There was an air of reminisce around him as he spoke to his surrounding children and grandchildren. “I’ll tell you all a secret I never told anyone else.” They looked at him and he smiled. “You all seem shocked. Surely you know that your grandfather in his ninety years of life would have had something to talk about.”

            They all leaned in and Jongup cleared his throat. “Forgive an old man’s memories but I was thinking about the love of my life and how I met her.”

            “Is it mom?” one of his sons asked tentatively. His children looked at one another. They had never really heard the story of how their parents met.

            Jongup smiled mysteriously. “We met at a hospital, very much like this. Back then, I was young and always got into fights.” When his progeny tittered, he grinned. “Oh yes, I looked innocent but I had a mean right hook. Nobody would want to mess with me and get away with their faces still pretty. It was after a really bad fight that time. I think someone insulted my brother and so I came up swinging.”

            He shifted in his bed and the bandage on his head. “I had gauze around my head, very much like this. Except that was for a head wound and not a brain tumor.” He cracked a grin. Having fought brain cancer for so long, he’s welcoming death. It was just a matter of spending as much time as he could with his family.

            “I remember sitting in the ward, frustrated as anything. It was back in those days where a fight wouldn’t get the police running. But the hospital was busy and all I wanted to do was get back out there. I didn’t want to be seen by a doctor. I was young, life was about living hard and living fast.”

            The children waited for the story to continue because a misty look had overcome Jongup’s eyes. “But then she was there. She was just a resident, still learning and I was placed under her care. All of a sudden, getting out didn’t seem so important anymore. I remember how gentle her smile was, and how nice she was when she examined me.

            “Most of the nurses saw us as thugs, riff raff who were scum to society and they never gave us proper care. It was enough to stop a bleeding and we were off, but she was genuinely interested.”

            Jongup sighed. “It turned out the pounding headache I was suffering was from a concussion. She told me I had to stay in the hospital for a while, and all the while, she was smiling at me, touching my wound carefully as she redressed the bandage.

            “Jongup, can I call you that? I think it would be best if you stayed clear of fighting for a while.”  That was unusual. Most of the nurses would just treat us and not say anything. I didn’t know how to respond to her. Fighting was a way of life.

            “What brought this on?” she asked as she began to treat the cuts on my face. Her face was too close to mine and I couldn’t answer until she moved away. “Some guy insulted my brother. My brother is a little slow and so he can’t fend for himself. So I had to do it.”

            turned down and rather than just sympathy, I also felt a kindness. She didn’t think I was overreacting, she didn’t think I was trash. “That’s so noble of you.” And I swore, I felt her fingers my cheeks as she pulled away, almost as if telling me that it was okay what I did.

            She ordered me to sleep off the concussion and promised that she would be there when I woke up. I never had anyone make a promise to me like that so I didn’t believe it. But when I opened my eyes who knows how many hours later, she was there.

            She was leaning over me, adjusting the drip in my arm. When she saw my eyes open, she smiled kindly. “You’re awake!”

            It felt nice to know that someone had kept their word. She checked my wounds again and then flashed a light in my eyes. “Much better. You’re able to focus more normally. Now touch your finger to your nose.” It was calming being with her, and the days went by.

            When it was her lunch hour, she spent time with me. “I know it must be lonely without your family. Nobody would visit?” She asked everything so nicely, I didn’t feel like she was probing.

            “We’re in here or jail all the time. It doesn’t matter.”

            She would cluck her tongue and reach out to touch my arm. It was the tiny gestures like that that made me fall for her. Her eye smile was sincere and she cared. That was the point. To a boy who grew up in the shadows, caring was what mattered.

            When I was released from the hospital, I went back with flowers to thank her. She gave me her shift times and we started to meet up. It was a slow love affair and at first, I knew she only saw me platonically. But one thing led to another and I could tell she was falling. We were together for six months.”

            At this point, there was a silence. They knew that this was the point of the story. “She passed away so quickly. She caught tuberculosis and that was it. She couldn’t stay away from her patients and it tore her to leave when she was diagnosed. She didn’t want to see me, and that was that.”

            Jongup heaved a sigh and his children and grandchildren looked astounded by the abrupt finish. “I’m done. Leave me to my recollections.” And that, was the end of that. 

I wanted to go for a sort of more realistic feel in the story telling hence the ending