“Why the do I have to do it?” Lucas Hwang yelled.

Jung Wooshin spit on the sidewalk then gave him one of his glares. “Jaehyun was your friend. He got us into this mess, now you’re going to get us out.” The old man started to walk up the busy sidewalk heading for one of many newspaper stands.

Lucas trudged along behind him, cursing the older one under his breath. He would not dare to do it out loud or Wooshin would not mind causing a scene right here on the side of the road. No one cross Jung Wooshin. Not unless you want to lose your fingers, or worse. Lucas shivered at the thought. “Right, but he doesn’t even like me. He hates me actually.” He argued.

Wooshin did not even bother to turn his head to respond. He talked with his eyes straight ahead walking in a steady pace. “The prick doesn’t have to like you Lucas.” He said annoyed. “We just need to know what he knows. What he saw or heard.” Wooshin rambled on. “The least the ers could have done was made sure they finished the damn job. Now we have more of a mess to clean up.”

Lucas kicked at the sidewalk as Wooshin bent over and selected a paper and paid the merchant. When he was done, he walked on up the street to a small pub and they grabbed a seat at the bar. Lucas looked over to Wooshin as the old man read his paper. Every morning for as long as he can remember, this has been the old man’s routine.

Lucas left home when he was 12. He highly doubt that his father even noticed he was gone. Not that the latter ever took care of him anyways. Only time they interacted at all was if he needed Lucas to bring him another beer. Thus, Lucas lived on the street for only a few weeks before he met Jung Wooshin.

Jung Wooshin was the coolest man Lucas has ever met then. The old man reminded him of the gangsters seen in old movies. Every morning at 9, the latter would walk past the park bench Lucas had taken up residency on. The boy will see him coming, tall and lean with his perfectly pressed suit. Whenever he’d pass, he’d tilt his head to the homeless boy, unlike other people who tried to avoid eye contact with him.

One morning, Jung Wooshin came by, threw the 12 year old a nice new jacket and told the boy to follow him.

Lucas have been doing it since then.

Now that he is 24, though it’s become annoying, sure Wooshin has been pretty good to him. The old gangster brought an unknown kid into his home when no one else would. He kept the scrawny body in clothes and food in the flat stomach. However, Wooshin also introduced him to the dark side of the world; the only part that Lucas have grown wary of. He does not want to be a thug forever.

He does not want to be Jung Wooshin one day. 60, 70, however ing old he is still doing the same bull every day. He is tired of looking over his shoulder everywhere he goes, wondering if today is the day he will finally be dead from behind. Thoughts of Jaehyun pop into his head but he does his best to force them back out. The guy is dead and gone, no point crying over him.

Wooshin’s gravelly voice pulls Lucas from his thoughts. “Look kid, I know you don’t want to do this.” He took a large gulp of his bourbon. “This could come back to bite all of us though. What if he talks? I got people up there that tell me he is awake now. What if he spills everything?” The old guy shook his head and turned his glassy dark eyes to Lucas. “Lord knows what that Jaehyun told him.” He put his hand on the youngster’s shoulder, trying to talk the kid into something. “Just do this for us kid.”

“What do you want me to do?” Lucas ask, relenting.

“Just go and see her.” Wooshin says it like it is so simple. “Tell the nurses you’re his friend, get him alone and dig out what he knows.” The eyes with wrinkles over the edge were turned away from Lucas again. “If he knows too much, get rid of him.” He said, nonchalant. “Otherwise, just make damn sure he knows he better keep our names deep into his throat.”

Lucas who ordered two shots of jack downed them as soon as the bartender handed them over. Sometimes he does wish Wooshin had never picked him up. He does not even want to around the guy much less play nice with him to get information. He stood up from his seat and noisily pushed the stool back under the bar. “Which hospital?”

“He’s at St. Mary’s.”

Jungwoo does not know how this could happen to him. He has seen the movies, read the books but never thought something like amnesia would happen to him. The doctors spent a long time with him going through everything. Jungwoo listened to them as best as he could but the only thing he was thinking is that this must be a joke. ‘Maybe Yoojung put them up to this.’ Well, Jungwoo cannot deny that he always gave her a hard time when she was in pain.

Jungwoo smiled at the memory. Yoojung had to have procedure done to fix her deviated ankle and the night before he had joked with her about all the things that could happen. He was kind of a terrible boyfriend.

“I’m sure you must have some questions.” Dr. Kang said.

Jungwoo realized he had zoned out on them and so he focused to remember what they had been saying. “I have a ton of questions.” He answered. He hoped that did not give away that he has been ignoring them.

“Naturally.” Dr. Shin said, nodding and looking to him to elaborate.

“I don’t even know where to start.” If this is true Jungwoo does not know what he needs to ask first. “Where are my parents? Or my girlfriend, Yoojung? They should be here.” Now that he was able to ask what he wanted, he could not stop the questions from flying. “Why am I in Seoul? Why can’t I remember anything? What kind of accident was I in exactly?” He took a breath then fired off more. “Why isn’t anyone here with me? When can I go home? Will I ever remember?” Jungwoo stopped and let out a gasp. “Damn it, how old am I even?”

Dr. Shin smiled softly and reached out to place her hand gently on the terrified young man. “There is a lot we are going to have to talk about. I’m going to try to go through your questions starting with the ones I can answer.” She patted the hand then put hers back in her lap. “Alright, Jungwoo, according to your records you are 24 years old.”

Jungwoo had to let that sink in. He was only 19 when he climbed into bed last night. He had a small chill run up the back of his neck. This is all too much for him. ‘I can’t be 24. That’s so... so old.’

The doctor gave him a second to process then moved on. “We don’t know much about your accident Jungwoo. Someone found you in an alley laying among bags of trash. You had been badly beaten. Whoever found you saved your life. If you hadn’t gotten here you would have succumbed to your injuries.” She paused, gagging Jungwoo’s reaction to this. “The police are calling it a mugging right now and they have been wanting to take your statements to find out if you saw anything that could help them catch the person who did this to you. I’ve explained to them the seriousness of your injury but they will be here by later today.” Jungwoo nodded even though his mind felt a hint of fear. “You have survived a brutal attack. Along with all the cuts and bruises, you also suffered internal bleeding, two cracked ribs and a very serious brain injury. It is very hard to say your type of TBI whether or not you will regain your memory but I have all the faith in the world that you will strive from here.”

Jungwoo wanted to believe her. He wanted to think that everything is as simple as that. As badly as he wanted to cry, he held his composure and tried to be the mature 24 year old she says he is. “When will I be able to go home? And my family?”

“You will be able to go home just as soon as Dr. Kang clears you as mentally ready.” She smiled. “It shouldn’t be too long. You’re physically able now, still weal but you’re healed enough to be mobile and care for yourself. Later today, we will remove you from the catheter and Ivs and move you to another floor.” Dr. Shin stood up and whispered something in Dr. Kang’s direction. When her heard her, he slipped out of the room quickly. “Alright, your friend is in the waiting room. Dr. Kang just went to get him. Dr. Kang will finish up with your questions.” She turned to exit the room. “I’m very proud of your progress Jungwoo.” Then, the door closed on her way out.

Dr. Shin had hardly been gone for a minute when the door opened up again, slowly. Dr. Kang walked in first, followed by a man Jungwoo did not recognize. He is confused. He remembers that Dr. Shin informed him about a friend but that face is not someone that he knows of.

“Hey.” The man said with a forced smile.

Jungwoo just looked back and forth between the two men with a dazed look on his face. “Who the heck are you? Where is my friend?”

“This is your friend, Jungwoo.” Dr. Kang said, carefully titling his head in the ohter guy’s direction.

“That is not my friend!” Jungwoo sid loudly. “I don’t know him. This isn’t funny.”

The man walked over to him and plopped next to him on the bed. “Sure I am. Geez, don’t you remember me? We have been friend for years.”

Jungwoo jerked away from his body but there was not anywhere left to go on the bed.

“Let me get you a chair.” Dr. Kang said awkwardly and quickly walked out of the room.

The man next to Jungwoo leaned in closer to the confused young man. “Tell me what you know.” He said hushed.

Jungwoo widened his eyes in shock. “What the crap are you talking about?”

The man narrowed his eyes and gave him an annoyed look. “Oh... what the crap.” He mimicked the latter. “When the hell did you become such a goody two shoes?”

Jungwoo was in shock as his mind keeps questioning the reality. “I... what are... who are you?” He stammered. However, with the latter being so close to him, he could not help to notice how attractive the latter was. The skin is not too pale. His shaggy brown hair hung in his face a little, teasing at the dark black eyes hiding behind it. Jungwoo’s eyes darted away in nervousness for awhile before focused back to man that has leaned away and now giving him a strange expression. “I... um...” He does not even know what he was trying to say but his brain was having trouble telling his mouth to shut up.

The man stood up quickly and headed for the door. Dr. Kang cut him off at the door wau, sliding a rolling chair over to him. “Please have a seat. “He said to him.

The guy slid the chair back over to the side of Jungwoo’s bed and sat down. Jungwoo was trying so hard not to look at the latter, but he was failing pretty miserably at it. He might have been able to stop looking if it were not for the fact that the guy kept cutting his eyes over as well and darting them away whenever he caught Jungwoo’s looking at him.

“Okay, Jungwoo. This is your friend, Lucas Hwang.” Dr. Kang gestured to the man that is now raising his brows up and down with a smirk. “I’ve brought him in so we could discuss some of more complicated parts of your recovery. ” Dr. Kang gave him a wary glance. “Jungwoo, we need to talk about your parents.”