The girl’s eyes left the body of the woman that was resting on the hospital bed. A sigh escaped the girl’s lips as her eyes went to the beeping monitor by the bed, she bit her lip as she watched the numbers on it. She had no idea what they meant, and she wasn’t going to find out either.

She heard someone coming into the hospital room and she turned away from the monitor. Her eyes landed on a man in his late forties. The girl recognized the man as her mother’s doctor. The man straightened up in his position and placed his hands behind his back.

“Ms. Kim, I came to talk about your mother’s condition.” The doctor said.

Already from the tone in his voice Taeyeon knew what he had to say about it it wasn’t going to be something good. The girl nodded her head as she waited for the doctor to continue.

“Your mother is in need of a new liver.” The doctor stated. “But, it is very unlikely for her to get one because of her alcohol problems.”

Taeyeon tightened her jaw and glanced at her mother. She bit her lip, her eyebrows furrowed and she glanced back at the doctor.

“How much time does she have if she doesn’t get a new liver?” She asked.

The man looked at the woman in the bed before he turned back to the daughter. He shifted in his position and looked Taeyeon in the eyes.

“A few months. Hopefully.” He said.

Her hand tightened into a fist, she took a deep breath and began to slowly nod her head, she looked back at her mother before she looked at the doctor again.

“What if she stops drinking now? Will she have a bigger chance of getting a liver?”

“No, I’m afraid not. Her liver problems were caused by her drinking, and therefor she won’t be prioritized to get a new one.” The doctor explained.

“Okay.” Taeyeon nodded her head and leaned back in her seat as her eyes fell back on her mother. She sighed and sloped further down into her seat, feeling that this whole ordeal was weighing her down.

“We can keep her here for a while. You just have to fill in some paperwork in the reception when you feel like it.” The doctor said.

“Thank you.” Taeyeon mumbled. She heard the doctor left the room and the girl let out another long sigh as her eyes stared at her mother’s face.

She could let the woman stay here, and so she didn’t have to make time to take care of her at home. But if the woman stayed here she would have to pay for the expenses, and she wasn’t sure if she could do that.

A long sigh escaped Taeyeon’s lips and she felt that her whole body and head was tired. She wanted to go back home and sleep, and after that try to find another job or something else to pay for her mother’s expanses.

She knew she had to do something. Abandon the woman wasn’t an option.

The girl sighed and rose from her seat. She picked up the backpack that was beside the chair and left for the door. She only stopped in her tracks and looked back at the woman on the bed. The woman had only caused her problems and pain, yet she still couldn’t wish for her mother’s death.

Taeyeon shook her head and opened the door. She needed a job, another job.

---

A sigh escaped the girl’s lips as she walked out from the market she just had left a resume to. They had told her they would contact her if they were interested in hiring her. But that wasn’t enough, being interested wasn’t enough, she wanted to get another source of income now, immediately, right this instance.

Taeyeon let out another sigh and began walking down the street. What other options did she have? She could go to the mall, try to get a job at every fast food place she could find, every store she walked past, maybe even talk to one of the janitors there to see if they wanted to hire her.

But there was also one more thing to think about. Managing working while studying. Maybe she could drop out? Was she even in need of finishing school if she was only going to work with low paying jobs? It was an option, maybe not the best, but it was still an option.

“Hey!” Startled by the loud greeting Taeyeon snapped out of her thoughts and looked around her to see who it was. Her eyes fell on a short haired blonde girl that stood beside her. The girl gave her a empathic look.

“Be careful when you’re walking around while being that deep in thought. You can get robbed, or maybe even get into an accident.” Sunny said with a small smile.

“Yeah...” Taeyeon mumbled even though she didn’t want to acknowledge that she had been that deep in thought of not noticing people robbing her.

“How come you’re not in school?” Sunny asked.

Taeyeon felt a small blush appear on her cheeks, and she turned her head away from the girl in front of her. She hadn’t told Sunny about her mother’s condition, and telling Sunny she was also out looking for a job even though she already had one, might not sound good in the university student’s ears.

“I’m just out…” Taeyeon answered.

“Skipping classes?”

“Taking care of something…” Taeyeon mumbled still not facing the other girl.

“Taking care of what?”

Taeyeon knew that Sunny wouldn’t drop this and she turned her head towards the other girl and met Sunny’s gaze. The brunette took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“I was at the hospital…visiting my mom…and I’ve been out…looking for another job so I can pay for her medical bills…” She confessed.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could have helped you from the start!” Sunny exclaimed.

“Yeah, yeah…I know…” Taeyeon said and looked away from the other girl.

“Taeyeon, you can’t keep carrying the whole world on your shoulders, it is okay to ask for help.” Sunny said in a soft tone.

Taeyeon’s gaze fell to the ground, she nodded her head and kicked a pebble and watched as it flew across the street.

“If you don’t want to take help from someone outside of the family…I know that Kangin has gotten a job as a janitor, maybe you can ask him for help?” Sunny suggested.

Taeyeon snapped her head towards the girl, and a sudden urge of wanting to punch Sunny for even coming up with that kind of suggestion emerged, but she held her anger at bay and only looked away from the older girl.

“He is not a trustworthy source of help. He screwed really badly last time he was going to help.” Taeyeon said angrily.

“Yeah, but it was only a suggestion.” Sunny said.

“It was a really bad one.” Taeyeon said and without saying goodbye, she her heels and began walking home. Really angry that Sunny would come with a suggestion like that, and really angry that it seemed that the girl had contact with her brother.

---

Taeyeon arrived at her apartment, still feeling mad about what Sunny has suggested. She yanked her apartment keys out of her jacket pocket and turned to walk towards the apartment door as she had walked up the last stairs.

Her eyes didn’t remain on the door, they instead landed on the blonde girl sitting outside of her apartment. The anger she had felt earlier was washed away upon seeing the girl, and she stopped in her tracks, almost forgetting why she had been so angry earlier.

“Hi.” Jessica said when Taeyeon didn’t say anything.

Taeyeon watched as the girl stood up from her seat on the floor. The girl dusted off her jeans for any dirty before she turned towards the brunette that was still standing still.

“I texted you, but you didn’t seem to have brought your phone with you.” Jessica said.

Taeyeon snapped out of her trance like state when she realized Jessica was talking to her. She shook her head and began to slowly walk towards the girl.

“It was uncharged, so I left it at home.” She mumbled.  

“It’s okay. I only texted you to tell I was waiting for you.” Jessica said with a shrug.

Taeyeon stopped beside the girl. She was feeling bad for having made Jessica wait for her, and she was feeling bad for not have brought her phone with her so the girl could have contacted her. If she had known Jessica was waiting here she would have gotten back sooner.

“Do…you want to come in?” Taeyeon asked.

“I wouldn’t have waited if I didn’t want to.” Jessica answered.

Taeyeon realized how stupid her question was turned away from the blonde girl to hide her blush. She went to unlock the door to the apartment and opened the door to let Jessica in.

“Hey– “ Jessica’s hand was placed on her arm, she got a bit startled by the action and she looked at the blonde girl that also looked a bit surprised by what she had done. Taeyeon looked questioning at Jessica, wondering what her intention was.

“You looked a bit angry when you arrived, did something happen?” Jessica asked.

Taeyeon frowned when she thought back to what had happened.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to, I was just wondering.” Jessica said.

“Something did happen.” Taeyeon said and looked back at the blonde.

Jessica met Taeyeon’s gaze and the two girl’s kept staring at each other for a few seconds. Taeyeon felt that the hand Jessica was keeping on her arm moved, she felt it go up her arm towards her shoulder up towards her neck only to stop to cup her cheek.

“Do…you…want to think about something else for a while?” Jessica asked.

Taeyeon felt her heart beat faster and she felt her cheeks blush bright red. She wanted to look away from Jessica’s gaze, but she felt that if she did she would reject the girl’s offer.

“I-I do.” Taeyeon stammered out an answer.

A small smile appeared on Jessica’s lips and the blonde leaned closer to the brunette.

“I will give you something else to think about then.” Jessica whispered and closed the distance between them by covering Taeyeon’s lips with hers.