Last Chance
Professor Choi Tae-hyuk leaned his arms on the back of the chair and looked at her face, which couldn’t respond right away.
It wasn’t a gaze that forced her.
Still, Na-young felt that she had to answer properly.
“Then… it’ll be hard for me to work at the hospital. I’m not as experienced as you, and I’m not bold or confident enough to ignore what people think.”
Her answer wasn’t positive, and Tae-hyuk looked straight ahead with a bitter expression.
He thought the timing was just off. Meeting her during her first year as a resident had become a barrier between them.
“But if I really like you… I don’t think I’d push you away for that reason.”
Hearing this unexpected statement, Tae-hyuk turned to look at her again.
He asked with eyes full of hope.
“Does that mean you really like me?”
Na-young answered immediately, without hesitation.
“I think my true feelings will only be revealed if it becomes public. Then I’ll know what decision I want to make.”
When faced with adversity, only the purest heart remains.
At that moment, Na-young felt she could finally be certain of her feelings for Professor Choi Tae-hyuk.
“If you respond like that, I might just spread the rumor myself.”
Tae-hyuk teased her as if displeased with her answer, and Na-young shot back without backing down.
“How could I truly like someone who selfishly tries to interfere with my work?”
“You’re openly scolding me now.”
Seeing Tae-hyuk’s pained expression made her smile lightly. Then, she noticed Professor Yoon Ina getting off the elevator, and her face stiffened.
Na-young immediately stood up from her chair.
Tae-hyuk also turned to see Yoon Ina, but unlike Na-young, he didn’t react as if his legs were trembling—he simply stayed still.
Click, click.
Yoon Ina walked toward where the two of them were and spoke to Professor Choi Tae-hyuk.
“I’m on my way home. You’re on duty?”
Na-young, who knew exactly what had happened between the two of them, felt impressed that Yoon Ina could speak to him so casually.
She definitely didn’t have a normal heart.
“No, I came to see Moon Na-young.”
When Professor Choi Tae-hyuk openly said her name, Na-young flinched in surprise.
Yoon Ina’s gaze shifted toward her.
But since it was in front of Tae-hyuk, Yoon Ina didn’t glare at her the way she had in front of Eun-byeol’s hospital room.
“So, Moon Na-young must be on ER duty. Good work.”
Na-young could do nothing but bow in greeting.
Click, click.
Watching Yoon Ina walk away, Na-young asked Professor Choi Tae-hyuk,
“What was that just now?”
“She greeted me.”
“Is that normal?”
“Yoon Ina has that kind of mentality. You should learn from her.”
Na-young looked at him as if she’d just been asked to eat spoiled food.
Tae-hyuk’s words, however, were based on reason.
“A doctor needs a strong mentality. It’s better to be shameless like her than to have everything collapse at once because of a rumor.”
Feeling it wasn’t worth arguing, Na-young headed straight to the ER.
Watching her leave without a word, Tae-hyuk muttered,
“I dug my own grave.”
Still, his previous words had been sincere.
To grow as a doctor, one needed a strong mentality.
But Na-young would have to go through several hardships to develop that strength, and Tae-hyuk felt a bitter ache.
Those were hardships he could never face for her.
Living a busy daily routine that started at 5 a.m., Na-young cherished any rare day off for the chance to sleep in.
She even put her phone on silent and merged with her bed.
If she slept well, she’d regain the energy to work hard at the hospital again.
But of all things, she dreamed of Professor Choi Tae-hyuk.
And in her dream, he was with Yoon Ina.
The two of them sat side by side, studying medicine together.
“You’re the only female doctor who can stand shoulder to shoulder with me, Ina.”
Hearing him look at Yoon Ina as if she were his partner, Na-young couldn’t make a sound or move.
Even though it was her dream, the main characters were Tae-hyuk and Yoon Ina.
Yoon Ina smiled at him with eyes that seemed to have the whole world.
“I knew you’d recognize me someday.”
Stop it! Stop!
Na-young couldn’t bear to watch or listen any longer and struggled to leave the scene, but it was useless.
“Moon Na-young doesn’t deserve this, right?”
Flash.
Opening her eyes, Na-young looked at the ceiling and let out a rough breath.
It was the worst dream since the nightmare of being harassed by Professor Choi Tae-hyuk’s mother.
But can it still count as a nightmare even if there’s no dog?
Na-young didn’t want to sleep anymore, so she sat up.
“Why did Yoon Ina appear in my dream?”
Even if Professor Choi Tae-hyuk started liking her, she knew he would never like Yoon Ina.
If the two were meant to be, it would have happened before Tae-hyuk went to the U.S.
So why was she foolishly worried about Yoon Ina?
It had to be because Yoon Ina was a recognized doctor.
Someone Na-young could never reach in her current state.
Tae-hyuk had told her himself: learn from Yoon Ina.
Na-young decided she had to shower to get rid of this frustrated feeling. Slowly, she got out of bed and walked to the door.
Click.
Opening the door and entering the living room, she headed straight for the bathroom.
“Finally up?”
“Ah!”
Startled by the sudden male voice, she screamed.
Tae-hyuk, sitting on the sofa, was surprised too, and Na-young, seeing him, was equally shocked.
“Pr-Professor… how are you here?”
“I rang the doorbell and came in.”
That meant Oh Seung-hee had let Professor Choi Tae-hyuk in.
As Na-young looked around for Seung-hee, Tae-hyuk explained.
“Oh, Seung-hee went home with Seung-jun.”
Having once been tricked this way at a housewarming, Na-young looked at him accusingly.
“This time it’s real. It’s for the ancestral rites today.”
She remembered Seung-hee saying she didn’t want to go home because of the rites.
“Then why are you here, Professor?”
“To go to the sea with you, like we promised.”
Hearing his matter-of-fact answer, Na-young couldn’t agree.
“What? You never said it was today.”
“If you don’t go on your day off, then when will you?”
“Then you should have told me yesterday.”
“I assumed you knew, of course.”
“….”
“….”
It sounded like the classic “chicken or egg” argument, and further quibbling felt pointless.
“I’ll shower first.”
Na-young quickly retreated to the bathroom.
Left alone, Tae-hyuk got up and walked toward her room.
Click.
Opening the door, he walked straight to the area with the fish tank.
Anyway, since the plan to go to the sea had been agreed upon in advance, Na-young got into Professor Choi Tae-hyuk’s car with him.
“Shouldn’t we buy something to eat?”
She asked, worried about going empty-handed.
“It’s all there.”
Since he wasn’t wrong, she said no more.
As they left congested Seoul streets and hit the highway, it really felt like a trip, and Na-young rested her arm on the window, watching the scenery.
Knowing they couldn’t return to the hospital even if an emergency call came, she felt somewhat liberated.
“Do you travel often, Professor?”
“Before starting at the hospital, I traveled with Cha-hyun.”
Even if Professor Choi Tae-hyuk didn’t have a happy family, he at least had a friend who stayed by his side.
“I haven’t traveled since I was ten.”
Hearing her, Tae-hyuk turned to look at the passenger side.
Her profile, arms resting on the window as she gazed outside, looked like a scene from a youth movie, yet Tae-hyuk’s chest ached.
He deliberately spoke in a lively tone.
“Then it’s fine to travel with me now.”
Na-young let out a bitter laugh.
“How can a surgeon travel freely?”
Even if they went to the airport, she’d have to return immediately if an emergency call came.
She wasn’t wrong, so Tae-hyuk furrowed his brows.
He wanted to boldly say he could take her anywhere, but if it might be a lie, he had to stay silent.
After three hours on the road, they arrived at the beach in Yangyang, Gangwon-do.
Na-young, who had no idea she would be in Gangwon-do this morning, breathed in the vast East Sea.
The sea air was refreshing.
But the wind was strong, tossing her long hair.
Since she had let her hair down for the date, it was inconvenient now.
She pressed her hair down with her hands, and the wind suddenly stopped.
Turning around in surprise, she saw Professor Choi Tae-hyuk standing behind her.
As she stared at him, he spoke.
“Look at the sea. Not at me.”
She turned her head forward again, biting her lip lightly.
Otherwise, she felt she’d smile foolishly.
“What do you usually do when you come to the sea?”
Since she knew he liked the water, she asked for his opinion.
“There are things I do, but you probably won’t like them.”
“Today, I’ll follow your lead.”
Tae-hyuk looked down at her, surprised.
“Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”
She had a reason.
“This is the last chance. We might not get another. Ack!”
Her scream ended her sentence.
Before she could finish speaking, Tae-hyuk suddenly lifted her up and charged toward the sea.
Seeing him about to jump in while holding her, Na-young grabbed his clothes and tried to stop him.
“Professor! Stop!”
“You said you’d follow me. Then of course, you go in with me.”
Knowing Tae-hyuk’s nature, that was not something to say lightly.
“Ah! I didn’t even bring proper clothes!”
Splash.
The incoming waves soaked Tae-hyuk’s shoes and pants, and her heart felt equally salted.
“Professor!”
Na-young called out, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face against him.
She couldn’t bear to watch the disaster that might unfold.
But after a second, and then several more, when nothing changed, Na-young gathered her courage and looked up.
Professor Choi Tae-hyuk was standing in the sea, water up to his knees, still holding her.
Splash, splash.
The waves started far away and rolled all the way to the shore.
His deep gaze on her felt like it was soothing her heart, and Na-young couldn’t look away.
“Do you really want this sea to be our last?”
Her heart answered his question.
A sharp pain shot through, then it blazed like fire.
