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It’s their first real dinner (date).
Just the two of them…
Outside the hospital…
Not in their scrubs…
In their personal clothes.
And it had only taken a month of planning on his part.
***
Voted by his friends as the one most to likely to survive a zombie apocalypse, Ahn Jeong-won is that guy.
The one who never takes a trip without first researching accommodations, where to eat, what to do and how to get there — all while calculating the budget to the last won. The one who takes the boy scout motto to extremes, complete with an always ready ‘go’ bag of necessities ranging from band aids / medicines to nail cutters and even a mister, that would put Doraemon’s to shame.
The one who has a contingency plan for when his backup plans don’t work. A master chess player who can’t (and won’t) make a move without first looking several steps ahead. His transfer from Kang Un University Hospital to Yulje? All part of a master plan to gain control of profits from the VIP wards to ultimately fund his Daddy Long Legs program for when he left for Italy. How? By leveraging his and his Eomma’s controlling shares in the Foundation to negotiate hefty salaries for his friends — who he knew he’ll need to ensure said wards’ profitability — and using whatever means at his disposal to do so -- like promising Song-hwa lead vocalist status or blackmailing Jun-wan with ‘inside’ information.
***
So yes, he’s that guy.
Which is why it takes him a such a long time to get from deciding to tell Gyeo-ul he’s staying by her side to actually doing it that she ended up beating him to the punch. And since she’d essentially blown up all his plans for confessing, he’s now become obsessed in planning that perfect first date to take his (still secret) girlfriend, instead.
***
First, he flexes his clout to get the other professors to agree to give Gyeo-ul a day off on the pretext that she is looking worn out and exhausted. And because they all know how hard she works, nobody raises an eyebrow, all perfectly willing and happy to let their ‘princess’ get some long overdue rest.
Next, he dips into his ‘rainy day’ fund to get himself a new car. And if he happens to ingratiate himself to her brother in the process, why, that’s just a bonus, isn't it?
Then he enlists Song-hwa’s help (even all the way from Sokcho) in getting information from the Yulje ultimate ‘inssa’ doc Kwang-hyeon about what food she likes, other than egg drop sandwiches (because even he knows a fast food place is not exactly the most romantic setting) and Naver's the heck out of finding the best restaurant within the greater Seoul area.
And because he likes to dot his I’s and cross his T’s, he goes ahead and books accommodations for them within the same vicinity as well — just in case the weather turns bad — two rooms of course, because contrary to Seok-hyeong’s assertion that he was one, he’s actually not a pervert. (Also, her brother may have sort of low-key referred to their Abeoji as ‘General.’ This, after he’d mustered the nerve to ask the guy’s help in packing her an overnight bag — again, just in case — which he got, because apparently the guy also thinks that just the mention of the General is sufficient threat incentive for him to behave).
***
Are you done for the day? He sends her the message as he himself prepares to leave the hospital.
Ye. Just got done with all the charts and endorsements.
Great! Meet you at the basement parking in 20?
...
He’s putting on his coat when Jun-wan enters their shared office. “You’re off early.”
He nods as he makes last-minute checks to make sure he has everything he needs in his bag.
“Can you drop by the store? We’re out of…”
“I’m going to Yangpyeong.” He cuts his friend off and gives a silent prayer for lying.
“Ah. She’s still avoiding talking to you huh?.”
He pushes the slight guilt he feels at the obvious concern in his friend’s voice and opts to just nod — which reminds him that he hasn’t come clean to Gyeo-ul yet for the same lie.
“You’ll be back for practice tomorrow night?.”
“Yes. I’ll see you then.”
***
“Gyosu…” She cuts herself off when he looks at her with raised brows. “I mean…Oppa. Sorry, I’m not used to calling you that yet…”
“You know I was just teasing you when I said you should start calling me Oppa, right? You can call me whatever you want. I can wait until you’re more comfortable using another way to address me. I really don’t mind.”
“Okay. I will think of something then…” She bites her lip while blushing.
He smiles internally at the thought that he can fluster her easily. “But can I call you Aegi?” He asks playfully.
“Ah ye…” She blushes even more as she answers. “Oh…I think you missed the turn to my apartment…”
“Nope.”
“But…”
“I am kidnapping you, Aegi!” He feels giddy at being able to call her that.
“Mwo?”
“We’ve been together for a month now and I just realized I haven’t even taken you out to dinner yet.”
“Oh. It’s okay. We were both busy and we’ve eaten together plenty of times already.”
“I know, but I want to have dinner with you. Outside the hospital, out of our scrubs and in our personal clothes.”
He glances at her to see her reaction to his teasing, and sees her pout before she side-eyes him. “Are we going to Yangpyeong then?”
It’s his turn to get flustered. “Oh…uhm…” He’s glad he’s driving and so has an excuse not to meet her gaze. Surely she doesn’t know that he lied before, does she?
“Or is Uju joining us too?”
Crap!
“Mianhe.” He infuses some aegyo to his apology. “Ik-jun told you huh?” He asks sheepishly.
“Ye. He didn’t mean to though. He didn’t know I’d asked you out when he told me you spent the weekend with them, playing with Uju.”
He sighs heavily. “I didn’t mean to…it was just…”
“It’s okay Gyosunim. I was just teasing. I understand why you did it…”
“I’m still sorry. I promise, I won’t lie to you again.” He thinks of reaching out for her hand but they’re still tentative with each other when it comes to skinship, even though they’d already kissed, so he kept his hand on the steering wheel instead.
“So where are you taking me?”
“Ah…I was thinking we could try Dining in Space in Jongno-gu. The view is supposed to be spectacular.”
“Omo…that’s the one that overlooks the Changdeokgung Palace right?”
“You’ve heard of it?”
“Uhm…” She nods and bites her lip. “But Gyosunim…that’s a bit pricey…”
He frowns at her words but then realizes she must have heard about his miserly ways from Ik-jun. “Aish…it’s our first dinner together…I don’t care about the cost…” He does of course, but she’s totally worth it.
She laughs. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to imply anything. But really, it doesn’t matter where we go, if I’m with you, it will be special, right?”
If he wasn’t already head over heels for her, he would have fallen right there and then.
“Also… I’m not hungry yet because Professor Ik-jun brought me 3 egg drop sandwiches while I was doing charts. Maybe we can just drive around for now and then randomly choose where to eat later?” She asks as she reaches out and places her hand on his arm. “It’s such a nice night and back when I still had a car and actually had some free time, I’d just go for a drive to unwind and eat wherever the mood takes me.”
Aigoo! This is why you should have told her beforehand of your plans Ahn Jeong-won! He thinks, mentally lamenting the waste of time and energy that went into planning the date. But, as his father had often told him, start as you mean to go — and her considering the state of his pocketbook is definitely a good start — so he agrees.
“Arraesseo.”
Besides, driving around just means he gets to spend more time with her.
***
They end up eating at some hole-in-the-wall that serves surprisingly good kimchi-jjigae and just talk. He shares some anecdotes about his friends and their time in med school, she tells him about her other interests aside from BTS. He makes his dad jokes, she laughs and he finds out they share the same type of humor.
And even though he’s never really been on one, he thinks perhaps this is the best first date ever.
***
It’s when the place is closing that they realize that that it had started to snow while they were in there. He takes off his long coat so he could put it on her. It engulfs her completely and he has to fold the sleeves a couple of times before her hands finally appear.
“Let me run to the car while you wait here.”
“But you already gave me your coat. Let’s just go together.” She insists.
So they run to the car together.
“I’m not sure if it’s safe to drive right now so maybe we can just find somewhere to spend the night?” He asks as he starts the car and puts it on idle for a couple of minutes before turning the heater on.
“Oh…uhmm…I guess that’s okay. We can probably get laundry service...”
“I had your brother pack an overnight bag for you so you’ll have a change of clothes.” He tells her as he navigates his way out of the parking area.
It takes him a while before he realizes that she hasn’t said anything for the last 10 minutes. “Is something wrong?”
“You had my brother pack me an overnight bag?”
“Oh….uh…I told you I was a Boy Scout right?”
***
Jeong-won fears he might be hyperventilating.
They finally find an inn that had vacancy but unfortunately due to the heavy snow, only 1 room is left.
And now she’s in the shower and he’s sitting on the bed — the only one in the room — mentally lamenting all his poor choices in life that has led him to this moment. He’s never shared a room, let alone a bed, with anyone ever. He was going to ask for extra bedding, thinking to sleep on the floor, but she frowned at him, saying they could share a bed because it looks big enough.
Yeah… he didn’t think so…
His internal freakout halts when she comes out of the bathroom, all flushed, with her hair wet, and wearing…
He swallows the giant lump that seems to have coalesced in his throat. The shirt is white…
And thin..
Like it had seen more than its fair share of washes, and with the light from the bathroom (which is brighter than the one in the room) behind her, he can clearly see her outline.
“Nice shirt…” He mumbles, making sure he stares only at her face from thereon out.
“Uhm…my brother must have just grabbed whatever was on my bed…” She trails off as she steps further into the room.
He stands quickly and moves to get his bag from the side of the bed. “You can choose which side while I shower…”
“Okay… do you mind if I blow dry my hair? It might get noisy…”
“No…that’s fine…” He smiles before escaping to the bathroom.
***
He stares at his reflection in the mirror, hands braced on the counter and tries to regulate his breathing. He’s all showered, brushed his teeth and dressed in an old shirt and boxers (because he’d planned to sleep in a room of his own, he’d packed only what he usually wears in bed and not a more GP-rated pajama or sweats) so there's nothing left to do but go back out there. Knowing he can’t stay in the bathroom for the rest of the night, he wills himself to move.
The sound of the hair dryer have long ceased so he hopes she’s already in bed asleep. Maybe he can still request for extra bedding and sleep on the floor instead...
No such luck. Because although she’s already in bed with the covers up to her waist, she’s sitting with her back against the headboard and staring the the TV, with the sound turned low.
“You’re still up?”
“I…is this weird?” She asks.
“What do you mean?” He makes himself sit on the other side of the bed, outside the covers and carefully avoids looking at her by plugging in his phone to charge.
She was quiet for so long, he thinks maybe she's fallen asleep so he finally turns to look at her and sees that she’s biting her lip.
“Gyeo-ul?” He foregoes the term of endearment and uses her name instead to help ease, if not break, the intimate atmosphere that’s threatening to scramble his brains and make his body misbehave.
But then she turns to face him fully and whispers, “Oppa…”
He groans internally. Now she calls him Oppa?!
He’s screwed!
“Ye?” Did his voice just crack?
“Mianhe.”
He snaps out of his mental spiral at the her apology. “Why are you apologizing?”
“I wasn’t thinking earlier...I mean, this must be really uncomfortable for you. Maybe we can put a pillow between us if you like, I saw an extra one in the closet earlier.”
He laughs at the thought that he’s the one she’s concerned about. “I was more worried about you.” He tells her. “That all this might be too much for you since we haven’t been together that long yet…” He trails off and then realizes what he’d just implied. “I mean…not that I’ll be expecting us to sleep together later on when we’ve been together longer…” He quickly adds.
“Ah ye…I wouldn’t really mind if we’re both okay with it later on. I don’t hold on to that concept of saving oneself for marriage if I truly loved the person and it wasn’t just a means to scratch an itch.”
He’s rendered speechless at her words. She’s okay with them sleeping together?
“I’ve never slept with someone yet but mostly because I never really felt anything for anyone else before you but I imagine you’re different. I mean you’re a devout Catholic after all.”
He thinks this whole conversation might be funny if he isn’t so mortified at the thought that it’s his sensibilities she’s worried about. He slides under the covers and moves closer to her but carefully makes sure there’s still space between them. “So you’re okay if we cuddle now when we sleep?” He asks solemnly.
“Will you be okay with that?” She answers, equally somber. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable…”
Everything else in him softens -- including that -- at her words.
So he opens his arms in invitation in lieu of answering...
And she scoots over in response.
…
…
…
They don’t do anything more than sleep that night because she’s actually right in her assessment of his sensibilities.
And while he does wake up uncomfortably down there, he thinks this, having her in his arms, in bed together, is something he’ll want for the rest of his life.
So as she continues to sleep…
He plans.