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Chapter 23
“Come to My Place”
“Where are we now?”
When he impatiently urged her for an answer, Nayeong changed her walking direction and walked ahead, speaking coyly.
“I’ll tell you after we see how things go today.”
It was a warning: do well if you want an answer, and Taehyuk chuckled dryly at that.
He paused to glance at the shark, then followed Nayeong.
“Then I’ll show you what a gentle shark looks like today.”
The venomous professor said “gentle.” If anyone at the hospital had heard that, they would have thought he’d lost his mind.
“What do you want for dinner? Anything you want, just tell me.”
The gentle shark asked her about her meal. Even though his way of showing gentleness was overly simple, Nayeong couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.
“I’ll have pasta.”
She chose a safe, simple option.
When no reply came, Nayeong turned back and saw Professor Choi Taehyuk finally speaking.
“Alright, I know a place that makes good pasta. Let’s go there.”
He said it so casually, but his gaze didn’t look relaxed—almost as if the pasta carried some story.
“If you don’t like pasta, we can change.”
“I like pasta too. Otherwise, how would I know a good pasta place?”
His explanation was unusually long for Professor Choi. His slightly widened eyes also looked unnatural.
Still, since he said he was fine with it, Nayeong didn’t push to change it and moved the conversation along.
“Before we eat, there’s somewhere I want to go. Is that okay?”
Taehyuk nodded at her suggestion.
After leaving the aquarium, Nayeong headed with him to a store where they could buy fish.
“I’ll buy you a pet fish. Pick whichever you like.”
When she said she’d give him one, rather than ask for one, Taehyuk looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“I thought if you had fish, your personality might get a little better.”
When her joke made him frown, Nayeong smiled and spoke honestly.
“You helped me a lot with the Eunbyeol incident. This is a gift to thank you.”
“Then I can’t accept it.”
Nayeong, surprised he refused, was slightly taken aback.
“Yoonina cornered you because of me. So it was right for me to handle it. How could I accept a gift for that?”
Since his words were not wrong, Nayeong felt awkward giving him a present.
“Still, it’s a waste to come all this way and leave empty-handed.”
Taehyuk looked at the fish in the aquarium and made a suggestion.
“Then how about we each pick a fish that suits the other, and keep one each?”
Although Nayeong had never kept anything before, she nodded. It seemed the best way to ensure Taehyuk would happily accept her gift.
After choosing their fish, they agreed to meet again later and went separate ways.
Nayeong stopped in front of a black betta with elegantly spread fins and tail.
She called over an employee and pointed.
“I’ll take this black one, please.”
After she picked her fish, Taehyuk was already waiting with his selection.
“The one I chose is a Yellow Honey Gourami.”
Taehyuk clicked his tongue after seeing her choice.
“So I must be the dark one to you.”
“It’s because it’s cool.”
She praised the fish’s fins and tail, but Taehyuk pursed his lips as if displeased.
Judging by his reaction, she had picked a fish that really resembled him.
They decided to name the fish “Yellow” and “Black.” Taehyuk would raise Yellow, and Nayeong would raise Black.
After leaving the aquarium, they went to the pasta place Taehyuk knew.
“Professor, do you really like pasta?”
She asked again as he drove, and he laughed loudly.
“I told you I like it. There were times I ate pasta three meals a day.”
“……”
She stared silently, and he turned his head slowly with a smile. Three meals a day might have been too much.
“Actually, I don’t really like pasta that much.”
When she confessed, he quickly turned to look at her.
“What? Then why did you say pasta?”
“Because it’s safe.”
He wore an expression as if he’d just been hit. Even though Nayeong chose pasta as a safe option, he realized once again that he was unlucky by fate.
“So, if there’s something you want to eat, pick that instead.”
“No. I invited you to the aquarium, so I’ll pick the food too.”
Chaehyun had repeatedly told him to let Nayeong choose what she wanted to eat, and that advice stuck firmly in his mind. Especially when it came to women, following Chaehyun’s advice was always safe.
“Oh! You said you like raw fish.”
“You want to eat raw fish when there’s Yellow and Black?”
Nayeong stared at him as if he were being ridiculous. Taehyuk clicked his tongue and turned his head.
“Then what do you like? Tell me. Anything at all. I don’t mind.”
He insisted on letting her pick the meal, so Nayeong reluctantly thought for a moment.
She didn’t have a huge appetite, so there weren’t that many options.
“I do have a favorite, but right now…”
“It’s fine. Tell me. No matter how expensive, I’ll buy it.”
Taehyuk’s expression was so serious that she couldn’t lie.
“Tteokbokki.”
“…….”
“When I was stressed studying medicine, I used to eat it with Seunghee.”
“Are you stressed being with me now?”
“No, tteokbokki is just my soul food.”
Taehyuk murmured quietly as he turned his head. She must be young, he thought.
Nayeong encouraged him to choose what he wanted.
“So you eat what you want.”
“No. We’re going for tteokbokki.”
“Really? You mean it?”
“What’s there not to eat? If you want it, we’ll eat it.”
Although they were dressed for a hotel restaurant meal, going to a small snack shop for tteokbokki felt strange to Nayeong. She wasn’t sure it was the right choice.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Be honest first. Do you want pasta or tteokbokki?”
Nayeong didn’t hesitate.
“Tteokbokki.”
Naturally, she chose her soul food.
“I also prefer tteokbokki over pasta.”
Hearing his words felt genuine, and she laughed.
It was strange—he was an adult, yet sometimes acted like a boy, and it tickled her heart like a cat’s fur.
So they went to a snack shop she knew well.
They sat at a small, worn table, and Taehyuk ordered almost everything on the menu.
Seeing the table full of food, Nayeong felt full even without eating.
“I can’t eat all this.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll eat it all.”
He matched her eating rhythm by eating quickly and in large portions. Since Nayeong was familiar with the place, conversation came easily, allowing her to ask questions freely.
“How did you become close to Director Chaehyun?”
“We were classmates in middle and high school.”
As a child with few friends, Nayeong envied their friendship.
“You’re lucky to have a friend like that.”
His expression shifted subtly with a smile.
“Why that expression?”
“You’re the first to say I’m lucky.”
She assumed he didn’t really believe in fate or luck, so she didn’t probe further.
A group of teenage girls entering the shop whispered to each other as they looked at the two.
“Let’s eat quickly and leave.”
“Why?”
“They’re staring like we’re weird.”
“It’s not because you’re weird. You’re a good-looking couple, that’s why.”
Her professor seemed even more childish outside the hospital than the residents.
After leaving the snack shop, Nayeong spoke.
“Let’s end here today.”
Their second chance didn’t dramatically change anything, but Taehyuk didn’t push further and nodded.
The most important thing was the third and final chance.
“Where’s your place?”
“I’ll just take a taxi.”
“Is a taxi safer than my car? Isn’t that too harsh?”
Nayeong, flustered, clarified.
“No, it’s just far from here. You have to go to work tomorrow too.”
Since she had stayed at the hospital dormitory, he knew her circumstances.
“If it’s far, you should get a place near the hospital.”
Since her father was a strict executive, she probably would be scolded for coming home late.
So she felt uneasy being driven by Taehyuk.
“You only complain about time because you haven’t moved out yet. You need your own place.”
That way, there would also be time for a relationship. Taehyuk strongly encouraged her to live independently.
“I can sleep at the hospital, so it’s fine.”
Since she couldn’t get her father’s permission, she compromised with reality. First-year residents often didn’t even go home.
“A hospital bed can’t be better than home. How about using my place?”
Nayeong looked surprised as he pitched how good his apartment was.
“It’s a newly built officetel across from the hospital.”
He had intentionally chosen the closest one for convenience.
“If I stay at your place, what will you do?”
She hadn’t expected him to be this self-sacrificing, but his answer exceeded her expectations.
“Our place is big enough for both of us.”
