Everything starts to fall into place; Jihye’s daily intake of vitamins, her recent health condition. Panic overwhelmed him once again; he had never felt this ever since the last time when Jihye fainted and he sent her to the hospital. Donghae was always very observant but this was the very time when he wished he was wrong.

Donghae could felt his breath shortening with every word he’s saying. Hyung, what chronic illness is that?

It’s known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS). People who are diagnosed with this illness may experience exhaustion, extremely poor stamina or even problems with concentration and short-term memory.….

As Joong-ki hyung explains the possible symptoms of the illness, Donghae felt lost. Listening to the symptoms was a torture, heaven is definitely playing a joke; it was the Jihye that he knows, the Jihye that always puts a smile on his face. His best friend Jihye is sick.

Hyung, thanks for taking time off from your busy schedule to meet with me. I really do not know how to react to this news; initially it was just a concern on my part but this is the time when I wish that I was over-reacting to her symptoms.  

Joong-ki could only look at his dongsaeng and pats his shoulder to give him moral support to be strong. Stay strong! Hae ah!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jihye ah, have you been skipping meals? It seems that your clothes have outgrown you! Jiyeon wasn’t the only one who’s saying this, even when she went with her family to visit her grandparents in Jeju island last weekend, Jihye’s grandparents noticed the difference and commented all the same. It was funny that somehow the comments starts to get to her, she had been obediently ensuring that she gets her meals on time.

Ironically, her meal portion is the same, she hasn’t had the loss of an appetite for some time but it’s been quite often nowadays that she’s feeling listless. She did consult her mom about this. Out of the ordinary, her mom didn’t seem to be listening to her but just brush off with telling her to get enough rest and to take her vitamins promptly.

Something in her prompts her that something wasn’t right, her mother wouldn’t dismissed her worries like this. She decided to drop by the hospital to visit her dad after her lessons tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lessons ended early and Jihye made her way to visit her Dad to consult him with her weird symptoms that she can’t comprehend. As she sauntered to find her dad at his office, she overheard a conversation. Upon peeping at the slightly open door; she saw her dad and Dr Lee discussing something. As she was about to knock on the door, Dr Lee asked her dad something “Junsu-sshi, is Jihye aware on her condition already?”

The look of despair could be clearly seen on her father’s face,

“How can I bring myself to tell Jihye that she has a chronic illness? An illness that she has to battle with it in her whole lifetime, I just wish I was the one that’s suffering, Jun-jin ya. How can I tell her that she will experience exhaustion and poor stamina through time? Do you know how miserable I felt when Jihye was diagnosed with such an illness, the helplessness of looking at your beloved daughter but I could only be there for her and do nothing.”

As the words starts to register, Jihye was dumbfounded. All along her parents was keeping such a secret from her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she starts to recall the recent event; that explains why she’s feeling lethargic recently & when she shared to her mum about this, she brushed it off because they can’t bring to tell her this.

Jihye contains her emotions and left the hospital…