BaekHo

After JR and Minhyun left, I tried to get up but failed miserably.

“Ahh….uggghhhh” I moan in pain, while trying to lie on my back. I use my free hand and grab my wrist. It hangs there. I try not to cry out in pain but the tears come anyway. They roll down the sides of my face and I can feel it enter my ears. I almost choke from crying because of the way I’m lying down.

“Help” I manage to whisper through the tears. I lay my broken wrist on my chest and wipe away the tears.

“Somebody please help” I say, a little louder. I know that nobody will be able to hear me but I still call out again.

“Help” I ask. My breathing becomes shallow as I lie there, waiting. I slowly close my eyes, knowing that no one’s going to come for me.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ren

I didn’t see BaekHo today. I wonder where he is.

It turns out that Wu Duck-Won is in my lunch. Since all of the tables are taken, I suggest we eat at the old band room. I buy my lunch and wait for Duck-Won at the door. He finally comes and we walk toward the band room.

“Duck-Won, are you done reading that book yet?” I ask.

“No, I’m almost done but it’s so hard. There are so many English words that I have never heard of” He says, pushing his curls back.

“You’re new to this school, right?” I ask. I think he’s a new student but I’m not sure.

“Yeah my family moved here from Pohang, North Gyeongsang after my father passed away” He says, looking down at his tray.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that” I say.

“It’s okay. We’re now living here with my grandmother” He says.

“Oh okay. It’s just my mother and I. I was born and raised in Seoul” I say, smiling at him. By the time I know it, we’ve already arrived in front of the old band room. I look around before opening the door. I am shocked to see the person lying on the ground. I set my food down by the door and quickly run to his side. Duck-Won arrives shortly beside me.

“What happened to him?” He asks.

“I don’t know” I say, shaking my head.

“Check his neck to see if he’s breathing” Duck-Won instructs me. I push my hair back and lean in with my ear. I touch his neck and feel the heart beating but his breathing pattern is very irregular and shallow.

“Hey, I’ve seen this guy around before” Duck-Won says.

“Duck-Won, go back to the lunch room. You’ll see a blonde headed teacher, and her name is Ms.Shim. Tell her that I’m going home” I tell him. He runs out of the classroom. I take off my blazer and make it into a little pillow. I gently lift BaekHo’s head and slide it under. I sit there and wait for Duck-Won to come back. Moments pass before he shows up again.

“I…..told…..her” He says, panting.

“Thank you. I don’t mean to bother you but can you help me take BaekHo home with me?” I ask, looking up at him.

“Yeah sure” He says. He picks up BaekHo and put him on his back. We walk out of school without being noticed, towards the bus station.

“Do you live far?” He says, pushing BaekHo up slightly

“I live about 7 minutes away if I take the bus but if I walk it takes me about 30mintues to get to school” I answer, looking out to the road. The bus arrives shortly and I pay for our fare. We sit in the back and Duck-Won is able to relax. The bus drops us off at my stop and we get off with BaekHo on Duck-Won’s back. I lead the way towards the apartment complex. I unlock the door and hold it so that Duck-Won can come in. We walk to my bedroom where Duck-Won drops BaekHo onto my bed.

“Ah… I have to go back to school. Sorry I can’t help you any farther” Duck-Won says, wiping his forehead.

“It’s okay. Thank you so much, Duck-Won” I say, bowing.

“No it’s okay. I’ll do anything for a friend” He says, before leaving.

“See you tomorrow” I shut after him. He waves while walking away. I follow him and lock the door once he’s out. I go to the bathroom and get the first aid kit and the fever patch. I go back to my room. I look over him before approaching him. I lean over him and lift his head up. His head ends up falling on my shoulder as I try to remove his blazer. I take it off and put it to the side. I move onto his buttoned shirt. I manage to take it off. I’m greeted by his undershirt.

“How many shirts do you  wear?” I ask, under my breathe even though he’s unconscious and he can’t hear me.

I gently put his head back down and go for his shoes. I take them off and lay them by the bed. I take off the socks and hand them by the side. I look at his bare upper body but turn away, embarrassed.

“MinKi, calm down. It’s not like you’ve never seen a man’s upper body before” I tell myself, slowly looking at him. I’ve seen bare-chested men but only on TV. His skin is very soft as silk and his abs are forming into a 6 pack. There is a big purple wound, swelling and getting purple at his side. I take my eyes off of his body and open the first aid kit and pull out the Vitamin E oil. I open the bottle up and pour some onto my opened palm. I set it down and get to work. I massage his wound, trying not to put pressure onto it. I wipe my hands on my skirt as soon as I’m done with the massaging. I take out the tensor bandages and wrap it around his stomach, covering the wound. I move to his broken wrist. I care rest his hand over my hand as I inspect the wrist and how bad it is. I come to conclusion that it’s broken and there’s nothing that I can really do to help him. I get up and walk to the kitchen.

I take out ice and put it in a zip lock bag. I walked back to the bedroom with the bag of ice.  I placed the ice on his broken wrist and took out the gauze roll. I gently wrapped it around his wrist to hold the ice there. I felt his head to see if he was coming down with a fever and I was right. I unwrapped the fever patch and placed it on his forehead. I look at the time. It’s only 1:45pm. I lean over and place my hand inside his left pants pocket. I take out his galaxy note. The other pocket contained only a glass pen. I place the pen on my night stand but decide to call his brother. I manage to find his brother’s number in his phone and click the call button. It rings twice before he picks up.

“SaeRyun?” I ask, unsure of who I’m speaking to.

“MinKi? What are you doing with BaekHo’s phone?” He asks, his voice slightly worried.

“BaekHo got hurt at school and he’s at my house right now resting” I tell him.

“Is he okay? How bad are his injures? How did he get hurt?” He asks. I could just imagine him walking back and forth across the room, with a worried look written all over his face.

“He’s okay for now. It’s just that his wrist is broken and I think that some of his ribs are also broken” I answer, looking back at BaekHo.

“Okay, keep him there. I get off of work at 8:05pm. I’ll come and get him after so that he can go see a doctor” He says.

“Okay” I give him our address.

“Thank you, MinKi”

“Yeah it’s okay” I say, before hanging up. I go to the kitchen and bring back a chair. I take out my phone and call my mother.

“Hello” My mom yells over the phone. There are a lot of people talking, no wonder she’s yelling.

“Mom, I brought a friend home with me” I say.

“Wait, Ren. I’m going to a quiet place” She says. I hear the chatting peoples’ voices slowly fade away until it’s totally quiet.

“Okay, Ren. Can you repeat what you said?” She asks.

“I brought a friend home with me” I answer.

“Oh what friend? Is it the guy from yesterday?” She asks.

“Yeah. He got beaten up really badly and he’s now here with me” I answer.

“How bad is it?”

“Broken ribs and a broken wrist” I answer.

“Ooohhhh, that’s bad. So what have you done?”

“Well, I massaged the bruising on his ribs with some Vitamin E oil and bandaged it up. I’ve put some ice on his broken wrist, so that it won’t swell. Oh, I also called his brother to inform him”

“Okay, very well. Make some Ginseng chicken Congee a bit later. I’ll be home around 6pm” She says.

“I love you, mom” I says, before hanging up. I place the phone on the night stand and curl up in ball on the chair with my knees covering my eyes. I sit there for a while looking at him breathe. I slowly slip into sleep.