LXXII

Springfield

 

“Thank you for driving me here.” Minah held onto her arm as she walked down the hallway of the hospital. Sunggyu, who was on her left, shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.” Myungsoo answered for Sunggyu as he walked on her right.

“Is everything alright?” Yura asked as she looked past Sunggyu at Minah, “Did they find anything wrong?”

Minah got a coy smile on her face, “It’s just allergies.”

Yura’s jaw opened slightly. Minah had blown things way out of proportion when she told them she was getting a burning rash on her arm. Yura thought Minah was going to die. She was worried to death, “Jeez! Don’t scare us like that!”

Minah clutched onto her bandaged arm, where her rash was. The doctor had told her she only got it because of something in the air. Her allergies had gotten so bad her body broke out into a rash. He told her not to worry about anything and just get some rest before a nurse bandaged her arm. Truth be told, she knew around this time of year, she would get a rash due to the pollen in the air and she would usually hide it from people. However, she had felt disconnected from Myungsoo lately. She wanted to give him a reason to pay more attention to her. When she called him and told him what was happening, to her pleasure, he showed up at her house with Sunggyu.

“I’m sorry,” Minah said softly. 

"Excuse me." A nurse from behind politely asked as walked past them towards the waiting area at the entrance of the hospital. They shifted out of the way for her and were about to commence conversation when the nurse suddenly yelled a patient's name into the waiting area, "Woo Jiho?"

That’s not what caught their attention. It was a normal sounding name that should have garnered no special reaction. What did stop them was the voice that answered.

"Here!"

 

 

 

Zico answered loudly to the nurse. You slightly laughed both at his reaction and that his actual name was so normal, despite him being far from normal. "This isn't roll call Woo Jiho." You . He shot you a look of amusement before standing up from his seat. He was about to leave when he suddenly turned to you and opened his mouth to say something, which you of course already knew, “I know. Stay here, right?” He chortled at you before turning to go to the nurse who was waiting for him.

Before he got to her, she held out her hand to him, gesturing him to the right. “First we are going to the get your X-ray done. The room is this way.” He nodded in understanding before taking a turn to the left, the nurse guiding him.

You watched him disappear down a hall and sighed. You looked down to your purse and began to look for your phone. You succeeded and checked the time. “You’re still here?” You looked up and blinked blankly at the person in front of you now. It was Yura and she did not look in the least bit pleased to see you again.

You laid your phone back down into your lap, “Believe it or not, I’m not allowed to leave yet.”

She rose an eyebrow at you and snarled, “What?”

 “Leave her alone Yura.” Minah came up behind her. You were taken slightly by surprise though you should have known you’d see Minah around if one of her friends were. “She’s just waiting for her new boyfriend.”

Your jaw went slightly ajar. You couldn’t understand why Minah and her friends saw every relationship between a girl and a boy as boyfriend and girlfriend. If anything, Zico was more of the annoying friend who always butted into your business. Though he was getting more under you skin lately. Even so, her words put you off so much you responded with a lie. “That’s right. I am. Did you want to wait with me and say hi or are you done talking?”

Minah frowned at your tone. She would have responded, however she knew Myungsoo was behind her. Sure enough, he entered the conversation now. Though his response was not to Minah’s liking. “Should we? We didn’t get to see him last night so I’d feel bad if we didn’t.” You instinctively glared at him.

He glared right back, standing with both of his hands in his pockets. You yelled out curses towards him in your head while he did the same. Despite him knowing you were on the werewolves’ side, your attitude always irked him in some way or another. He always found himself arguing with you despite his better judgment. He was much less temperamental before he met you. All of this boyfriend nonsense only served to fuel his annoyance. You felt the same way and figured you two were mortal enemies in a past life.

Minah hugged Myungsoo’s arm, snapping him out of his death glare mode, “Let’s just go, okay?” He tsked and yanked his arm from her, making her look at him in distress. Sunggyu shot him a look that told him to be complacent. He didn’t pay attention and stormed off towards the entrance of the hospital.

Yura grabbed onto Minah’s shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze, “Yeah, let’s go.” She said with a smile as the two followed after Myungsoo. Sunggyu sighed and looked back at you.

He was still hesitant around you but still wanted to say something. “Be safe.” He uttered before leaving. Your eyes followed him to the door and when he left, you let out a sigh.

“He ignores me earlier than tells me to be safe?” You sarcastically questioned yourself. You continued to look towards where he left from before sighing again, “I’ll try.”

 

 

 

Your head bobbed up and down as you dazed in and out of consciousness. You had been waiting for Zico now for two hours. It was getting late and the stress you had been facing lately piled onto you all at once, making you too tired to even attempt to keep your eyes open. As your eyelids began to close one last final time, a clacking sound in front of you made you snap your head up. You were at full attention as the nurse stared down at you. Not just any nurse either. Your mother.

Her hair was slicked back into a neat bun and her makeup not heavy on her face. She had a baby face and looked as though she was in her twenties even though she was in her late thirties. She was pretty, very much so.

"Mom?" You mumbled and she looked away, not acknowledging it.

She looked to the clipboard in her hands before speaking up, "Jiho's X-ray showed nothing out of the ordinary though the machine malfunctioned a few times which is why it has taken two hours to finish up here. We also did a physical exam and his physical condition is above average. We also took a blood sample so that we can find his blood type in case he has to come back for a transfusion anytime soon."

You didn't understand why she was telling you all of this. Had Zico told her you were waiting for him without realizing she was your mom or did he find out and that was the reason she came out to see you?

She flipped around the clipboard in her hands and showed it to you, "We need a guardian's signature here before we release him."

"A what?" You questioned her, though still took the paper from her hands. When you looked at the information Zico had filled out, you saw he had written your name on the line titled "guardian." He had also put you underneath emergency contacts as number one.

Your mom reached over and flipped two pages, revealing the last page on the clipboard. She pointed to a line at the bottom, "Sign here please."

You, still dazed and slightly disbelieving of what Zico did, signed the line. She took the clipboard from your hands and bowed, “He’ll be out momentarily. Please wait patiently.” She said before pivoting on her heel to leave. You wanted to call out to her but the glare she gave you in her peripheral shut you up. She didn’t want you causing a scene.

So, you didn’t say anything. You kept yourself from becoming saddened due to her actions towards you. Still, you couldn’t help the feeling of having no one to lean on. No one to trust unconditionally. As if he read your mind, a phone call came in. You looked down to your purse and wiped your eyes with the back of your hand as you pulled it out.

The caller was Woohyun. You wanted to answer but you couldn’t risk it. You held the phone tight in your hands, second-guessing your previous thoughts. You did have someone to trust, even if it wasn’t unconditionally. You had Woohyun by your side. Even if the rest of them didn’t understand what you were doing, as long as someone tried to, you felt secure. When the call went to voicemail, you flipped open your phone and looked at the caller id photo you had.

He was smiling in the photo. You had taken it at his persistence. He put on a cheesy smile just for you. You smiled softly at the photo before closing your eyes, taking a deep breath, and shutting the phone.

 

 

 

"Hyunjoo?" You looked up from your lap and saw Zico standing there. He slightly tilted his head to the left, signaling it was time to go. You stood up from your chair and pulled your purse strap onto your shoulder before following after him. He waited for you to catch up before the both of you exited.

You eyed him as you followed close behind him to his car, "So is everything okay?"

He turned to you and nodded, "Yeah. Why? Worried about me?" He laughed at the expression on your face now. It was one of pure shock at his statement.

You couldn't help but smile after awhile. When the two of you arrived at his car, he walked over and pulled the door open for you. You stared at him as if he was crazy. He lost his patience with you just staring at him like a deer in headlights and ended up pushing your head down so that you'd comply with him, "Just get in." He said with one last grunt as he finally got you into the car. He closed the door, walked over to the driver's side, and got in.

You were a bit amused with his sudden display of gentlemanly behavior. It wasn't like him to be nice like this. Or maybe he just didn't want you to refuse the idea of him taking you home so he was trying to keep you happy. Either way, the situation right now benefitted you the most so he could be as nice as he wanted for all you cared.

“Why are you laughing?” He asked you absentmindedly as he put the key into the ignition. You immediately quieted down and covered your mouth. You hadn’t even realized you were laughing.

“No reason.”

He turned to you, suspicious of your behavior. You cleared your throat and looked out the window, pretending everything was normal. He shrugged and let it go. He revved up the car and started to pull out of the parking. Once the two of you were traveling down the road, he let his right hand drift from the steering wheel and onto the air conditioner dial, “Are you cold?”

His sincere tone was too much. You couldn’t hold it anymore. Your lips failed to keep back your laugh and you let it out. He narrowed his eyes at you.

“What?” His tone got annoyed though the corners of his lips slowly curved upward into a smile as you continued to laugh. You never thought you’d live to see the day the mighty werewolf hunter Zico would actually cater to a girl’s needs. “I have my ways of getting you to talk.” He threatened however it failed to scare you due to the hint of laughter lingering in the words.

You put your hands up in front of your face defensively, “Okay okay, I’ll stop.” You smiled his way and got a satisfied smirk back. He focused on the road again and turned right at the intersection.

You eyed him as he drove and you knew fully well he knew you were looking at him. Still, he kept his eyes on the road. Mostly because he could tell what you would say would not be light hearted in the least.

You took advantage of the good tension in the air to ask what you had been thinking since last night, “Why do you want the necklace? I just don’t understand.”

He abruptly pulled the car to the side of the road and turned his body towards you, “I told you what it does.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you want it so badly.” You retorted.

“For the sake of having a one-up on the mayor for once.” He said back. You knew he was lying. Sure, it was a good reason, but his urgency for the necklace made it sound too timid. The reason was too simple. There had to be more to all of this. You didn’t want to make him angry though, so you went along with him.

“Oh okay. Well how does it go about making a werewolf not a werewolf?” You said while holding up your index finger in wonder.

He nonchalantly shrugged as he turned back to the road and started driving again, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You know what it does but not how it does it?”

“That’s right.”

You were flabbergasted due to his response. He acted as though it didn’t bother him in the least that he didn’t know the answer to your question. You turned back to the road as he had and crossed your arms. You sank into the seat and crinkled your nose in dissatisfaction. Another question popped into your head and you looked back towards him quickly, “Well how do you even know the necklace exists? If you don’t know how it works then how do you know about it in the first place?”

He stopped at a stop sign and checked his rear view mirrors and the through street. When it was all clear, he began to turn right, “An old man told me about it when I was in elementary school.”

“An old man? Who?”

Abruptly, he pulled the car to a stop. Your body launched forward but you seatbelt locked in and caught you. However, you were still a bit dazed by the sudden stop.

“We’re here.” He told you. You wished your house was farther away from the hospital instead of a mere fifteen minutes. You wouldn’t be able to get anything out of Zico now.

Still that didn’t stop you from trying, “But-“

“You should go inside. It’s late and you have school tomorrow.” Of course now is the only time he would act responsible, when he was keeping secrets. You wanted to say something else but were cut off again, “Don’t forget to come up to the house tomorrow. B-Bomb will pick you up.”

You rolled your eyes and got out of the car as he wanted you to. You shut the door and readjusted your clothes. He coolly waved before doing a U-turn and taking off.

That left you with your question still hanging. “What old man?”

---------

A/N:

What's this? More questions with no answers? I guess I can never stop teasing you guys huh?

Thank you all so much for the comments on the last chapter! 

Don't forget to leave more at the bottom~

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Thank you!
lilyemc
Happy Springfield's 2nd Anniversary!

Comments

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MayhemMinutes
#1
It’s been years, but this still hits different
exokexomkai
#2
Chapter 2: i just love the flow of the story
exokexomkai
#3
Chapter 1: came back to reread after 4 years. it feels like just yesterday i finishes it. im just so happy to be back on AFF.
cheonchoni
#4
Came back bcs I forgot to upvote hehe. Your stories are really special compared to others bcs of your writing style
cheonchoni
#5
Chapter 104: Girls are always more attracted to mysterious boys aren't they lol
cheonchoni
#6
Chapter 82: Please be friends and attack that mayor. I don't think I can handle more betrayel. What kind of mess did she get herself into *sigh*
cheonchoni
#7
Chapter 80: That's why they want that necklace...
cheonchoni
#8
Chapter 78: AWWWWW NOOO she'll end up hurting one side either way
cheshire08
#9
After how many years, I'm back here again. Missed your writing style and stories, author-nim ?
KimHyeJoo #10
Chapter 128: I love this so much omg :’)))