The Dentist

“Oppa!”

The lady rushes to the doctor’s side when he jerks down from the pain, holding his right jaw while moaning something inaudible.

‘Oh my gosh! What did I do?’ My anger from assuming a woman was being harassed is replaced with alarm after seeing the scaler that the doctor is holding. Apparently, it seems that he was checking the lady’s teeth.

But how can she moan so loud and shriek from fear?

“Yah! What are you looking for? Do something!” she yells. Her eyes glaring at me like a hyena. I immediately run to his side and look at the damage I have made. It was just one punch for goodness sake, but it seems like he had been hit by a fatal blow.

Being in the medical field for more than a decade now, I subconsciously shift to my nurse’s mode. I guide the doctor to the nearest chair and without me noticing, I shoosh the lady away from him the same way I used to separate a patient’s immediate family from the patient.

Seeing his face up close, he has a fair complexion than any guy I have ever seen. His nose is straight and thin. His eyes are squinting hard right now and his thin mouth is distorted.

“Hand me an ice pack,” I say to the lady, my voice urgent and professional.

“H-huh?” she mumbles from confusion.

“An ice pack!” I say in a bossy tone.

Frozen but with eyes moving restlessly, her composure seems lost. Throwing her sexy and sensuous image away from not knowing what to do.

“In that drawer, Young Eun,” the doctor finally mutters.

While she looks over the drawer, I immediately inspect the insides of his mouth and pull a tissue paper from the nearest tissue holder to wipe the blood in the corner of his lips. When I glance up, I catch him looking at me shortly. The monolid eyes of his give his face a calming aura while the way he stares compliment his eyes making him more of a friendly and kind man in appearance.

“Here.”

Removing my eyes from his face, I reach for the pack the lady is handing me. I take his right hand and place the pack in his palm. Raise it and fix it near his right jaw. He moans softly from the merest touch in his jaw.

The lady rushes to his side again so I step back a bit. It’s just a hit on his jaw, nothing serious, really. But that thought is easily replaced by worry from remembering how many guys I have managed to punch for the last few years. And, they all ended up in the hospital for days.

“Ahh...wait, who are you?” he manages to ask when he lifts his face to mine.

“I’m new here. I’m really sorry. I thought you are doing something-”

“What? Do you think oppa was doing something wrong to me?! Oh, I wish he would!” the woman exclaims sarcastically which earns her a serious glance from the doctor. She clears her throat and continues in a softer tone: “He’s a dentist, for goodness sake.”

“You were wailing... and you were asking him to stop so...”

I shrug, gesturing that it is all but a misunderstanding.

“Young Eun, it’s okay. It’s just a hit,” he says.

Good. This is not something to be brought up in the HR department, right? Clearly, this is all but a misunderstanding. I can’t afford any problems... for now.

“But oppa! How could she just punch you like that?” she says, disagreeing from letting me off the hook, then she looks at me with despicable eyes and says, “I shall report it to the office!”

I am about to react disagreeably when the intercom beeps. Dr. Seung Jae is being summoned to the HR Department. He stands up and walks out of the office with his hand still holding the ice pack over his right jaw.

My radio bleeps up too and receives a call telling me to go up to the HR Department. What bad timing! Why there of all places? I dash out of the room as well leaving the lady looking deserted. Torn between the thought of walking behind the doctor or overtaking him for I am quite nimble-bodied when he suddenly looks back in my direction.

“Just started today?”

Still embarrassed with what happened, I simply nod in response. But something in his face subconsciously tells me that there is nothing to worry about. We end up walking together.

“You look like you are quite experienced.”

“Huh?”

“A while ago... when you deliberately shooed Young Eun away from me and ordered her around.”

“Ah...Hahaha. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize. She can be a handful, you see.”

And he lets out a little laugh, showing his white beautiful teeth. I can only stare from envy on those perfect rows of whites. Indeed, a dentist.

“Actually... I am a nurse.”

“Oh! You are a nurse?”

“Yeah. Something happened so...”

I shrug to make the story short and I think he understands it as he shrugs as well, imitating me using one hand raised only.

“You sure, like this gesture.”

And his set of white teeth makes an extravagant show again. His smile can shine a dark alley. He lets me walk inside the elevator first and I press the button to the 4th floor. Although we are heading to the same office, I walk ahead first as I don’t have the luxury to be idle like him. When I open the door, it surprises me to see a lot of people inside. With their white coats just like Dr. Seung Jun, they are most likely doctors like him as well. A woman who wears the same uniform as me gestures at me to go to her quickly.

“Come here...” she says in a very low tone, almost like a whisper.

I walk toward her and she immediately curls her arm in mine. She casually did that as if we have known each other for a long time already when it’s just my first time seeing her.

“Looks like we have another doctor prince charming here in the hospital,” she whispers to me, giggling.

Darting my eyes in the direction of her eyes, I see the back of a tall man being introduced to the other doctors. Wearing a white coat, obviously, he is a doctor. Well, I don’t really care about it, all I want to know is why I am called here in the office.

“So... why am I sent here by the way?” I ask the lady beside me, glimpsing at the nameplate pinned in her uniform. Her name is Hong Soo Hyun. Her eyes are still fixed to the doctor.

“I dunno. Maybe just some petty tasks to do,” she replies without even glancing at me. She looks like a smitten teenager.

Realizing that I am staring at her blankly, she automatically goes back to work mode.

“Anyway, I am Hong Soo Hyun. You are?”

She glimpses in my uniform, probably looking for my nameplate which doesn’t exist at present.

“I am Yoon Ma Ri.”

“Ma Ri!”

She surprises me by hugging me suddenly like I was her long-lost sister. Her smile is lovely and she has a very cheerful disposition.

“I’ve been working here for five years now so that makes me your senior. But... you can just call me Soo Hyun. Well, you look older than me anyway so that’s okay.”

I let out a soft scoff-like laugh. She can be TOO cheerful, I see.

“You two. Come over here.”

We did not notice that some of the doctors had already dispersed. We immediately walk towards Miss Seo Min’s direction. At her back, some doctors are still greeting the new doctor.

“Soo Hyun, you will be assisting Ma Ri today. I trust she knows what her tasks are since she has worked in the hospital before, so what I want you to do is to tour her around the hospital. For her to be familiar around.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Soo Hyun clings her arm to mine again. Tighter this time.

“And another one...”

Miss Seo Min looks at her back and subtly waits for the other doctors to finish greeting the new doctor, then looks back to us.

“-since you are touring Ma Ri around, tour the new doctor too.”

Feeling the sudden shake around my shoulder, I glance beside me and see Soo Hyun giggling from happiness. She looks like she kinda expected this.

“Doctor Ri?”

I am so busy staring incredulously at Soo Hyun that I did not notice that the new doctor had already walked and stood beside Miss Seo Min. Lifting my head back in front of me, surprise engulfs me as I see a tall man with a fit body in a white suit. His brows narrow down as he meets my gaze.

‘Tae Yoon?!’