A/N

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⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

Hyun's POV

Hyun looked at his watch for the umpteenth time, impatiently tapping his feet against the floor. Sitting in the corner of Walter's, a cafe downtown from the hospital, he sipped his tea and waited for his monthly delivery. He didn't know why he went along with the arrangement, meeting in bars and cafes for the exchange but in some ways, his mind needed the mental fog that the meetings brought. Craved it.

The loud ding from bell attached to the entrance, drew his attention to the woman who strolled in. Margaret Newark was a tall, pompous beauty that had a flare of dramatics in all she did and wore. She adorned a green and pink polka dot dress that clung to her body and revealed the taut curves of her hips. With outrageous sunshades that covered the better half of her face, she embodied the flamboyance and countenance of wealth that brought bile to the back of Hyun's throat. She was the type of woman who reined her heels hard against the tiled floors to ensure everyone's eyes were fixed on her, whether it was in awe or annoyance.

"Lucas," She drawled, setting her mink purse on the table and slipping into the chair opposite him. She made a show of taking off her shades, bright eyes shining as they assessed. "It seems the city has done well for you, your skin is glowing, what's your skincare regimen?"

Hyun tapped a finger on the ceramic of his teacup, gathering the mental strength needed to deal with her shenanigans. He detested that name and she knew it. "Do you have it?"

"You know I do," she smiled, "But a little chat never hurts, does it?"

"I have an appointment, Margaret. I don't have time for small talk."

The large wall clock shaped like a coffee bean, hung on the opposite side of the wall. Hyun had warned Dr. Gianpiero to not be late but he barely had fifteen minutes to drive back and be seated before the session started. He'd rather drown in the Hudson river than let him get there before him—his pride wouldn't take it.

Margaret wiggled her stiff brows that Hyun could bet was shot with as much botox as her plastic surgeon could give. "Sorry, I forgot you're now a hot shot doctor—too big to talk with the one person that helped you get here."

"I got a job offer, Margaret, nothing you contributed to."

She scoffed, waving over a wait staff to take her order. Once the man was gone, she said, "If not for my intervention, you'd have been stuck in a rundown town, hiding away with my son— who would have left you after his father threatened to remove his trust fund, mind you— wasting your apparent potential for a man who would never claim you." At the frown that lined his lips, she pressed on, "I saw that black Audi parked at the curb, I wonder who bought it out for you, oh plus the apartm—"

"Not like you did it out of the generosity of your heart."

She puckered her lips, "Well, that's beside the point, dear. I got you out of the stupid situation my son created for his own good and also, yours. The least you can do is share a cup of coffee with me—  I even brought along some news."

Hyun leaned back in his seat, swallowing down the bitter taste of bile lining the back of his throat. While her words were true, her intentions were the worst out of all the people involved. A car. An apartment. And a monthly stipend. All to stay away from her most prized golden boy. He'd easily done so... but then, she started adding tidbits and news headlines of just how good things were going on without him, and it started to cut ever so softly.

"What kind of news?"

"There you are." She said, "I knew your curiosity would get the best of you."

Her fingers latched on to her purse as she dug through it, placing the monthly brown envelope filled with cash and then a white envelope with golden embroidery on its lapel. She swiped her hand over it, urging him to pick it up.

His eyes met her expectant ones, his heart beating so hard, his ears tingled. He picked it up and opened the folded lush paper that was drenched in the rich scent of cinnamon and something slightly stronger. He read through it quickly before placing it on the table.

The wait staff dropped a cup of coffee and croissant in front of Margaret but her eyes never wavered from Hyun. He could see that triumph lighting her whole being on fire.

"You're invited." She said after a long pause, "Daniel was so eager to tell you in person but I insisted on letting you know personally."

Hyun couldn't move. The breathe in his lungs wouldn't circulate and do the job they needed to do. Every part of his body took its time in processing, letting his brain compute the information letter by letter. When he'd taken Margaret's deal to leave him, there was a strange part of himself that hoped to be chased. To be stopped at his boarding gate and get his love professed in front of everyone, but it never came. He wasn't in a cheap romance flick. There was nothing but silence at the other end.

"And to top it off," Margaret went on, sipping and munching on her snack. "She's pregnant— they couldn't get off each other from the moment he got home... but you have to be quiet about that, the press would only get the info months after..."

Her voice droned on to the back of his head, his hands reaching for the brown envelope and stashing it in the pocket of his pants. His brain filtered out her talks of event planning and linen arrangements imported from Europe and stashed his conscious mind in a static place where thoughts and memories didn't exist—only the sight of a half-drained cup of coffee.

"Well, it was nice catching up," Margaret said finally, standing and running a hand over the lines of her dress, "I hope to see you next month, Lucas. You should bring a date as well, just make sure they aren't a charity case, I have a lot of important guests that will be around. Take care of yourself."

It wasn't until the wait staff came by to pick the bill that Hyun snapped back to reality. He couldn't tell how long he'd sat staring out after she'd left but when he checked the clock, he found that he had less than three minutes to make it to his office on time.
He gathered his things and walked to the door, pausing when he looked back at the invitation laying on the table.

Daniel was so eager to tell you in person.

His heart ached in ways he couldn't describe but he walked back and took the card. If he was really eager for him to be there, then that was where he was going to be. It would be nice to see just how much he'd moved on in person... for the last time.

                                                                                                   
***

Dario's POV

The ER was a place no Attending particularly liked to be around at the peak of the day especially on a Friday. With multiple car accidents, assault victims or victims of home incidents, everyone had their hands full, jumping from ward to ward.

Dario enjoyed times like this where he didn't have to lean back on his seat, feet propped up on his desk as he filed through numerous paperwork. All hands needed to be on deck, so he had a good excuse for leaving a rather intimidating pile sitting around his office and actually doing the job that mattered: saving lives.

"Tell me if it hurts anywhere," he said, gently pressing a gloved hand around the abdomen of a house fire victim, who looked unscathed despite spending over an hour lost in the wreckage. The man, a middle-aged dad who'd lost all his kids and had a wife in emergency surgery, looked blankly at Dario as his hands roamed. He suspected that the pain in his heart trumped whatever appeared on the surface of his skin—but protocol demanded that he checked.

"How about here?" He pressed the part of his skin by his hip that winded down to the pelvic bone, watching the man's blank stare scrunch up as he yelped.

At Dario's widened eyes, the man said his first words. "Is it bad?"

He forced a smile and pulled his top back in place. "Nothing some pain meds can't fix."

The man didn't seem convinced as he shuffled over to one of his residents and whispered, "Order a MRI scan and run some blood work on patient 783, if there's any flags, page me."

He moved to the next patient, time moving like a blur as he worked through wards that needed his attention until his pager rang through the chaos.

Taking the device in his hands, he found the three digits flashing on the screen that raised every hair on his skin. He barely had a minute to scrub off the blood and vomit—from an upended rollercoaster victim—change, and get to his first therapy appointment.

"Oh God, Doctor, am I dying?"

Dario looked up to find the alarmed eyes of the woman whose examination he was conducting. He'd probably looked so distressed at the moment.
He smiled, "Not at all, ma'am. You should be okay, I'll have nurse Wesley give you some prescriptions to relieve the immediate pain but I will advice staying overnight for observation, just in case."

She heaved out a breath of relief as he walked out of her ward, closing the curtain and heading to the counter. He gave the prescriptions to the nurse and paced down to the elevator.

A mix of emotions stirred in his gut as he waited for the elevator doors to open. He'd kept his rule for no male therapists tight and bound but with all that was brewing with Leon, Damian and the Aldo situation, he really needed to talk to someone. Typically, he would have walked down to Lindsay's apartment an unload all the emotions flooding in his head. Unwrap the fear that he'd almost lost Mattia. Shit... Mattia.

How he knew what went down between him and Hyun, made his skin crawl. Simply taking him home wasn't enough evidence to conclude that they were involved. Did he already have Hyun followed? Did he put cameras in his apartment to keep watch of him?
Better yet, what would he do if he found out they were ethically going to be linked as Therapist and Patient? What would that mean for the attraction he felt towards the wide-eyed therapist?

The elevator pinged, its doors sliding open and breaking Dario from his thoughts. A bustle of people trooped out and he rushed through them, settling at the back. When it was clear and the doors slid closed, he and the only other person there moved to click the button for the same floor. The familiar scent of his lavender shampoo and mist hit him hard as he backed away, turning to find the man that was just on his mind.

"Dr. Wu." A smirk pulled at his lips as Hyun sighed. "Are you running late to our appointment?"

Hyun pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not in the mood, Dr. Gianpiero, please."

Dario was ready with a witty comeback but his eyes trailed over his plush cheeks, finding them flushed and reddened, underneath his eyes almost puffy. He closed the distance between them, placing a hand on his arm. "Did something happen? Did those old farts at your department give you any trouble? I can talk to them if that's the case."

Hyun shrugged his hand away, "I'm fine, just tone it down with the commentary today. I don't have much patience to endure outside of my office."

"I can do that." Dario said, pulling back. "If you're not up to the appointment, we can reschedule. Just charge the time to my company card."

He half-expected him to smile in triumph, for a fact that he wouldn't have to deal with him but Hyun looked offended. "I'm in a bad mood, not incapacitated, Dr. Gianpiero — I've worked in worse conditions."

"Okay then." The tension between them was soothed with the soft tunes of a classic beat emanating from the elevator's speakers. Dario spared a side glance at the man beside him, taking in the lushness of his hair he'd styled back, the memory of it being disheveled and splayed across his bed bringing a smile to his face.

"What?"

"Hm?" Dario blinked back from his not-so-innocent thoughts to find Hyun's narrowed eyes on him.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, but I could change that."

His mouth dropped open just as the elevator doors did, Dario's laughter getting lost in throng of people that filled the space as they stepped out unto the Psych floor.

Hyun walked at an all time speed towards his office as Dario trailed behind, laughing and hoping to get a glimpse of his flushed cheeks. Then he stopped abruptly as he caught the sneaky glances from a few psych nurses and residents.

They seemed harmless. Watching him and Hyun's interactions as it would be the basis of their mid-day gossips and whispers but he couldn't help but wonder...

Mattia had been so sure that he and Hyun hooked up at Lindsay's farewell party. He made no assumptions... and to his knowledge, he wasn't there.

Had he followed him? Or had one of his underlings follow him?

His eyes fell over the staff moving around the space, all dutiful and trying to hide their stares. Did Mattia have one of his staff report to him? Have Hyun monitored in case he came back for another round?

"What's wrong?"

Hyun was waving a hand in front of him, already reaching into the pocket of his lab coat to get a penlight. He let his eyes settle on him, taking a quick breath at the gore filling  his thoughts; dead tattered bodies of men he'd involved himself with that had gotten on Mattia's radar.

He shook his head as Hyun pointed his penlight across his eyes, "I'm fine, I just thought about something."

"Something you'd want to talk about in our session?"
He nodded and could have sworn a slight smile pulled at Hyun's lips.

"Okay then."

Thirty minutes into the session and Dario hadn't uttered a word. He sat flushed against the armchair opposite Hyun, tapping his foot against the flayed carpet and humming an old lullaby his mum taught him. There was no hurry, as Hyun had stated earlier.

He needed to choose what he was comfortable to talk about first. But he couldn't pick anything.
Could he start with how he'd become addicted to a drug his family produced — which was against the code of conduct — and gotten a man killed, and almost got his toxic asshole of an ex killed? Or would he start with the amount of bodies hiding in his closet, seeping cold, crimson blood down the sides and gaps?

"I saw you with a man yesterday." Hyun said finally, breaking through the reverie and at most, surprising him. "He seems like an integral part of your issues — what is his role in your life?"

Dario paused, remembering how Mattia reacted to the interaction between them. Had Hyun noticed the tension as well? Well, Lindsay was as perceptive of his interactions. "Are you asking professionally or you want to find out if I fucked you while in a relationship?"

The air in the room seized as Hyun, much to Dario's delight, seemed frazzled. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and settling his notepad on his lap.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Dr. Gianpiero." The words churned out through gritted teeth and Dario had to fight back his smile.

"Whatever happened that night, was agreed to stay there. I don't care about what you do in your relationship — if that is what you have with that man. What I care about is how it influences and affects your mind and behavior."

"So, professionally then." He pouted, earning a scoff from Hyun.

"Yes, professionally."

"Well then, he's my ex. But he doesn't seem to get the memo."

"How so?" Hyun asked as he scribbled down his notes.

"Well, he won't leave me alone."

"Do you explicitly say that to him?"

Dario nodded. "All the time, but he just keeps crawling back in."

"Or you keep letting him in."

He blinked. "No, I don't, he keeps on—"

"Making a move without your consent?" Hyun's eyes were ablaze as he slipped off his glasses, dramatically slowing his movement as he dropped it on his side table.

"No, not without my consent..."

"So, you keep letting him in willingly but hate it because while you're used to him, he does things that doesn't make you feel loved."

Dario froze, his feet stopping their idle tap. How could he just deduce his whole dilemma from a few sentences? He nodded slowly, sitting up as he met Hyun's gaze head on.

"What else does he do to hurt you?"

Cheating, lying, never committing, Dario wanted to blurt out but the words were lodged in his throat. His mind divide itself, standing on opposite ends; one ready to spew hate and piled up vitriol about Mattia, while the other half wanted to protect the original ideal of him — the first few years where the Mattia he loved, saved him from himself... from the weight of his pain.

"I don't have a good relationship with my older brother, Leon." He blurted out, the better half of his brain doing what it did best. "I think I suffer a lot from that."

Hyun watched him silently as he reclined back, tapping his feet harder against the ground. "You're deflecting." He said, so soft and gentle that Dario met his gaze. The only time he'd used a calm, almost soothing tone with him was when he laid down beneath him, flushed and eager.

Hyun leaned forward in his seat, "Are you afraid of being alone?"

The question flew into the depths of his mind, cutting through every memory, every trauma he'd ever faced where in the crux of everything... he stood alone.

"Why would ask me that?" The words blew out of his lips, eyes wide and brimming with tears he would never allow to fall. He stood up and walked the length of room, heaving and fighting back emotions he'd trained to keep at bay. Hyun's stare was felt as he walked around, gathering himself. When he walked back to his seat, he towered over him, fists clenched on either side of him.

"I think this was a mistake."

"On the contrary," a smile pulled at Hyun's lips, "I think this is progress; we can spend all our sessions seated in silence if you want until you're ready to open up."

Dario shook his head, sinking back in his seat. "That was too intense."

"Because you're confronting a part of you that needs to heal." Hyun shot back, "This toxic ex you mentioned, is an integral part of your issues, we'll need to unfold more on that."

"I don't want to talk about him here."

"Why?" Hyun pressed, "Does he scare you?"

"No, not me, I can take care of myself but..."

"He won't let you move on in peace with someone else."

Dario scoffed, "You need to stop doing that?"

"What?"

"Reading my mind."

A low chuckle pursed out of his lips and by the time he realized and caught it, the damage had been done. Dario was looking at him with hooded eyes and keen fascination that made him want to run out of the room in fear of being devoured. "I don't read minds, I decode your body language and the puzzled words you leave behind to sort out the truth."

"You sound like a smart ass," he said but his voice was distant. Could he get Hyun to laugh like that again? He almost wanted to change his profession or pick a side gig as a comedian to get hear that sound again.

"And you sound like a horny ass."

"That's unethical to say to a client."

"Do even know what ethics mean?"

"Do you?" Dario shot back with a smirk. "I mean, how ethical of a therapist are you to take on a client you've fucked, and want to fuck again."

"I don't want to... do that again." Hyun said, "It wasn't even that great to keep referencing after we agreed not to."

A hand flew to Dario's chest dramatically, "You say that when you were screaming in my—"

"You're deflecting again!" Hyun almost yelled, clapping his hands on his cheeks. "Please stop."

Dario had his hands up in surrender. "Fine."

They stayed in an uncomfortable silence, and Dario eased in closer, their faces inches away, his smile widening when Hyun didn't squirm away. He just stared into those brown eyes that were as guarded as he hoped his were. His heart picked up its pace, pumping blood and arousing the third leg between his thighs. He wondered if he'd be allowed to get away with a kiss. Just one. Then he could claim more along the line. They'd already breached whatever ethics were in place, there was no point in holding back too much.

A shrill sound echoed in the silence of the room and Dario closed his eyes, ridding his mind of his dirty thoughts as he reached for his pager: SOS GIAN, flashed across the screen.

"Shit."

"What is it?" Hyun's voice was low, as if he'd almost forgotten how to speak. Dario got up and tucked the pager in his pocket. "There's an emergency in one of my uh, wards." He watched Hyun's puckered pink lips and almost cursed himself for bringing his pager — it would be left in his office henceforth.

"Can we pick this up tomorrow?"

"Sure, of course."

Dario nodded and walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the doorknob before quickly turning back and bounding down to Hyun.

"What's wro—"

He pressed his lips to Hyun's, cupping his cheeks in one hand and savoring the taste of his warm mouth. He felt Hyun's tongue move along with his, fighting and entangling before he pulled away and smirking at his stunned face.

He took a quick whiff and said, "I couldn't resist when you're dripping off of my scent — I like it, lavender soothes you." When he walked to the door, he had to fight back a smile at Hyun's frozen state. "See you tomorrow, Dr. Wu."

***

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