Hyeran hesitated to enter the hospital room, even though she was assured by the doctors as well as Hongbin’s mother that she finally could. She had returned home for a moment and cleaned herself up, as well as let off some steam, since only Minsoo was allowed to see Hongbin when he first came out of intensive care. Hyeran waited longer on top of that to give Minsoo some time to be with her son privately. It’s not as though Hyeran had any right to impinge on that.

Now, though, standing outside the door of Hongbin’s room, Hyeran couldn’t explain why she felt afraid to go in. She felt deep down as though she had somehow betrayed the man, but she could not for the life of her understand why she felt this way.

“Hongbin,” Hyeran greeted as she entered the room. Her friend was lying in bed, propped up on the pillows beneath him. A catheter still ran from some piece of equipment to his torso, making Hyeran wince at the thought of being cut open and exposed like that.

“Hey buddy, you didn’t have to come so soon,” Hongbin smiled weakly. His attempt to act normally for her made Hyeran feel guilt stab at her heart. The man before her refused to show her anything but friendliness and positivity, but she wanted to be able to talk to him openly about everything. She wanted to ease his pain if she could.

“You had me scared to death, Bin.” Hyeran pouted uncharacteristically and gingerly wrapped her arms around him avoiding the tubes and equipment that she didn’t dare upset. She probably wasn’t even supposed to touch him for that reason but she just needed to feel that he was real and alive. That his blood really pulsed beneath his skin and his chest really rose and fell.

“Did they catch the driver?” Hongbin asked after silence had hung in the air long enough. Hyeran shook her head.
“You’ll have to talk to the police of course, but a camera apparently showed a