“Coming from what was stated on the reports, I think you and I both know that what you did was very reckless of you, and you should be lucky you’re still alive.” The doctor sighs, copying down some stray thoughts on his clipboard. “You’ll have to stay here for about a week or two, just so we can do a few more examinations. There may possibly be a few more broken bones laying around in your body, so all necessary precautions will still have to be followed.”

            Luhan acknowledges the doctor’s talk of the following procedures they’ll be doing for the week. He nods his head along—a small smile creeping up on his face—and lets the man standing in front of him know that he understood everything, when in reality, Luhan couldn’t comprehend a single word. A doctor’s vocabulary would always be just too vast for any person to get.

            Right after the doctor leaves, Luhan feels as though he can finally rest in peace. He slouches back down in bed and adjusts into a comfortable position, though it doesn’t help that the bed sheets are thin and that the air-con right above seems as if it could be blowing cold winds at one-hundred miles per hour. He ends up making do with the situation, shifting his body into some sort of fetal position and struggles through with about thirty to forty minutes of sleep.

            It’s the sound of a young woman’s voice that wakes him from his short-lived slumber.

            “Hey there!” She waves, “I’m guessing you’ll be my new temporary neighbor for two weeks. In fact, I’m actually surprised that you’re not the usual old grandpa or grandma.” Then a pause for a moment or two, and her eyes are squint directly towards his face. “Now that I mention it, you’re not too hard looking on the face—maybe even borderline handsome if I do say so myself!”

            He replies with a word of thanks, though it sounds more questionable than actually thankful. Then before he knows it, the woman who was previously laying down on a bed several feet away from him magically appears standing right before his eyes. Now she’s offering him her hand with a bright smile plastered over her face. Luhan unwillingly accepts it.

            “Nice to meet you, fellow neighbor! My name is Jieun—Lee Jieun—and I’m guessing you must be Mr. Lu?”

            “Uhm, Luhan is fine…” he ends with an awkward silence, yet the girl picks it back up on a remarkably high note. He can already tell that she’s a bit on the cheery side. Well, a bit more than cheery, but that point can be proven just by looking at her once.

            “Well Luhan, I heard about you from the nurses, and they told me about how you were quite the looker. However, I didn’t expect your face to be this beautiful!”

            “That-That’s very nice of you to say—“

            “What landed you in this hospital?”

            “Huh?”

            “Let me rephrase that: what stupid thing did a young man like you do to get all these broken bones in your body?”

            Luhan takes her question into large consideration and tries to retrace his memories. He can’t seem to find a good answer, but he does have a faint memory nagging in the back of his head of trying to save a—

“A cat,” he answers.

            The sound of a girl’s merrily laughter fill the air.

“A cat? What did this said cat do? Scratch ya ‘till your limbs came flying off?”

            Then it’s Luhan’s turn to laugh as he corrects the girl: “No, of course not! Well, not quite. It just recklessly ran across the street, and then I saw a car coming so I also got reckless in deciding to save it like some sort of superhero.” He points to a bright red mark on the left side of his face. “Do you see this here? This was the present that cat gave me for being its savior. Lovely, isn’t it?”

            The woman’s smile becomes even wider than ever at his response, leaving the man awe-struck. “What, is my tragic story that hilarious?”

            Another chuckle. “No, that’s not it. I’m just… glad I guess. You seemed really shy and uncomfortable at first, but the way you’re talking right now speaks a different story. And—uhm—sorry if I’m a bit too—loud. I guess I get really excited when I meet new people, and sometimes, it throws them off quite a bit. I mean no harm though!”

            When Luhan is about to speak up, to answer that it’s alright, that he doesn’t mind her one bit, and that she can be even louder than ever because he actually quite likes it, two nurses enter the room with matching expressions of shock implanted onto their faces. They run over to Jieun’s side with one even flicking her forehead. Luhan is taken aback at the lack of informalities from the nurses, but the goofy smile on Jieun’s expression assures him that perhaps they’re all accustomed to each other.

            “Lee Jieun, what are you doing out of bed? You know better than to do that! Go back to your room,” one of the nurses starts in a scolding fit.

            Jieun holds her hands up in defense, waving it back and forth. “I thought today would be an exception! I just wanted to introduce myself to the new guy, and I mean look at him! You said yourself that he was a looker, so why can’t I look at him up close?”

            The nurse holds her hands up in defense, looking up at Luhan with a beet-red blush smothered all over her face. “I assure you Mr. Lu, I did not go around the hospital spreading rumors about your,” she coughs, “features.”

            Jieun fakes an even louder cough, “Uhm, yeah she did.”

            “Lee Jieun!”

            “That’s enough Nurse Yoon.” The other nurse cuts her off. Luhan assumes she’s probably the one in charge, guessing by the way she produces such authority in her voice. She continues, “Now Jieun, I’ll let it slide this time, but if I catch you fooling around again, you’re going to have to deal with me. You know that this month is one that’s most crucial for you. Now, go head back to your room; it’s time for your check-ups.” She turns to Luhan. “As for you Mr. Lu, I’m your Charge Nurse Kang. Please come to me if you have any question. Have a nice night! And Jieun, leave.”

            She solemnly nods, but before heading out the door, remembers to give an ecstatic wave of goodbye to Luhan, along with the words, “I’ll see you later!”

 He smiles back at her, but before he can give his own words of goodbye, she’s already gone. Being alone in the room, Luhan finally takes the time to slouch back down, crawl into a fetal position, and maybe even get some shut eye. He tries his best, even squinting his eyes tightly closed, but the feeling of wanting to sleep just doesn’t come.

            So in attempts to make best of the current situation, Luhan throws out all thoughts of getting any shut-eye at all and tears out a page of his drawing pad. He spends the rest of his hours sketching, up until the moment the sun sneaks up and over the mountain tops, and underneath it, a beautiful array of wondrous hues and colors and warmth in the sky that could make him just drop his pencil, stop, and watch.

I have another chapter ready that is gonna get posted in three days tops.