Yixing is staring at his ceiling once again when his phone dinged, signaling a new message. He furrows his eyebrows, wondering who would message him this late at night, and guessed that it is either some spam messages or his landlord asking him to pay for his rent soon.

His screen lights up as he opens the message, and his eyes rounded as he reads it. At the end of it, he scoffs, because he isn’t sure whether to laugh or to feel pissed.

But then again, come to think of it, why had he acted this way towards Suyeong? Was it because he was curious? Or the fact that they are so much alike that Yixing can’t help but see parts of himself when he sees her?

He doesn’t know why, but when he found out that Suyeong’s mom was in the hospital, he wanted to check up on her right away. Even though she shows that she’s tough on the outside, he knows that hiding behind the tough outlook is someone who is just as lost as her; someone who needs care as much as he does.

He had experienced losing his mother before, and his father was never present since their divorce when he was just a kid. He knows the pain of losing someone close to your heart, and perhaps he just wants Suyeong to know that and do the right thing, instead of following in his footsteps.

He sighs, reading the message again and again until it was daybreak.

-----

I wake up around ten-thirty, but it is only because I am woken up my some clanking sounds coming from downstairs.

I frown, eyes still closed, annoyed with whoever is making these sounds. For a moment I thought it was my mom, but then I remembered that she’s in the hospital, and the next most likely person would be my aunt.

But what the heck? It’s Sunday. And Sunday’s aren’t meant for waking up so early; heck, even she doesn’t wake up this early on a usual day.

I sigh, the noise getting so annoying that I can’t sleep any longer, and decide to wash up.

As I go down, I smell bacon and I head towards the kitchen.

“What are you doing so early in the morning?” I raise an eyebrow. My aunt turns around to look at me before returning her attention to the pan.

“It’s almost eleven; how is it early?” I scoff lightly at her words. Says the one who always wake up after lunch. “Anyway, I found these in the fridge. The eggs went bad already but the bacon seemed okay so I’m reheating it. Do you want any?”

For a moment, I rack my brains. Since when do we have bad eggs and bacon? And I realize it was the plate I put in there yesterday before I head out; the breakfast that I never got to eat.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I actually had a proper meal yesterday.

I shake my head and head over to the dining table, grabbing a butter knife along the way. “No thanks, I’m good.” I spread Nutella over half of my bread, and noticing a new jar of peanut butter, I grab it and spread it on the other half before folding it and stuffing it into my mouth.

“So what time did you come home last night?” I mumble between bites as she turns off the fire, scooping the slightly burnt bacon out.

“Slightly past three, I think.” She sits opposite me.

“Are you going to the hospital later?” I had texted her yesterday evening when the ward and bed number were confirmed. She nods, and swallows a bite of bacon with some coffee.

“Are you?” I pass her a piece of white bread, asking her mutely to wrap the bacon in it so it won’t be too salty.

“Yeah,” I shrug. “Did you tell anybody else?” I admit, I am partly curious, and partly hoping that she didn’t tell her cousins, because to be very honest, I hate them.

“Who else can I tell it to? Your grandpa?” She finishes both bacon strips with bread and downs the coffee. “If you want, we can go together later.” I agree in a second, because she has a van and a van is better than taking an hour’s bus ride.

My aunt’s van is provided by her company; she’s in sales and her job is to go around, take orders, and deliver them. 

It is not a bad thing – like hey, she gets a car and gets paid for it – but she’s been complaining about the job for the longest time ever.

But when your qualifications aren’t enough, there isn’t any place for you to choose.

The way to the hospital passes by the café, and I ask her to stop for a while for me to pick up some stuffs.

“Is the coffee good?” She asks as she parks the car. I shrug, because everyone has different taste buds. I don’t want to say that it’s the best and next thing I know she’d be spitting coffee into the drain next to us.

“It’s decent. But didn’t you have coffee already?”

“You know our family,” she waves me off as she follows me out of the car. “We drink coffee to sleep.”

I don’t reply to that, because it is true. Even my mom, who drank coffee like plain water.

As we inch closer to the café, I start to go through the schedule list in my head, and realize that I was supposed to work today. But Jooyeon has cancelled my shift, and I start to guess who is doing my shift now. Was it Sungmi? Or Hyejin? Jaehoon? Saemi?

But when I open the café doors, I see Jooyeon running the floor with Yixing and my shoulders drop slightly.

“Welc- Suyeong!” Jooy