I swallowed hard in my throat and clenched my fists to try and stop myself from crying. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Woohyun was feeling at this very moment. His brother had been in a coma for most of this year, and the doctors had told his family constantly to not get their hopes up, as the chances of him recovering were slim. But here he was; awake, fighting and strong. It was like something had thrown you into a volcano, except it wasn’t hot at all.

As we walked into the hospital, Woohyun immediately approached his mom and gave her a hug. I watched, a little awkwardly, from the side as he asked her gently what was going on with his brother. He wiped her tears and cupped her face with his hands, presumably whispering some comforting words for her. My heart panged painfully at this moment.

I decided that I didn’t want to intrude on this moment, nor burden Woohyun by having to keep me company, so I decided to walk to the other side of the floor and sit in the lounge and wait for him. Although he said he wanted me to be here, it was a family moment, and I wasn’t really sure if his brother was okay judging from the look on his mom’s face.

I found a seat to sit on and found a magazine to flip through. It was kind of ironic, I guess, that in the lounge room were magazines of all the celebrity gossip, but when you were waiting for someone to come out of an operation, or if someone you loved was not going to make it through the night, the latest idol group’s scandal was be something you wanted to read. I hope it didn’t make me look or seem shallow or uninterested. I just wanted something to make my heart beat calm down, and distract me from the possibility of his brother not being okay.

As I didn’t go into his room, I didn’t know the condition of him. Was he okay? I through human biology class and terrible situations ran through my mind of the consequences of a long-term coma. Would he have to go through months of intense rehabilitation, just to learn how to speak, walk and eat again? Would he remember anything? Would he be bedridden for the rest of his life? As the night drew on, the situations brewing in my head got worse. I kept thinking of the horror movies I saw and how people woke up from comas with zombie-like qualities and how some would develop an appetite for raw meat.

I gulped and looked around the lounge. The clock on the wall read 6.30pm, and I jumped slightly. I didn’t realize I had been sitting here alone for the likes of six hours. It seemed like six minutes, yet as I got up from my seat and walked toward the window, it was dark. The stars shone high in the night sky, and I wished that his brother would be okay.

I drifted back to my seat and laid my head down on the armrest. I’ll just close my eyes for ten minutes, I thought. Then I’ll go find Woohyun.

“Hana,” someone whispered from far away. “Hana!”

Someone was shaking me but I was too deep in my sleep to register who it was.

“Kim Hana! Wake up!” The shaking got hard, and I was forced to open one eye by a slit to see who it was.

Nam Woohyun was standing above me, grinning tiredly. I jolted away and looked around. Where was I?

“Hospital,” he offered when he saw my confused expression.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I know that!” Then my heart jolted. I remembered I was here because of Woohyun and his brother. And it was no environment to be joking in.

“Woohyun, I –“ I began with a pained expression. “I- “

But he shook his head before I could say anything else.
“Hana, there’s someone I want you to meet.” He grabbed onto my hand and led me into the direction of his brother’s room.
“Woohyun, wait,” I said, a bit breathless. “Slow down! Is he okay? Is everything okay?”

He smiled again, this time wider and toothier. “Yes! Come on, slow poke. You’ve been asleep for the whole night! Its 6pm,” he added when I looked at him, gaping. “Don’t worry. Your mom called Hanbyul when you didn’t answer your phone, who called Sunggyu, who called me, who told her what was going on. She isn’t going to ground you,” he added again when I opened my mouth to speak.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t worry!” He paused. “Sorry for leaving you alone for so long. My mom….she’s a bit tired. I took her home to rest then came back and talked to the doctors and then called my dad….and then he came, and he – “

I gripped his hand tighter. “It’s okay,” I said.  “You don’t have to explain. I don’t mind.”

He smiled, eyes full of emotion, and led me into the room.

My first reaction was, wow, why is Woohyun lying in a bed? His brother was also dashingly handsome – especially considering he had been in a coma for so long.

He smiled at me.

“Hyung, this is Hana, Hana, this is my hyung, Boohyun.” Woohyun offered a little awkwardly.
I chucked. “Nice to meet you, Boohyun-shi. Um, how are you feeling?”

“Great!” He said, too enthusiastically. “Call me opaa! Well, um, you know. Just about how someone can feel after being out for so long.”

I nodded and smiled at this.

Silence.

“Well, um, hyung, you know, you should go to sleep now. Rest. You must be tired,” Woohyun said, bustling around his bed fixing blankets and making sure he was covered.

“Woohyun, I’ve been out for almost ten months. Let me be awake for more than ten hours?!”

I sniggered, biting my lip and Woohyun glared at his brother.

“Hey, I feel like some water. Could you get me some?” Boohyun asked. Woohyun nodded and left the room. Now I was feeling extremely awkward.

Boohyun cleared his throat. “Hey, Hana, come sit here.” He gestured at a chair next to his bed.

“Woohyun told me what you did for him. For me. And, well, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done. I know my brother’s a bit stupid sometimes, a bit dumb, but he’s really a good person at heart who is still a little boy, and he needs someone like you. Someone grounded, someone who can tell him he’s being an idiot. So thankyou. I can’t even say how much you’ve helped us.” He smiled painfully. “I don’t and never will hold him responsible for what happened to me. That stupid little boy shouldn’t be taking this onto himself; that’s one disadvantage of that brain of his. Always overthinking things.”

I reached out and grabbed his hand lying on the blanket and gave it a squeeze. “Hey, you shouldn’t need to say thank you. I’d do it again. I just want to see you both being happy and healthy.”

“I got the wa – hey, what are you guys doing?!” Woohyun returned with a pitcher of water and quickly set it down on the table, rushing to pull my hand from his brother's.

“Hyung!” He wailed. “Not fair! She’s mine! You can’t use your sickbed status to try and woo her!”

His brother chuckled. “I was not! Are you retarded! I was just warning her about the consequences!”

Woohyun paused. “Wait, what consequences?”

His brother sniggered. “For dating you!”

Woohyun cracked a big smile and lunged at his brother. “YA! HYUNG!”

Because he couldn’t punch his brother, he resorted to tickling him and slapping his head.

I just sat there, absorbing it all. Everything was happy again. I was happy, Woohyun was happy, his brother was happy. But as I saw a private number call my phone, and excused myself outside to pick it up, I knew such happiness would be shortlived.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Ms. Kim? My name is Jason Myers, I am calling from the University of Sydney, Australia, regarding your application.”