ACT  XI | SCENE LII

❝THREES❞

THE SOUND OF the fluid dripping down the iv tube was louder than usual in the deathly silent room as rian changed the bag. the patient's breathing was incredibly soft as he slept, almost inaudible. checking his vitals one more time, she turned around and left the room.

rian couldn't put her finger on it, but she'd been feeling strangely unsettled since she woke up. her stomach kept twisting and untwisting and she couldn't shake the bad feeling. she wasn't the sort to have gut feelings—hoseok would enthusiastically agree that she was usually not the best at sensing danger judging by her line of good-for-nothing exes. yet there was an inexplicable sense of foreboding she'd been walking around with all day.

it felt like something bad was going to happen and she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. so far, nothing had happened—no code blues, reds, blacks or any of the other colours, no heart-dropping texts about accidents from her family or friends and no emergencies from haesun. everything was going well and still she couldn't shake off the cold.

well, taehyung hadn't called since yesterday when he was meant to have lunch with his girlfriend. and he had answered neither her calls nor chanmi's. he was coming in soon as he'd promised to come in earlier for his shift so they could all talk.

she walked through the hallways, holding her clipboard to her chest. her worry expanded in her chest, making it harder to breathe. at least, she was done with her rounds. though that meant that she had nothing to do except let that feeling stew and bubble in her belly.

"i'm officially worried."

she whirled around as a familiar voice spoke behind her. chanmi had a deep frown etched into her pretty face as she approached. "i've spammed that idiot with texts and calls and he should've sent me a biting reply by now or blocked me. but nothing. absolute radio silence. not even a meme. you don't think she's killed him, do you?" she rambled off.

"don't say weird stuff, chanmi. tae is fine." rian said the words but even she was not convinced by them. what if this ominous feeling was because of him? she shook her head. if it was, dr namjoon might have heard something. and perhaps, he might have informed her. but there wasn't really a guarantee that he would.

"even you don't believe it." chanmi called her out. "you know that if everything had gone well, we wouldn't have heard the last of it since yesterday. he would've talked our ears—or eyes—off about he has the most perfect girlfriend on the planet and we should all be jealous of him and his precious queen." she curved her fingers in air quotes when she said the word, 'queen'.

rian groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. chanmi was right. this was very unlike taehyung. just what the hell had happened with the surprise plan yesterday? her stress levels were slowly climbing the more she dwelled on it. her stomach tangled in even more knots than before and she couldn't deny she was worried anymore.

"he's fine, right?" she glanced at chanmi before going off in an incoherent string of mutterings. "i'm going to call him." she suddenly announced just as they stopped in front of the break room, reaching for her phone. "he's not going to—" chanmi's response hung in the air, incomplete as she opened the door. "um, don't bother, rian."

"how can i not?"

"he's already here."

rian's head jerked up at that. and indeed, taehyung was in the room, seated on the couch, hunched over with his arms resting on his knees. his loose black curls flopped over his eyes, hiding his face from view even more. but the forlorn look of his posture was unmistakable. something had definitely happened.

the two nurses rushed over to him, barely shutting the door after them. chanmi was the first to speak, "tell me what happened so i know how much of that queenly face i have to ruin." rian gave her a look but the younger girl looked dead serious, no hint of teasing on her face.

sighing, rian dropped down next to him on the couch. "tae, what happened? do you want to talk about it? if you don't, that's fine." she placed an arm around his shoulders. he was quiet for a while and the women began to think he had no plans of speaking. "i broke up with her." he suddenly said, his voice almost inaudible. "what?!" the nurses chorused in surprise. "you broke up with her?" chanmi echoed in disbelief.

rian couldn't believe it either. how did it go from surprising her to breaking up with her? something was undoubtedly amiss. she tried to figure out just what had happened. but she didn't want to press taehyung for answers either.

"she was cheating on me."

chanmi's knees seemed to have been swept off from under her because she flopped carelessly onto the couch at his revelation. her mouth hung open and she stared at the side of taehyung's face incredulously.

rian was equally as shocked and though her eyes rounded wide enough to be considered comical, she tried not to react too much. "you..." she swallowed nervously, "you saw her?"

taehyung's head bobbed up and down in confirmation. his hair bounced with the action, revealing red rimmed eyes. he'd been crying. and judging by the faint traces still somehow lingering on his washed body, drinking too. heavily. he'd probably drunk himself blind, yesterday. the corners of rian's mouth tilted downwards. taehyung was a softhearted boy and he definitely did not deserve this.

"with her boss. apparently, the two of them always stayed back when everyone went for lunch and even after hours to work." he told them, scoffing at the end.

he recounted the events of the day before in that throaty, inaudible voice that only broke rian's heart the more she heard it. he'd overheard snippets of gossip about the possible office romance from staff going for lunch as he went up to her office. he just hadn't realised it was about his own girlfriend. until he'd seen her locking lips with the man whom he'd thought was only her boss.

"i hid and called her and broke things off. i watched her as i told her it was over. all she did was frown and shrug an okay before ending the call. she didn't even care. she didn't ask why or complain about me doing it via phone call. she just went back to smiling with him." his voice broke again and he leaned into rian. she knew he was crying when she felt the dampness spreading on her shoulder.

the silence weighed down on them as they processed his words. taehyung's beloved girlfriend had been anything but royal or loyal. somewhere along the line, something had gone wrong. or perhaps from the very start. rian's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to recall how taehyung told her they had met.

"i'm going to prison." chanmi suddenly declared. "i'm going to kill that bitch with my bare hands. give me her address." she turned to the heartbroken man, back straight and eyes fierce. neither of them doubted that if bitna walked into the room at that very moment, chanmi would pounce on her.

"why would you go to prison for her?" rian questioned. "i'd be going for him." the younger nurse jerked her head towards the man cradled in rian's arms. "i don't want that." taehyung sniffled. sighing, rian ran a hand up his arm comfortingly.

chanmi shook her head at him. "i don't understand her though." she said after a few beats of silence. "how can she cheat on this?" she gestured to his face. "don't be so vain, mi." her friend rolled her eyes. "i'm just being honest. if you tell anyone i said this, i'll deny it but his heart is even prettier than his stupidly pretty face." chanmi gestured wildly.

"it has to be money. that greedy woman must want someone with lots of money. since you're a nurse and that one's a boss in a big company, she chose him." she concluded. taehyung peeked at her over rian's arms and then at the woman holding him. his red eyes looked sad and somewhat guilty.

rian was ruminating on her friend's words. they weren't farfetched. taehyung was hiding his status—even chanmi who'd been friends with him for years still had no idea—and he hadn't told bitna yet. if she remembered correctly, the two had met on the day taehyung had a family dinner, so he must have been well dressed. finding out he was a nurse must have been a letdown. still... she sighed heavily. if that was really it, bitna had shot herself in the foot.

chanmi was still ranting off on the different ways she would deal with taehyung's ex when rian's phone began to ring. without a word, chanmi pulled a sullen taehyung into her arms and began to gently run her fingers through his hair, urging rian to go answer her call. "you deserve better, anyway." she told him. "the next girl in your life will have to pass the baek chanmi screening before she can even breathe in your direction."

smiling to herself, rian pulled out her phone. she frowned on seeing the contact name. "hello, jeongyeon? is everything okay?" she answered immediately.

"no, miss rian. not really." the voice on the other end sounded frantic. rian let out a heavy, shaky sigh. no wonder she'd been feeling strange all day. first, taehyung and now, this; whatever 'this' was. what was it they said about bad news again? they came in threes.

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happy new year, butterflies! i hope your 2022 started off on the right foot and it keeps getting better! baby tae got his feelings hurt 😔 but hopefully he'll heal soon. seriously wishing i'm able to post more often this year oop. have a good day/night guys! stay safe and healthy 💛