Eighty-One Memories
Eighty-One Memories
dedicated to aoza
ft: eric/lina, pg
as the title suggests, this is my present for you; eighty-one memories of a fictatious life belonging to mun junghyuk and lee jiyeon, which, solely up to you,
can be considered to be a timeline and inspiration from your medical!au wip. these memories are not arranged in chronological order, so it may be a bit confusing, but i hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless!
why eighty-one? because it's your favorite number. :)
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#1 “I don’t like pink,” Eighteen years old Lee Jiyeon says with a straight face as her co-worker tilts his head in confusion. “But your things are pink.” Junghyuk replies and the brunette beside him rolls her eyes. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I fancy the colour.”
“You’re confusing me.”
“And you’re annoying me. Shut up and get back to your work.”
…Women, Junghyuk shakes his head and looks away.
#2 If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, you know who to find. -J.H
#3 Junghyuk will always remember their first official encounter where Jiyeon accidentally pours a bowl of noodles onto his new cardigan he bought using his own money for Christmas.
#4 “So, what’s your ideal type? Handsome? Tall? Has abs?”
“Well,” Jiyeon scratches her chin, “Not like you, definitely.”
#5 As her date goes on and on about his personal life, Jiyeon finds it funny how her thoughts are only for Junghyuk.
#6 Junghyuk glances longingly at the girl standing at the corner of the hall, his heart tightens when he sees her kissing another man.
#7 For her birthday, Junghyuk promises to get her the best birthday present ever, but knowing him, Jiyeon does not hope for much. She is proven to be correct when he shows up with an apologetic look and a basket of fruits in hand.
#8 “Get out from my chair, nerd brain.”
Jiyeon was fifteen when she encountered her first bully. Unfazed by his taunting though, she ignored the bigger boy standing beside her.
“Are you deaf? I asked you to-“
“No. Fuck off.”
From a distance, a smile creeps onto Junghyuk’s face as he overhears the conversation. He doesn’t know who the girl is, but he sure as hell knows that she has the sassiness no other girls in his school possess.
#9 The first time he hears her sing, Junghyuk thinks he may have fallen in love.
#10 “Are you a cat person, or a dog person?”
“I am whichever you want me to be.”
They got a hamster as a pet in the end.
#11 One of the first times they ever kissed was when she had been accepted to the same Medical School as him, and out of sheer excitement, Jiyeon throws her arms around Junghyuk and pecks him on his lips.
#12 Jiyeon flushes a deep shade of red when she recognizes the young man her employer is introducing to her. She fixes her gaze on the floor immediately, praying that her new part time co-worker would not recognize her.
“Hi, partner!” He greets rather cheerily, and Jiyeon forces herself to look at him. “Um, hi.”
“You look awfully familiar. Have I met you-“ Junghyuk doesn’t finish his sentence as a sudden memory invades his mind. “-oh.”
Jiyeon looks away in embarrassment.
#13 When Junghyuk’s friend asked him what type of food he likes, he briskly answers anything that Jiyeon cooks.
#14 “Remember when we first met?” Jiyeon breaks the silence and Junghyuk tears away from the starry night sky. “The one where you destroyed my cardigan? Yeah.”
She laughs at the memory, and then pauses. He raises a brow in question. “What is it?”
“It wasn’t an accident.”
#15 Junghyuk pretends not to be too excited when Jiyeon tells him that she has broken up with her boyfriend.
#16 “Wait, you’re going to medical school?” He asks in excitement and Jiyeon nods. “Yes, I’ll apply after graduating. What about you?”
Junghyuk flashes a grin and crosses his arms in a proud manner. “I am in Meds School. It’s our semester break at the moment.”
Jiyeon’s eyes widen in surprise. Junghyuk being a medical student is the last to ever cross her mind. He does not look anything like one.
”Surprise, aren’t you?” He chuckles. “I dare say I’m the coolest med student-“ Jiyeon mimics herself vomiting, “-but anyway, shall I assume that I’ll be seeing you soon in our campus?”
She studies the excitement in his eyes, and couldn’t help but to smile. They’ve only worked together for two weeks, but it feels as though they have been long-time friends. “Yes, I guess.”
“Great! I’ll be your personal guide around the campus then. You’ll love it!”
“Why would I want you to be my tour guide?” Jiyeon snides, and Junghyuk pretends to sulk. “You’re mean, Lee Jiyeon.”
“And you’re twenty-three years old. Stop pouting, it makes you look ugly!”
Junghyuk regains his smile and leans onto the counter. “Is that you saying that I’m handsome?”
“God, no!” Jiyeon replies instinctively, a little too quickly, for Junghyuk’s smile widens.
“Instant denial, huh? You’re blushing, you know.”
“Shut up!”
#17 Jiyeon is surprised to find a bouquet of flower on her doorstep on the 14th of February. No card came along with it, but she smiles, knowing the identity of the sender.
Thanks for the flowers. -J.Y
What flowers? ;) -J.H
#18 “If you don’t get your butt out from my swing, I’m telling my mummy!” A boy says in his scariest manner possible, but the girl on the swing merely stares back blankly. “You don’t scare me.” She replies, and Junghyuk roars in laughter at the scene in front of him.
“What’s so funny?” Jiyeon inquires, raising a brow at the sudden action from her friend. She follows his gaze and sees the two children by the swings.
“That kid reminds me of you.”
#19 Jiyeon pretends not to be too excited when Junghyuk tells her that he has broken up with his girlfriend.
#20 He finds her in her usual spot during break time-her face buried deep into her piles of medical books in the library. Grinning, Junghyuk plops himself on the seat opposite her, not at all surprised that her eyes are still stuck on the words in her textbooks.
“Have you eaten?” He asks, and Jiyeon glances briefly at him before looking down again. “No time for that, Junghyuk. Unlike you who will be graduating soon, I still have to pass my exams tomorrow or I’m screwed.”
“Do you need my help, then?” Junghyuk offers, but Jiyeon shakes her head. “Nah, you don’t have to. I got this. Thanks, though.”
“Alright. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
Junghyuk flashes his usual grin, gets up from his chair and leans in to plant a kiss on the crown of Jiyeon’s forehead. Then he drops a container filled with sandwiches on top of her books.
#21 In a game of 7th Minutes in Heaven, both Jiyeon and Junghyuk sat unmoving beside one another, not quite sure what to do in the first minute. “How old are we that we have to play this game?” Junghyuk grumbles, but not at all out of spite.
“Your friends are doing this to tease us, obviously.”
“Do they think we don’t kiss enough?”
“Junghyuk!”
It’s dark but Junghyuk can picture the blush on Jiyeon’s cheeks. That does not stop him from crushing her into his embrace and whispering; “Well, what do you think we should do for the next six minutes?”
#22 “Stop leaning behind like that on your chair, I swear you’ll fall backwards one day!”
Junghyuk merely chuckles at his girlfriend’s repetitive nag, shrugs it off and continues to sip his Starbucks’ drink.
Moments later, his drink splashes directly onto his face when one of the chair’s legs broke and he falls down with a loud bang.
#23 Jiyeon does not help him up until she is done laughing, in which Junghyuk growls at her and asks her not to say-
“I told you so.”
#24 “How can you mistook that lady for me?” Jiyeon is fighting back laughter while her fiancé turns a beetroot red. “You’re really bad in facial recognition, Mun Junghyuk!”
Junghyuk huffs, crosses his arms together and says; “That makes us even, then.” He slowly smirks as he sees her smile faltering. “I seem to recall a certain someone pouring noodles over me because she thought I was her ex-boyfriend.”
#25 It is Junghyuk’s best friend’s wedding day when he dances with Jiyeon for the first time. Mesmerized by how her eyes seem to sparkle that night, Junghyuk dances to the slow beat with her in his arms, and for one moment, forgets anyone else exists in the ballroom.
#26 Junghyuk groans for the tenth time when he sees her shaking her head in disapproval. He is beginning to regret asking her help to choose an outfit for the medical conference next week. “Why can’t we just get-“
Jiyeon gestures her hand towards the dressing room. “Next!”
#27 “I may not be perfect for you, but I-“
“No one is asking you to be perfect.” Jiyeon interrupts him with a kiss.
#28 When oxygen is vital and they break apart from each other, Junghyuk breathes out; “Will you be my girlfriend?”
In which Jiyeon answers with a smile; “Aren’t I already?”
#29 “What do you think?”
Junghyuk’s eyes nearly pop out from their sockets when he sees the dress his fiancé is wearing for the event that night. The lustrous red of Jiyeon’s dress molds into her torso beautifully, complementing the shape of her body. The taunting slit on the left side of her dress clearly did not help as Junghyuk blinks continuously, trying to form a sentence in his mind.
“Umm…Uh…”
That night, Junghyuk does not allow Jiyeon to leave the house until she changes out from that dress and into one that does not highlight her voluptuous figure.
#30 “You’re an idiot!” Jiyeon rolls her eyes. “How many times have I told you that my favourite colour is not pink?”
Junghyuk shrugs. “It’s just a stupid competition, anyway.”
“It’s not stupid, Junghyuk! The winning pair gets a free trip to freaking Australia, and you blew our chance away with that super easy bonus question.”
#31 Two weeks from their first argument as a married couple, Jiyeon nearly falls from her chair when Junghyuk drops two tickets to Australia onto her lap.
#32 After countless teasing from his friends, Junghyuk decides to shut them up by grabbing Jiyeon’s hand and announcing that she’s my girlfriend you doucebags, now go disturb somebody else!
Jiyeon does not know if she should be embarrassed by the sudden declaration, or angry that Junghyuk has lied. She secretly prefers the former, though.
#33 When they are eating ice-cream together, Junghyuk purposely pushes Jiyeon’s cone into her face so that he could kiss the smudge away.
#34 Jiyeon promises herself never to cry in front of Junghyuk, or any men of that matter.
But when he gets down on one knee, in the cafeteria they’d first met each other-not exactly the most romantic place to propose, might she add-she finds her vision blurring to the speech he is making.
“…will you marry me?”
Jiyeon thinks it is the stupidest question she has ever heard, so she doesn’t answer but instead burst into tears.
#35 Jiyeon is pleasantly surprised when her father brings back his “favourite student” from his hospital, and that student turns out to be Junghyuk.
#36 Working in the same hospital does not necessary mean Junghyuk and Jiyeon get to see each other all the time. Working in the same hospital though, does mean that at every breaks they can get, whether five minutes or ten, they could flash a smile at one another from a distance, and that is all they need to get through the day.
#37 Waking up every morning and seeing Jiyeon’s beautiful face is one thing Junghyuk will never get tired of.
#38 “Stop it!” Jiyeon yells, grabbing the beer can from his hands, “What happened was not your fault. There was nothing else you could do to save that guy!”
He ignores her and reaches for the can. “Give it back.”
Jiyeon throws the can onto the ground, kicks it away with all her strength and faces her husband. She grabs him by his shoulders in attempt to shake his sorrow away, hugging him as tight as she could. “Are you planning to drink yourself to death? It’s not your fault!”
“I murdered that guy, Jiyeon, I murdered him-“
“You tried to save him, but you couldn’t. There’s a difference, Junghyuk!”
“I-I became a doctor to save people,” Tears streaming down, Junghyuk pushes Jiyeon away. “What am I as a doctor then, if I can’t even save that person from dying?”
That is the first time Jiyeon has ever seen Junghyuk break down in front of her like that. All she could do is to embrace him again and mutter soothing words to calm him down. “You couldn’t have saved everybody, Junghyuk…”
#39 Jiyeon has always liked the idea of back hugs. So when Junghyuk sneaks up to her and wraps his arms around her waist, Jiyeon falls in love with him all over again.
#40 “Mun Junghyuk! How many times must I remind you to close the toothpaste cap properly?”
Junghyuk groans from his bed, all tired and sore from his night duties in the hospital. He does not reply, and even when Jiyeon appears in their bedroom, he remains quiet.
“Mun Jung-oh never mind, you must be tired from being on call.” Jiyeon frowns, but then pads over to the side of his bed and covers Junghyuk properly with the blanket. “Sorry for the constant nagging,” She apologizes softly and swears she sees Junghyuk smiling against the pillow.
#41 Changmin tells Jiyeon that Junghyuk is the luckiest man to have married Jiyeon.
Jiyeon corrects her best friend and says that she’s the luckiest woman to have married a man like Junghyuk.
#42 Seeing his beautiful bride walking down the aisle, Junghyuk thinks to himself that he must have saved the world in his past life.
#43 His phone rings at least three times before Junghyuk finally has the time to answer. “Jiyeon? What happened, are you okay?”
Junghyuk could hear the sigh of relief at the other side of the line, and then a sorry, it’s nothing. It takes him less than two seconds to figure out what has happened.
“Bad dream?”
“Yeah.”
#44 When Jiyeon sees a cockroach in the kitchen, she shrieks and retreats to the living room. Few seconds later, she consoles herself, saying that it is just a bloody cockroach, jiyeon, as tiny as a speck of dirt on the floor, brave it, kill it, you can do it! But when she returns to the kitchen in attempt to get rid of the insect-slash-pest-slash-life-ruiner, Jiyeon shrieks again and runs out from the kitchen.
This debate of herself went on for a few minutes, before she finally admits to Junghyuk that she would greatly appreciate his help, and decides to hide behind her husband.
“You’re so cute, I swear.”
Chuckling, Junghyuk secretly thinks to himself that he wouldn’t mind seeing cockroaches in his house if it means seeing Jiyeon freak out like that.
#45 One of their most romantic dates, in Jiyeon’s opinion, is walking underneath streetlamps along the empty streets at night-when no one is around, when the world revolves only around them and nothing else.
#46 Love is such a strong word.
Especially for Jiyeon, who does not readily believe in the concept of love. She finds the word too emotionally dangerous, too vulnerable for her liking, too…exposed of her inner self, that she has never uttered the word before to anyone but her family members.
“I love you,” Her first boyfriend had told her after their fifth date.
She hesitated, before saying, “Yeah, sure.”
“I love you,” Her second boyfriend had told her.
Again, she had answered, “Ok, sure.”
So it surprises her, how easily the word seems to flow from the tip of her tongue, when Junghyuk catches her off guard and while laughing, confesses a “God, you’re so adorable, I love you.”
And Jiyeon replies, “I love you too.”
#47 It has never occurred to Junghyuk that choosing a Christmas tree would be so difficult a decision.
But when he and Jiyeon starts to bicker-“No, this tree is too thin!”, “No, this tree is too big for our home.”, “No, this tree is lopsided.”, “No, this-“, “No!”-about each tree they came across, he can’t help but to break into fits of laughter.
Jiyeon stares at him, surprised (and thinks that her husband has lost it), but finds herself laughing along few moments later.
They finally decided to buy the next tree they come across, not caring if it’s too big, or too thin, or too small, or too lopsided-because they know, no matter how imperfect their tree would be, their first Christmas together would still be perfect.
#48 Once, when they were still working in the mini mart together, it was raining heavily and Jiyeon remembered that she did not bring an umbrella that day. Junghyuk insisted that she took his, but Jiyeon refused, not wanting to trouble him.
They ended up sharing the umbrella, and even though their sides-his left and her right-were soaked under the heavy rain, they assured each other they were alright, each grinning from ear to ear.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Junghyuk said when they reached her place. Still beaming, Jiyeon nodded. “See you tomorrow.”
#49 Jiyeon has a habit of falling asleep in the library. Junghyuk has a habit of accidentally stumbling into her in the library and placing his jacket around her to keep her warm.
#50 When neither of them could make a decision about something, they opted to toss a coin (let god decide, she’d say)-heads, for option A, tails, for option B.
This time, Junghyuk takes out a coin from his pocket-if it’s heads, I’ll leave, if it’s tails, I’ll stay-and as he prepares to flick the coin in the air, Jiyeon’s hand covers his.
“We don’t need fate for this,” She whispers, tears in her eyes. “Stay.”
#51 When Junghyuk graduated, he felt the happiest when he saw Jiyeon in the crowd, clapping as loudly as she could as he went onstage.
#52 “Is she your girlfriend?” Eighteen years old Jiyeon asks as she follows Junghyuk into the storeroom. “It’s just that, she’s been here almost every day, and I don’t think one needs to make so many trips to a mart if it isn’t because of other reasons, right?”
Junghyuk heaves the box onto another box, wipes a sweat away from his forehead and turns around, “Why, is Lee Jiyeon finally caring for her co-worker?”
“Don’t let it get into your head. I don’t care,” Jiyeon crosses her arms together. “I’m just curious.”
A smirk found its way across his face as Junghyuk playfully leans in towards the younger female-there’s a moment of debate as Jiyeon contemplates to either keep her stance or look away. “And that’s not caring?”
She looks away.
#53 Jiyeon returns home one evening after spending a solid thirty-six hours in the hospital, all tired and worn out. Realizing how tense her shoulders are, Junghyuk offers to give a massage, even joking how his service is expensive and she should be grateful he’s giving her one for free. Snorting, Jiyeon lazily accepts, too tired to move a muscle-and finds herself snoring into dreamland five minutes after Junghyuk began.
The next morning, she wakes up to find herself on the bed, all aches gone and a note stuck on Junghyuk’s pillow.
Told you my massage is good. ;) -J.H
#54 On rare nights when they are both relieved of their hospital duties, Junghyuk finds comfort in watching a movie on the television, with Jiyeon resting on either his shoulder or his chest. Often, he would forget what is happening in the movie, because he would be distracted by the littlest things Jiyeon would do; a finger drawing circle patterns on his torso, mumbles of “the heroine is pretty,”, or “the guy’s so oblivious,” a sneeze she tries to suppressed, an “excuse me,” following the sneeze…
Often, he would end up revelling on how grateful he is to be in love with someone so deeply that a tiny action from her could ignite all sorts of emotions inside him.
#55 “I’m an idiot.” Junghyuk groans for the umpteenth time.
“You’re an idiot,” Jiyeon agrees but smiles. “My idiot.”
#56 He pecks her on the crown of her forehead tenderly, and whispers I love you.
#57 One of their favourite moments together, in Junghyuk’s opinion, is to sit under the starry sky with a blanket wrapped around each other. No words are needed; just the sound of their hearts beating in unison is enough for them to be happy.
#58 “You,” He tells her, hands wrapping around her waist and pulling her in closer, “are beautiful.”
#59 When Junghyuk applied for a job in the mini-mart, he never expected to reunite with the young lady who had destroyed his cardigan, and certainly did not realize that he would marry the same young lady someday.
#60 On their second date, Junghyuk says, “are you a camera, because I can’t help but to smile every time I look at you.”
In which Jiyeon roars in laughter, punches him in the arm and yells, “you’re super cheesy!”
#61 Following the death of his patient, their nightmare begins when Junghyuk becomes overly ambitious and vows to become a better doctor.
#62 When Jiyeon’s father, also Junghyuk’s mentor, asks him if there is something going on between his daughter and Junghyuk, the latter merely shrugs before grinning and saying; “Someday, I hope.”
#63 Jiyeon chooses not to dwell in painful memories.
But when Junghyuk becomes distant from her, and she recalls of all their fond memories together, the happy memories turn into painful ones instead.
#64 During lunch break, they found a place on the grass beneath a shady tree. Resting lazily on the grass, their fingers touched-and they held on-for the first time.
#65 Neither of them had been each other’s’ first kiss, but the first kiss that they both knew, would last in their memories forever.
#66 Jiyeon isn’t surprised to find his side of the bed empty yet once again the next morning. It is starting to become a norm, him not coming home each night.
#67 It was a spur of girlish moment when Jiyeon decided to google about wedding photographs taken in Junghyuk’s hometown. (And the beach. And the meadow. And even in the forest.)
#68 “Do you want the chocolate cake or the cheese cake?” Junghyuk waves two plates of the sweet desserts in front of Jiyeon, who grimaces and pushes the plates away.
“Neither! Cakes make me fat, Junghyuk. And if I’m fat, I wouldn’t be able to fit into the wedding dress. You wouldn’t want your wife to have nothing to wear on our wedding day, would you?”
He chuckles, “You can be wearing a potato sack on that day, and I’ll still marry you, Jiyeon.”
“If I’m wearing a potato sack, then you’ll have to wear one too.”
“It’s okay, we’ll make the headlines for wedding of the century; the bride and bridegroom sporting potato sacks on their D-day!”
Jiyeon laughs heartily, tears in her eyes before she reaches out to take one plate from Junghyuk’s hands.
#69 When Jiyeon returns Junghyuk a textbook he has loaned to her, he flips through every page carefully, hoping to find a love note hidden in between the pages.
#70 He laughs at how stupid he is acting at the moment, but as he flips to the second last page of his textbook, he stops laughing, a yellow post-it note now glaring at him.
Thank you, Junghyuk.
#71 She folds him a star each day, and tells him to unfold it when his day isn’t going well. At first, he unfolded the star as per instructed, but later on, Junghyuk realizes, he is more curious to know what she has written for him on the star that day than to only unfold it when he is unhappy.
#72 When she falls sick one day, Junghyuk asks for a day off as well, making sure she eats her medicines and drinks enough water (and lecturing about how you’re a doctor but you don’t know how to take care of yourself.). Jiyeon doesn’t say much, because her throat hurts and the meds are making her drowsy, but she is grateful that Junghyuk stayed by her side all night and tended to her needs.
Jiyeon also remembers that Junghyuk has a habit of kissing her throat whenever she has sore throat, and as cheesy as it sounds, her throat does feel better after that.
#73 “All you care about lately is your work. I don’t need a doctor at home, Junghyuk. I need a husband.”
#74 The folded stars stop coming one day. Jiyeon thinks that Junghyuk probably wouldn’t even realize it, but he does, and it breaks his heart to see their relationship faltering like this.
#75 Jiyeon looks at the sandwich he has left for her, realizing that there is a note stuck on the inside of the container. She gazes at his back figure as he disappears behind the row of bookshelf, before shifting her attention back at her lunch.
You’re welcome, Jiyeon.
#76 Jiyeon remembers, until today, the content of Junghyuk’s proposal speech for her. And each time she recalls of it, she knows deep down, that no matter how much she wishes she could, Jiyeon could never in her life, abandon Junghyuk completely.
#77 (sent: 7.46 p.m) “I miss you, Jiyeon. I…I’m sorry. No words can express how sorry I am towards you. I miss you. ”
#78 Sometimes, when it’s cold at night, Jiyeon would snuggle into Junghyuk’s old shirts or sweaters, and when he gives her a look of amusement, she would shrug and say; “What? It’s comfortable.”
#79 While trying to fall asleep, Jiyeon still remembers the touch on her forehead when Junghyuk would brush her hair from her eyes, the lingering feel of when he would plant a soft kiss afterwards in a way that would be with her forever even when (and if) he isn’t around (anymore).
#80 “No one knows how long we will live in this world. Even we, as doctors, cannot guarantee that we’ll live to a hundred. We cannot tell if we will live a long life, we cannot estimate the years we would spend together. We would never know.
That is why, in wedding vows, there isn’t a guarantee of growing old together. There is instead, a promise that we will love each other for better, for worse, for richer and for poorer… because really, the only guarantee we can give, is whether in sickness or in health, we will always be together.
When we are young and healthy and beautiful, there would certainly be love. When we grow old, when we gradually age and become sick, does that mean that there will no longer be love? (Junghyuk smiles and shakes his head) In the future, we will not abandon each other, we would love as we love today, so why wait for then when we can start now?
That is exactly what I promise to give you, if you would grant me this privilege to love and to cherish you-
(pause)
So I ask of you, Lee Jiyeon, will you let me take care of you for the rest of your life?
Will you marry me?”
#81 (sent: 7.51 p.m)“Come home, Junghyuk. I’ve missed you too.”
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a/n: happy birthday again, Nikka! we love you!