The results board outside Linkon University's Art Department was mobbed with anxious students, all craning to see if their names appeared on the acceptance list.
Nana stood near the back, heart hammering, clutching the number she'd been assigned during testing.
Three months of studying. Three months of late nights after work, of Zayne quizzing her over video calls, of her siblings tiptoeing around the house so she could concentrate.
Three months of hoping, dreaming, believing that maybe—just maybe—she could actually do this.
"I can't look," she whispered to the two girls beside her—Mina and Jisu, who she'd met during the entrance exam orientation. Both from villages like hers, both chasing dreams in the big city, both terrified and excited in equal measure.
"I'll look for you!" Mina offered, bouncing on her toes. "What's your number?"
"4-7-2-9," Nana managed.
Mina squeezed through the crowd, Jisu following, while Nana stood frozen, afraid to hope, afraid to be disappointed.
What if she didn't make it? What if all that studying was for nothing? What if she had to go back to the village and tell everyone—tell Zayne—that she'd failed?
"NANA!" Mina's shriek cut through the crowd.
"NANA, YOU'RE ON THE LIST! YOU PASSED! YOU'RE IN!"
Time stopped.
Nana's vision blurred. Her knees went weak. "What?"
"YOU PASSED!" Jisu was jumping now too, both girls racing back to grab her hands. "Look, look, look—4-7-2-9, Wang Angelina—you're ACCEPTED! With EXCELLENT scores! You're in the top ten percent!"
Nana pushed through the crowd on shaking legs, needing to see it with her own eyes. And there it was—her number, her name, highlighted with a little star marking exceptional scores.
She done it.
She'd actually done it.
A sob burst from her throat—joy and relief and disbelief all tangled together. She clutched the acceptance notification they were handing out, this precious paper that meant everything, that meant her life was changing, that meant dreams could come true after all.
"I did it," she whispered, then louder, laughing through tears: "I did it!"
Mina and Jisu wrapped her in a hug, all three of them crying and laughing, this instant friendship forged in shared success.
"We should celebrate!" Mina declared. "Coffee? Food? Something fancy to mark this day?"
"I need to—I need to call my family—" Nana fumbled for her phone with shaking hands. "They've been waiting—"
"DOCTOR ZAYNE?!"
Mina shriek was so loud several people jumped. She was staring past Nana, mouth hanging open, eyes huge.
"Doctor Zayne Li? THE Doctor Zayne Li? From the cardiac research papers? From the TELEVISION?"
Nana turned, and her breath caught.
There he was.
Zayne stood near the entrance to the courtyard, completely out of place in his formal work clothes—black suit, crisp white shirt, that composed professional expression.
He was holding a bouquet of flowers—mixed blooms in soft colors, nothing ostentatious but clearly expensive.
And he was looking directly at her.
Their eyes met across the crowd, and his expression transformed. The professional mask fell away, replaced by something so tender it made her chest ache. He smiled—not the polite professional smile but the real one, the one reserved only for her—and raised his hand in a small wave.
Nana face burned. Everyone was staring now. At him. At her. At the flowers. Putting the pieces together.
"You know Doctor Li?" Jisu hissed. "You KNOW him? Like, personally?"
"I—he's—" Nana couldn't form words. Her feet moved automatically, carrying her toward him, the crowd parting like water.
When she reached him, she was crying again—happy tears this time, overwhelming tears, so many emotions she couldn't contain them.
"You came," she managed. "You—you shouldn't be here, you have work, you're supposed to be—"
"Right here." His voice was soft, meant only for her despite their very public audience. "Exactly where I'm supposed to be.
Congratulations, Nana. I knew you'd pass."
"I was so scared—I thought maybe I didn't—but I did—top ten percent, can you believe it?" The words tumbled out in a rush. "I actually did it, I'm going to university, I'm going to study art, I—"
She couldn't finish.
The emotions overwhelmed her. She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest, clutching his suit jacket with shaking hands while tears soaked into the expensive fabric.
For a moment, Zayne stood frozen—hyperaware of the dozens of eyes watching them, of his professional reputation, of all the reasons this was inappropriate in public.
Then he wrapped his free arm around her, holding her close, the flowers still clutched in his other hand, and decided he didn't care about any of it.
"I'm so proud of you," he murmured into her hair. "So incredibly proud. You worked so hard. You earned this."
"I couldn't have done it without you," she said against his chest. "All those study sessions on video calls, all the practice tests you made, all the times you believed in me when I didn't believe in myself—"
"You did the work. I just—I just got to watch you shine."
Around them, Mina and Jisu had collapsed dramatically on the ground, rolling around in mock despair.
"He's TAKEN!" Mina wailed.
"By our FRIEND!" Jisu added. "This is—this is—"
"A BETRAYAL!" Mina finished. "How are we supposed to live with this?!"
Despite everything, Nana laughed. She pulled back from Zayne, wiping her tears, trying to compose herself. "Those are my new friends. Mina and Jisu. They're—they're dramatic."
"I can see that." Zayne was smiling, amused by their antics. "Though I'm not sure what they're betrayed about."
"Doctor Li is famously single!" someone called from the crowd. "Half the hospital has been trying to set him up for years!"
"Not anymore, apparently!"
"Who is she?"
"Is that his girlfriend?"
"Look at how he's looking at her—that's definitely his girlfriend—"
Nana wanted to disappear. She could feel dozens of eyes on them, phones coming out, the whispers starting. Some girls in the crowd were openly crying, mourning the loss of their celebrity crush. Others looked curious, sizing her up, clearly wondering what was so special about this plain village girl.
"Ignore them," Zayne said quietly, pressing the flowers into her hands. "These are for you. For achieving your dreams. For being brave enough to try even when you were scared."
The flowers were beautiful—delicate and carefully chosen, probably cost more than her monthly food budget. Nana clutched them like a lifeline.
"You look beautiful today," Zayne continued, his voice soft but clear enough for nearby eavesdroppers to hear. "Glowing with joy. It suits you."
She was wearing her nicest outfit—nothing fancy by city standards, just a simple dress she'd bought for this occasion, but she'd tried to look presentable. For this moment. For this day that would change everything.
Looking at her now, clutching her acceptance letter with tears of joy on her cheeks, Zayne was struck by a memory—another day, another piece of paper, another moment of tears.
Her high school graduation. The day Grandpa had died. The day Zayne had found her sobbing over the casket, clutching her graduation certificate, destroyed by loss.
This was different. This was joy. But the parallel made his throat tight—both moments marking huge transitions in her life, both involving tears and achievement and change.
"What are you thinking?" Nana asked, noticing his expression.
"Just remember your high school graduation. How far you've come since then."
His voice was rough with emotion.
"Grandpa would be so proud. He believed you could do this before either of us did."
Fresh tears spilled down Nana's cheeks.
"I wish he could see this. See that his faith in me wasn't misplaced."
"He knows," Zayne said with certainty. "Wherever he is, he knows. And he's smiling."
Mina and Jisu had recovered from their dramatic floor display and approached cautiously, star-struck and curious.
"So," Mina said, trying for casual and failing completely. "You're dating Doctor Zayne Li."
"I—yes. We're—" Nana looked at Zayne helplessly.
"We're together," Zayne supplied simply. "And have been for several months now."
"SEVERAL MONTHS?!" Mina clutched Jisu's arm. "You've been dating THE most eligible bachelor in Linkon's medical community for MONTHS and you didn't MENTION IT?!"
"It didn't come up?" Nana offered weakly.
"Didn't come up?! We talked about EVERYTHING during that orientation! You told us about your siblings, your village, your supermarket job, but you FORGOT TO MENTION you're dating a CELEBRITY SURGEON?!"
"He's not a celebrity—" Nana started.
"He was on TV!" Jisu interrupted. "There are research papers named after him! Medical students study his techniques! He's—" She looked at Zayne with awe. "You're kind of a big deal, sir."
"I'm just a doctor," Zayne said, uncomfortable with the attention. "And Nana is—" He looked at her, expression softening. "Nana is far more impressive than any medical achievement I've accomplished."
The nearby crowd of eavesdropping students practically swooned.
"Did he just—"
"He really said that—"
"I'm going to cry—"
"Why can't I find someone who looks at me like that—"
One group of girls—clearly medical students or fans, based on their conversation—was having a complete meltdown:
"I've followed his career for three years!"
"He's never smiled like that before—"
"Never! Not once! He's always so serious in lectures!"
"She made him SMILE! Look at his face!"
"I'm deleting all my photos of him. It's over. The dream is dead."
"We should be happy for him—"
"I know but I'm GRIEVING!"
Nana buried her face in her flowers, mortified. "Can we go? Please? Before I die of embarrassment?"
Zayne was trying not to laugh. "You have fans now," he pointed out. "You're the girl who tamed the ice prince. That's what they'll call you."
"I didn't tame anything—"
"You absolutely did," Mina interjected.
"You tamed a man who's notorious for being cold and professional and impossible to read. Look at him! He's smiling! Making romantic declarations in public! This is unprecedented!"
"Celebrated Cardiologist Dr. Li," Jisu added, pulling out her phone to show articles.
"Known for brilliant technique and complete emotional unavailability. Quote: 'Dr. Li treats romance like a waste of valuable research time.' But here you are, making him bring flowers to a university campus!"
"Okay,that's enough." Zayne's voice held amused embarrassment. "Can we perhaps continue this somewhere less public? I'd like to properly celebrate Nana's achievement without an audience."
"YES!" Mina bounced. "Celebration! All of us! You're buying, right Doctor Li? Since you're rich and in love?"
Zayne blinked. "I—"
"She's kidding," Nana said quickly. "Mina, you can't just—"
"I'm not kidding! He showed up with fancy flowers! He can buy us coffee! It's tradition!"
"There's no such tradition—"
"There is now!"
Zayne looked at Nana, who shrugged helplessly. "They're very persistent."
"I can see that." He smiled. "Fine. Coffee and celebration. But somewhere less crowded."
They're managed to extract themselves from the crowd—though not without several requests for photos (which Zayne politely declined) and a few brave souls asking for autographs (which he also declined, citing personal time).
As they walked toward a nearby café, Mina and Jisu flanking Nana while Zayne followed slightly behind, Nana caught his eye over her shoulder.
Thank you, she mouthed.
Always, he mouthed back.
And despite the chaos, the public attention, the dramatic friends and crying fans—despite all of it—Nana felt lighter than air.
She'd passed. She was going to university. She was building the future she'd barely dared to dream of.
And she had someone who believed in her enough to show up with flowers, who was proud of her, who looked at her like she'd hung the moon even though his world was full of brilliant people with impressive
achievements.
"So..." mina said, linking arms with Nana as they walked. "When's the wedding?"
"MINA!"
"What?! I'm just asking! Look at how he looks at you! That man is planning to marry you, I can tell!"
"You've known me for three hours—"
"And in those three hours, I've learned everything important! You're going to marry Doctor McDreamy back there, have beautiful babies, and live happily ever after. I'm calling it now."
Jisu nodded sagely. "She's not wrong. I've never seen a man look at someone like that unless there's forever involved."
Nana glanced back at Zayne, who was checking his phone—probably hospital messages—but noticed her looking and smiled.
Forever, she thought. Maybe that's not so impossible after all.
They're reached the café, and as Mina immediately started ordering
"everything expensive because Doctor Rich is paying,"
and Jisu asked Zayne detailed questions about cardiac procedures (which he answered with surprising patience), and Nana clutched her acceptance letter and her flower.
She thought: This is happiness. This is what it feels like when dreams come true.
And somewhere, somehow, she could feel Grandpa Li's approval.
Well done, child, she imagined him saying. You've earned every bit of this.
She had.
And this was only the beginning.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued __