Chapter Text
Lahai-Roi’s artificial sun has never shone brighter this afternoon. Classes in Startorch were still ongoing, but you were pacing outside the clinic for about 5 minutes already, working up another believable excuse just so the resident doctor could hand you an excuse slip for the classes you’ve been missing.
“I’m sure I already registered for a cold…. then a Headache? No, I already used that four times a week ago,” you mused quietly. “…then maybe I sprained my ankle? but he’s not stupid, he’s going to find out my bones are perfectly aligned.”
“What about a nosebleed for three hours? Now that’s a cause for concern.” A silky smooth voice suddenly purrs in your ear. You felt like you were going to orga-
What the hell?
You looked to your left only to find a devastatingly handsome face close to yours.
“Gah!” You jumped back before composing yourself and facing the culprit. “Doctor Herssen,” you chuckled nervously, blinking at the blonde-haired doctor whose head was hanging outside his clinic window. “What a nice surprise!”
“Oh dear student, I’d say the same to you, if only you weren’t visiting me in my clinic almost every day,” he chuckled before tilting his head in, a gesture to meet him inside. “I’ll see you inside.”
I’m busted.
In a minute, you found yourself in Doctor Herssen’s office. Your mouth was dry, thinking of a way to explain the situation he saw earlier. While you were in a state of internal turmoil, Luuk remained calm as ever in his chair, refilling the candy jar as he quietly hummed a tune.
“You know,” he started. “It’s been obvious to me that nothing is really wrong with you.”
Yep, I’m totally busted.
Luuk looked at you, his ruby eyes piercing into your soul. “So why have you been coming here?”
You stared at him, dumbfounded.
Of course he could tell you weren’t sick and that you've been making of fool of yourself in front of him for the past two months. He’s a doctor, for Sentinel’s sake!
You coughed, planning to revert the situation. “What about you, Doctor? Why have you been giving me slips if you were aware that I was fine?”
“Because you’re pretty,” he hummed.
“I’m-” you coughed out, wondering if your ears have deceived you. “I’m what?”
“It’s nothing,” he stood from his chair, circling his desk before sitting on the chair across from you. “I believe I’ve signed about what- 23 slips for you, more or less? That’s quite a lot in two months for a student.”
This does not sound good.
You gulped before letting out a shaky breath, wondering where this conversation would end.
“I’m just… really stressed, Doctor.” You said carefully. And it was the truth. As a student working part-time during the graveyard shift in a convenience store, keeping up with the fast-paced environment of Startorch Academy has worn you down. It was a miracle you were still a functioning human being with no eye bags, surprisingly.
“Ah,” he clicked his tongue. “Of course, you don’t want any absences to affect your class standing.”
You remained seated in your chair, fumbling with your fingers as you waited for his next words.
“I’m offering you a deal,” he continued. “I’ll keep on writing you slips. In return, you do me some… favors”
“What… kind of favors?” You narrowed your eyes, your mind going haywire trying to figure out the nature of these favors.
Oh, Sentinels. Is this good-looking doctor actually a perverted one?
He let out a low chuckle, the kind that made your heart skip a beat, yet made your skin crawl at the same time.
“Relax, I’m not a creep. For my first favor, I need you to deliver a package to an address in the city.”
You crossed your arms and let out a huff. “What, am I your errand girl now?”
“You could say that,” he gave out a soft crescent-eyed smile that could make any girl weak in the knees. “Besides, I’ve been mindlessly giving you slips for the past months, have I not?”
“Ugh,” you rolled your eyes as you snatched the package on his desk. “What is this anyway? Doesn’t the academy have a Lollo Logistics branch that you can just use?”
“Ah,” he finally stood from his chair and scribbled the address on a post-it before giving it to you. “Let’s just say I need my recipient to… come to her senses, which I hope will happen when she finally sees you.”
Whatever the hell that means.
“Fine,” you grumbled as you held your hand out. “Give me my slip, then I’ll deliver this.”
“I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement.” Luuk brought out his excuse pad, writing down an excuse for abdominal pain before tearing the paper off from the pad and handing it to you. “I’d like to warn you though to just deliver the package and get out of there as soon as you can.”
“Whatever,” you rolled your eyes as you walked out his office. The doctor was waving goodbye, eyes creased up, finally feeling a huge weight off his shoulders. Now, he just hoped you are able to deliver it without getting any scratches.
You took a bus all the way to the city, package tucked in between your arm and side as if you were protecting it with your life.
Miss Rachel
#14, Starward Street
That was what Luuk had written on the post-it he handed to you.
You pursed your lips as you began to wonder how Luuk was connected with this Miss Rachel, and why he sent you to deliver a package to her.
Oh Sentinels, is this drugs? Is he making me a drug-mule? But no, he’s a doctor. So maybe these are organs and he’s making me a smuggler?! Oh, I will-
You finally arrived at a charming house, numbered 14.
You rang the doorbell and a few seconds later, a young woman emerged from the door with a bright smile on your face.
“Hi!” you greeted. “I have a package from a Doctor Luuk Herssen.”
The moment you said his name, the smile on the woman's face was replaced with a scowl. “Oh?” she scoffed. “Are you his new girl?”
You furrowed your brows in confusion, registering her words.
His new girl? Luuk Herssen’s new girlfriend? Did he just send me to the city to drop off his ex-girlfriend’s stuff?!
Before you could explain, the woman quickly snatched the box from you. “How mature of Luuk, sending his new girlfriend to officially end our relationship.”
“I don’t-“ you get cut off with a door to the face.
Feeling flushed and embarrassed from that encounter, you marched off and hopped on a bus back to the academy, intent on giving Luuk a piece of your mind. But when you reached the clinic, NANA has already informed you that Luuk had already went home. You just wanted to pull all your hair out in frustration.
“Hey NANA?” you called out to the bot with a fake cool in your voice. “Where does Doctor Herssen live?”
“I’m afraid I cannot tell you that, as it would be a huge violation against Doctor Herssen’s privacy.” the robot replied, currently occupied with inventory.
“Oh, of course,” you leaned against the wall next to it. “But I have a package for Doctor Herssen that must get delivered.”
Yeah, my two fists.
“Said package can wait, my dear student.” NANA insisted, turning to work on the next shelf.
“Oh no, NANA,” You gasped with fake urgency. “It must be needed tonight. It’s uhm… Doctor Luuk’s medicine.”
NANA stopped still in its tracks. If you didn't know any better, it looked like it had shut down. And you thought it was going to berate you for trying to trick it until- "Doctor Luuk’s apartment is door 6 on the 15th floor of Edelschnee Apartments. Doctor Luuk needs his medicine. You must deliver it, dear student. Make sure Doctor Luuk gets his medicine.”
He needs his medicine?
But you couldn’t spend time figuring out what NANA meant. The anger was still inside you, and you had to let it out.
At Luuk’s apartment building, you exited the 15th floor as you beelined straight to door 6. On the way, you noticed how the apartment complex was luxurious. The floor was carpeted in a rich red hue. The hallway gently played jazz music, and the doors were all differently structured and designed, as if the tenants had their own choice in choosing how they wanted their door to look like.
How rich is Luuk to be living here?
You rapped on his thick, teak door, and a few seconds later, Luuk came out. His hair was wet, most likely coming out from a bath. He was wrapped in a white bath robe that probably cost more than your entire savings.
“Oh?” He grinned as he dried his hair with a towel. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
You wanted to wipe that stupid grin off his stupidly handsome face.
“You sent me to your ex-girlfriend?!” You raised your voice in anger that it echoed throughout the silent hallway.
Luuk chuckled before pulling you in and closing the door.
The smell of seasonings assaulted your nostrils as Luuk pulled you in his apartment. The aromatic blend made you hungry but you wanted to bite his ear off for sending you off on a humiliating mission.
“Why did you pull me in?” You crossed your arms as you turned to face him.
“I can’t really have my neighbors seeing what they’d assume is a lover’s quarrel, right?” He shrugged as he leaned against his kitchen marble top counter. The robe was starting to loosen, his chest exposing more than it should be.
You looked away so you wouldn’t drool over the distracting view. “Look… You could have told me at least who I was going to deliver the package to.”
“And risk scaring you off?” He chuckled as he pushed himself off the counter, slowly walking towards you. “We wouldn’t want that, would we?” He was now in front of you, leaning down as he gently gave you a smile. You didn’t know if he was apologetic or mocking you.
“It doesn’t matter,” you huffed out, stiffening a bit at the closeness of his proximity. “She looked like she was about to attack me!”
“Even if she did, I’d patch you up.”
“Not the point again.” You rolled your eyes, ignoring the constant growling in your stomach ever since you entered his apartment.
But it seems Luuk has very good hearing because he looked down at your torso before looking back up at you. “Hungry?”
Yes.
“No, and I’m leaving.” You prepared to walk away when Luuk held out a hand in front of you.
“Stay. Stay and join me for dinner. That’s favor two.”
~~~
You had to play hard to get of course, rolling your eyes and throwing a bit of a tantrum before finally settling down on the bar as you watched Luuk flip the steaks.
“You just eat steak by yourself?” You asked, wondering why he was eating a fancy meal just for himself. Besides, he hadn’t expected you were coming, right?
“Well, yes,” he nodded, his broad back facing you. You'd like to wrap your arms around tha- “I’m celebrating after all.”
“What?” I let out an amused scoff. “Celebrating that you have an errand girl?”
“That I’m finally single.” He chirped before turning to you, two plates of beautiful medium rare steaks in hand. He handed you one plate before sitting on the bar next to you with his own.
“I’ve been with Rachel for about almost a year. Let’s just say… she’s different in the head,” he pointed at his brain as if to make an emphasis. “Eventually I realized she was manipulative and I tried to break up with her. Naturally, she wouldn’t let me and even broke into my apartment one night. So, I filed a restraining order against her, hence why I couldn’t deliver the box personally.”
“But why did you send me?” You asked, softer this time. You didn't even know Luuk had a girlfriend, given his private persona.
“I wanted her to see that I was with someone. I figured it was the only way for her to back off. And it worked,” he remarked, lifting up his phone. “Not a single text from her in the past two hours.”
“But I know I must apologize for sending you off like that,” he admitted, turning his body to fully face you. “That was wrong of me. I’m sorry. It was not a very gentlemanly thing to do.”
“It wasn’t,” you agreed as you bit into the steak. “But for this well-seasoned and well cooked steak, I forgive you.”
Luuk let out a warm laugh. Heck, if he did that earlier, you would have forgiven him on the spot and even willingly do his dishes.
As you two ate, your eyes wandered around Luuk’s apartment. It was clean and very bachelor-esque. At the end of the room was a huge ceiling to floor window that offered a dazzling view of the skyline. A black leather sofa sat in the middle of his living room, with health magazines stacked on the coffee table. His television played a soft ballad of jazz. This seemed like a date, but you shook your head, refusing to entertain such thoughts.
First of all, he’s your school doctor. Second, he’s still your school doctor. And most importantly, he’s your freakishly handsome and charismatic school doctor!
“Thanks for dinner."
“A favor’s a favor.” He said simply, as if cooking you a steak dinner and entertaining your abrupt presence in his own private sanctuary wasn’t such a big deal to him.
“I’ll wash the plates.” You offered. It’s the least you could do.
“Nonsense. You’re a guest in my own home.”
“More like an uninvited and unexpected one.” You sighed, tracing your finger along the rim of your glass.
"About that, how did you find my apartment anyway?”
“Oh uhm… I’m just a very good internet detective.”