Perfect Love// Imperfect Strangers
Title: Perfect Love// Imperfect Strangers [1/2]
Rating:PG
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Onkey, Jongkey
Wordcount: 848
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summary: Dr Lee Jinki doesn’t understand why the perfect nurse Kim Kibum refuses his love and says he’s flawed. Dr Choi Minho sheds some light.
From the prompt for challenge 004 @ shawol_haven - ‘You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.’ - Sam Keen.
A/N: technically, i only put the first part up for challenge due to word count limitations, but there is a part 2 to this. and... since i really liked the prompt so much, i turned it into a verse of sorts. ah well.
ALSO, THIS IS MY FIRST SHINEE FIC :D
“I’m flawed; don’t you understand. Please just…. leave me alone!”
Jinki gave a long sigh as the sentence kept reverberating in his mind.
It made no sense the more he thought about it. What had the nurse meant when he had said that?
And Kibum had been so distraught too; so tired and so lost. It was one thing to reject his advances; Kibum had been regularly refusing him ever since he transferred to SM Medical Centre four months ago but the male nurse had looked so vulnerable and pathetic this time, Jinki couldn’t bear to say a word more.
The first time he’d met him- when Jinki was being introduced to the entire department- he was absolutely gob smacked.
It was as if… bells rang in his head continuously.
Never in his entire life did he think that he’d fall for a person; so hard and so fast. To Jinki, Kibum was honestly the most beautiful creature ever- even when dressed in the awful salmon-pink uniform. As they worked together more, he felt more and more attracted to his perfect person.
Sometimes Kibum could be a little withdrawn and distant, but otherwise they actually got along quite well. It was only until Jinki admitted he really had feelings for him that Kibum seemed to snap and break down.
Why did he insist he was flawed?
He leaned back into the couch in the staff lounge, deep in thought, not realizing another person had walked in.
“Key isn’t as perfect as you think, Dr. Lee.”
Jinki looked up to see a tall figure. He knew the man; they’d been introduced briefly, to be Choi Minho- this hospital’s leading orthopedic doctor. The man, despite being younger, sort of scared him. They’d never really spoke to each other much, though Jinki knew Choi to be fairly close to Kibum.
He appeared so very cool and detached, perhaps, from the pressures of working in his field- too many cases of people with broken dreams and shattered lives. It had to be devastating to watch people struggle to get to their feet, literally and figuratively.
“I…”
“I found him crying in the washroom and immediately concluded it was you. As you know, Key is a close friend of mine and there are things I know he finds hard to explain.”
JInki sputtered,
“I don’t understand.”
“You wouldn’t. He’ll kill me for this, but I’ll explain it on his behalf. Come along.”
Jinki simply followed the other man as they took the lift to the 6th floor. They walked in slightly awkward silence and Jinki tried to remember where they were.
‘Intensive Care Unit?’
Minho said nothing and finally stopped.
Ward 9, Room 16A.
There was a young man, lying on the bed, with the heart rate monitor beeping at his side. He was not in any life threatening situation- the worst had probably passed for him already- not on life support system or any other overtly complex breathing equipment. But he was also in a comatose state and seemed to have been for a while now.
“I still don’t understand.”
Minho gestured to the patient tag and Jinki squinted to read it.
“Kim Jonghyun?” Minho nodded slightly before continuing softly,
“This is Jonghyun-hyung, Key’s boyfriend.”
“What?” Jinki’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Do you know there was a rather horrific accident on Highway 34, almost a year ago?” Minho asked slightly wearily, leaning against a wall. There was a flicker of something warm in his eyes that hinted that said accident meant something to him as well.
Jinki nodded a bit blankly, he knew, of course.
That had been one hell of an awful accident; a four car pile-up caused by an exhausted truck driver and led to multiple casualties. They were all sent to the nearest hospital, which happened to be the medical centre.
Oh.
“And this patient here was one of the casualties?”
“One of many. But he was one of the worst hit; his car was sandwiched between the truck and a taxi.”
The man definitely seemed that way, as his handsome face had traces of healed injuries and several scars crossing his arm.
“Key was on duty at that time and was called to help out in A&E when they were sent in.”
It must have broken the nurse’s heart so badly when his boyfriend came in on a stretcher.
“I… I… didn’t realize.”
“It’s not your fault, but I hope you can understand. Key has been waiting all this while and nobody knows how long it’ll take for him to regain consciousness. That’s why he keeps telling you, he’s flawed- because a part of his heart is right here. He is troubled by your feelings for him. He likes you, but he loves him.
So unless you are willing to wait along with him and can deal with not having his complete heart, I’d advise you to not have romantic feelings for him. If you’ll excuse me, I have a patient to see.”
Minho gave him a bow before leaving Jinki alone with a sense of confused clarity.