Chapter Six
The Last Dandelion Seed
Soojung was out in the hospital garden, picking flowers again, while Taehyung dragged himself behind her. She continuously hummed a tune that Taehyung heard every single day.
"What exactly are you humming? Did you make up the song?" he asked as she giggled.
"Nope~ it's Pororo's theme song!" she smiled brightly. "Don't you know?"
"Remember that I'm a God of Death, not a child," he grumbled and walked away with a sigh. "Pororo? What the heck is that?"
"Aigoo~ how do you not know what Pororo is?" Jae asked, stalking Taehyung from behind. Taehyung ignored his presence and continued to walk around the hospital. "Pororo is a cute penguin with these goggles and a hat...or was it a helmet?"
Taehyung decided to walk through walls instead to get away from Jae much faster. He ended up going into Soojung's room and waited for her to come back as he rested.
Soojung handed out the flowers she picked to the nurses she worked with and to the other kids.
"Soojung-ah, next week is the annual play day, the theme will be Pororo," a nurse smiled. "Would you like to join?"
Soojung brightened up and nodded.
"Of course~!" she exclaimed. "But can ahjussi join us?"
By now, the nurses knew of this "ahjussi" and so the nurse nodded. "Bring anyone you'd like, it'll be a family event."
Soojung jumped around in excitement and ran to her room shouting, "Ahjussi~!"
She slammed the door open, startling Taehyung as he had just woken up from his 15 minute slumber. He rubbed his eyes as she jumped on his lap.
"Ahjussi, Nurse Cha told me that I can be a part of their play~" Soojung said with a goofy grin. "Guess what the theme is~?"
Taehyung picked her off his lap and set her on the bed.
"I can care less about the theme," he yawned while stretching his arms up high. She crossed her arms and pouted.
"Ahjussi is really mean," she mumbled. She then turned to Jae. "Jae~ guess what the theme is?"
Of course, he stayed quiet and looked at her. She smiled and exclaimed, "It's Pororo~!!! Aren't you excited?!"
She grabbed Jae and began dancing with him, overjoyed. Taehyung watched the two and softly chuckled.
"Pororo really makes you this happy, huh?" he asked as Soojung hugged Jae and nodded.
"Pororo makes me really happy," she giggled. Taehyung watched her as she continued to smile to herself, which warmed his heart a bit. 3 more weeks...3 more weeks til the last dandelion seed falls.
A week had gone by already and the children were getting ready to perform their skit that they've been working hard for. Soojung, sadly, didn't get to Pororo, but she was satisfied with Loppy. Taehyung stood at the back in corner, watching the children perform the first half of the skit. Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of the kids were laughing and enjoying the show, even Jae was enjoying it.
"Loppy," Pororo said, getting Taehyung's attention as he looked at Soojung. "What does you family mean to you?"
"Family?" Loppy Soojung said with a high-pitched voice. I swear she's probably the worst child actress on stage.
"Family is my everything~! They're there when I'm sad, when I'm happy, and lonely, especially ahjussi," Soojung continued to say. Taehyung scoffed with a smile to see their director mouthing, "That's not on the script Soojung."
"Family is a special presence," Soojung smiled with a jump and the skit continued as Taehyung could only lay his eyes on Soojung, who constantly kept looking at him to see if he'd watch the skit to the end. Taehyung has actually seen the skit multiple of times because Soojung would drag him to practice with her.
A few minutes towards the end of the skit, Taehyung left and headed straight to Soojung's room. She noticed him walking away and felt a slight of disappointment, but she carried on with the play to the end. After it had finished, she quickly changed and ran off to find Taehyung without even finding her parents first.
She went straight to her room and swung the door open to see a Pororo banner and flowers. She widened her eyes and came out Taehyung with a Pororo cake and a Pororo bag.
"Congratulations Soojung, on your successful play," he smiled. Her smile widened and she hugged Taehyung, who was taken aback, but he didn't pull away. "You came straight to find me, didn't you?"
She nodded.
"What about your parents? I thought family was your everything and yet you come to me first?" Taehyung asked as she released the hug and looked up at him giggling. "Pabo."
Taehyung set the cake on the table as well as the Pororo bag just as her parents walked in. They too were surprised at how the room was decorated.
"Soojung-ah, did you do this?" her father asked as she shook her head. "Who did?"
"Someone special," she smiled and looked at Taehyung, who softly smiled. Her parents praised her for her acting and the night went on as they celebrated with her. Taehyung walked away with Jae following behind and they headed up to the rooftop.
"What's this different feeling I'm getting from you?" Jae asked, looking up at Taehyung.
"I, too, don't know," he softly said and looked at his wrist as the dandelion began to grow .
Night had fallen and everyone had fallen asleep. Taehyung went back to Soojung's room and saw her fast asleep in the bed with the stuffed Pororo he bought as a gift. He brushed her hair back and smiled, unable to take his eyes off the burden on his wrist. His chest tighten as another seed vanished from the bud.
Once the last dandelion seed falls, your life will end. I'm not an Angel, so I can't save you...I can't be your Angel. A God of Death can never be an Angel.
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