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“Jin! What on earth happened to your nose?” Eunbyeol exclaimed as she stared up at the tall, dark gentleman who had just entered her house.

“Jungkook punched me.”

“Again?” She rushed over towards him.  “Your poor nose!  Will it survive another encounter with him?” She caught her foot on the rug and suddenly catapulted towards him.

Jin looked up in the nick of time.  His hands flew out to steady her.  But he ended up dragging her up against his chest.  And wiping his blood all over her hanbok.

Eunbyeol stood staring up into Jin’s magnificent, chocolate eyes.  The man was such a dream.  What did she care if he smelled like fish most of the time?  He was absolutely adorable.  

Those brown eyes of his could melt her heart in under three seconds.  She lived for the day that he would look her way.  She sighed.  She wished he’d notice her as more than just a friend.

He’d brought her some fish a couple days ago. Three beautiful fish on a string.  She’d invited him to dinner on the spot, offering to cook them.  But he’d been down about something and had begged off.  

“The fish you brought me were wonderful!  I wish you’d been able to stay and enjoy them with me.  If you ever have any you need to get rid of, I’d be happy to cook them and invite you to dinner.”

He just stared at her.

“Now.  Let’s see if we can make your nose feel better.  Come here.”  She took his hand and led him over to a chair.

She pulled up a seat next to him and began to gingerly examine his nose.  She sighed with relief a moment later.

“Yet again, he managed to miss breaking it.  Let me get a wet cloth and clean you up.”

Just then, his eyes took in the blood on her sleeve.  “Oh, Eunbyeol!  I’m so sorry!  I got blood all over you!”

She shrugged.  “Don’t sweat it, Jin.  It’ll wash out.”  She sat back.  “Or it won’t.  Whatever.  Being smeared in blood is an occupational hazard for me, you know.”  She smiled sweetly at him before jumping up out of her seat to find a clean strip of linen.

“You’re too good to me, Eunbyeol,” he murmured as she began to wipe the blood off his face.

“Are you kidding me?  You’re the only man that will come near me.  Let alone let me touch him.  Being a physician to only women has its advantages.  But contact with men isn’t one of them.  

“I feel like I’m an outsider.  Hovering in a weird class between women and men.  Considered too intellectual to marry.  Not feminine enough to desire.  Yet I am providing a very valuable service to my fellow women.  I can’t give up my calling just because the men around me don’t know what to do with me.  You’re the only one who doesn’t treat me like an anomaly, Jin.”  She glanced up into his eyes and smiled.  “Thank you.”  Then she sighed.  “I will miss you when you marry.”

His eyebrow flew to challenge his hairline.  “Do you know something I don’t?”

She stopped to spear him with her gaze.  “Just that you are a worthy man.  And one of these days, you will make some blessed woman a very good husband.”

Her words shocked him.  But at the same time, they flowed over him like warm water, comforting his soul.  He gazed down into her eyes.  

“Do you like my beard, Eunbyeol?  Or do you think it makes me look too old?”

She laughed.  “Too old?  No!  It makes you look distinguished.  You are quite dashing with a beard!” She grinned up at him.

He felt his heart shift slightly.  She had a beautiful smile.  He had never noticed that before.  Of course, they’d been friends since the cradle, so it really wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t noticed.  He’d grown up with that smile.  Hadn’t he?

But he took a second look at it until it faded.  She was wiping his face clean of the blood.  And humming a happy tune while she did it.  She was such a capable woman.  And a cheerful one too.  Her temperament matched his.  It’s why they’d always been such good friends.

Something she’d said niggled at him.  “Why couldn’t we be friends if I married?”

She speared him with a stern gaze.  “Really, Jin!  No woman wants her husband visiting another woman!”

“But you’re not another woman!”

It was her turn to quirk an eyebrow.  “I’m not a woman!?  Thanks a lot!”

He chuckled ruefully.  “No!  I meant, we’re friends.  Not lovers.  You’re like…you’re like my sister.”

Ouch.  Ouch.  

She winced.

“Or…” He searched for a way to dig himself out of the hole he’d just fallen into.  “Or my cousin!  Surely, my wife couldn’t blame me for visiting my oldest friend.”

“She can.  And she will.  Once you’re married, we’ll have to stop meeting like this,” she laughed.  “Hopefully, by that time, Jungkook will be done using you as a punching bag!  Either that, or you’ll have to find yourself a male doctor.   Or bring your wife with you.”  

She sobered.  She didn’t want to think of Jin married.  But she knew he’d had his eye on another girl for a while.  

“How are your attempts to woo Aeja going?”

“Let’s just say she’s not as fond of fish as you are,” he returned dryly.

“Foolish woman!  You can easily live off of fish!”

“Thank you!” He responded heartily.  “That’s exactly what I said to Jungkook when he told me a girl wants to be wooed with flowers and poems.”

“Flowers and poems are nice too.  But really, Jin, don’t choose a girl who doesn’t love you for you.  You don’t need to change.  You’re perfect.  You have a lot to offer a girl.”

His face went blank as a vulnerable expression entered his eyes, making him look ten years younger.  “I do?”

She nodded vociferously.  “You have a very lucrative job that will provide your wife with security.  You are an absolute sweetheart.  You’re funny too.  Your wife will be one happy woman.”

He simply stared at her.  “You have far more confidence in me than I do,” he murmured.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Jin.  Find a girl who loves you for you.”  A huge smile split her face.  “A girl who loves fish.  And your beard.  And your sense of humor.  And your chocolate eyes.”

His chocolate eyes?

He gazed into her obsidian orbs as that amazing smile lit them up again.  There was that odd tugging at his heart once more.  What was that?  

He found that he didn’t want to leave her.  He raised his eyebrows as he murmured, “I caught some fish today.  Would you like to have dinner with me?”  Embarrassed, he looked around, “I mean, we could cook them here, right?  I’m getting really hungry.”

She brightened.  “That sounds wonderful.  I’m famished.  Thank you, Jin.  Consider the fish payment for my services.”

“I will not!  They’re a gift from one friend to another!  I will pay you for your healing hands.  You’ve got to make a living somehow.”

This right here was another reason she loved him so.  The man had such an excellent understanding of justice and mercy.  Most men she knew would have used her talents and expected her to be pleased she could do them a service.  They might have given her a token of their appreciation.  But no true wage.  And, certainly, no gifts of friendship.  

Yes.  She was really going to miss Jin when he finally found a wife.  She sighed.  Hopefully, it would take him years to do so…