“…”


“Is he okay?”


Knock, Knock

-“Hyung, we’re here.”

Myungsoo tapped on the glass beside Sunggyu’s head.

Sunggyu peered as the light shines in from the window beside him.
He had fallen asleep during the way ‘home’, but he didn’t know at which point.
The tiny white box was still on his lap; that was a relief.

“Sorry about that…” Sunggyu apologised as he unlocked the door beside him, and stepped out.
He held the small box in one hand and closed the door with another. He strolled leisurely towards the house in front of him.
Myungsoo’s driver friend followed behind him after locking the car doors.


“Sunggyu-sshi? Are you okay? You shocked me earlier... Heh.
 A-Anyway, nice to meet you, I’m Sungyeol. Lee Sungyeol.”

He offered his hand to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu took his hand after a short hesitation.


-“Nice to meet you Sungyeol. Hm... Just call me Sunggyu hyung will do.
Sunggyu-sshi… sounds kind of old and too formal for me.” he giggled to himself.

Sungyeol lowered his head for a moment, and looked up with a cheeky smile.


“Yes, Sunggyu hyung.”

Sunggyu thought he heard Sungyeol snorted, but he pretend he didn’t hear anything.

“Come, let me bring you up to my guest room.  It’s one of the bigger rooms upstairs in my house, closest to the toilet.
I’ve always wanted it to be my bedroom but Mother wouldn’t allow….
She said we shouldn’t be selfish and that we have to save the best for others...
A-Ah right, Sunggyu hyung. Please take your time to walk in alright? I need to use the toilet urgently.
You can look for Myungsoo in the kitchen later!” His voice faded off as he hurried into the house.


That guy can really talk. He must be those kind that easily gets comfortable with someone.
Still, Sunggyu envies how sociable Sungyeol is. Even though they just met for a minute, it felt as if they’ve been friends for a year.
But earlier, Sunggyu also observed the way Sungyeol spoke. It kind of reminded him of, an elementary student; getting excited talking about a bedroom.

Ha.

Sunggyu walked past the small gate and stepped onto the gravels which conveniently led him to the front porch.
Looking up at the 2-storey residence, a sense of relief washed over him. The feeling of being ‘home’ never felt this good.
Strolling by the living room, he stopped just before the wooden stairs. The living room feels so cosy even though there wasn’t much furniture;
just 2 sofas, a coffee table and a flat screen television. After admiring the photo frames on the wall, beside the stairs he continued to advance upstairs. At the very last step of the L-shaped stairs, lies a shaker vision door, slightly opened.

He wasn’t sure if this was the room Sungyeol mentioned, but he could see the toilet on his right.
And since this room was the closest to the toilet, this must be it.


Sunggyu sneaked towards the door.
Alright let’s do this.

He set his hand on the door, slowly pushing it open.

The first thing that came into view, was 3 stalks of yellow roses in a transparent tall vase, in the middle of a white study table.
The colours so eye-catching, no one could missed that.
Roses.
Only one person knows that these are his favourite type of flowers.
Sunggyu can’t help but imagine Myungsoo calmly putting the plants in and shifting around the tall vase around to different spots.
A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips.


He glanced at the dino desk clock – ‘4.20pm, 6^th June 2014.’
An hour has passed since he left the Hospital…


 Sunggyu steadied the small box beside the tall vase, before bending forward to inhale the fresh flowers.
The sweet-fragrance from the roses was refreshing. Its aroma wasn’t too over-powering, it was soothing.
Sunggyu grabbed the chair beside him and sat down facing the tiny white box.
It’s time to read the messages written by those people who visited him during his coma.
He smacked his lips as he pulled the box nearer to his chest. Randomly, he picked a card out.

The first few cards he picked, were given to him by his college classmates. He felt blessed while reading the cards.
But that feeling got away as quickly as it came, after he saw the date written on the cards. 

                                                '20^th March 2008.'
                                                                      '4^th April 2008.'
                                                     '9^th June 2008.'
                                                                '29^th August 2008.'
                                         '17^th November 2008.'


The cards given by his classmates mostly dated back 6 years ago.
Sunggyu’s accident happened on 18^th March 2008.
What happened after that year? Did they got tired of visiting him?


He set aside the cards and sighed.




Sunggyu didn’t felt like reading anymore.
As he was about to cover the lid, he felt a voice in his ear.

“Doubt can only be removed by actions.”


Sunggyu stopped.

He repeated the sentence again in his head. It was rather intuitive…
Somehow it managed to influence him to reconsider his actions. He pull back his hand from the box cover.
At this point of time, Sunggyu has already familiarized himself with that voice.
Ah… it’s that Jong guy again...


After hearing Jong’s words, he felt like he had to try his luck one last time.
He swear to himself that if the next card is still from one of his classmates dated 6 years ago, he would stop reading the remaining letters.
His fingers quivered a little as he picks up a fanciful envelope. This one looks different. 
Sunggyu murmured a silent prayer in his mind, hoping it would be from someone else that visited him recently.

Tearing open the envelope, the first word that emerges was the date.
His eyes widened.
                                           


                                              11^th March, 2014.



That was just a week ago. Who could this person be?

Sunggyu quickly scanned through the card to the end of the page.
There wasn’t any name on it.

He tousled his hairs in frustration.
How can someone not write their name!
Leaning back onto the chair, he released his grip from the card and it silently landed on the desk.
His head falls back as he exhaled.

Why was he so disappointed by the card?
It seems like he was expecting it to be someone. But who?
Just as he was staring blankly into the ceiling, the loud creak of someone entering the door made him gasped.
Sunggyu quickly rounded up the cards scattered around the desk and tossed them back into the white box.


“Hyung, there you are.”

 It was Myungsoo.

-“U-Uh. Am I in the wrong room?” Sunggyu grinned sheepishly as he raised from the chair.

“No hyung, you’re in the right roo-. Oh? Someone got you roses?” Myungsoo tilt his head as he look at the fresh plants.


What? It wasn’t Myungsoo?
Sunggyu looked back and forth at the flowers and his brother.

-“Ah... About that, I’m not sure if it’s for me. It might belong to Sungyeol’s mother.”

Myungsoo snorted, “I don’t think Sungyeol’s mum is a fan of flowers. She is allergic to them.
Oh yes, speaking of his mother, she has prepared us some food downstairs in the dining room. Let’s go eat together.”

As Sunggyu exited his room, his mind was still replaying the reaction of Myungsoo’s face when he saw the flowers.
Other than Myungsoo and his parents, who else would know about those flowers?
Sunggyu tried to ignore those confusing thoughts, but somehow he just couldn’t stop thinking about it. 
It felt unsettling...

 
-

-

-

-

-

-

“Sunggyu hyung! So you’ve found your room? Do you like it? Heh, it’s really big isn’t it?”
Sungyeol extended his arms to the side as he spoke excitedly.

 “Yes.” Sunggyu nodded with a smile.

-“So you’re Sunggyu? Do feel comfortable in my house and treat it as your own.” 
A woman in her 50s approached him. Sunggyu bowed and greeted Sungyeol’s mother.

-“Kids, go have a seat first. Let me go get the last dish.”
She patted Sunggyu’s shoulder as she walked passed him towards the kitchen.

There was 5 chairs around the rectangular wooden table. Myungsoo and Sungyeol choose the seats opposite one another.
Sunggyu slowly circled to the other side of the table and pulled out the plastic chair beside Myungsoo.

.

.

.

“Jjang~ here it is. Your favourite food, deep-fried pork cutlet.” Sungyeol’s mother set the plate down on the table.
“Please eat up, everyone. Especially you, Sunggyu.” 

“Thank you, Mother.” Sunggyu bowed his head again as he picked up the metal chopsticks laid out in front of him.



“We’ll eat well!” Myungsoo and Sungyeol said at the same time they picked up their chopsticks.



“Hey, don’t copy me! Tsk.”

Sungyeol frowned at Myungsoo.

-“I wasn’t. You were copying me.” Myungsoo spoke with a tinge of sarcasm.  

“N-No, I didn’t. You copied me!”

-“Yes, you did.”

“I did not, you jer-!”


Bang!


Sungyeol’s mother hit the table and pointed her finger at them.
 “You two better stop right now! Or else I’ll give all the pork cutlets to Sunggyu.
Don’t behave like that in front of someone that just got discharged, understand?”


Sunggyu chuckled as he brought the chopsticks to his lips. Words couldn’t express how glad he was at the moment.
If only his parents were here too…


After their meal, Sungyeol’s mother called Sunggyu over to help her with washing the dishes while the other two headed upstairs into their room.



“I’m sure you’ve heard from L that I was once a teacher, right?”

- “Uh… L?”  An image of death note’s L came into his mind.

“That’s Myungsoo nickname, haven’t you heard of it? Haha. I’m sorry about that.
Anyway, I’m now a principal at my own private elementary school and tomorrow the kids are going over there to help me clean up the classrooms. If you feel better in the morning, you can tag along too. It’s just a few blocks away. It’s good to at least start somewhere, you know…”

- “Ah… Yes, Mother. Thank you for worrying about me. I’ll make sure to follow them down tomorrow.”
Sunggyu nodded a few times to himself as he imagine the scenario of the classroom in his head.





It’d be a great day...




.. right?