As Sun Woo entered the cool, air-conditioned hospital, he let out a little sigh of delight. The cold air present in the hospital was much better than the blistering heat outside. He walked to the elevator and pressed the button for level 8.

  At level 8, the lift ‘dinged’ and the doors open slowly, revealing brightly painted walls with drawings of animals on them. He strolled down the familiar hallway towards the room at the far end. Room 0812. When he reached the door, he removed his earplugs from his ears and knocked on the door before entering.

  “Hyung!” The cheerful boy greeted and waved enthusiastically at his young uncle.

  “Heya kid. How’s it going?” Sun Woo said as he sat down on the chair next to Dong Hak’s bed and placed his backpack on the floor.

  “The needle is painful.” Dong Hak whined and pointed at the IV that was set up next to the bed. Sun Woo smiled at Dong Hak pitifully and patted his head.

  “It’ll help you get better, hmm?”

  “I know…” Dong Hak replied and looked down at his patterned clothes that the hospital had provided him with. Just then, Sun Woo’s stomach grumbled loudly, causing the younger male to look up at him.

  “Hyung, you haven’t eaten?”

  “Not yet. I came right after school ended. It’s alright, I’m not hungry.”

  “My mom says you need to eat your meals at proper timings so that you wouldn’t get sick. So you should go eat.”

  “I’m not hungry Dong Hak-ah. Plus, I have homework to do.”

 “Homework can wait! Go eat! If not I’ll… I’ll…” Dong Hak hesitated as he looked around the room for something to threatened his hyung with.

  “I’ll pull out this needle!” He pointed threateningly at the needle that was stuck in his arm. Sun Woo look startled for a moment before he smiled gratefully at his nephew.

  “Alright. I’ll go eat. I’ll be back as soon as I’m done so don’t go anywhere!” He warned and stood up after taking his wallet from his backpack. As Sun Woo left the room, he shut the door quietly and started to make his way to the cafeteria in the hospital.

  He took the lift to the basement level where the cafeteria was located. Since it was almost 3pm, the cafeteria was relatively empty as most of the nurses and doctors have already had their lunch break. Sun Woo decided to have some Omu Rice, so after he bought the food, he brought the plate to the nearest empty table and started gobbling his food.

  “Pretty hungry, aren’t you?” A female voice said. Sun Woo looked up and saw Dong Hak’s nurse, Eun Mi.

  “Noona…” He greeted with half his mouth full of rice. Eun Mi just laughed and started to eat the lunch she had bought, Beef Noodles.

  “I see you’ve been visiting Dong Hak more frequently now.”

  “Yeah… I missed it when he was always at my house waiting for me to get home so I could play with him before his parents came to get him.” Sun Woo smiled sadly at the fond memory. Dong Hak’s parents were busy most of the time so they told Dong Hak’s bus driver to bring Dong Hak to Sun Woo’s and his parents’ house after school.

  “He’s getting better. He’ll be out soon.” Eun Mi comforted him. “By the way, there’s this new volunteer that’s going to sing for the children this afternoon. I think she’s from your school. Seongsan High School right?”

  “Yeah.” Sun Woo replied, not interested in this new volunteer at all.

  “Her name’s Han Dae.” Eun Mi continued.

  “Hmmm. Never heard of her before.”

  “Ah… She’s pretty quiet.” And that was the end of the conversation. Sun Woo wasn’t at all interested in girls. All he wanted right now was good grades, and his beloved nephew to recover from his illness.

  “My lunch break is ending. I came down late because I had to show Han Dae around. I’ll see you soon, Sun Woo-ah!” Eun Mi waved goodbye at Sun Woo and brisk walked to the lift to return to her shift.

  Sun Woo took his own sweet time to savour his first meal of the day. He even bought a second serving to suppress his stomach. After he felt full, he put back his tray and went up to find his nephew once more. He had brought along a storybook with him today. One of his childhood favourites, Peter Pan.

  “Dong Hak-ah.” Sun Woo called out for his nephew as he opened the room door. However, Dong Hak was nowhere in sight. Assuming that he was probably in the bathroom, Sun Woo opened the door to the private bathroom but is was empty as well. Sun Woo’s eyes widened and he immediately turned around and sprinted to the information desk.

  “Nurse! Nurse! Where’s the patient in room 0812?! He’s not in his room!” He exclaimed, waving his arms around frantically.

  “0812? Cha Dong Hak?”

  “Yes yes. Cha Dong Hak. Where’s he?!”

  “Calm down, sir. There’s a volunteer singer today so we brought all the kids to the playroom to enjoy the performance.”

  “Ah, really?” Sun Woo calmed down. How embarrassing, he thought to himself, I must’ve made a fool out of myself.

  “Yes. The playroom is just down the other hallway on your left, it’s the room with the polka-dotted door.”

  “Thank you.” Sun Woo bowed and walked in the direction that the nurse had pointed out to him. As he neared the end of the hallway, his ears picked up a pleasant sound. A female voice.

  He walked closer. The melodious voice got louder and louder and he could make out the words that she was singing.

Nunmuri chaollaseo gogael deureo
Heureuji motage tto saljjak useo

  It was IU’s Good Day. The polka-dotted door was in sight. He walked faster, eager to see the face of the lady with such an enchanting voice. When he was in front of the door, he hesitantly opened it, so as not to disturb the flow of the lady’s singing.

  His eyes met with Han Dae’s brown orbs as she ended the second chorus. She was sitting on a high wooden stool with a baby blue Cort acoustic guitar propped on her lap. Her slender fingers strummed the 6 strings as she entered the bridge of the song.

  Sun Woo was blown away. Wasn’t this the girl that always kept to herself at school, Han Dae? Or more well-known as Sadako Han Dae.

  What she looked like right now was the total opposite of how she looked in school. Instead of her white school blouse that was two sizes too big and her skirt which flowed to her calves, she had on skinny white capris that ended right below her knees and a pastel purple coloured button down which she tucked in neatly. Her hair that was usually covering her face was tied up in a low ponytail which was put over her shoulder and her fringe was pinned up with a cute ribbon clip, revealing her acne-free forehead.

  But Sun Woo wasn’t amazed at her st