I watched as the little boy wake up from his slumber. Ji Eun smiled like the morning sun. I felt warm watching her greet the boy as he rubbed his eyes.

“Annyeong hasaeyo, Oh SaeRyun~” She whispered.

“Um, who?” The boy mumbled. “You’re… you… you’re… ahhhhhh.”

He whispered when he saw Ji Eun. The boy slowly sat up and we could see all the IV’s and tubes that he was connected to. Seeing the boy nearly broke my heart. Ji Eun took a seat in the chair next to the boy’s bed.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“A lot better now that I see you. I’m not dreaming am I?” SaeRyun asked.

Ji Eun giggled and my heart fluttered. “Nope, you’re not. I’m here in the flesh.” She took out the boy’s letter. “I got your letter. I’m sorry for getting here so late.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m happy that you even came,” the boy whispered.

“Well, I’m glad you’re happy. I’m going to spend the whole day with you,” she said.

“Wow, really?” The boy said. He looked at me. “Who’s your friend?”

I stepped in. “You can call me Jong-hyung. I’ll be your hyung for the day, okay?”

“And I’ll be your IU-noona!” Ji Eun added.

The boy smiled like an angel at our comments. His little black eyes sparkled like dark gems.

“What would you like to do?” Ji Eun asked.

The boy stopped and thought about it. We could hear him breathing heavily because the room was so quiet.

“Will you read me a story?” The boy asked, looking at us with pleading eyes.

IU pouted and her eyes began to water. “Anything for you honey. What would you like to read?”

“Well, because I can’t really do anything… I wrote a story. Would you read it to me?” He said.

“Of course,” Ji Eun replied.

“I want you to be the angel, and I want Jong-hyung to be the boy!” He chattered excitedly.

The boy handed us an old notebook with some of the neatest handwriting I had ever seen. There were doodles here and there that were so intricate, even I couldn’t do in a day.

“You drew these?” I asked.

“Yeah. I don’t really do much in the hospital, so I draw and write. I love it,” the boy answered. “When I get let out in a week, I’m going to become an artist and write. That way the whole world will know who I am for doing what I do best!”

My lip quivered at his statement and I began to tear up.

“The Heart Longs,” Ji Eun read. “Once upon a time there lived a little boy. The boy was sick and he never got to go play with other kids so he had no friends. The boy was very sad because of this. One day, the boy prayed to God so he could have an angel for a friend.”

“Dear God, I’ve never done anything bad, and I always remember to talk to you every night before I go to sleep. All I ask is that I can have a friend, whether it be a real person or an angel,” I read.

“The next day, when the boy woke up, he saw a little girl standing by his bed,” Ji Eun read. “Annyeong~ the little girl said.”

“A-annyeong the little boy replied,” I read. “Soon the boy and the girl became the best of friends. The boy soon felt a weird feeling in his chest, in his heart even. Like an empty hole that couldn’t be filled. One day, the little girl told the boy something that made that hole grow even bigger.”

“I have to leave soon,” Ji Eun read slowly.

“The boy asked, why? Why?” I continued.

“The girl giggled and touched the boy on his chest, right where his heart was. Don’t worry, she said. I’ll always be here. In your heart,” Ji Eun said, a tear running down her cheek.

“The next day, the boy went into a heart transplant operation. The boy never saw that girl again. As he grew up, he thought more and more about that little girl, but the feeling in his heart began to fade away, as if that hole were satisfied. He began to wonder about that girl. Was she an angel? Is that why he finally got a healthy heart?” I read, almost crying myself. “From then on, the boy lived his life to the fullest. Happier than he ever was, but he never forgot that girl, his only friend.”

We spent the rest of the day making the boy’s time worthwhile. It warmed my heart just to see Ji Eun and the boy smiling happily and chattering away. At the end of the day, Ji Eun and I put on a show for the boy and that clearly made him the happiest child on Earth. At the end of the concert, Ji Eun went over to the little boy and said something to him quietly, making sure that none of the hospital staff were around.

“I’m going to tell you this really big secret I have, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?” She said.

“Okay! Anything for you!” The boy said excitedly.

She took out her glasses and braided her hair. She put the glasses on and smiled. “This is what I really look like. I look like this around this boy I like, but I don’t think he likes me like this,” she said sadly.

The boy frowned and squeezed Ji Eun’s cheeks.

“Don’t be sad! There are many people that love you! I love you more than anything!” the boy said.

Ji Eun smiled, holding back the flood of tears that she kept behind her eyes all day long. As Ji Eun went outside to calm herself down. The boy signaled with his finger to come over to him. He pulled my head close and whispered into my ear.

“You like IU-noona don’t you, Jong-hyung?” the boy said.

He began to laugh and I blushed. For an eight year old, this boy was ridiculously smart.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. The heart longs for what the heart wants,” the boy said. “But watch out! When I grow up, I might just snatch IU-noona from you if you don’t act soon!”

My forehead twitched.

Cocky little boy…

Ji Eun walked in with a nurse and doctor behind her.

“SaeRyun, it’s time for Jong-hyung and I to leave. Please be good for the doctor and nurse okay?” Ji Eun said.

The boy’s eyes widened and he began to shake his head furiously.

“No! No! No! Don’t go noona! I don’t want you to go yet! Please don’t go!” The boy began to frustratingly squirm in bed, kicking his legs and turning back and forth.

The doctor and nurse tried to calm him down and restrain him.

“He’s having a seizure! Nurse, get the medicines!” The doctor shouted.

Ji Eun covered and began to cry, crumpling into a heap. I caught her and hugged her tight. She buried her face in my chest and cried.

“I… I gave him a seizure,” she whispered. “I’m hurting him.”

I began to cry hearing her say so. I hugged her tighter and we watched as the doctor went to work on the little boy. After nearly an hour of heart breaking trauma, the little boy was finally calmed down and stable again.

“Don’t beat yourself up about this kids. We knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. Luckily we had things prepared just in case of emergency,” the doctor explained.

“Tell me doctor… why can’t he have a heart transplant?” I asked.

The doctor sighed and said, “He has a very rare blood type and it is very hard to find a heart donor for him right now.”

“What is SaeRyun doing right now?” Ji Eun asked.

“The boy is in there sleeping right now. Would you like to see him?” The doctor said.

“Yes, please,” Ji Eun replied.

We went in and watched the boy silently breathe and sleep. Ji Eun leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. She took his notebook and opened it to an empty page. She took about five minutes writing to him saying he should get better soon and chase his dreams and when he grows up, he can ask her on a date anytime. She chuckled now and then as she wrote. We quietly walked out of the hospital with nothing to say.