Second Voice

A week ago,

“Hmm, Mr. Kim,” Lu Han greets the doctor bashfully as he darts in his office room. “Do you want to meet me, don’t you?”

“Yes, I want to meet you, Mr. Lu.” The fifty year-old doctor flashes his warm smile at the younger. “Come sit here.”

He slowly walks towards the front seat and faces the doctor with a tinge of peculiarity sinks through his heart. “Why you want to meet me, Mr. Kim?”

“Just call me doc,” replies Mr. Kim. “It seems weird for a young guy like you to call me so formally.”

“Alright then, doc.”

“Today you’ll be discharged, right?”

“Yes, I’ll be going home today,” Lu Han responds with a blissful smile. He can’t hide his excitement when he was informed earlier that he can be discharged today. He’s been staying in the hospital for almost four months and to say it’s suffocating, it’s undeniably true. Who would love to stay longer in the hospital? He misses his house and his dog. Minseok has said that during his absence, he’s the one who looks after his dog. And most importantly, he misses going to school and meets his close friends.

“You seem ecstatic, Mr. Lu,” the doctor says.

Lu Han nods in excitement. “Of course, doc! I miss my house and go to school.”

“Anyway, I want to remind you that even though you’re not in our care anymore, you still have to come here for the monthly therapy.”

“Alright, doc. I understand. I won’t forget to come here every month.”

“Good to hear then.” Mr. Kim grins in satisfaction. “Ah by the way, have you started to remember your lost memory, by any chance?”

He rolls his eyes before emitting an audible sigh. “It’s frustrating to say but I haven’t...”

“I know your complication, Mr. Lu... but you really don’t remember the event which took place before your accident occurred?” He positively knows that he’s kind of forcing his patient to squeeze his mind in order to recall his lost memory. This is just a basic procedure to an amnesiac patient, though.

“I don’t remember anything...”

Though the elder’s pretty disappointed, there’s no use to force him. He surely needs some time to recover. “Never mind then. I hope you’ll take time as much as you need to recall what you’ve lost.”

“Okay then. I’ll try my best,” and after everything has come to an end, Mr. Kim allows him to leave his office room since Lu Han has said that his friend, Minseok has been waiting for him outside.

“I’ll leave now, doc,” says Lu Han before he flees. “I’ll see you later.”

The doctor merely responds with a light nod. A sigh is inaudibly heard a second later.

“Hmm... I wonder if he can actually recall his memory. It’s not an easy job, though. It takes time to recover. And if he’s unlucky, he will not retrieve his lost memory forever...”

Lu Han who’s about to pull the door knob, releases his grip on the spur of the moment. He grimaces as he thinks there is a hushed voice comes through his ears.

Instinctively, he turns around only to glance at the composed doctor. He eyes him fervently in case the voice were to emerge again.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Lu?” He gives the younger a puzzled look. He’s wondering why he has yet to go out. “You look strange, though.”

“By any chance, did you talk to me just now, doc?”

“What are you talking about?” His eyes grow wide. “I didn’t talk to you, Mr. Lu. You must be hallucinating, I guess...”

“I just heard you doubted my memory won’t come back so easily. It takes time to recover... you said that, didn’t you?”

On the contrary, the elder cannot conceal his shocked facial expression. Much to his astonishment, he doesn’t expect his patient to read what was in his mind. This is seriously absurd. He solely thinks that he was just talking to himself, so how come he can read his mind?

“Ah, maybe you’re right, doc. I must be hallucinating just now.” Lu Han easily brushes off the thought with a laugh as he regards it might just be his delusion. However, this is not the first time he has gone through this sort of bizarre situation. He has encountered a lot beforehand, though. Since he’s woken up from his coma, he has begun to hear a lot of voices anywhere and anytime. It would happen when he looks into someone’s eyes. He has no idea what’s gotten into him. He’d love to talk this thing with someone else but he’s afraid they would think he’s turned crazy. So up until now, he simply seals his lips shut.

Nevertheless, after a few days later, he soon discovers that he has unexpectedly gained this incredible ability. However, he has no idea when he started to gain this power and why he is the only one who has it. He’s up to seek for the truth behind his ability.

Whenever he looks into someone’s eyes, he can read his or her mind or to make it sound easy, he can hear their voices.

***

“Minseok-ah,” Lu Han calls his best friend’s name when they are currently enjoying recess at the cafeteria. “I want to talk to you about something.” After much contemplation, he comes up with a decision to tell the truth about his telepathy ability to his friend. Maybe he’d be a little different from the others and Lu Han hopes he would react to it positively.

“Oh, Lu Han-ah… what is it?” The latter merely raises an eyebrow. His friend looks pretty serious at this moment and he thinks he must be up to something.

“If I tell you this, would you believe in me?”

“You’ve got to tell me first and then, I’ll mull over it.”

“To be frank, I’ve been hiding something from you,” says Lu Han, fiddling the edge of his plate of fried rice warily.

“What?” Minseok is caught off guard. “You’ve been hiding something from me? What is it?”

“This may sound ludicrous but to tell you the truth, I can read a person’s mind.”

Much to his shock, he could only let his jaw drop. He almost chokes in his dri