August 2016

“Kihyun? I’m already across the station. Where are you I can’t see you,” Mom said over the phone, “Ma, stay there, I’ll look for you,” I started to look around to find her but the people running around was so disruptive so I had a hard time finding her among them. After passing through some strangers I finally caught sight of her across the street and she seemed to caught sight of me too, she started to wave at me happily. We both ended our phone calls and waited for the lights to turn green. After a minute, the street signs changed to green and my mom started to cross the street first then the others behind her. I tried to match her speed but she was going way to fast. Suddenly I heard a loud screeching noise coming from the intersection which was headed to our side when I turned to look at my right a car suddenly appeared out of nowhere and run over my mom. I was too taken aback from what happened and all I could do was stared at my mom’s body lying on the ground as the rain continued to pour harder than before.

They were silent for a while after Kihyun finished his story when she suddenly spoke, “I’m sorry, but can you accompany me back inside? I’m having a hard time breathing,” the girl said while clutching her chest. Kihyun hurriedly runs to her side and helped her to stand up. When he held her hand he got goosebumps because it was really, really cold. She started to grow weak even though they haven’t left their places yet, Kihyun had no other choice but to carry her when she couldn’t stand up anymore. He threw her arms around his neck to prevent her from falling, “Hey hang in there okay?” he whispered in her ear as he runs to the entrance of the building.

Luckily a nurse who just finished her break bumped into them when they entered the facility, “Excuse me, can you please help us? She told me that she’s having a hard time breathing and she’s also really cold.” The nurse checked for her pulse immediately, “Oh no her pulse is weak we need to take her upstairs immediately,” as she looked at her carefully she recognized the familiar face of the patient. “Isn’t she Ahn Jinah?! What is she doing out there in the cold?” the nurse called for help and got Jinah out of Kihyun’s arms. “Call for Dr. Kim immediately we need an immediate check up on her, this could trigger another attack for her.” instructed the other nurse, Kihyun was confused to what happened, he could just watch them take her away with a stretcher.

While wondering what might have happened to Jinah, Kihyun found himself in front of his mother’s door. The room was currently empty so he just entered and waited until the nurse brings her back. That was the reason why Kihyun never visits his mom during the morning. He hates seeing her being taken away for check-ups, he hates it when the doctors say that there has no improvement in her health every single day but today was different. He felt like anticipating his mom’s return to her room, he doesn’t know why but he wants to know how she was doing. It’s been a while since he last heard if there was an improvement with her or none.

A moment later the door rattled open and the nurses came in together with Kihyun’s mom. “Nurse Choi,” he bowed at the nurse whom he had seen yesterday night too. “Oh, Kihyun-sshi! What brings you at this hour?” the middle-aged nurse asked as they fix the medical apparatus which were taken out of Mrs. Yoo earlier. “I just want to know how my eomma’s doing?” The nurse was surprised to hear what Kihyun had just said. She stopped doing her work and looked at him, her eye was getting teary, “She’s doing well lately. She rarely has fever nowadays, so she’s healthier compared to back then. Did you really come this early to ask that?” She smiled sweetly at him. “Um, y-yes you could say that,” uttered Kihyun. “So, you’re going to look after her for a while? I need to run some errand downstairs.” Kihyun nod as the nurse left them.

Kihyun could only look at his mom, he doesn’t have the courage to hold her yet. “Ma, I’m really, really sorry. I’ll try to hold you from now on. It must have been hard for you,” he moved a little closer to her, his hands were shaking as he reached out for his mom’s hand. His eyes widen in shock when he felt her warm hands. A smile slowly forming on his lips as tears run down his cheeks.

~

The next day Kihyun found himself waking up in his mom’s room. After checking up on his mother he went out of the room and started wandering around the hospital again hoping to see the girl once more. He tried to recall her name and when he finally remembered it he started looking for her name on the nameplates placed outside the rooms. The first floor he checked out doesn’t have any patients named Ahn Jinah. Next, he went down on the floor below his mom’s room and checked if she’s there. Although there was a patient named Ahn Jinah downstairs Kihyun was definitely sure that it wasn’t her because the age on the plate was five years old.

After many tries, Kihyun finally found the room that could possibly hers. When he peeked inside it the patient wasn’t on the bed but wandering around the room while her guardian was asleep. Kihyun immediately recognized her tangled brown hair and the gray coat she wore last time at the bus stop. He wanted to knock on the door but he was shy that she won’t recognize him and they weren’t that close yet so it would be awkward to just say ‘Hi’ to her. Kihyun leaned his shoulder on the doorframe as he continues to watch her figure moving from one side to another. As if she could feel someone was watching her, she turned to face the door and locked eyes with Kihyun. He was surprised and wasn’t able to move as he saw her moving towards the door. The door flew open with Jinah stepping out of the room, “Hi,” said Jinah with a smile.

“Uh- hey. How are yo-”

“Are you okay? Were you shocked when I collapsed last time? I’m sorry,” Jinah said, murmuring the last part. She was fidgeting with the hem of her hospital gown all this time to avoid looking at Kihyun eyes.

“Huh, you were worried about that?”

Jinah nod, “Can we talk somewhere else? I want some fresh air too. I won’t collapse like last time I promise.” She gave him a small smile and Kihyun could feel his heart skipping a beat. She wasn’t that pretty like the other girls but she had her own charms. Even though her lips were chapped, with a very pale complexion, to Kihyun she was pretty, prettier than the other girls. It’s weird to say it after being around her for a couple of times but Kihyun found her more interesting than others. “Sure, want to go downstairs? Oh, and you should wear a coat, it’s too cold outside.”

~

“You know, we really don’t know each other very well but I like having you as a company,” Jinah muttered as they walk around the grounds of the hospital.

“Yeah, I like hanging around with you too.”

“Hmm. Oh, we were talking about your mom last time right, when we last saw each other? How is she right now?”

“She’s still unconscious but the doctors said that she’s improving a lot lately,” Jinah fell silent for a while before she stopped in her tracks. Kihyun noticed her and turned to look back at her, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Can I tell you something?” Kihyun hummed in response. He led her to a bench so they could talk to each other comfortably.

“I actually felt guilty when you opened up to me about what happened to your mother,” Kihyun didn’t respond and waited for her to continue. “I- we actually put someone into the same situation as your mother. Up until now, I can still remember my auntie and uncle talking about the person they had hit when they rushed me to the hospital last year.”

“Dongmin hurry up! I don’t want her to die in our car!” Youngae, Jinah’s auntie, shouted at her husband. They knew they were past the speed limit but they have to take Jinah to the hospital as soon as possible. It was one of her attacks again and it seems to have worsened. Ever since her parents died in a car accident her relatives were forced to take her in. They never liked her because she was a weak child, she was often sick and hospitalized. The money left to her by her parents weren’t enough to cover up all her expenses but her grandparents give her enough money to send her back and forth to the hospital when needed. She was forced to stop attending school because of her health a long time ago and her auntie was more aggravated about it because she needs to look after her 24/7. Even though they don’t want to take care of her they can’t do anything about it, they couldn’t send her to her grandparents because they were too old to take of a sick child. It was a very hard life for Jinah.

“Shut the up Youngae, this is the fastest speed we can go. If you didn’t take her out of that godd*mn hospital this wouldn’t have happened! We got enough money for her to keep staying there, why the did you do that?” Dongmin shouted as he looks at his wife in the rearview. “Just drive the ing car, will you?” Dongmin stepped on the accelerator again before turning into a corner. They didn’t have the time to check if it’s a red light or not before speeding up.

It all happened in a blink of an eye. The car came to a halt after running into a pedestrian. Jinah’s breathing was getting shorter and shorter while her relatives process what just happened. “Dongmin! What have you done?”

“I- I don’t k-know.” Jinah’s uncle stuttered, his hands shaking while gripping the stirring wheel. “DRIVE! Drive or they’ll chase us and put us in jail! Just go straight to the hospital and hide the car!”

~

Jinah fluttered her eyes open slowly when she heard whispering voices around her. “Youngae what are we going to do now? I think we killed a person,” Jinah heard her uncle’s hoarse voice. “Sell the car as soon as possible. Change our plate and don’t think that we run into that person. You can’t afford to jail Dongmin.”

“What do we do about Jinah? Does she know about the accident?” Youngae shook her head in response, “I don’t think so, she was too delirious that time. Just do what I say and we’ll be okay you understand?” Youngae said. “Why don’t we try looking for the person, I don’t think I can sleep at night without knowing her condition.”

“Do you hear yourself right now, huh Dongmin? Can you hear what the you’re saying? Do you really want to go to jail that badly?” She heard her auntie said. Unfortunately, she was still in a dazed because of all the medicines she had to intake, so she couldn’t catch up with the rest of their conversation. We killed a person. They run into someone because of me. I killed a person, Jinah thought as a tear trickled down the side of her face as she fell into an unconscious state again.

A/N:

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