EXTERN

Chapter 7

Why the hell has everything been giving me a headache lately?

 

“What are we going to do, P’?”

 

Kong, the second-year class president who’d come to help with the event, immediately rushed over to ask me.

 

“How the hell did you manage to break your leg, Ek?”

 

I asked the Business Faculty’s Moon, who was standing there on crutches, staring at me guiltily.

 

Well, of course. He was playing Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. I could hardly have him drag his crutches onto the stage to have a sword fight with Romeo. He’d probably get flying-kicked in the other leg and end up paralysed before the scene was over.

 

“I got hit with a teddy bear, P’.”

 

“Huh?!”

 

My brows knitted together immediately. What kind of fucking teddy bear could break someone’s leg?

 

“My boyfriend found out I was seeing someone else, so he chased me around, hitting me with a teddy bear until I fell down the stairs.”

 

I narrowed my eyes at him in exasperation.

Serves you fucking right. Except now I’m screwed because of you!

 

“Sorry, P’Kan.”

 

His handsome face fell guiltily, and I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him. The poor handsome bastard had ended up a handsome bastard with a busted leg.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Get well soon.”

 

I patted his shoulder encouragingly before sitting down and clutching my temples again.

There was less than a week left.

 

Where the fuck was I supposed to find another Tybalt?!

 

“Want me to play him, P’Kan?”

 

I looked up at Kong again and inspected him from head to toe.

 

“Kong, I really want to thank you…”

 

“No problem, P’!”

 

He smiled proudly, probably thinking he’d finally found a way to make himself useful.

 

“But could you please look at yourself and then compare yourself to Mr Cool Romeo standing over there in the corner?”

 

I pointed towards the former University Moon, Knight, a third-year engineering student, who was standing in the corner of the auditorium looking like a miserable puppy as he watched Juliet.

 

“Why, P’?”

 

“Are you 190 centimetres tall? Do you have a chest and shoulders like that? Do you look like you’ve just stepped straight out of an issue of Attitude magazine?”

 

Kong shook his head, accepting reality.

 

“And do you think your face is good-looking enough to go head-to-head with a University Moon?”

 

“I surrender… If you want someone like that, then go get P’Per from Gear Asa!”

 

DING!

It was as though a light bulb suddenly flashed above my head.

 

How the hell had I overlooked Moustache? He had everything I needed!

 

Beep… beeeep…

[Hello?]

 

I’d called the junior from another faculty who’d been interfering with my life increasingly often lately. And his number was ridiculously easy to get, as though he’d plastered it on every lamppost in town.

 

Honestly!

Mr Fucking Public Property!

 

“Come see me.”

[Who is this?]

 

He sounded confused, probably mentally scrolling through the list of people who might be calling him.

 

“Your wife.”

 

[I don’t have a wife… only girls I’m seeing—]

 

Why did my head suddenly feel hot? Like someone was piling burning coals onto it? And hearing his cheerful voice accompanied by the giggling of a woman beside him only poured more fuel onto the fire.

 

“Good for you, Nong Per… In that case, don’t let me hear you bragging to anyone ever again that I’m your wife!!!”

 

[Oh! I remember now! My darling wife’s voice is so easy to recognise. You’re at the auditorium, right? Your husband will hurry straight over!!!]

 

Click!

I angrily ended the call.

 

I wanted to find someone to take my irritation out on, but before I could do anything, a ridiculously cheerful voice assaulted my ears.

 

“Kaaaaaan!~”

 

A buffalo-sized body came flying at me from God knows where. Before I knew what was happening, he’d thrown himself around me, nearly knocking me over. Luckily, I managed to brace myself against the floor in time.

 

“LET GO OF ME!!”

 

I struggled against his thick arms, but I genuinely couldn’t overpower him. Are you studying engineering or training to become a fucking bodybuilder? What do you need all these muscles for?!

 

Actually, he wasn’t ridiculously bulky or anything. He was just solidly built, with enough defined muscle to be annoyingly attractive.

 

“You called me here! Did you miss me, babyyy!? Or was it because last night… Oops!!”

 

I immediately slapped my hand over his mouth when his voice got loud enough to make everyone in the auditorium turn towards us.

 

“I told you not to talk about it!”

 

That night when I’d accidentally ended up kissing him, I’d specifically told him not to say anything about it. I didn’t even want to discuss my own behaviour.

 

Do you understand?!

It was the mood!

The fucking moment!

 

“Mmph, mmph!”
 (Okay, okay! I won’t say anything!)

 

He widened his eyes innocently and shook his head while my hand remained clamped firmly over his mouth.

 

“Why did you get here so quickly?”

 

I fired the question at him once his mouth was free.

 

“I was already planning to come see you.”

 

I curled my lip, not particularly convinced. I trusted actions more than words.… But why the hell should I care about his actions anyway? We weren’t anything to each other. Just seniors and juniors from different faculties!

 

“Bullshit! I could hear a woman laughing beside you!”

 

I’d already told him not to lie to me, hadn’t I?

Otherwise, we would have to revisit that little lesson.

 

“Oh! That was Nong Am. I happened to run into her while I was walking into the auditorium. She just stopped to say hello.”

 

“What are you, the bloody president? You know fucking everyone.”

 

I muttered to myself as I searched for Tybalt’s script to give him.

 

Poke. Poke.

I turned towards the fingers prodding my upper arm.

 

The buffalo-sized idiot was standing there with both index fingers pressed together, trying to look adorable. What the fuck?

 

Do you think you’re Shin-chan? Am I supposed to find this cute, Nong Per?!

 

“Were you jealous, baby? I’m sorry! Come here, I’ll kiss you to apologise. Come onnn~”

 

SMACK!

My palm landed squarely against his forehead, and I shoved him away in disgust.

 

At this point, I desperately wanted to forget about everyone watching us, including the engineering gang, who were staring at us in astonishment.

 

“Mate, I’ve got nothing left to ship anymore.”

 

That came from some girls from the Communications Faculty who were preparing posters nearby.

 

“These two P’s are fucking real.”

 

That was from the Mass Communication girls working on publicity alongside them.

 

“That younger doctor-engineer couple is still all gloomy and complicated… then these two absolute legends show up. Poor Knight doesn’t stand a chance!”

 

“Knight! You need to learn from Hia Per! He looks messy, acts like a bastard, but somehow he still won the doctor’s heart!”

 

“EWWWWWW!!!”

 

I immediately rolled my eyes. I couldn’t be bothered arguing with these lunatics anymore.

Whatever I said, they’d find some way to twist it to fit their ship anyway. Better to keep my fucking mouth shut.

 

Meanwhile, Nong Per turned towards the engineering students with the most unbearably smug smile imaginable, as though he’d just conquered Mount Everest. Fucking irritating bastard.

 

“Here!”

 

I shoved the script towards the handsome stubbly man in front of me. He tilted his head and stared at it in confusion.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“Play Tybalt for me. The guy who was supposed to do it broke his leg.”

 

With that, I started walking away. I needed to quickly hand things over to Ping, the fifth-year vice-president of the student union, because I had to get back to the ward for my shift. I probably wasn’t going to sleep at all tonight.

 

“Wait, Kan! No. I don’t want to act.”

 

My brows knitted together again. I’d thought this would be easy. Apparently not. The bastard was playing hard to get now.

 

Looks like I’d have to use my secret weapon and get this problem sorted quickly.

 

“Per…”

 

I lowered my head and called his name in a sad little voice.

 

Then I slowly looked up at Mr Cool of Gear Asa with pleading eyes, like a tiny kitten desperately begging for love and mercy. The man in front of me instantly froze as though a critical attack had hit him.

 

“Please help me… I really don’t have anyone else. When I realised I had a problem, you were the first person I thought of, Per.”

 

I tilted my head slightly and blinked innocently at him. Fall for it, Moustache. Please fucking fall for it. My face is cramping from holding this expression, Nong!

 

“…”

 

Mr Moustache continued staring at me in stunned silence.

 

“Please?”

 

He was still frozen.

 

“Doc… you’re going to drive me insane.”

 

I blinked in confusion.

 

Insane?

 

What the hell was he talking about?

 

“If you can’t do it, then I’ll—”

 

GRAB!

My eyebrow twitched immediately when the poisonous snake’s huge hands suddenly grabbed my cheeks and started squishing them back and forth with overwhelming affection.

 

“Cute… You’re so fucking cuuuute! Squishhhh!~”

 

I started counting to a million in my head. I desperately tried not to explode at him, no matter how violently my eyelid was twitching. Because I still needed the bastard.

 

“So that means you’ll do it, right?”

 

“I surrendered the moment you called my name like that!”

 

He immediately wrapped himself around me and squeezed so hard it felt like my bones were going to crack.

 

“THEN GET YOUR ARSE TO REHEARSAL!!!”

 

6:12 a.m.

I stood watching the sky gradually brighten. Seeing the first light of day after finishing a night shift had become completely normal.

 

I stretched, trying to drive some of the exhaustion from my body, then started walking towards the car park.

 

I still had enough time to go back to my condo, shower and return for ward rounds at eight… Or maybe I should sleep in the car?

 

Again, I had to choose between sleep and a shower.

 

“Doc…”

 

I turned towards the voice as I reached the car park.

 

“Oh! How did you get here?”

 

The tall, muscular figure of Mr Cool himself, dressed in his Gear Asa engineering shirt, walked over and stopped near me. What the hell was he doing here?

 

“I called you, but you didn’t answer.”

 

I tilted my head in confusion. And?

 

“…”

 

“I was just worried. So I asked some of the juniors and found out you were on duty… but I didn’t know how I could actually get in to see you.”

 

Don’t tell me…Had he been waiting by my car all night?

 

The tall figure moved until he was standing directly in front of me. His usually composed face stared into mine, and for some reason, heat suddenly rushed through me.

 

“Are you tired?”

 

I blinked, wondering if I’d heard him correctly.

My brain tried to process his words over and over, but I couldn't understand what the younger man meant.

 

“What the hell are you on about?”

 

“Kan.”

 

I fell silent again and looked up at the future engineer, ready to listen.

 

“I don’t think I’m going to let this stay as nothing more than love at first sight anymore.”

 

“Huh?!”

 

The more he talked, the less I understood. What the hell was all this stuff about love?

 

“…When it comes to your health, I won’t interfere.”

 

He looked at me.

 

“But when it comes to your heart…

let an engineer take care of it, okay?”