Chapter 18

Breakeven

Hyuna had walked lifelessly to the door of her hospital room her grandma was staying at and replayed what had just happened.  There was too much information at the moment that Hyuna could not digest it all.

Firstly, Junhyung was saying he liked her. 

Secondly, Gayoon was here in this hospital.

And lastly the fact that Junhyung chased after Gayoon, without saying a single word to Hyuna.

Honestly, she didn’t know what to think; instead she let those thoughts go for a while and quietly entered the hospital room where her grandma was resting in.  There was someone else she had to face for the time being.  Her mother. 

She was wearing her smart white business blazer and a fitted black pencil shirt, sitting cross-legged beside the bed.  The moment Hyuna entered, her mother turned to acknowledge her presence and with a knowing look in her eyes that said ‘I’ll be talking to you later.’

Seeing how all the tubes connected to her grandma who was still in deep slumber and how fragile her body look, it was heartbreaking for Hyuna.  How much pain did her grandma have to suffer?  How long was it before she had fallen down the stairs and the ambulance was called?  She remembered her grandma busy collecting all her laundry in the morning.  Did she slip down the stairs while doing her chores? 

All these thoughts swarmed her mind with guilt.  This was her fault.  If she weren’t staying with her grandma, she wouldn’t have to be doing so much work.  It was all because her grandma had to take care of her as well, that lead up to all of this.

“She will be fine,” her mother said suddenly, as if knowing how guilty Hyuna was feeling.  But her next words weren’t so kind, “Let’s talk outside.  Hyuna, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

Once they were outside, her mother immediately turned to Hyuna and asked, “Why are you not in school?”

“I wanted to see if grandma was alright,” she answered quietly, knowing her words won’t affect the outcome of her mother’s thoughts.  Her mother was a lawyer, and it always seemed that being cold and harsh was her speciality.  Hyuna knew there was no winning in an argument with her. 

“You could have waited until after school.  Skipping school is not going to help your grandma in any way,” her mother said not understanding her actions.  “I have everything under control.”

“How is she?”  Hyuna asked, trying hard not to take notice of the sting her mother’s words have on her. 

“The surgery went fine.  She will just need to rest in the hospital for a week or so while the wounds heal and they do some check ups on her head to make sure there’s no side-effects.”

Hyuna sighed a breath of relief.  She wouldn’t know what to do if something happened to her grandma.

But it was at this moment, her mother threw in a surprise she could never imagine.

“You are going to live at your father’s house for the time being.” 

At first Hyuna thought her mother was joking. 

After all, her mother never talked about her father before but all of a sudden she decides to dump her with him?  Her mother said it like it was the most natural thing to say.   She had always assumed her father was dead because in their house no one ever spoke about him.  It was one of the few reasons she still believed her mother had a heart; one that was aching for her husband who was gone.  Well that was one fantasy gone.

Hyuna didn’t know what her father looked like, what kind of person he was and if he wanted to see her at all.  She didn’t even know why her parents were separated in the first place.  Her mother never liked to indulge in such details.

Hyuna really wanted to ask, why couldn’t she just stay with her mother but Hyuna knew that her mother would probably give another cold hearted answer like ‘I’m too busy for you.’ 

To say the least, her relationship with her mother had always been strained.  Even though, they had always lived together until the end of last year when Hyuna moved in with her grandma, her mother was almost like a stranger to her.  She was constantly working and never had time or the energy to dedicate to her own daughter. 

 “I thought my dad was gone.  Why now all of a sudden?”