~

Doctor: “Are you still not having any dreams?”

Jieun: “...”

Doctor: “Are you having any discomforts?”

“These days...” Jieun replied softly, keeping her eyes on the white-tiled floor, “my body’s acting a little strange. As if it doesn’t belong to me... Something like that.”

Jieun could hear her doctor flipping through crisp pages, but she wasn’t saying anything.

“Doctor?” Jieun whispered, still not looking to her. “Don’t you think the weather’s somewhat strange today?”

Doctor: “What do you mean when you say that the weather is strange?”

Jieun: “Well... On days like this... I feel like someone will surely come to see me.”

Jieun heard that her doctor had stopped her scribbling. Jieun raised her head only to see her doctor looking at her intently.

“Who do you think that is?” her doctor asked, not breaking her gaze from Jieun.

Jieun didn’t give a reply and looked away once again.

She didn’t know it, but she was looking right at him.

She was looking right at he who loved her;
he who abandoned her;
he whom she loved infinitely to the point of losing her mind.

She was looking at him. But she could see nothing.

And he could only look back at her without saying a word.

“Are you waiting for him?” the doctor asked Jieun.

Jieun: “...”

Doctor: “He left you.”

Jieun quietly replied, “I know.”

 “Jieun-ah,” he said aloud to the lot who could not hear him either way. “Why can’t I rest knowing you’re still here?”

Jieun: “I think he’s trying to tell me something...”

Doctor: “Who?”

“But I can’t hear anything,” Jieun’s voice cracked.

Doctor: “Who’s trying to talk to you?”

Jieun: “He is.”

Doctor: “But he left you.”

And again, Jieun replied, “I know.”

Unknowing of the third party in the room, the doctor continued, “Tell me how that happened.”

Jieun looked at her. “I’ve told you already.”

Doctor: “Tell it to me again.”

Jieun: “But why?”

Doctor: “I like hearing stories.”

Jieun: “Should I tell you a story then?”

Doctor: “Only if it’s the story I’m asking you to tell me.”

Jieun: “But I don’t want to say it.”

Doctor: “Should I say it then?”

Jieun nodded.

Doctor: “So I’ll say your story and just tell me if I get anything wrong, okay?”

Jieun nodded again.

Doctor: “You were at the park...”

Jieun: “It wasn’t a park.”

Doctor: “Where was it then?”

Jieun: “...I don’t know. I don’t remember. I just know I liked being there. But it wasn’t at a park. I don’t like parks. And we were alone.”

Doctor: “Go on...”

Jieun: “I don’t want to say it.”

Doctor: “You were saying it just now.”

Jieun: “I wasn’t. You were.”

Doctor: “Should I continue then?”

Jieun nodded.

Doctor: “You loved him and—”

Jieun: “I do love him.”

Doctor: “You told me you hated him last time.”

Jieun: “I do hate him.”

Doctor: “Can you explain?”

Jieun: “I can’t just NOT love him. So I chose to hate him too. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love him. I love him. I love him. Don’t get that wrong. I love him. Okay?”

The doctor nodded, taking notes down, and saying, “I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Jieun didn’t even look at her as her doctor exited the room. Jieun instead looked to her left, out the window and recalled what happened that day.

“What are we doing here?” Jieun hopped out of the car and skipped to him, taking his hand.

He only smiled tentatively in reply.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Jieun pulled him towards the shore. Smiling, she whipped to him, but his expression was not one she was expecting.

“What’s wrong?” Jieun asked him.

He removed his grip from hers and gently brushed her hair from her face. Holding her face between his hands, he leaned in and planted his lips on hers. Their breath, mixed with the salty sea air, intertwined as their lips danced a slow, passionate waltz.

Jieun was the first to pull away. She tried to catch his eyes, but he instantly diverted his gaze from hers. “What’s wrong? That was...that was different. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He enveloped her small frame and planted a soft kiss on the crown of her head.

“Everything,” he whispered. “Your mom...is coming to pick you up.”

“What?” Jieun pulled away from his embrace to look at him. “Why? I—”

“You love the ocean right?”

Jieun nodded slowly, trying to figure out why he was acting so strangely.

He smiled briefly. He turned around and began to walk away.

“Are we leaving already?” Jieun called out, catching up to him.

He stopped walking, with her right behind him. “Stay here,” he said.

Jieun didn’t think she heard correctly. “What?” she asked.

“Your mother is coming to pick you up.”

“Why? I don’t want to go home. You promised tha—”

“I lied,” he said finally before leaving her behind.

She could have easily caught up to him since he didn’t rush his pace, but she was planted to the spot. She just watched his back as he walked further and further from her.

Long after he was gone, she fell to her knees and began laughing, oblivious to the tears that had long began to fall from her eyes.

The following day, the doctor was there again. During the same time. On the same chair. With the same pen and notebook. Wearing the same expression. And asking the same questions.

It was just like before, Jieun wasn’t giving her doctor answers that would help her. Then Jieun was surprised to hear a question she’s never heard before...

Doctor: “Your brother recently died, is that correct?”

Jieun, surprised at change of routine questions asked, “What?”

Doctor: “Your brother. He’d dead, is that correct?”

“He’s not my brother,” Jieun replied, shaking her head, and looking at the doctor skeptically.

Doctor: “Who is he then?”

Jieun continued to stare at her doctor. “He’s not dead,” she said.

Doctor: “Who’s not dead?”

Jieun: “He’s not my brother.”

Doctor: “Who’s not your brother?”

Jieun: “He’s coming to visit.”

Doctor: “Jieun-ah, who’s coming to visit you?”

Jieun: “He’s coming. I can feel it.”

Doctor: “Jieun-ah.”

Jieun: “Real soon.”

Doctor: “Jieun-ah.”

Jieun: “Why are you lying to me...?”

Doctor: “You think I’m lying to you?”

Jieun: “WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME?”

Doctor: “Jieun-ah, calm down.”

Jieun: “WHY WOULD YOU LIE ABOUT LYING?”

Doctor: “JIEUN-AH.”

Jieun: “...he wasn’t lying.”

Doctor: “Jieun-ah...”

Jieun became frantic. She scrambled off the bed. Her hands went flying everywhere as her frenzied words escaped her dry lips, “He never broke the promise. He didn’t lie. He only lied about lying. I was so stupid for believing it for even just a moment. That’s why it’s taking a while for him to visit me. He’s upset. He’s upset that I doubted him. But I don’t doubt him anymore. He should be coming real soon. He’s—”

Doctor: “Your brother?”

Jieun sat back onto the bed with a plop. “He’s not my brother,” she whispered.

Doctor: “Aren’t you talking about Myungsoo-sshi?”

Jieun nodded.

Doctor: “Myungsoo-sshi is your brother.”

Jieun shook her head. “He’s not. We promised.”

Doctor: “What did you promise?”

Jieun looked up to her doctor.

“What did you promise?” the doctor repeated.

Jieun stared at her doctor once again. “What are you trying to do?”

Doctor: “I just want you to get better.”

Jieun: “Why are you asking me these questions over and over again?”

Doctor: “I just want you to get better. What did you promise?”

Jieun gave in, “That we’ll love each other.”

Doctor: “What does that have to do with him being your brother?”

Jieun: “He’s not my brother.”

Doctor: “What did loving him have to do with—”

Jieun: “We couldn’t love each other the way we did if we were siblings.”

Doctor: “So you’re siblings.”

Jieun: “No, we’re not.”

Doctor: “What was the promise?”

Jieun: “I told you already.”

Doctor: “I don’t believe I understood it.”

Jieun: “That we’ll love each other. No matter what.”

The doctor took notes.

Jieun: “I think you should leave now.”

Doctor: “Why is that?”

Jieun: “Because he’s coming to visit me.”

Doctor: “No one’s coming, Jieun-ah. Visiting hours are over.”

Jieun: “Still. I’m waiting for him. So you should leave.”

The doctor sighed and stood from her seat, gathering her things. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’m the one that’s waiting for you to join me, Jieun-ah,” Myungsoo whispered to himself as he watched her lay back down onto her bed.

~

“How did her brother die?” the nurse outside asked. “I overheard.”

Doctor: “Terminal illness. He died a few weeks after he left her.”

Nurse: “So he knew he was...”

The doctor shrugged.

Nurse: “Were they in that kind of relationship?”

The doctor shrugged again. “If I knew, I wouldn’t need to come everyday to find out why she’s like this.” Then she scoffed. “She had one stupid brother.”

Nurse: “Would having loved her like that, even if they were siblings, make him stupid?”

Doctor: “Only in the way he said goodbye. And the fact that he’s not leaving.”

Nurse: “What do you mean?”

The doctor just shook her head and looked back at the room before walking away with her notes from today’s visit.

~

There IS a sequel...sorta.
It's just an explanation if you're confused, LOL.
I will posting the link once I get it up in another chapter (: