Entry 11

"Krystal... why.. why didn't you tell us that Hae Min..." Mrs. Park paused. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yes auntie."

She looked into Krystal's dead and cold eyes. She sighed and decided to drop the subject.

"We're here for you, always remember that my dear."

Krystal nodded.

"I'm sorry auntie, but I need to go." she bowed politely and walked away. Chanyeol and Mrs. Park were left standing on the deserted corridor, both of them were looking hopeless.
"Why do I get the feeling that she doesn't trust us ?" Mrs. Park asked Chanyeol sadly.

After that day, they went home. Chanyeol threw himself on the bed and sighed deeply. He can't remove Mrs. Jung's blank face out of his mind.

"This was a surprising day Dad." he muttered. He stood up and took his notebook from his drawer. 

Dear Krystal:

I wish I know what can I do to remove your sadness from your heart. The thing that Mom and I witnessed earlier brought answers to some of the missing puzzles in your mysterious life, and now I understand you more... even better than before. There are still some question marks left to me, but I don't mind on finding the answers for those right now, because today, all I care is how to make you happier. Please remember that you can trust me, always.

Yeollie.

***

"Oh Mrs. Park, Yeol, you're early!" Nica welcomed them with open arms and led them inside WMI. 
"Yeol was so pushy. He wants to come here sooner." Mrs. Park answered, giving her son a reproving look.
"Are you excited for something Yeol? Maybe you want to see Krystal soon?" Nica joked.

Chanyeol's deep blush answered Nica's joke.

"No. Seriously? You like Krystal? Hahaha!" Nica laughed. "Hmmm....." She scrutinized Chanyeol from head to toe. "Well you two are a great pair." she complimented.

Chanyeol's heart skipped so many beats at that compliment. He blushed even more while Mrs. Park and Nica laughed at him.

"Stop teasing him Nica, he might get a heart attack any time now." Mrs. Park said. Nica nodded in agreement.
"Ok, ok."
"Here, we brought some fruits for the patients." Mrs. Park gave Nica two baskets of fruits. Then the three of them proceeded towards the kitchen.
"We serve breakfast at 8:00 a.m., but since we only have 10 workers here, we divide them into pairs while we helped them with their food. No pointed objects are allowed, even taking photos or videos." Nica looked at Chanyeol's camera that hung on his neck.
"Oh no Ms. Nica! I won't take photos of them, I promise. My camera's just a part of me for a long time so I grew uncomfortable without having it with me."

Nica studied Chanyeol's sincere face for a long time before nodding.

"I trust you with that Chanyeol. No photos, you understand?" she said. He nodded fervently and smiled.
"Thank you!"
"Alright, Mrs. Park, this is Elizabeth, our main cook in WMI."
"Then we'll help her with the breakfast Nica."
"Ok. Then I'll leave the two of you here. Elizabeth, take care of them."

An elderly woman nodded and smiled at Chanyeol and Mrs. Park.

"Let's start?"

Mrs. Park and Elizabeth cooked their breakfasts while Chanyeol prepared their plates and chopsticks. After an hour, they helped Nica and the other workers from dividing the patients.

"You always have to be careful with feeding them. Some of them will go wild when they tasted super hot soup, some will run away when you appeared in front of them suddenly. Be cautious and polite, always smile, make them feel that you won't hurt them and they can trust you." Nica advised while she gave Mrs. Park and Chanyeol their patients's food. "Right. Let's go in then."

They walked inside the dining room and helped the patients with their food one by one. Chanyeol searched the first batch for Mrs. Jung but he didn't found her. After the second batch, Chanyeol finally found her and went straight towards Krystal's mom.

"Hello Aunt Beautiful, I'm Park Chanyeol!" he said happily.

Mrs. Jung looked slowly at him and tilted her head.

"Chan.... yeol?" she asked.

Chanyeol nodded and smiled wider.

"I'm sure you're hungry now. I'll help you with your food, is it okay with you?"
"Chan.... yeol?" Mrs. Jung repeated.
"Yes Aunt Beautiful, do you remember me? I'm Krystal's friend before. Park Chanyeol!"
"Chan.... yeol?" she repeated for the third time.

Chanyeol frowned. Was it normal for Mrs. Jung to repeat someone's name over and over again?

*Babo Chanyeol. This is a mental institution. Of course it's not normal* 

He sat cautiously beside Mrs. Jung and smiled kindly.

"My Mom cooked this beef soup. I'm sure you'll like this Aunt Beautiful." He scooped a spoonful of hot soup and softly blew it. "There you go, it's not hot anymore. Say 'ahhh'..." he opened his mouth and placed the spoon in front of her. Mrs. Jung looked from the spoon to his opened mouth and imitated him.
"Ahhhhh"

He put the spoon on then removed it. Mrs. Jung's mouth was still open and the soup flowed down .

"No Aunt Beautiful, you should close your mouth. Say 'mmm'." he pursed his lips firmly and she imitated him again. "There you go. Let's try again, okay?" he wiped and scooped another soup.
"Let me do that." a cold voice came from behind him.

Chanyeol looked around. Krystal was glaring at him.

"Good morning Krystal!"

She ignored his greeting and nudged him out of the way. She took the spoon to herself and attempted to smile at her mom.

"Good morning Mommy. Do you still remember me? I'm Krystal, you're daughter."

Mrs. Jung looked blankly at Krystal and said nothing. Krystal's eyes were pained at her mother's expressionless face but she still continued on giving her an empty smile.

"I missed you mommy. Did you miss Krystal too?"

Again, Mrs. Jung did not reply. She averted her eyes from Krystal and looked at Chanyeol.

"Chan...yeol."

Krystal looked shocked and turned around to look at him.

"Yes Aunt Beautiful?"
"Ahhhhhh" Mrs. Jung opened . Krystal stared at her mom then she glared at Chanyeol.
"She remembered your name." she said enviously.
"Why, can't she...??" Chanyeol stopped speaking as realization hit him.

Mrs. Jung can't remember her daughter's name.

But she can remember his name.

Krystal pursed her lips. She the spoon on Chanyeol's chest and walked away.

"Did you do anything wrong?" Nica appeared behind him. He shook his head and looked at Krystal's retreating back sadly.
"I don't know what happened. She just got mad at me after Aunt Beautiful said my name."

Nica widened her eyes.

"She did?!"
"Yeah, why Ms. Nica?"
"Because Mrs. Jung never said anyone's name in all her years inside here." she looked at Chanyeol with awe.
"Even Krystal's?"
"Even Krystal. You know, that girl is such a reserved person. We know for one that they were rich. We tried asking her why did they chose this institution but she'll never give us an answer. Soon, we learned not to ask questions and just keep our mouth shut. We can see that Krystal was a burdened kid, with all her sadness and loneliness, so we tried teaching Mrs. Jung on how to pronounce Krystal's name but we were never successful."

*Is this the reason why you're always sad Krystal? Then if so, I'll make Aunt Beautiful remember you again*

He turned around and jumped. Mrs. Jung's mouth was still open.

"Aunt Beautiful, say 'mmmmm.'"

***

The next day, Chanyeol and Mrs. Park went on WMI in an early hour again, much in Chanyeol's insistence. They helped clean the rooms and cook their breakfast then Chanyeol went to the living room and sat beside Mrs. Jung, who was staring blankly at space again.

"Good morning Aunt Beautiful!' he greeted.

Mrs. Jung looked at him.

"Chan...yeol." she said,

Chanyeol nodded happily. "That's right. Now Mrs. Jung, we'll try another name, okay?"

Mrs. Jung continued on staring at him.

"Krys....tal." Chanyeol said loud and clear.
"Chan...yeol."
"No no Aunt Beautiful. Krys...tal."
"Chan...yeol."
"What are you doing?!" Krystal stopped in front of them and raised her eyebrow at him.
"I was teaching her how to say your name." he answered.
"What for?" she snapped.
"So she can remember you." Chanyeol answered earnestly.
"Get out!" 

Chanyeol stood up and let her sit beside Mrs. Jung.

"Chanyeol, help us divide the patients please?" Nica called.
"Yes Ms. Nica!" he gave one last look at Krystal and helped on dividing the workers.

It was feeding time, and Chanyeol intentionally picked a patient just near Krystal and Mrs. Jung. He looked at Krystal's back who was busy feeding her Mom.

"Mommy, here. Open your mouth."

Mrs. Jung stared at Krystal.

"Mommy. Please..." he heard her plead. His heart ached at the sound of her pleading voice.
"Mommy..."
"Say 'ahhh' Krystal." Chanyeol whispered.

Krystal turned around and looked at him.

"That's childish."
"Just try it." He nodded encouragingly. Krystal hesitated before clearing .
"Mommy... say 'ahhh'." she said awkwardly.

Mrs. Jung continued staring at her. Then as if by miracle, she opened .

"Ahhhhh"

Krystal opened too - not to eat her mom's food, but because of surprise.

"Krystal, Aunt Beautiful is waiting." Chanyeol said.

She immediately placed the spoon on her mom's mouth.

"Aunt Beautiful, say 'mmmm'".
"Mmmmmm."

Chanyeol clapped happily. "Yeeyyy! You did it Krystal!"

Krystal looked away awkwardly before saying,

"At least we don't need to wait for hours before Mommy decided to eat her food now."

***

"Look here Aunt Beautiful! This is Krystal in our volleyball class. Look at how cool she blew her bangs. Your daughter's really beautiful!" Chanyeol chatted happily. He was sitting beside Mrs. Jung, holding out a bunch of photos of Krystal he took since middle school. "And this is when he had another boyfriend, his name is Kai. I look more handsome than him, don't you think too?"

Mrs. Jung tilted her head while she looked at the photos. Chanyeol pointed at Krystal's face.

"This, Aunt Beautiful, is the first friend I have. The most beautiful girl I ever laid my eyes on. Your daughter's name is Krystal. Krys...tal."

Mrs. Jung stared at Krystal's face. Then he looked at Chanyeol.

"Chan...yeol."

Chanyeol hung his head. It had been two weeks since he was doing this, but she just kept repeating his name.

Krystal joined them in. She looked unconcernedly at the photos that Chanyeol was holding and looked at her Mom. She was aware of Chanyeol's effort already, and somehow, she was grateful for it.

"Mommy I'm back." she greeted.

Mrs. Jung looked at her daughter. Then she looked at the photo Chanyeol was holding.

"Chan...yeol." she said again.
"Krystal, Chanyeol, can you please help clean the front yard?" Nica asked.

The two of them nodded and followed her outside the living room.

"It has been so long since we pruned the grass, ahh, that's the advantage of having only 10 workers here." she continued while she gave them gloves and buckets. "Just pull the grass manually, I'm sorry we don't have grass cutters for that. Then we can start really cleaning the yard. I'll leave the two of you here, okay?" she smiled and left the two of them alone.

Krystal wore her gloves and started pulling out grasses. Chanyeol watched her work and smiled to himself. He looked at her pointed nose, thin lips, dark eyes, even on her neck that glistened in sweat.

"What are you smiling at? Are you checking me out?" she snapped.
"I'm not." Chanyeol denied.

Krystal rolled her eyes and continued her work. Chanyeol squatted beside her and pulled grasses too.

"You're really amazing Krystal. You did not even complain about pulling out grasses manually. I'm sure that if it were your friends, the first thing they'll say is a 'no'." he complimented.

Krystal blushed slightly and hid her face.

"Why would I volunteer here if I'll just complain? Only idiots do that."
"Yes, you're right." Chanyeol nodded.
"Now shut up and let's get this over with."
"Okay!" 

They worked silently together. The blazing sun burned down their necks, but neither uttered a word of dissatisfaction. Finally, Krystal broke the silence.

"Mommy was here since grade school." she started suddenly. Chanyeol stopped pulling and looked at her. Was she just sharing her story to him?

He waited patiently.

"Daddy doesn't want to put her on a competitive mental institution that has advanced medicine and technology. He doesn't want to hire a personal nurse too because apparently, he doesn't trust people. No, he wanted to dump her on a shabby place like this because he doesn't want anyone finding out that his wife was crazy. Too much publicity he says, people will start talking, his so worried for his career." she rolled her eyes in sarcasm, but it speaked nothing but pain.

"Me and my sister wanted to bring her out of the country for a proper medication, but he won't listen to us. He said something about my Mom being a known shoe designer and that she'll easily get noticed once we took her out. But I'm not blind. I know he has his own selfish reasons. He doesn't love her. Simple as that." she gritted her teeth in anger. 

"He doesn't want me visiting my mother too but this time, he can't stop me with this. Never."

"One day, I'll take her out of here. Then maybe, Mommy can finally say my name."

Dear Krystal:

I know that you don't trust people, but you opened up to me. Then does that mean you trusted me now? I'm really happy. Thank you!

Yeollie.

I remembered those mental patients we visited two years ago. The pastor said that some of them were already abandoned by their families, and to think that they were improving. It was really sad. :-( Just sharing readers, hehe.