Just a couple days later found you in the VIP lounge, legs tucked underneath you as you sat in the corner of one of the plush couches. Your notebook was in your lap and pencil in hand as you listened to Ten. He was sat in the middle of the couch, body turned to face you and arm resting across the back of the couch. You were well aware of how close his hand was to you, relying on your voice recorder placed on the cushion between the two of you as some kind of boundary. Not that Ten's proximity made you uncomfortable, but he was almost startlingly beautiful up close, and you had to stay back for your own good.
Like now, Ten had been telling you about the procedure he'd done at the hospital late last night, and instead of actually paying attention to what he was saying, you were transfixed on his pink lips.
Hearing that he had paused—clearly waiting for a response from you—you dumbly nodded and offered a non-committal noise, pretending to write something down. Thank God you had your voice recorder, you could listen to the story again later.
"Y/N, I asked how your day was. And—" he then imitated the noise you'd made "—is not an answer."
"Sorry, a lot on my mind," you shook your head, offering him a tight-lipped smile. "My day has been okay, thanks for asking."
"Okay? Why hasn't it been great?"
"Because nothing great has happened," you informed him with a short sigh before changing the topic. "Now, tell me about your team."
"You're with me, isn't that great?"
"Not when you don't answer my questions."
"Ouch, okay. I'll tell you about my team."
And so you carefully took down notes as he spoke, compiling a fairly thorough list of his operating team:
- Duan Aojuan: was his protégé and now does her own surgeries; will occasionally still assist him on bigger operations
- Wang Linkai: the only anesthesiologist he trusts to give patients proper dosages as to not wake up while being sliced open
- Li Quanzhe: the only surgical tech he trusts to make sure the room is properly prepared and everything is sanitized
- Lai Meyun: his current top resident and choice pick for assisting him during surgeries; gets annoyed at Ten's tendency to banter over open chest cavities
- Zhu Zhengting: the operating nurse who is the real linchpin in the OR; makes sure they cut the right thing
- Li Yingchao: used to be his top resident choice until he threw up on poor Wang Linkai during a particularly gory surgery months ago and has only recently been allowed back in the OR, but only to observe
After he had finished with the horrible story of Yingchao throwing up on Linkai, you had half a smile on your lips as you finished scribbling it down, "Sounds like you could make a sitcom out of you and your team."
"Yeah, they're special," Ten agreed. "You should come by the hospital and meet them sometime. I would've recommended a dinner, but the only time all of us are off is in an alternate dimension."
"I might have to take you up on that offer, it'd be good for the article."
"Although maybe you shouldn't meet Aojuan, she has way too many embarrassing stories of me. Zhengting too, he's been there longer than I have, saw me during my residency days. Those were dark times."
"I'll make sure to specifically ask for them then," you said only somewhat teasingly, a fond smile resting across your features as Ten chuckled.
"I shouldn't have said anything," he shook his head.
You jerked both your thumbs at yourself as you declared, "Nothing can get by this journalist."
"Not even some long-dead inventor."
"Who shocked innocent animals just to discredit his competitor!"
"And pirated movies—"
"Causing a man to become bankrupt!"
"And—"
"Helped to build the first electric chair despite saying he was against capital punishment, using it as a ploy to discredit his competitor!"
Ten was grinning as you got even more worked up over it, "I love how fired up you're getting about this."
A deep flush came to your cheeks at his comment, and you shifted your limbs around momentarily before trying to refocus the conversation, "My bad. Interview. So how did—"
You were cut off by the elevator ding!ing, momentarily distracting you as you looked past Ten's head to see who was entering the lounge. Qian Kun was stepping off the elevator, presumably having just gotten off a flight, as he was still in his pilot's uniform and tugging a small suitcase behind him.
"Oh, hey, Y/N," he greeted you as he walked behind the couch to drop his hat on the bar and tuck his suitcase underneath it. "It's good to see you using the lounge. The guys said they hadn't seen you around, we were all kind of worried that we'd scared you off."
"All?" You asked doubtfully, to which the pilot chuckled.
"You're right, Hendery didn't really give a shit."
"Sicheng did?"
He walked around behind the bar as he answered, "After Dejun smacked it into him."
"Dejun didn't smack it into Hendery?"
"Nope, Yangyang did."
You were smiling as you then backtracked to return his greeting, "It's good to see you again, Kun."
"You too," he momentarily ducked down below the bar, returning with a glass and bottle of dark liquor. "You guys want some?"
You shook your head, declining politely, "No, but thank you."
Ten gestured to his white coat draped over the arm of the couch, "I'm technically on call right now."
"Speaking of," Kun refocused his attention back to you as he took his drink to the armchair closest to your end of the couch. "I'm glad you're in the lounge, Y/N, but slightly concerned that you're here with Ten."
"Hey!" The doctor was immediately offended at his friend's words. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged, taking a sip of his drink.
Stepping in to explain, you said, "I'm interviewing Ten for my final article for my program. And I'm also curious as to what you meant, Kun."
The man simply waggled his eyebrows before downing the rest of the glass in one go, "Ah! That's what I needed. Zeren almost fucking crashed us into the ocean today."
"Is he your co-pilot?"
"Yeah, my usual guy, Minghui was out sick for this flight, so I got landed with this kid fresh out of flight school. Almost killed us."
Kun sank further back and down in his seat as he explained, bringing his hands up to rub at his temples. Then he stood up, grabbing his glass to take it to the bar again, "I need another drink."
"You're going to kill your liver," Ten pointed out teasingly.
"It's two drinks, not to mention that I haven't drank in like three months, so piss off, Ten."
Despite their rather biting words towards each other, the lasting smile on Ten's face and existence of only mild annoyance in Kun's features made you believe that they were rather close. A kind of frenemy relationship, perhaps.
Remembering your moral obligations, you piped up, "Oh, Kun, I have my voice recorder going right now, by the way. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah," the man consented, pouring out another glass. "Quote me verbatim: I fucking hate Li Yongqin."
"Ouch, that hurts, Kun-Kun," Ten pouted.
"I still haven't forgiven you for the Diet Coke incident."
Kun flopped down on the armchair again as the man beside you rolled his eyes, "That was literally seven years ago!"
"What's the Diet Coke incident?" You questioned cautiously, observing how the tension went up between them again.
Kun started off, "This asshole—"
"Oh my god."
"Shut up, Ten!" The pilot took a deep breath before starting again, "We were roommates at boarding school, along with Sicheng and Xiaojun, so we shared a refrigerator in our dorm. I was the only one who drank Diet Coke out of the four of us. One day we were all playing video games, and I paused it to get myself a Diet Coke. The last one, mind you. But Ten jumped up and offered to get it for me. Said he'd even open it for me. He opened it, then proceeded to gulp half of it down in one go! He didn't even like Diet Coke, he just wanted to ruin my life!"
"Oh my god..." you breathed out.
Ten scoffed, "I know, he's being ridiculous—"
"Li Yongqin, you monster!" You rounded on the man on the couch with you, his eyes widening drastically as you scolded him. "The poor boy's last Diet Coke? A drink that you don't even like?"
"What the fuck is happening?"
"I'm being vindicated, that's what!" Kun shouted out victoriously.
"I can't believe this."
Ten's pager going off saved him from further scolding from the two of you, as he immediately took the chance to leap up from the couch, "Oh, that's me! Being paged! Back to the hospital! Away from you two! See ya!"
He fervently pushed the button to summon the elevator. As the doors opened, he gave you a final nod and goodbye, "I'll see you later, Y/N! I'll text you the next time I'm off shift!"
With that, the doors closed in front of him, leaving you in the lounge with Kun.