#this Was So Cute #i Need An Ending T_t

#this was so cute #i need an ending t_t

IT’S YOU.

the one where you always confessed to sunghoon while sunghoon always regarded it as nothing of importance. that is until someone else confesses to you and all of the sudden, sunghoon doesn’t look as indifferent as he used to be.

━ (enhypen) park sunghoon x reader ━ 2.8k words. ━ pg-15 ━ fluff | light angst | implied friends to lovers au | slight doctors au | pining au | inspired from ‘hospital playlist’ + ‘a love so beautiful’ ! | ft. jay ━ warning/s: swearing

“I like you.”

The first time you told him that, both of you were walking home from school, sharing an umbrella as the rain poured and he held it high above you, making sure that the two of you weren’t going to get wet. You expected that after your abrupt confession, Sunghoon would immediately stop and glare at you, tell you that he didn’t like you back and that he was annoyed the you had to burden him by telling him your feelings—or perhaps if it was your lucky day, he would suddenly and miraculously claim that he felt the same and the two of you would live happily ever after.

But the thing was though, he didn’t do any of those two scenarios. Instead, he simply rolled his eyes and brought an arm over your shoulder, pulling you closer to his side so that the umbrella would cover you both more efficiently, the chance of droplets pouring on your shoulders slimming. “Of course, you do,” he replied, a playful grin appearing on his mouth afterwards. “Who wouldn’t like me?”

And at that moment, you just knew he didn’t believe you, didn’t take your words to heart, or didn’t want to acknowledge them seriously like you hoped, so you being the coward you were who was also definitely afraid of rejection—you just laughed it off, tucking your hands on the pockets of your hoodie as the both of you continued to walk to the bus stop, never bringing up that topic again for the next months to come.

You did a great job for the most part. You even had a fling with this one guy over the summer before your senior year in high school, even though it still did end up unsuccessful given the said guy’s unwillingness to commit in a legitimate relationship. Looking back at it now, you couldn’t blame him—you two were both too young to deal with matters like that anyways, that calling it quits in the end didn’t hurt as much as you reckoned it would.

You and Sunghoon, on the other hand, remained within each other’s vicinity. He was still the friend you forced yourself not to like again and you were still the friend he only saw platonically.

However, when college came and you and Sunghoon continued to study at the same university, even taking the same program since you also conveniently (sarcasm intended) had the same aspirations to be part of the medical field, you found yourself harboring those feelings still after the years that passed by after the first confession in the rain.

You pretty much continued to be close friends, both part of the friend group that you hung around with whenever you had vacant periods together, so you considered it as inevitable to lose your affection for Sunghoon. That didn’t mean you didn’t try, of course, but no matter what you did, it just didn’t seem to fade away.

“I still like you, you know.”

Sunghoon stopped pouring you another glass of alcohol, a smirk conquering his features before he rolled his eyes and carried on from where he left off.

You frowned at his response, shoving him on the arm that caused him to look incredulously at you for it almost made him drop the bottle of Soju while he poured himself a glass as well.

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” you asked.

He gazed at you. “I heard it just fine.”

“Then why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Do I have to say anything?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you want me to say?” He finished pouring and drank from his glass in one go. “Do you want me to thank you for remaining loyal to me?”

“No.”

“Then what?” He snorted. “Do you want me to tell you that I like you back?”

You slightly glowered at him, grumbling. “You can really be the biggest jerk out there sometimes, Hoon.”

“I know.” Sunghoon sighed, a hint of amusement on his expression. “That’s why it would be great if you just move on. I’m not someone you should be liking. Plus, we’re better off just like this.”

Your bottom lip protruded in a pout; you were obviously already drunk, having just shared a few glasses of beer and now a stronger type of alcohol with not only Sunghoon, but some friends too who already left (hence why it was only you and him who were left alone in the place); you two were only trying to finish the few meat left on the grill and then you can decide to head home too.

Though of course, before doing that, it seemed that your dumbass still had to confess for the second time in no less than a span of five years just to get once again rejected.

“Hurry eating,” he added as he chewed on the last piece of pork. “I still have to walk you back to the dorm.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” You scoffed, earning another look of amusement from the guy sitting opposite of you. “I don’t even know why you still insist on walking me back to the dorm. It’s things like this that really make it difficult for me to move on really.”

“You should guard your heart better then. Don’t be too fragile around every other guy’s nice action.”

“Wah—you really are an asshole.”

Sunghoon snickered. “Should we just not be friends for you to stop falling for me, hm?” he had the nerve to tease.

“Should we?” you fired back with a mocking drunk tone.

He scoffed. “That would be too cruel on my part, don’t you think?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who offered.”

“It was a hypothetical question.”

“Well, I doubt this friendship of ours is important to you as it is to me for it not to be legit.”

“Ah, there you are again with your dumb assumptions.” He clicked his tongue in disapproval. “You don’t have the power to read my mind just yet, ____.”

“Imagine if I did though. Would save me a lot of overthinking and frustration.”

Instead of firing back another comment, he only huffed. “Hurry eating,” he repeated too. “You might get locked out of your dormitory again and—”

“Then I’ll have to sleep in your apartment and hog your bed, I know.” You picked up all the remaining pork from the grill and shoved them all inside your mouth.

Despite your compliance to his demand by the conclusion of that conversation, you still found yourself going to Sunghoon’s apartment later on as you indeed got locked out of your dormitory.

He lent you an old shirt you could remember being worn by him when you were both in high school, along with old basketball shorts that no longer fit him but fortunately still managed to fit you. Arriving there, he insisted—like expected from a gentleman like him as well—to sleep on the couch while you settle for his bed, a notion you also expectedly complained from but he has always been good at having things his way anyways that you soon didn’t bother to waste your breath arguing with him.

That night, you really told yourself that you will seriously start moving on from your affection for Sunghoon. It was the last straw, you told your stupid heart, and you finally saw the true hopelessness of your one-sided love for the man and the reality of that probably never going to change. Just from his actions earlier that evening, you were positive that a good old friend is what you’ll only be for him and nothing else—so what else was there to do to just live up to the role for the sake of not getting hurt ever again?

For the following years once more, from attending medical school up to starting in your residencies in your respective chosen specialties (in the same freaking hospital too, thanks to your rotten luck), you did a superb attempt in pushing all those romantic feelings away. Of course, from time to time, there were those annoying slip ups wherein you couldn’t help bringing a little malice with your time spent with Sunghoon, but nonetheless, you always managed to bring yourself to the right track every time afterwards, reminding yourself that it was pointless and being friends was the best option indeed.

“I like you.”

You couldn’t help but widen your eyes, the sip you were about to take for the iced coffee you were given being halted.

Jay self consciously put both of his hands inside the pockets of his white coat. “Uh, you don’t… you don’t really need to say anything back with what I just said. I just wanted to let you know.”

“You—” you pointed at Jay, also known as one of the most visually pleasing residents in your department— “you… you like, like, uh, me?” You pointed at yourself.

He nodded.

“Are you sure?”

He laughed, nodding again with more vigor. “I’m sure, ____.”

“Huh.” You huffed, blinking and continuing on doing that sip you postponed earlier. “Do you mean that as kind of like a ‘I’m a nice colleague’ to you kind of way or—”

“It’s more like a ‘I want to date you’ kind of way, honestly.”

“Oh.”

“Yep.”

“For real?”

Jay grinned at your disbelief and denial, your whole expression looking cute in his perception. “For real.”

“Wow.” You let out a breath, not being able to stop yourself from laughing. “That’s… I honestly—I really don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” he assured you again with a playful light shove on your shoulder from where he was sitting next to you. “Like I said, I just wanted to let you know.”

“Okay.” You returned the gesture, inhaling and calming yourself down, as if you were the one who confessed between the both of you. “But thank you, I guess. I don’t know what made you see me in that kind of light but I appreciate it.”

“Then should I enumerate all the things I like about you or would that make you uncomfortable?” He was teasing.

“Save it for another date, please.” You played along, cheeks burning and chest thumping hard.

You were paged to the Emergency Department a second after you uttered that sentence, Jay encouraging you to leave quickly and saying that you didn’t need to act differently towards him from now on or feel pressured to feel a certain way because of his confession. And so before you sprinted to the direction of where you were needed, you told him your apologies for having to leave abruptly and your thanks too for his understanding—both for the current situation and his implied unrequited feelings, waving and smiling in the kindest manner possible.

When you reached the elevators, your expression completely changed, what just commenced finally sinking in and the fact that when you hurriedly stepped inside the enclosed space, you blatantly didn’t notice Sunghoon already standing there, causing a sensation of strange guilt to wash over you as well.

“Where to?” he asked the second you were settled inside, and you glanced at him in mock nonchalance.

“ER.”

He pressed the designated floor button for it.

Silence. Just the sound of machines whirring and the soft ting! the elevator would make in the instances it stopped on a level until you noticed Sunghoon staring at you through the reflection of the metal doors, eventually turning his head sideways to set his eyes on your features properly as you tucked some strands of hair away from your face.

“Have you had dinner yet?” he questioned out of the blue.

You glanced at him again, your mind flying elsewhere. “Hm?”

“Dinner,” he repeated. “I was going to ask if you wanted to eat with me at the canteen later after your errand.”

“Ah.” You tried to act nonchalant again even though you still seemed out of breath as you answered. “Yeah, okay. Sounds good.”

“Great.” The doors opened, this time to where Sunghoon was supposed to go. “Call me when you’re hungry.”

You nodded, watching him coolly leave the elevator. “Sure,” you muttered.

You thought it was extremely ridiculous of you to be the person to feel strange around Sunghoon just because another guy professed their feelings for you. It wasn’t like you were cheating on the former for you to be wary, and it’s not like he cared too much about whether you were being pursued by someone else either. This wasn’t exactly the first time a guy tried to date you with Sunghoon’s knowledge, so you didn’t get why your brain had to go haywire for a quick second upon seeing the one man you never got over from minutes away from the moment Jay confessed.

Whatever the reason was, it persisted until the impromptu dinner plans with Sunghoon at the hospital cafeteria about two hours later.

You couldn’t bring yourself to act like your usual self around him. You might have reverted back to your high school self instead; the person who was far too shy and maybe unsure about her life choices to be able to act like the average human being. You made lame attempts of small talk (all done without the effort of maintaining eye contact) and did your best to not make it look like you just committed a big crime no one was supposed to know.

From the manner in which Sunghoon continued to stare at you across the table, taking slow bites of his meal, you figured he might be noticing your awkward movements regardless of your efforts.

You just didn’t expect him to utter his next lines to you after he drank from his water bottle.

“Did Jay already tell you that he likes you?”

You practically choked on the bite you were just about to swallow.

Sunghoon raised his eyebrows, your shock evidently sending him the message that Jay indeed has.

“How did you know that?” you exclaimed.

“He asked me before doing it.”

“He asked you?” You reiterated. “Why?”

“It’s not a secret how we’ve been friends since high school, ____.” He snorted. “He wanted to know what your reaction might be if he did confess.”

Heat started to crawl from your neck upwards little by little. “And what did you say?”

“I told him he could have a go with it. That you weren’t the type to avoid someone too if you didn’t feel the same.” He shrugged, gazing at you closely now with half of his body leaning forward. “So, he did confess, huh?”

You frowned and placed your chopsticks down on the tray. “Yeah.”

“Damn. How did he take the rejection?”

“What?” You snapped your attention back to his face.

“When you rejected him. How did he take it?”

“I didn’t reject him.”

Sunghoon blinked at you. “What?” He appeared to be the surprised one all of the sudden.

“I…” you trailed as you weirdly looked at him, “I didn’t reject him. Did he tell you that I did?”

“No. I just assumed you did.”

“How come?”

“You never entertained anyone before, that’s why.” He scoffed in a knowing manner, back being leaned on the chair he was sitting on rather stiffly. “You’re actually thinking of dating Jay?”

You squinted at him. “Shouldn’t I? He’s a nice catch.”

“Is that all?”

“No.”

“What else then?”

“He’s—”

“Do you like him?” The canteen abruptly felt like an interrogation room.

You too leaned back on your chair at the tensed air surrounding you two. “What kind of question is that?”

“A normal one. It’s just a yes or no question, ____.”

“I could like him.”

“That’s more like a maybe.”

“Does it matter?” You retorted.

Sunghoon should have answered in the common fast speed he usually did—but at this instance, he actually hesitated and seemed like he even buckled, rendering him practically speechless.

Before he could have the chance to say what was on his mind about the subject of your discussion, his phone rang and he quickly took it out of his pocket, answering the call made by one of the nurses in his department telling him to kindly check on a patient that was currently complaining about a pain felt near their recent surgical site.

“Go,” you urged him as you returned to your meal. “I’ll take your tray with me when I’m done.”

He ended the call and stood up. “You’re on night shift, right?”

You nodded mindlessly despite the inquiry being another odd one from him.

“Me too,” he said.

“Noted.”

“I’m going to go now.”

“Okay.”

You met his gaze and Sunghoon frankly looked constipated; your chest in the meanwhile was once more acting up at the explanation your mind was giving you in regards to what reaction he was showing at this moment. Nevertheless, you were gathering all of your energy in acting like you truly didn’t care.

“Go ahead, Sunghoon,” you told him when he still refused to move.

He grumbled under his breath and picked up his water bottle from the table, leaving you without a last glance yet with the impression that you were supposed to finally read his mind this time around but failed.

For the first time ever, it seemed like he was the one who left looking like he was affected because of you more than you were because of him.

note. sorry for the cliffhanger ending hehe,, i still don’t know whether i should continue it or not so i just wanted to leave it like this for a while until i think of writing the continuation :>

THANK YOU FOR READING & FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED ! ♡(ˆ‿ˆԅ)