6: Black Eagles

“SEUNGHYUN!” Yoona screamed. “COME BACK!”

Yoona was on her way to find the runaway Seunghyun before a man stopped her by grabbing into her shoulder.

“Don’t,” he said. “He needs time.”

“But…” Yoona tried to argue, but the man in front of her shook his head.

“Let him be, nurse…” the small-muscular-man with crescent shaped eyes in front of her looked into the name embroidered on her uniform. “Im. I’m Youngbae, by the way.”

“Im Yoona. It’s nice to meet you Youngbae-ssi.” Yoona gave them a bow and tried to smile in front of them, but despite smiling, her thoughts were racing. Where Seunghyun possibly hide in?  “I guess… you're his colleagues? Black Eagles members?”

“That will be us,” another man answered her question. He is slim and eccentric. “I’m Kwon Jiyong.”

Yoona nodded. She slightly remembered the other Black Eagles members she met 5 years ago.

“Lee Seungri and Kang Daesung, right?” Before the two of them introduced themselves, Yoona had asked their name while pointing to the right person—Seungri who has dark eye bags, and Daesung who has the warmest smile of them all. They looked shocked, but nodded nonetheless.

“That will be us, Nurse Im.”

“Call me Yoona,” Yoona requested. “Is there anything I can help?”

“Can we talk for a while?” Jiyong asked Yoona. “We want to know about… hyung’s condition.”

Yoona hesitated at first, but after giving it a second thought, it wouldn’t be that bad. Besides, she could dig up about Seunghyun’s past and his accident’s from his Black Eagles members.

“Okay.”

xxx

Yoona.

We were seated in a secluded corner in the cafeteria, with hot drinks on our hands. We didn’t talk much, but the silence we had wasn’t an awkward one.

“Yoona, how can you know us? Has Seunghyun-hyung told you about us?” Youngbae asked me.

As much as I want to say that I knew them through Seunghyun’s story, I couldn’t lie to them. They looked like mess, just like Seunghyun. But they weren’t as messy as Seunghyun.

“We have met several years ago. I accompanied Hyunsuk-ahjussi to the air force event, and met all of you there. Do you perhaps remember it?”

Perhaps, they were calling their memories to a day in 5 years ago, when they met me for the first time. Not too long, Daesung clapped his hand once and let out a long ‘oooh’.

“I remember! You were the nurse who accompanied Hyunsuk-sunbae to the event!”

“Yeah, that’s why I slightly remember your faces.”

They nodded and gave me apologizing smiles. “Sorry for not recognizing you earlier, Yoona-ssi. We’ve met so many people in our life and career; it’s possible to forget 1 or 2 persons.” Jiyong apologized, and I could see that he really meant it. Well, I didn’t really care, actually. I often forget peoples’ name and looks too, because there are too many people come and go in the hospital.

“How’s hyung, Nurse Im?” suddenly, the man named Seungri asked me. “We haven’t visited him since his accident. We don’t know what had happened to him.”

 I inhaled deeply while looking at their eyes. They looked lost to my eyes. “Seunghyun is slowly recovering, but he needs time to find his ‘path’ once more. He was lost in his new small and limited world.”

“Is the recovery goes well?” this time, Youngbae asked me. He looked so concerned.

“I can say he’s improving, but it’s considered slow for a man like him.” Yoona drank his tea before talked again. “He just started therapy like… a month ago. He has a long way to go.”

“Thank God for that,” Daesung said. The other men also smiled at my news. “Is there any possibility for hyung to walk once more, Nurse Yoona?”

“I’m sorry,” I hated to do this, but I couldn’t lie to my patient’s family and relative. “He is trapped in his wheelchair for the rest of his life.”

“Are you sure?"

"Unless a miracle happened on him, he'll depend on his wheelchair for the rest of his life, Daesung-ssi."

Then, they were silent. They looked so sad, and I could understand why they feel so.

“We expect this coming, but it still hurts to see his terrified expression when he saw us." Jiyong said—out of the blue, if I might add. "We used to be so close like blood related brothers, but ever since that accident, everything doesn't work anymore."

The others were silent at his words. It was like... Everyone was absorbing his words—including me.

"We lost a member, and hyung is paralyzed. We are nothing but lost ducks whose trying to find their mothers—we don't know what or where to do." Youngbae continued Jiyong's words. Everyone had their eyes on whoever was speaking, and the one who spoke had more sad expression than everyone else.

I thought they were saying their deepest thoughts.

And I was right.

"Hyung's not a person like this. He is hurting himself by behaving that way because no one is at fault. We all know better than anyone that hyung's skill is too good for his owns good." That was Daesung's words. He had his head hung low and his eyes closed as he spoke.

"Even his family has accepted his death. They aren't blaming him, because it's no ones fault to begin with. Accident happen, it's just a bad circumstances and timing."

"You should say all of that when he's around, you know?"

Everyone—excluding me—shook their head. "How we can say all of that if he ran away from us?"

"Ahhhh...." Point taken. Seunghyun wasn't ready to meet s.

"Maybe, it's our fault too to begin with."

"What do you mean, Seungri-ssi?"

"I mean... Look at us,