[recap from previous chapter]

 

he walked into the house, finally seeing his mother in his old room he used to share with his brother. the woman was putting in the bedsheets on his bed, as if all was normal, and yongguk was going to come home tonight and curl up there. somehow the scene brought tears to his eyes.

 

giving the sheets a last pat, mrs bang sat down heavily on her second son's bed, the lines on her face seemingly more defined since a month ago. she picked up a family portrait sitting on the shelf beside, fingers gently caressing the frame.

 

"yongguk… yongguk ah.. umma misses you," her voice was soft, and gentle, "if you come back, umma won't force you to give up music anymore, arasseo?…"

 

"ne, umma…" tears rolled down his cheeks as he knelt beside the woman. he tried to hug her, but as always, he was reminded of his cruel fate, as pale fingers clutched at air.

 

mrs bang dabbed at her eyes, and continued, "yongguk ah, it doesn't matter how long you sleep, umma will wait for you. i know you will wake up, won't you? you will come back, and i will make all the dishes that you like…"

 

yongguk pulled away, confusedly at his mother. he was dead, wasn't he? how could he ever wake up and go back?

 

he finally understood what happened after his mother's next line.

 

******

 

mrs bang glanced at the clock, and muttered, "umma is going to see you at the hospital now."

 

10 minutes later, no one sees the ghost sitting beside the middle aged woman, on the taxi heading to the hospital.

 

********

 

junhong was distracted throughout out his cafe shift. he couldn't focus on serving or cashiering when all he could think of was yongguk, and that he needed to let yongguk know about this as soon as possible.

 

after the fifth time he gave the wrong order or change to increasingly angry people, hana noona pulled him aside with a concerned frown.

 

"junhong-ah, is there something bothering you?"

 

junhong shook his head.

 

"no noona,….its just…i can't stop thinking about something."

 

hana was silent for a moment, then a mischievous smile rose upon her face.

 

"ooooh, is it something, or someone, junhong-ah? ah our junhonggie is growing up so fast…"

 

junhong's face started to burn as the image of yongguk slowly appeared in his mind.

 

"aigoo, look at junhonggie's blush! who is that pretty girl?"

 

junhong shook his head vehemently at this.

 

"noona stop teasing me about this…."

 

"araseo..but junhong-ah, i think you should take a day off, you are really out of sorts today. you will get it bad from the manager if he hears of this."

 

junhong opened his mouth to protest, but the desire to know about what happened overcame him.

 

somehow, knowing that yongguk wasn't dead had him mixed up in feelings of happiness, confusion, hope and fear. he wasn't sure what all these meant, but right now, he knew the only thing he wanted to do was to confirm what the news he just saw.

 

"thanks noona, please let the manager know i am leaving!" junhong said hurriedly as he pulled off his working apron and rushed to pick up his bag from the storeroom. hana smiled and then sighed as she watched the teen run out at the store at top speed, long limbs flailing.

 

"ahh, teen love."

 

*********

 

it was strange seeing himself lying on the bed, tubes connected, and very lifeless.

 

yongguk watched as his mother pulled out a chair and sat down next to the bed. under the fluorescent lights of the hospital, the lines and grey hairs of his mother became more apparent.

 

there were already flowers in the vase, blooming carnations and lilies. "himchan and the gang must have been here in the morning already…," mrs bang muttered as she arranged the flowers.

 

as his mother went around the small room arranging his things, yongguk took a chance to look at himself closer. his face had seemingly slimmed down a lot, and was basically skin and bones. his mind whirled with the idea that he wasn't dead.

 

tentatively, he raised a finger and tried to touch his own cheek. although it was a long shot, he wanted to see if that will get him back into his physical self. but he could only watch as his fingers passed through and were left clutching at air.

 

yongguk couldn't understand why this was happening: he was here (or his soul was), his body was here, and all that was left was to connect the two together. if he could just go back in, and wake up and let his mother know he was still alive…

 

he was in the midst of trying desperately to blend himself back into his body when the ringing of the phone broke the silence.

 

"aigoo, who is this?" mrs bang said as she put down her knitting and rummaged for her phone in her bag.

 

"ah yes, officer? …. you have that gang member in custody? ….. of course, i am very happy that the culprit is caught, you have all worked hard. but, but that wouldn't bring guk back.."

 

mrs bang tried to maintain her composure as she talked on the phone. she had worried so much for her son, back when he was joined the gang. she had always loved him even when yongguk's relationship with the family turned bad. and she was very relieved when he finally left the life of a gang member. that was also why she was totally shocked when yongguk suddenly landed up in such a bad state, he had left the gang for so long. the doctors had said he was physically fine, but that he just wasn't waking up, and they couldn't tell her when he was, if ever, going to wake up.

 

after ending the call, mrs bang sat there for awhile, trying to control her emotions as she looked at her motionless son. a while passed before she stood and left the room.

 

yongguk let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. he wanted now, more so than ever, to return to his body and return to his family again.

 

after a long time with no success, he was tearing his hair out when he heard the door open again, and with surprise he saw that junhong was there.

 

he watched as junhong's eyes first went straight to the man (to him) lying on the bed, not noticing the ghost yet.

 

"ya junhong-ah how did you …" at yongguk's voice junhong finally noticed the ghost standing next to the bed, and his wide eyes grew even rounder. yongguk would have found it cute if not for the situation they were in.

 

"hyung..why are you..." junhong's voice cracked, and that was when yongguk realised the younger's eyes were turning red and tears were threatening to spill over, and that something was not right.

 

"what's wrong?"

 

at this, junhong's tears flowed down freely. "hyung… don't. don't go back."

 

********

 

as always, thank you new subbies and commentors :) this story is getting longer and longer [and i wanna bring it to an end soon ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]