~~~The woman cautiously observed the boy lying across her couch at that moment, sweat dripping off his forehead in buckets. His body reacted as if he was boiling, however the boy shivered underneath the thick comforter as if he was trapped outside in the snow storm. Any unexperienced cave troll could have clearly seen this boy was very sick….sick in more ways than one.

“Jaehwan-ah. Lee Jaehwan, are you listening to me?” The woman spoke clearly and loudly, however Jaehwan showed no signs of acknowledging her words. Jaehwan seemed preoccupied with frantically looking across all of the walls, his arms and legs twitching as if lying down was paining the boy. She knew very well that no physical pain was involved, however mental pain was something else entirely.

“Jaehwan-ah!” This time the woman spoke even louder, waving her hands and snapping her fingers to gain the boys attention. The visual appearance of the sight did not cause any reaction, however the sound got Jaehwan to look her direction. He truly did attempt to listen closely to her words, however Jaehwan’s ears didn’t want him to listen and they often tried to rebel.

“I’m going to be right back, okay? I’m going to go call your parents and tell them where you are, but it’s very important that you stay here. Alright?” The woman paused her words in that place, remaining silent until Jaehwan gave her the sign that he had understood. “You’re very sick right now, and you can’t move around. Lie here and wait for me to get back, okay?”

Jaehwan nodded once again, and the woman assumed that it was alright for her to go to the front room to try and find the boy’s parent’s now, however Jaehwan had other plans. Just as she had gone to stand from her place, Jaehwan grabbed her wrist. He effectively had stopped her from moving anywhere, however the woman could feel her heart shatter as the little boy struggled through his speech.

“You can’t leave I-I I-don’t have any parents for you to call, well I guess I do have parents but they don’t want me and if you call my parents they won’t come pick me up they will just tell you to deal with me b-because they don’t want me in that house anymore. You have to stay because your—y-you’re the school nurse and that’s why I came here because I don’t feel good and the nurse is supposed to help someone when they don’t feel good so you have to stay here and help me because my parents won’t an------“

“Jaehwan!” Clearly seeing that Jaehwan was in no state for her to leave, the woman decided to sit back down again. She sat beside his legs and shouted, cutting Jaehwan off and giving him a few seconds to breathe. “Try and take a deep breath. Tell me slowly. Why can’t I call your parents?”

Jaehwan did as he was told, watching the nurse explain how to breathe correctly and he did it. More than anything, Jaehwan still wanted to start ranting again, and his body itched to be moving but he restrained himself. “They kicked me out.”

“Why would they kick you out Jaehwan?”

“They-they said that I’m not right in the head and that they didn’t want me around my noona’s and hyung’s.” Jaehwan looked to the blanket covering him, his fingernails tearing holes into the comforter as he waited for the nurse to ask him something else.

The woman couldn’t even fathom the words that he had just said to her. It was true that Jaehwan was very ill (well, mentally ill), she had known from his school records. Jaehwan was struggling, but how could anyone kick a young boy out of the house for that reason? They should have been taking him to see a doctor! She couldn’t understand how anyone that could be considered a human, would take a sick little boy and throw him outside in a snow storm.

She had only remained silent for a minute or two, however to Jaehwan it felt as if it had been 20 years. He could no longer wait any longer, and Jaehwan was aware that his time speaking with her was most likely limited.

“You’re going to stay, right? You won’t call them or kick me out and you’re going to take care of me, right?”

“Jaehwan….of course you can stay. You can stay here until we get this whole thing sorted out, and I will be sure to get you healthy again.” Jaehwan smiled, completely satisfied with her answer. He had wanted nothing more, therefore Jaehwan allowed himself to lose control again and returned to his previous actions of flinching and watching fireflies he was pretty certain didn’t exist.

The woman sat there, watching the boy and not knowing what she was supposed to do. She couldn’t just keep him, he was legally still his parent’s child. If what he had said was true however, there was no way she was sending him back to a home that he wasn’t going to be cared for in. Then again, Jaehwan wasn’t a reliable source right now. Regularly it would have been okay to trust his words, however Jaehwan appeared to be having a mild manic episode right now and his words weren’t reliable.

There was only thing she knew for certain. No little boy should feel the need to ask if someone is going to care for them. Whether Jaehwan had been telling the truth or not, there’s som