"Karina! Go to Mrs. Lee and take her blood pressure!"

"Karina! Just make sure that Mr. Kang takes his meds!"

"Karina, can you take a look at Mr. Hwang for a second?"

"Karina!"

"Karina—"

"Karina—"

Karina slumped herself on the rest chair behind the ward's counter with a heavy sigh, feeling extremely exhausted from her eight hours straight work today. Seriously? Why did she become so kind to Aeri that she told her she would cover her rounds today? Somehow, she regretted her kind offer.

She turns the chair to her left and right, trying to amuse herself from her exhaustion. She looked at her phone screen, showing it was almost eleven at night which also mean that Aeri would come soon to cover her rounds, and Karina could take her leave.

Then, the sound of someone running from the ward's hallway surprised the girl, only to see that her friend finally came back with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Rina! Gosh! I'm sorry, I'm late!", the Japanese said as she wiped the sweat on her forehead with her forearm. "Ningning was being super clingy just now. I'm really sorry that you took three hours from my shift".

"You should be glad that you are my friend, Aeri. And you should be glad that Ningning is also my friend. Also, you should be glad too that today is Ningning's birthday, or I might kill you, for real!", Karina swinging her hand to her neck, threatening the Japanese.

The girl then stood up from her seat as she put her phone inside her uniform pocket. "I'm gonna leave. Good luck with work", she lifted one of her hands in the air, bidding her goodbye as she walked away happily towards the locker room.

"Thanks, buddy! I'll treat you for your kindness today! Bye!"

*****

As soon as Karina arrived at her apartment, she threw herself on her bed with a big smile on her face. Finally, some time to recharge and rest before she starts her rounds again at two in the evening.

Karina rolled her body on her comfy mattress as she scrolled down her phone. The lights were already out since it was almost twelve at night, and before she could sleep, a chat popped up on her screen. It was from no other than her boyfriend, Jeno.

Jeno
Did you get home? How was work today?

A smile formed on her face as she typed her replies, but before she could hit the send button, rustling sounds from the next door startled her for a short second. But soon she realized that it might be her new neighbor, trying to clean up some stuff.

Karina
Yes, I did! I'm on the bed! Work is pretty tiring since Aeri asked me to cover some of her shifts. It's Ningning's birthday today. I couldn't say no for the couple to have some of their time.

Karina
I guess my new neighbor just moved in. I heard sounds from next door. Probably unpacked some things?

She hit the send button again, followed by a sudden rustling sound from the next door again. As she waited for her boyfriend's reply, the sound of glass shattering, also from the next door startled her to death.

"Gosh! My heart almost stopped! Can't she be a bit gentle with her stuff?"

The notification sound from her phone brings her attention away from the sound from the next door. With a light sigh, Karina unlocked back her phone to see his reply.

Jeno
I miss you, you know?

"Corny", Karina chuckled reading the text messages. Her smile got bigger before she sent her reply.

Karina
Miss you too.

Karina smiled as she threw her phone lightly to her side, kicking her feet in the air in happiness. Her relationship with Jeno started when they were in their final year at the med school. Jeno confessed to her, and they had been a thing for two years since then.

Aeri, her high school best friend got into the same hospital as she did. Lucky enough, their nursing rounds were in the same wards. Karina wonders how god arranged that for both of them.

Ningning was one of her best friends in high school too. But the Chinese didn't pursue nursing like Karina and Aeri did. Ningning worked as a translator for a Chinese tourism agency, and the Chinese would translate every single Chinese word into Korean since she is good at Korean.

Not that hard to guess, right?

Karina looks back at her phone screen, finally hits twelve. The rustling sound from the next door still bothered her a bit, but she could understand that her neighbor just moved in. She might need to do some things to sleep in a more neat and clean place.

"First day moving in is tough, right?", Karina hummed to her own words before her phone chimed again. Another text message from Jeno.

Jeno
I'll sleep first. Good night, baby. Have some rest.

Karina
Good night. You too.

*****

The next day, Karina was back on her nursing job at the hospital. The only nurse present at the moment is only herself and Aeri. The other nurse would come one hour later.

The ward she's in charge of today was a bit more hectic than usual. Usually, it is already hectic. But today, it's doubled. They got patients from a school bus accident, and now the two of them need to handle all these nine students by themselves.

*A/N - RECOMMENDED TO PLAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ!! (Ai Dialogue)

https://youtu.be/WSNDoGNpY1M

Karina currently wrapping a bandage on a student's knees. His knees were bleeding badly, but after examinations, the doctor said he would be fine. Karina's job is to cover up his cut for a few minutes until the next doctor arrives.

"Aeri! Get me another roll of bandage!"

"Coming right away!", the Japanese ran back to their storage room and came back a few seconds after. She handed the new roll right into Karina's hand with her heavy pants from running.

"Thanks", Karina said as she continued to do her job.

She quickly back into action, wrapping the bandage around the boy's knee to stop the blood from flowing down his leg. After a few minutes of diligence and struggle, the bleeding finally stopped.

"There you go. I got you", Karina stood up from her kneeling position as she smiled at the boy warmly. The ten-year-old boy smiled back at her, revealing his teeth.

"Thank you, big sister! You are the best!", he said happily until his gums flashed. Jimin couldn't help but mess up with his cute-cut hair.

"Good boy", Karina chuckled.

Karina gave him one last smile before she exited the hallway, coupled up with Aeri again as they high-five each other with their proud smile.

"That's the last one?", Aeri asked and Karina nodded back in reply. "Yup", the girl's popped at the end of her word.

*****

It is almost eleven at night.

After that eight hours round at the hospital, Karina was back again at her apartment. She pulled out her shoes and placed them on her shoe rack before she headed to the kitchen to grab some water to drink.

What an exhausting day, Karina thought inside her mind.

As she took her sip of her cold water, she could hear the sound of a guitar strumming from the balcony. A bit startled, Karina placed the cup of water down on the counter before she walked closer to her balcony.

She just peeps from the glass door, lazy enough to go out to face whoever it is outside that balcony.

She saw a ginger color short short-haired girl strumming her guitar on the balcony next door. Karina hummed to herself. So, that is her new neighbor? She asked herself inside her mind.

The sound she played was soft and calming, just enough to loosen the exhaustion Karina got from her work that day. With a small smile on her face, Karina walked back to her kitchen counter and she took another sip of her cold water, leaning her body to the solid surface.

Somehow, it is pretty nice to hear those warm sounds back from a hectic work.