ride - hoody

05. how it has been it will last

Your POV

I high-fived with her, grinning. "I told you we'll win!"

Soojin and I stuck out our tongues at Hyun Jung and a friend she brought along called Miro. We were at a small bar, getting drunk and playing billiard.

"You'll be dead in the next round!" Hyun Jung shouted and "sliced off " with her thumb. I just chuckled at her and looked at Soojin. "We're going to kill them in the next round...again!"

"We'll see..." Miro gulped down some Captain Morgan before returning to the billiard table. Soojin cleared . "When do you meet your mom again?"

I looked back before I made my next move. "Maybe tomorrow, why?"

"I want to come along again." she smiled innocently and I watched the yellow ball disappear in a hole and held my hand up for a high-five. Soojin did so and Hyun Jung's turn was now.

I watched her movements intensely and Soojin laid her hand on top of my shoulder. "Jiwon ah, you almost haven't seen her in a week, that's not you."

"Soon, I told you. I have phoned with her just yesterday. Umma is all fine."

"Did she tell you to visit her?" Soojin asked and it was our turn again while I nodded. "Yep, as always."

She looked at me before poking the ball. "Then do it, damn."

My phone suddenly rang and I looked shortly at the caller ID before tugging it away again.

"Haha, it's Byuntae!" I laughed and took the stab away from Soojin. "Don't ing pick up, Jiwonnie!" she, too laughed and the two other girls looked at us. "Who's Byuntae?"

"Let's say, a girl we don't like." Soojin stunned her hands on the table before taking a sip from her alcoholic drink. I waved at her statement. "And now, let's get this done. We can't let those losers win!"

-

Victoriously Soojin and I looked behind us while walking out of the bar, Miro and Hyun Jung had crossed their arms. I made two peace-signs next to my face. "Smile, just because you two lost?! We'll do this more often...you two should get used to it."

I pulled out my phone to call another friend since she asked me to contact her yesterday and noticed three missed calls. I clicked and read it. Hospital 3 missed calls. My eyebrows furrowed and Soojin pulled me into a cab after we bid goodbyes to our friends.

"The hospital has called thrice." I blinked and right at that moment my phone rang, the hospital's ID popping up. I immediately picked up. "Yes?"

There was a relieving sigh at the end. "Glad you are now picking up, Jiwon sshi. We would like you to come to the hospital."

I swallowed hard. "H-hospital, now? W-why?"

"Please arrive as soon as possible." the nurse that used to watch over my mother hung up and I stared at my phone. Soojin blinked at me, taking my hand. "Jiw-"

I screamed the address of the hospital to the cab driver hysterically and told him to get there. Fast.

-

There was a small crowd around the room of my mother and I pushed all of them to the side, knocking on the door.

"Excuse me!-" I heard from some of them and looked back. "Shut the up, this is my mother!" a nurse opened the door and laid an arm around my back, leading me in.

"Please leave." my mother mumbled and she bowed, leaving.

I grabbed the tallest chair in the room, sitting down next to her. She was pale as chalk and I twitched at the touch of her freezing hand on my cheek. "Hi, my bright angel...How are you doing?"

"Umma..." I choked on a sob and she shook her head. "Tell me how your evening went." My tears fell and I intertwined our fingers tightly. "I-I...-"

"How did your evening go?" she smiled weakly, her big eye bags stretching a slight bit. I gulped, wiping away my tears. "I went out with S-Soojin and some new friends I made...Soojin and I won at billiard."

She nodded, closing her eyes for a second. "You're so good at billiard...I...remember playing against you...You won."

"Umma, how are you feeling?" I blinked, tears falling down on her bed and she blinked as well. "I'm freezing, could you...could you close the window?"

I looked at the window and sobbed loudly, cupping my mouth and crying silently while looking at my pale mother. "U-umma, the window is closed."

She chuckled, furrowing her brows in pain. "I'm so clumsy, no?" I sniffed, smiling for her. "Yes, ma, you are." I looked down at myself, sniffing even more. "Umma, I want to tell you some things."

"Go on." she whispered, closing her eyes, but I shook her. "Please look at me while I talk." My mother just let corners twitch upwards a bit and nodded lazily. I gulped and held her hand in between my two. "I don't...I don't work at the office in downtown...Umma, I'm a woman men pay for...I'm a . I can't afford f-food and a lot of electricity at home because appa isn't doing much in his job and they aren't paying him well, yet they don't want to fire him be-because they need more staff an-and...I've lied to you, and it hurts me so much right now. I'm about to just push myself out of the window any moment." Tears from both of us fell and my mother nodded, stretching her neck a bit. "I know, Jiji ah. Soojin ah has told me about a half year ago. This...this is surely a topic you would...would never bring up...just like that."

A waterfall fell without a sound and I sniffed loudly. "Why didn't you want to talk with me about it?"

She lightly shrugged. "I wanted to you be bright and smiling around me...You know those serious, depressing things...they eat me up alive."

I cried out loud at her metaphor and laid my head down on her shoulder, crying and screaming terribly. "Do-on't go, umma! Umma, I need you! Appa is being so bad to me! And w-"

"I know, dear, I know. Soojin has told me." my mother sniffed and I looked up from her shoulder. "Umma, he's hurting me so much...I cry myself to sleep at times..."

She just nodded. "You're a strong, independent woman who don't need no man..." she smiled, "And don't worry, your father has been here already two hours ago. The...the doctors told him I would like...to sleep...so he left..."

"Has Dongmin been here already?" I smiled and she nodded. "Of course...what should we do without him."

Both of us laughed half-heartedly and she looked at me. "Promise me..."

"Yeah?"

"Promise me to watch over Dongminnie ah...a lot." I nodded and gazed the back of her palm softly. "Promise me the same..."

I cried some before she caressed both of my cheeks. "Gal Jiwon ah..."

My entire attention turned to my mother.

"I will always be by your side...How it has been, so it will last."

I nodded and she waved me to bent down a bit. She cupped my cheeks, kissing my forehead, left cheek, right cheek, before leaning back down. I placed my head in the space between her neck and shoulder and hearing her steady heart beat and breathing I fell asleep, still having our finger entwined.

-

Blinking I woke up and held my forehead, shivering at the coldness as if somebody had put an ice cube on my forehead. I looked down at my hand, my mother's hand still lying in it. My senses started working again and I heard the sustained beep-tone of the ECG. The nurse turned it off and looked at me while both of us started a staring competition.

She walked over with a surgical mask and helped me to straighten up. "Please bid goodbye to your mother."

"I-is she alive?" I asked, out of senses, and she looked down. "Her heart stopped beating half an hour ago...we were waiting for you to wake up to turn off the ECG. We need to call doctors who'll take care of her and prepare her for the funeral. My sincere condolences, Gal Jiwon sshi. May your mother rest in peace forever."

I pulled my hand out of hers and kissed her cold forehead before leaving the room, seeing several men standing there. In the background, Soojin. I walked towards her in a fast pace and she went my way just as quick, letting me fall into her arms. I cried and yelled "umma" uncontrollably, having Soojin shedding tears with me.

Weeping for a long time I turned around wanted to run back, but Soojin held me back. "No, honey, no..."

A man came to us, giving me some tissues and patted my shoulder before leaving again. I wetted one tissue after another, leaving the hospital with Soojin where a cab brought Soojin and me home. I was glad Soojin suggested me to stay over for the next nights.

-

A/N: im sorry for being such a horrible person ;~; also, in the beginning she has misread it since "Byeongwon" means hospital  and yeah, I guess I made her only read the "byeo" part and imagine the rest to her own good ~