Chapter Text
Fahlada Thananusak, a well renowned dermatologist in Thailand, is notable for her bright smile and kind heart. She is the daughter of astounding doctors who own the number one hospital in the country, and is set to be its next successor .
“That’s quite an introduction.”
Fahlada sits with her arms crossed over her chest, eyes staring blankly at the computer screen that was in front of her. Her assistant blinks down at her from her nervous posture. “D-Do you not like it? I can have the producer change—,” the assistant's mouth presses close when Fahlada’s hand raises for her to stop talking.
“I don’t care enough, Rose.”
Rose gulps, nodding. She takes the laptop from Fahlada’s desk, closing it shut and hugging it to her chest. The wary glances make Fahlada uncomfortable, and one glare has Rose scrambling on her feet.
“I-I’ll be out there if you need me, Dr. Fahlada.”
Bright smile and kind heart.
Fahlada scoffs to herself. Smile? It’s never painted her lips as often as it did before. Kind heart? Well… her heart only feels anger and longing more than anything else.
Her hand rises to hold the small pendant around her neck, fiddling with it between her fingers. The shape of a small heart is outlined by the tips of her fingers, drawing the small A that symbolizes the person she missed most.
A shaky breath leaves her lips.
It’s been seven years. When does it stop hurting?
A knock startles her out of her thoughts, and when Fahlada turns towards the door briefly, she sees a peeking Rose. “Yes?”
“The actress is here.” Rose pushes the door farther open, revealing a very tall woman with a bright smile of a greeting. Fahlada finally takes her eyes off of her computer screen, looking up at the people who have interrupted her peace.
When Fahalada diverts her eyes to the unfamiliar figure in the room, her eyes widen.
Unfamiliar… but familiar looking…
“Earn Sanithada.” Rose’s tiny claps were barely heard behind the awkward tension swimming around Fahlada’s aura.
She looks like…
“Hello, Dr. Fahlada.”
Fahlada has heard the theory of doppelgängers. A billion people in this world and everyone has at least six of their own.
And one out of six of her first love’s doppelgängers was right in front of her.
Unless… This was a hallucination.
Fahlada clears her throat, blinking her eyes to ensure that this in fact was not a hallucination that could have been derived from her yearning.
“Actress?” Fahlada raises a brow after she finds her voice.
The actress awkwardly smiles, turning to Rose for confirmation that she was indeed in the right place. Blinking, Rose glances between the doctor and the actress. “Yes? Your father said you’d be teaching her what she needed to know for her upcoming project that’s being filmed at this hospital.”
Fahlada releases a sigh as it finally clicks in her brain. Right. Her father did mention that. Fahlada had only agreed after a very stern disagreement that she had better things to do than coach an actress on how to be a doctor for a movie. She took her job seriously and had patients to see. She most certainly did not have time to play pretend with some actress.
But, Fahlada was at a disadvantage. She wanted to be a good daughter, so she had no choice but to agree. The company who was producing this film was giving the hospital a lot of money to be able to use the facility for their movie, and it was something her father couldn’t pass up.
Money was always good for business.
Her father said once Fahlada takes over the business, she’ll understand certain decisions needed to be made.
“Right. Come in, have a seat.” Fahlada motions towards the chair in front of her desk.
The actress greets Rose with a bowed head and a smile of gratitude as the door is closed behind her. Earn takes a seat where Fahlada had preferred her to sit, the brightness of her aura never fading.
“Ms. Sanithada, I know that—,”
“Earn is fine.” The actress cuts her off politely.
“Earn…” Fahlada continues after a pause. “Earn Sanithada.” She repeats her name and the actress nods in confirmation.
“Earn. I know that my father has pointed you in my direction to help you with this film, but I am not someone who wastes time. So, I apologize if I seem hasty. Rest assured, I will teach you everything you need to know.” Fahlada says, hands clasping on the wooden table to emphasize her professionalism and rather stoic personality.
Earn smiles at her mannerisms. “Well, I am quite the opposite. Yes, I intend to take this seriously, and am utmost grateful that you’ve agreed to help me on my project. But, I’d like to have fun with it as well.”
Fahlada blinks at her, “this will be straight to the point. We don’t need to be wasting each other’s time.”
“Okay.” Earn responds simply with a smile, sensing how closed off the doctor was.
Fahlada nods curtly, “I remember getting an email of your script. We can work scene by scene. Let me pull it up.”
Earn purses her lips, eyes never straying away from the doctor’s face. She was as beautiful as everyone had described her. Earn hadn’t personally seen anything of the doctor besides pictures on their hospital ads, but Fahlada was even more beautiful in person. She has yet to see that smile that everyone had raved about, but she does intend to get it out of her.
“Shouldn’t we start with a tour of the hospital first?” Earn says with a grin, “after all, this is where I’ll be filming my scenes.”
Fahlada stops her scrolling, “sure. I’ll have Rose show you around—,”
“And if I prefer you?” Earn asks.
Fahlada’s eyes widen, words completely leaving her brain. She blinks at Earn’s hopeful expression.
Stop it, Lada. She only looks like her.
“I’m sure Rose will do an exceptional job showing you around, Earn.”
“But I want your company.”
Hm… bold. You were never bold, you were always shy with red tinge cheeks, my love. But I adored it wholeheartedly.
Then again, she only looks like you.
Fahlada thins her lips into a line. “If you insist—,”
“I do.” Earn leans forward, resting her chin on her palm, a sweet smile on her lips. “Very much.”
Fahlada swallows thickly. “Alright.” She pushes up against her desk and straightens her pencil skirt, tugging her cropped blazer towards her middle. “Shall we, Earn?”
Earn jumps up onto her feet with noticeable excitement, and Fahlada does not know how to react to such zest. She extends her hand out to the door, signaling for Earn to go ahead and exit first.
Ah, what a gentlewoman. Earn smiles with gratitude. She exits first with Fahlada holding the door open for her. Once they are both out of the doctor’s office, Fahlada takes the lead from there. They pass by the nurses station, where Rose had been casually speaking with the nurses. With prying and curious eyes, the nurses follow the two figures passing by with extreme interest. Well, when you see two gorgeous women, it’s only normal to look right?
“They look good together.” A nurse whispers to Rose who is leaned over the nurses desk as far as her tiny body would let her, eyes following the retreating figures of her boss and the actress.
“Will this spark a new romance?” Another nurse whispers with a gasp, hitting Rose on the arm. Rose straightens her posture and shakes her head, “are you kidding? Do you think Earn Sanithada can break those ice cold walls that encase Dr. Fahlada’s heart?”
The nurses pout, shrugging their shoulders. “She could . You never know. I mean, it’s been seven years. That’s a long time to grieve and move on, right?”
Rose sighs with a heavy heart. “It’s different for everybody. Losing someone you love so tragically… I can’t imagine what that feels like.”
_
The tour ends on the rooftop. The hospital was quite beautiful. It seemed very different from all the other hospitals. It had a lot of natural light coming into the main entrance, but had a dimness in the hallways that would comfort the patients through their pain. The architecture and interior design was both elegant and personalized. Especially the rooftop that had a beautiful garden and view that overlooked the city. The rooftop was only accessible by staff as Dr. Fahlada had mentioned in her tour, and that alone tells Earn that her family valued the comfort and well being of their staff to have given them their own solace away from all the chaos that happened within the walls of the bustling hospital. The architecture of the hospital was definitely well thought out to tend to their patients, and also their staff.
“This is my favorite part of the tour.” Earn says, hands coming up to hold the railings as she overlooks the city. The wind blows softly against her cheeks, and there’s something so freeing about the light gust.
Fahlada watches from behind, arms crossed over her chest. Reserved.
“Not anybody gets to come up here.” Fahlada comments.
Earn turns on her heels with a cheeky smile, “I guess I’m lucky?”
Fahlada’s expression doesn’t change. “Sure.”
A step forward, Earn hums in thought, hands clasped behind her back. “Special?”
Blinking, Fahlada’s eyebrow twitches. She looks away from Earn’s cheeky expression, closing her eyes briefly.
She only looks like her, Lada.
“Um.” Fahlada clears her throat, “we should go over your script. Maybe come up with a schedule.” She nods her head, unable to meet Earn’s eyes again. “I like to be organized.”
Earn’s smile relaxes into a small one. “Okay. Yeah.”
They head back to Fahlada’s office. Of course, not without prying eyes and hushed whispers. Fahlada was well known, and for sure, Earn was even more popular, having graced everybody’s television screens with her films.
Earn observes that Fahlada was all about business. She was sure she had been clear with her interest, had she not? To be fair, this was their first meeting.
Maybe Fahlada was… an oblivious person.
Or…
Was Dr. Fahlada taken?
Earn tilts her head as she thinks to herself.
She hadn’t seen any news about it. Surely there’d be news.
“Your first scene has you performing CPR on a civilian in public—,” Fahlada’s voice seems distant and muffled. “—we can practice on one of the CPR dummies in the lab—,”
She’s so beautiful.
Earn blinks, tilting her head as her eyes roam the doctor’s features. The high bridge of her nose, the beauty mark on her cheek, her eyes… her lips. Dr. Fahlada was like a perfectly molded sculpture that—,
“Earn?”
Fahlada’s call of her name snaps Earn out of her staring trance. Her body springs up and her eyes blink in surprise. “Y-Yes?”
Fahlada’s eyes remain unreadable as she stares back at Earn.
The doctor breaks their gaze first, looking down at her watch that circles around her right wrist. “I have a meeting soon. Let’s schedule a time tomorrow to work on your first scene.”
Earn’s shoulders drop in disappointment. Surely the doctor was busy, Earn knew that, but she could sit here for hours just staring at her.
“Okay. How about—,”
“Rose will set it up.” Fahlada stands up from her seat, stopping Earn’s words from her sudden action. She walks around her desk and heads to the door, twisting the knob and holding the door open for Earn. “Have a great day, Earn.”
Earn stares at her for a moment, a frown on her lips. She stands slowly, holding her purse strap that had been slung over her right shoulder. “Thank you, Doc.” She takes a few steps closer towards Fahlada and the door.
Fahlada seems a little taken aback, shifting her gaze again. “Can I call you that? Doc?”
The doctor breathes out, “sure.”
That perks Earn up into a better mood, a small hop on her toes gives away her enlightenment. “Okay.” She steps out of the room, turning around to flash the doctor another smile. “It was nice meeting you, Doc. See you tomorrow.”
Fahlada gives her a small nod, expression impassive. “Tomorrow.”
_
“Is it true?”
Fahlada heaves a sigh, picking at her food. She glances up briefly to see the scandalous expression on her friends' faces. “What, Tan?”
“The actress that you’re working with. She looks like…” His words trail at the end of his sentence, gulping when Fahlada’s stare hardens into a glare.
Tan exchanges looks with the ER specialist sitting next to Fahlada across from him. Dr. Bow was her name. She was much more empathetic than he was, especially when it came to their mission of helping their dear friend move on from her pain.
“W-Were you freaked out a little?”
Fahlada’s eyebrows scrunch in annoyance. “Why would I be?”
Tan blinks, and Bow shakes her head. “You can’t deny that they look almost like twins, Lada.”
The fork that had mindlessly poked into her food freezes, until it is dropped onto the tray. “She’s not her, Tan.”
“ I know tha t.” Tan clicks his tongue, rolling his eyes. “But.. they look alike.”
Completely annoyed, Fahlada gives her friend a final glare. She starts to collect her things from the table and stands up. “She is not her.”
Bow and Tan watch their friend harshly throw her tray of food away, her retreating figure hasty with every step.
“Did you have to do that?” Bow asks with a disappointed sigh. The shake of her head makes Tan feel even more guilty, and the grape that flies towards him makes him feel like an ass.
“I didn’t think she’d react that way.” Tan says in his defense, “it’s been seven years. I thought it was okay to talk about her.”
“It is okay.” The ER doctor says as a matter of fact, “what’s not okay is that you’re comparing her to an actress because they look alike.”
A pout lands on the surgeon’s lips, picking up the grape that was thrown at him and plopping it in his mouth. “I wasn’t comparing . I was just stating a fact. They do look alike. It’s uncanny, Bow.” He shakes his head, eyes becoming wide as he taps his hand on the table. “It’s like fate, isn’t it? What are the odds that a woman that looks exactly like Lada’s ex waltz into this hospital and meets Lada?”
Bow blinks at him.
“Surely, they’re meant to be.”
“Boy, are you lucky Lada isn’t here to listen to you say that.” Another disappointed shake of her head is given to Tan. “That’ll only make her angry.”
Tan shakes a finger in the air, “this is the perfect opportunity. The perfect answer to help Lada out of her pain and yearning. A new love interest. ” His hands clap in satisfaction at what seems to be his master plan.
“It’s not a good idea, Tan.”
“It’s the perfect idea, Bow. Think about it.”
Bow nods, “I am. And it’s stupid. Lada will have our heads on a stick if she finds out we were even meddling in her love life. She has enough of that with her parents.”
Flicking his hand, Tan shakes his head. “The difference is we know what Lada is into.”
Seeing her friend’s perseverance, Bow drops her head in her hands, shaking her head in disbelief. “I will not be a part of this. I will not be a part of this. I will not——,”
“If you were a good friend, you will.”
That seemed to offend the ER doctor as she immediately sits up and slams her hand on the table. Her eyes squint at Tan who looks at her with sass, arms crossed over his chest.
The audacity.
“Don’t you want Lada to be happy?”
Oh, the guilt tripping was on.
“If she falls in love with someone else, and moves on, she won’t be dwelling in pain and sorrow. It’s been seven years. That’s a long time to be feeling that way. Don’t you feel bad for Lada, Bow?” Tan blinks at her with pouty lips.
Bow glares at the surgeon.
“Lada needs us, Bow.” Hands reach for hers, clasping them on the table.
With a defeated sigh and dropped shoulders, Bow knows she has fallen into the trap that Tan has set for her.
“If Lada finds out, you are taking all the blame, Tan.”