for him to say something with hints of rejection in it, ready to hear what she knows is inevitably coming, she braces herself.
"I want to say that we're dating exclusively." Yoongi is honest with her. "Unless you have other options and I'm getting way ahead of myself." He suddenly thinks.
"I don't." Harper quickly intervenes, interrupting his intrusive thoughts.
"Oh. Well, that's good then."
There's a quiet pause. Not an awkward one. Both of them just need to collect themselves. Thoughts, words, racing hearts.
"Then it's just us." Yoongi tells her.
She smiles at that and looks away from him. This feels like a dream. An entire world of all of the romantic fantasies that she's could have come up with.
Though in all of her days of maladaptive daydreaming, she could have never dreamt up Yoongi.
Never could she have created a man so perfectly humbled. Never would she have pictured herself with any man in this scenario.
And yet she's here. Simply because he exists outside of her mind.
To be frank, Harper has never experienced anything like 'dating exclusively'. She's been on dates before. But the guys that she did end up in a relationship with still talked to other women. Before and after the relationship had begun.
So she knows nothing about how this works.
But Yoongi says that it's just them and she's too embarrassed to ask. So she'll wait until she's back in her room and look it up.
Surely the internet will tell her something.
######
The drive back home is quicker than the drive to Yoongi's hometown.
Or so it feels.
Yoongi and Harper are back at their apartments in no time. He helps her grab her bags while she takes Onyx. She unlocks her apartment door and he sets the bags onto the couch.
They part ways for the rest of the night as they unpack their bags and wash their dirty clothes. Harper washes Onyx's clothes before her own, separating the whites from the colored clothing.
When they're finished, she throws her load of clothes in and folds Onyx's. She puts them away as he sleeps in his bassinet.
With his green pacifier in his mouth and clutching onto a small blue blankie gifted by the Min parents, Onyx sleeps like he's worked a 12 hour shift. Harper smiles at the gift as her phone goes off.
Yoongi: I have to be up for work at 6.
I'll call you on my lunch, if that's okay
I'd like that
Have a good night, Harper
Good night, Yoongi
######
The next morning, Yoongi stops by a coffee shop before heading into work. He grabs an iced americano as well as a sausage, egg and cheese croissant.
He eats his sandwich as he drives and sips his coffee to wash it down as he walks into the building. He gets on the elevator and feels into his pockets.
As the doors open, he pulls out a portable toothbrush. He walks down to the employee bathroom and waves his badge in front of it.
The door unlocks and he walks inside. He brushes his teeth and throws the toothbrush out. He checks himself in the mirror, fixing his hair before he walks back out.
Yoongi gets down to his office and clocks in at his desktop. He goes through his emails and replies back to several of them.
He received many, most of which he was included in for meetings, while he was on vacation. He used PTO which he's accumulated entire days of work for year to year since he started at St. Juniper's. There's a rollover period for a certain amount of hours. Some of his go to waste because he never uses them but this year is different.
He's still got rollover hours even while taking an eight day vacation.
Yoongi's alarm goes off and he looks at the time. He shuts it off and takes his coat off. He changes out of his boots and into his work shoes.
He whistles as he grabs his keys, tablet and phone. He walks out of the office, locking it behind him.
His phone vibrates and he looks down at the notification.
Harper: Good morning to you too♥️
Onyx and I slept well. He's still
holding onto the blue stuffie. Tell
your parents thank you for me
That's good and I'll tell them.
Have you eaten yet this morning?
I haven't. I told you I don't have
much of an appetite in the mornings
We'll work on it
Yoongi locks his phone as he approaches the door. He knows this is going to be a long meeting so he mentally prepares himself for it.
He's wide awake after getting his morning coffee so he's fully prepared for the day.
It lasts two hours before he's able to leave the room. He then has a surgery briefing on a procedure scheduled for the following day. That one is shorter and a few of his colleagues walk out together.
"How was your holiday, Dr. Martine?" Yoongi asks a doctor by the name of Phillip Martine.
"It was great, Dr. Min. I had to work that night but I was able to be with my wife and kids that morning. We opened their gifts and had breakfast together before I left to come to the hospital."
"Were the kids upset about that? How'd your wife take it?"
"I told everyone in advance, of course. The kids are a little older so they understand that sometimes I have to work on the holidays. But I only work every other Christmas so that I do actually get to be with them."
"Oh, that's good. I'm happy you got to see them even if it wasn't for the whole day."
"What about you, huh?" Dr. Martine bumps his arm as they walk into the employee lounge. "I didn't see you in the building that day. And trust me, I looked."
Yoongi snickers as he looks into the fridge. There's a bag with his name on it and a note.
Taehyung texted him to let him know that he bought him lunch in between his meetings. It's from the cafe that they often go to. He knew that the last thing on Yoongi's mind after a long vacation would be remembering to bring himself lunch.
Don't ever say I don't love you
-Tae
Yoongi smiles as he pulls the bag out. He puts the sticky note into his pocket and walks to put the food into microwave.
"I actually went home this year."
"Really?" Dr. Martine says, surprised yet happy for the surgeon. "How was that? Did you go see your parents?"
"I did." Yoongi nods with a smile. "My parents were excited to see me. I got there early Christmas morning so I still had that whole day with them. They were happy to see me but somebody else definitely had more of their attention than I did."
"Good afternoon, Dr. Min." Hailey says as she walks into the lounge.
He turns around and smiles with a wave. He sees Kyra walking next to her but doesn't look at her for longer than a glance.
"Good morning, Nurse Hailey."
"How was your holiday?"
"He was just telling about how he went home." Dr. Martine raises an eyebrow and pokes his lips out, impressed.
"Oohhh, I did hear about that." Hailey says. "How was it? Wait- did you get the lunch that was in here for you?"
"I did. Waiting for it to warm up."
"Oh okay. How was home? Anything exciting happen?" She says, wiggling her eyebrows.
Yoongi rolls his eyes. Playfully with her, of course.
"Ouu." Dr. Martine says. "You did say that your parents had someone else to pay attention to." He points.
Yoongi sighs as his cheeks warm. He stares at the microwave with a smile impossible to hide. It beeps and he pops it open.
"I had a date since you two are into my business." He grabs his food out.
Hailey gasps with excitement. She knows that Harper and Onyx were with him. He called Taehyung to tell him that they were coming along and, inevitably, Hailey was with him.
"Oh well if it isn't a new year, indeed." Dr. Martine says as they sit at the table.
"Alright." Yoongi says. "I get it." He chuckles as Hailey sits right next to him.
"How'd your date go?" She asks casually, masking her genuine joy for her friend.
Kyra pokes her fork through her salad and crunches on the romaine and grape tomatoes. It's surprising for her to hear that Yoongi went on a date. Even more so that he went while he was at home for just the holidays.
"Good. Great, actually." Yoongi corrects himself.
He cuts up his chicken Parmesan and takes a bite.
"We went out with my parents first to this Nutcracker village. It was really nice there. They had all sorts of houses and places to take pictures. There was a train ride there that went through the village toward the end. Everything was decorated so beautifully."
"Ooohh." Hailey gives a small pout. "That sounds so cute. Did you go out with her for New Years?"
"I did. Neither of us are big drinkers and I was driving so we just ate out at one of the small owned bars."
Hailey smiles in a childlike mischievous manner and Yoongi closes his eyes and sighs. He knows exactly what she's going to ask.
And she knows that he knows.
"Did you?"
Kyra looks in between them, unsure of what Hailey means. She knows what she wants to know for herself. But not what Hailey could mean. Knowing her though, it's probably the same thing.
Yoongi takes sudden interest in his food.
"This is really good. The cafe made this?" He looks at the meat as he cuts into it.
Hailey smacks her teeth and deadpans.
Yoongi fights his smiles as he puts the chicken into his mouth.
"You're a pain." Hailey opens her food up.
"I love you too, Hailey."
"So you've got a girlfriend now?" Dr. Martine asks. "I knew there was something different about you today. You seem more.... bright today. Like you're glowing."
Hailey stops chewing and goes wide eyed as she looks at Yoongi. His eyes widen too at her insinuation and he chokes on his food.
Hailey grabs the water bottle and opens it to give him some. As he's reaching for it and coughing, he's shaking his head. He gulps down the water to clear his throat as she pats him on the back.
Yoongi clears his throat and shakes his head once more.
"It's just my face lotion. I got a new one. That's it."
"Hm." Dr. Martine makes an impressed face. It's kind of a habit of his. "It's doing you good, Doc."
Yoongi's face is on fire as he continues to eat his food. He avoids eye contact with Hailey for the rest of the meal. She could pull information out of a federal agent if she really needed to.
It's the eyes, he always thinks. Always the eyes.
He often wonders why she chose to be a nurse instead of a journalist. Both occupations fit right up her alley. But she enjoys the thrill of giving back to her community and helping children instead.
That's what she always says anyway.
Yoongi's phone buzzes and he looks at the email. It's then that he also realizes the time.
"Oh. I gotta go." He stands up, taking his lunch with him.
"Where you going? Tae should be down in like 10 minutes." Hailey tells him, looking at her watch.
"I have an important phone call to make. Tell him that I'll see him after work."
"Alrighty."
"And thank him again for the food for me." Yoongi says as he walks out of the lounge.
"Will do!" Hailey calls back.
Kyra watches him leave then looks to Hailey.
"I'm so happy for him." Hailey expresses with a smile. "He really deserves someone to be happy with, you know?"
"As hard working as he is, I'm happy for him too." Dr. Martine says. "I love working with him but realizing how much he's here and when he's here is kind of disheartening. You're right. He does deserve this."
"He said he went on a date in his hometown though. He doesn't even live there anymore. How's that going to work?" Kyra asks.
"What do you mean?" Dr. Martine asks.
Hailey feels her lip curl a bit looking at the woman.
"His parents live hours away. He's never going to get to see her. He works 12 hour shifts and has two days off a week. Is he going to drive there to see her for those days? Or is he going to expect her to come out here?" Kyra asks. "That's a lot."
"That's not really your problem, is it?" Hailey asks. "You're not the date. Why worry about it?"
Kyra frowns at her and screws her face up as she rolls her eyes. She stands up from the table and walks out of the lounge.
Hailey rolls her eyes and eats her food.
Kyra's really starting to work her final nerve.
A|N
#Hailey is like Yoongi's little sister that he can never say no to 😭