The nurses hurried around trying to help Jongsuk. Jongsuk was sitting on the bed shirtless, his shoulders held high. He had a breathing mask on which covered his nose and mouth. He was gasping for breath, eyes still in shock. The nurses were sticking needles through his arm, hoping that the drugs would work quick enough to save him.

Though I had been in a similar situation like this before with a classmate, I could not contain myself. I had to wait outside the room since I was getting in the way. All I could do now was hope. I didn’t want God to take his best angel away from me. He couldn’t! I have to spend so much more time with him than this.

***

He’s sleeping so peacefully at the moment as if nothing had happened yesterday. Geez! That whole experience makes it hard for me to leave his side. Even going to the bathroom is difficult. The nurses had told me that he would need to stay at the hospital until Friday night. I had called up his manager and the singing group school to explain what had happened. They all understood, apparently this was not the first time he had, had an asthma attack. This was not good news at all. His eyes are starting to open up.

‘Yah, why didn’t you tell me that you were feeling unwell yesterday?’

‘I thought I was fine.’ Wrong answer!

‘YOU THOUGHT… if you ever feel like that you should tell me. It must have been so hard tyring to pretend you were okay. I should have noticed something.’ I was trying my best to calm down.

‘It wasn’t your fault. I didn’t take my inhaler with me nor did I take my medication.' He looked around the room noticing how bright it was. 'What time is it now?’, he asked before finally finding a clock on the wall opposite him. ‘YAH, you should get to school now. You’ll be late. What about Yoojung?’

‘Don’t worry, she always gets herself ready for school and I told her that I’d be coming home later. After I head home for my bag, I’ll go straight to school, so don’t freak out. The nurses will take good care of you, so wait for me okay? I’ll come back later.’

‘What do you mean wait for you? I can’t go anywhere.’ He was grinning at me.

I just grinned back. I had been agitated for the whole night, just watching him and hoping to see him smile yet again. His smile made all that worrying worth it.

***

It was finally Friday. I was sitting in class but my mind was elsewhere. For the last two days, I had visited Jongsuk in hospital, bringing with me banana milk from the convenience store. Since he would complain about being bored, I would give him my workbook and let him mark all the questions I had completed. It seemed like he looked forward to me coming to the hospital. I guess that would be the case if you had to sit in a hospital bed for three days doing nothing. I enjoyed the fact that the angel needed me. We often talked about the weirdest topics and I slowly got to know more about his interests. Apparently he used to play tennis, but had to stop since he was getting too sick. He really loves to watch tennis, but doesn’t have the time for it nowadays.

It was the day that he would return home. Jongsuk tried to persuade the nurses to discharge him earlier, but I made sure that they kept him there until they knew for sure that he had fully recovered. He was going to leave at night which meant that he would miss the singing group class. I had decided to walk him home.

‘I can’t believe I missed the class. I wonder how the kids are. I won’t be able to see them until next week.’

His pouting face was really adorable. On top of that, I just thought that the fact that he missed the kids so much made him even cuter. I patted him on his shoulder.

We arrived at his apartment. He opened the door and let me in. It was, as I had guessed, extremely clean. Everything had a place and was kept in a neat and orderly fashion. I placed down the ramyun that I had bought from his workplace on a little table that he had brought out into the middle of the room. He took out two bowls and shared the food for the both of us.

‘I bought the ramyun for you. I’ll go pick something else up for me to eat on the way home. Just eat it like a good boy’, I said in a demanding tone. I had to make sure he took care of his health. What if he collapsed due to malnutrition?

‘I don’t like eating by myself. I always do.’ He was pouting again. Idiot, you made him beg! Who the hell do you think you are to make him feel this way? I sighed.

I sat down and began to eat with him. After we had finished I got him to get ready for bed as I washed up and put the table back. He didn’t come out of his bedroom. Worried, I walked into his bedroom. Jongsuk was already lying under a blanket. I kneeled by his side. He reached out his hand and held mine. Thank goodness it wasn’t shaking like last time.

‘Thank you. For saving me, for staying with me whenever you could, for making me feel really happy. It really means so much that you did all that for me.’

‘Of course I’d do that for you. I’ve never had such an important friend in my entire life.’

Actually that was completely true. Now that I thought about it, Jongsuk was the only friend that I ever wanted to stick around with in my own free time. I didn’t really like spending time with friends and would only accept their invites to go drinking if I knew that they were treating me. However, it was different with Jongsuk. I just felt good whenever I was with him. Maybe it was fascination, maybe I really admired the way that he played the piano or maybe he had used his powers to make me feel the way I do. Whatever it was, I couldn’t imagine the rest of my life without Jongsuk.

Jongsuk had fallen off to sleep while still holding onto my hand. He looked so vulnerable yet charming. Again I looked at his lips that were slightly parted. They looked so… Why the hell was I looking at his lips AGAIN? Maybe I was jealous of his looks. I stood up. It was time for me to go home. I walked through the apartment. As I reached the door, I noticed a particular shelf on the bookshelf located on the other side of the room. It wouldn’t hurt to look around. I swear I must be turning into the devil looking at people’s belongings without their permission.

This particular shelf was the only shelf that had a layer of dust on it. There was some broken glass scattered across it. More and more pieces surrounding a photo frame which was faced down. On it, a date was sketched into the wood. The 14^th of April. I carefully picked it up and turned it over. The picture inside the damaged photo frame was of two brothers. They were twins. I could make out which one was Jongsuk from his smile, but the other one looked more like he was smirking than smiling. I looked back at the dusty shelf with broken glass on it.