“ah,” a nervous chuckle falls from hanbin’s lips as he takes seat in the armchair next to eojin’s, “i’m just glad to see you making progress.” he shoots eojin a careful smile. the latter had never tried to hide the blame he felt towards him and it made their current circumstances a lot more unsettling than it had to be. yet there was no denying hanbin knew eojin’s case better than no other so whether he or eojin liked it or not, hanbin was still the best fit when it came to eojin’s future medical care. “it’s been a day like no other. busy… how was yours?”
as he waits for eojin’s answer, hanbin starts browsing through the file, ears perked for any detail that might be medically relevant. “i see you’ve been assigned to kang minhee. he’s the best physiotherapist this hospital has to offer so you’ll be in good hands.” he explains, eyes shifting between eojin and back down to the file to see if there were any other details he needed to share. “i’m only here to supervise and administer any medical care if need be since the first couple of sessions can be rather strenuous… but if all goes well you’ll be seeing a lot less of me starting from next week.” hanbin shoots him another smile. this time a little warmer, assuming that would be a thought eojin would like. “anyway, do you have another questions for me or are you ready to go in?”
Eojin can’t help but shift a little bit on his seat when the nurse sits next to him, moving into a position where he can face the other man properly. He watches Hanbin look through his files and then smiles back at him, not as genuine as he thinks it looks. “Yeah, it’s taking a lot of time but I think I’m improving. I’m a lot better with the crutches now.” He says and nods his head, but he looks away after he listens to the next question made by the nurse. Eojin sighs as he thinks about it and shoves his hands inside his jacket pockets, signs that denounce his frustration and disappointment.
“Well, you see... I slept very well but my leg---- I mean, my thigh started to hurt as soon as I woke up.” His voice sounds like a mix of confusion and annoyance, and a soft frown forms on his forehead as he speaks. “I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it’s a weird type of pain. Like... It’s not the usual pain on the scar tissue.” And he shrugs, finally looking back up to stare at the nurse, and without much to do, he flashes a small and slightly sad smile to the man before him. “Other than that, everything has been fine. Hopefully, physiotherapy will be okay... I googled about it and they said it can be very painful. Please, don’t scold me for googling medical stuff.”
Once he’s done talking, he presses his lips together into a thin line and leans closer to Hanbin when he speaks again, nodding when the other mentions the name of the person that would help him with physiotherapy --- and that makes him slightly nervous. They always tell you to never google something when it comes to health, but it is stronger than Eojin --- when he noticed, he was already on the third page on the subject.
Eojin doesn’t need more pain. As if losing his leg isn’t enough, he still has to feel it... like it is still there. He feels it itch and hurt, but he can’t touch something that’s no longer there. His usual painkillers don’t help either, it can’t reach something that’s no longer there.
But his thoughts are interrupted once Hanbin talks about them not seeing each other as much --- what does he mean with that?! Yeah, Eojin actually does hate the nurse... but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to see him again. HE STILL WANTS TO LOOK AT HANBIN AND HAVE HIM AROUND!!! For dream-inducing purposes, of course. So he frowns at the other and looks at him with a face that expresses rejection.
“What?! You won’t be there in every session of therapy? Why? What if something happens---- Hanbin, you’re the one that knows my case the best! You have to be there with me!”