Chapter Text
Gyeo-ul walked lazily along the sidewalk, taking her time with each movement while she tried to get her thoughts together. She had spent most of the afternoon in surgery doing an emergency exploratory laparotomy procedure. She couldn’t remember when she last had to retract for so long for a patient who was about five times her size. Even Prof. Lee Ik-jun had to take a minute when his knees had given way during their fifth hour of surgery. Neither of them had eaten their lunch that day.
Gyeo-ul had to remind herself that general surgery was sometimes as much a physical effort as it was a mentally challenging one.
Nearing a 7-Eleven almost at the end of the block, Gyeo-ul wondered if she should get herself some coffee before taking the train home. She had gotten too used to vending machine coffee at the hospital that coffee from a convenience store would probably be just as fine for her. All Gyeo-ul needed was something to wake her up anyway; it didn’t matter to her anymore what was good or not. The need to stay conscious for few more hours overrode the seeking out of pleasure from something that tasted good.
Or did it, really?
As Gyeo-ul reached her hand out to grab the metal railing of the door to the 7-Eleven, a tantalizing smell drifted her way suddenly. She stopped before her foot could step into the floor of the convenience store.
What’s that smell? she found herself wondering.
Gyeo-ul turned her head to the left and saw the possible source of the aroma. A man stood outside a shop just a few feet away from her, right at the corner of the block. He held a cup in his hand with what looked to be light steam dancing upwards from the container.
Unable to resist, Gyeo-ul stepped back from the door she was just about to push open and followed the aroma instead. It was no doubt coffee…but it smelled so good that even tired Dr. Jang felt herself being wooed by it.
Dazzled by the scent that passed her as the man and his coffee cup walked by, Gyeo-ul entered quickly into the store.
Was it a new place? Gyeo-ul wasn’t sure. She had never noticed it before on her walks to the station. Then again, this was a route she rarely took on her trips home.
Coming inside the curious little place, Gyeo-ul found the interior of the shop to be nothing fancy or cute or aesthetically stimulating. If anything, it looked like an old library - plain tables and chairs spread out, an old couch at one corner and a rack of magazines and newspapers at another. Even the barista at the counter seemed well past his prime.
But the man with the squinty eyes and grey mustache glowed as he saw Gyeo-ul enter the shop. Surprised by his personable aura even from a distance, Gyeo-ul walked over to him.
“Good afternoon,” the old man greeted her. “What would you like?”
Gyeo-ul studied the menu written behind the counter. There were only a handful of drinks offered…everything the usual. Even the writing was plain.
Still, the GS resident was curious. She was still dazzled by the smell of coffee that brought her to that place. “Can I have a latte?” she said. “Hot, please.”
The old man smiled brightly at her. “Alright,” he answered. “I’ll serve it right up. You just take a seat.”
Gyeo-ul nodded and looked around her for a vacant seat.
It was a relatively small coffee shop, about 6 tables total scattered all over the place. One was occupied by what looked to be a couple watching something together in the guy’s phone. The other table was taken by a man sitting with his back to Gyeo-ul, reading a newspaper.
Gyeo-ul turned around to pick a table for herself too. After a little survey of the place, she decided on the table closest to the counter. She would only be there for a quick sec anyway - just finish her coffee and then go. If Gyeo-ul wanted to relax, it would have to be later at her house. She just needed some caffeine first.
Gyeo-ul settled down on her seat and shrugged her backpack off, letting it hang over the chair behind her. With a sigh, Gyeo-ul closed her eyes and bowed her head.
“Do you know that Prof. Ahn Jeong-won and I have watched a movie together?” Hui-su had told Dr. Bae that morning. Gyeo-ul, who was standing close by, was no less than shocked at having learned this.
Prof. Ahn having dinner with Dr. Bae? Prof. Ahn agreeing to see a movie with Dr. Bae? And not only that - Prof. Ahn eating out with the nurses? Hanging out with staff outside the hospital?
Gyeo-ul was dumbfounded. Somehow, imagining herself being with Prof. Ahn outside of the hospital in plain clothes was too hard a reach for her. Prof. Ahn Jeong-won was always only ever just professional with Gyeo-ul, nothing like the way he talked to the other doctors and nurses. Gyeo-ul wouldn’t know how to make jokes around Prof. Ahn, let alone ask him to have a meal or watch a movie with her.
“Dr. Jang Gyeo-ul,” he had said the other week after the incident with a patient’s father, “hurry up and get ready for surgery.”
Gyeo-ul slouched on her seat. Not even a ‘good job’ or a ‘thank you’, like the way he complimented Dr. Bae’s good work. Surely, her own efforts must have have counted for something too, right?
Gyeo-ul sighed. I still must have a long way to go.
“May I have some water please?”
Gyeo-ul raised her head up from her hands and blinked her tired eyes to the direction of the familiar voice by the counter.
“Oh, my apologies. I forgot you always have a glass of water with your coffee,” the friendly ahjussi told his tall, broad-shouldered customer.
“No, it’s perfectly fine!” the customer replied with a pleasantness that Gyeo-ul had only seen from a certain distance, but never directed at her.
“Let me just serve this latte to my new customer right here and I’ll bring your water over," the ahjussi told him, motioning to Gyeo-ul's lone figure at the nearest table. "No ice as usual?” he asked.
But Ahn Jeong-won didn’t respond. His attention was now completely captured by the appearance of his one general surgery resident sitting down at the corner table of his favorite café.
Gyeo-ul looked as equally bewildered. This was the first time they had run into each other outside the hospital.
“Annyeonghaseyo,” Gyeo-ul muttered from her seat, bowing her head at him.
Jeong-won nodded back, barely smiling at her. Perhaps he was just too surprised to pretend to be delighted to see her.
But what was new anyway? “Dr. Jang Gyeo-ul, hurry up and get ready for surgery," was the pediatric surgeon's way of interacting with her.
“Do you know this lovely lady right here?” the ahjussi asked Jeong-won, noticing their awkward stares.
Surprised by the question, Jeong-won muttered nervously, “Oh…yes. We, um, work together.”
“Well isn’t that nice,” friendly barista ahjussi remarked as he brought the tray with her hot latte over to Gyeo-ul. “It’s nice when colleagues run into each other outside of work. It’s a chance for you both to get to know each other better.”
Jeong-won chuckled nervously. “Um, yeah…” he said, and then took out his phone. “Excuse me, I have a call.” Quickly, he turned back and sat down at his table.
Gyeo-ul could only follow with her eyes as her professor took his seat at the table where a newspaper lay neatly folded. Jeong-won took a drink from his cup as he grabbed the periodical. Curiously, Jeong-won didn’t even seem to talk to anyone on his phone. Gyeo-ul certainly didn’t hear it ringing earlier.
“Colleagues from work tend to be shy too,” the ahjussi told Gyeo-ul as he placed her cup of coffee on her table.
Gyeo-ul smiled politely at him, grateful for the coffee, and then returned to gaze at Jeong-won. Shy?
Jeong-won sat with his back to Gyeo-ul, and she wondered what he thought of her being there at the café.
“Enjoy your latte. That’s what he likes to order too, usually cold,” the ahjussi said, nodding over at Jeong-won. The old man smiled as he walked back over to the counter.
Gyeo-ul watched as the barista ahjussi poured some water into a glass and brought it over to Ahn Jeong-won at his table. They stopped to have a bit of a chat, with Jeong-won pointing at something on the paper he was holding, letting the ahjussi read it. At some point, they even started laughing together.
Gyeo-ul was dumbfounded again. Prof. Ahn was nicer to this ahjussi than he was to her. Prof. Ahn barely even talked to Gyeo-ul when they noticed each other there at the café. All he did was nod.
As the barista ahjussi walked back to his counter, Gyeo-ul warmed the palm of her hands with her mug of hot latte in hopes of making herself feel better.
“Sure, when we’re both free, let’s go watch a movie together,” was what Jeong-won had told Dr. Bae at the ER that morning.
Sullen from the memory of his smiles at Dr. Bae and Jeong-won’s obvious avoidance of Gyeo-ul there at the coffee shop, the GS resident took a sip of her latte. The smoothness of the drink warmed her senses and made Gyeo-ul feel at ease.
“Hurry up and get ready for surgery,” was the only thing Jeong-won said to her at the ER the other week.
Gyeo-ul took another sip and let herself relax in her seat. Warmth in her hands, the smell of good coffee wafting around her…and her professor at another table ignoring her - it was fine. It was all good. Gyeo-ul would ignore him too.
She was only there for the coffee anyway, Gyeo-ul decided.
She smiled over her cup, realizing how much she enjoyed it. Coming there at that shop was a good idea after all.
Even with the presence of Prof. Ahn Jeong-won a few tables away, Gyeo-ul decided she wouldn’t think about work, or about being ignored by him. She exhaled softly, closing her eyes for a few moments, taking in this time alone for herself and this good cup of coffee in her hands.
Unbeknownst to Gyeo-ul, Jeong-won had turned back to look at her for a few moments too. He smiled, seeing the resident like that. She looked almost peaceful.
“Well isn’t that nice,” the ahjussi had said earlier. “It’s nice when colleagues run into each other outside of work.”