I covered my mouth as I yawned unintentionally in Mr. Choi’s office. I was just still a little worn out from yesterday but he promised this will be the fun part. He was going to allow me to meet all the children associated with the program.

Mr. Choi smiles and explains each one of their different sickness and mental disabilities.

“We also allow others to help volunteer so you won’t be the only teen” Dr. Choi smiles as he opens the transparent door to the room I saw different kids playing in.

“Each takes a different department” He continues “Some switch off with either tutoring them, arts and crafts, or just playing with them. So feel free to start anywhere and get to know them because they’re all yours for the next two weeks”

He smiles and walks out leaving me alone. As I looked around I noticed some were hyper than others, I noticed one girl helping a little boy write, and I noticed a few kids were more isolated. My feet move to a particular girl who looked sad. I approach her but she doesn’t make any eye contact with me.

“Hi” I say softly “I’m Hayoung, do you want to tell me your name?”

She doesn’t respond and it felt a little awkward that a small girl was ignoring me.

“Do you like candy?”

I didn’t know how to break the ice with kids. I mean everyone likes candy so I figured it would be an easy way to get her to talk but again there was no response.

“My favorite is homerunball chocolates”

“Still like balls in your mouth Cheon” Sehun’s voice makes me look up at his brown eyes that weren’t cold but gentle, for right now at least.

“You shouldn’t speak like that around kids”

“They don’t know what I mean” He smirks and softly smiles at the girl I was sitting down next to “She’s deaf.”

I look at her and back at him about to tell him to not mess around like that but he points at his left ear. I put my attention back on the girl and notice her earpiece on the ear he pointed.

“How did you know?”

He his lips “I visit”

“So you’re part of Dr. Choi’s youth program?”

He doesn’t respond. Instead he kneels down at the girl and starts using sign-language, something I had no idea he knew how to do.

The little girl smiles

“What did you tell her?” My curiosity takes over

“That she’s prettier than you”

My eyes squint as he covers his stupid smirk with his wrist. The little girl shyly looks at me and shakes her head. She starts using sign-language at Sehun and he gives me a strange look then goes back looking at the little girl, shaking his head.

“What?” I ask

“She thinks you’re prettier”

The little girl was no longer ignoring me. Her big dark brown eyes stared up at me. Even though I didn’t know sign-language I tried using something that was obvious.

I shake my head. I point at myself crossing my index fingers to make an X, then I point at her and nod, hoping she understands that I mean she’s prettier.

She had a confused blank face, turning over at Sehun. He sighs and it looked like he was explaining it to her. It worked, she smiled and I was expecting for her to have a small debate with me but instead she took my hand. The three of us got up, I was waiting for her to lead me to where ever she planned on taking me but she made my hand lock with Sehun’s.

My stomach dropped. I haven’t felt his touch for a really long time and I didn’t think it would draw me so much to him, I should let it go but I couldn’t. The little girl starts using her fingers to create gestures to communicate with Sehun.

“She’s saying we look good together”

I pull my hand away and Sehun didn’t make anything of it.

“How do you tell her I have a boyfriend?” I knew it wasn’t half true but I needed to make it clear, I needed to let him know that I’ve moved on.

He ignores me and kneels down communicating back with her. When he was done the little girl looked sad and they carried a small conversation until one of the nurses came to pick her up. She waved bye at us but hugged Sehun. It stated that they knew each other for a while.

I didn’t see a point in standing around with Sehun so I looked to see where I could go next.

“Cheon” He calls after me. I turn around and watch him use sign-language on me. He walks off without telling me what he said.

Crap, I should have listened to my mom when she wanted me to take classes in case I ever encountered a situation that needed it. I didn’t want to take it because I didn’t think I would need it. In this case, it was very much needed.

Dr. Choi and I walk back to his office. I felt good about meeting everyone that I just had to share how wonderful the kids were, although he already knew.

“I’m glad to see that you got along with everyone”

I nod “Even the staff is so kind”

“We make sure of it” He smiles and begins to write something down “So you’ve meet everyone then” He smiles back at me but puts his attention on his paper work again.

“Yeah,” I pause “I actually know someone here who goes to my school.” I pause “How long has Sehun been volunteering?”

“He’s not a volunteer? He’s a patient.”

My words couldn’t come out “Patient?”

Dr. Choi stops writing and takes a long second to make eye contact with me.

“I thought you knew” He pauses

My heart was beating out of place and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“What’s wrong with him?” I softly ask

Mr. Choi suddenly looked like he regretted informing me “I’m sorry, my patient’s medical records are private. I can’t discuss—”

“I’m his girlfriend” I had to lie to get answers, the answers I’ve been looking for.

It took him a minute but I think it worked because his face changed to a concerned one.

“He has cancer” He swallows “Leukemia.”

There was no sound, nothing but silence and my heart pounding in my chest.

“But” I couldn’t grasp the information given to me “He’s going to be okay right?”

He stays quiet, looking away. “He stopped responding to treatment.”

I felt like I was dreaming. I didn’t believe his words. It’s not true, there’s no way. I start to shake and I felt my chest ache. I grab my purse and storm out of his office.

My mind was lost and I was in denial. He couldn’t possibly have cancer. This is probably some sick joke of his. I couldn’t walk anymore because my tears began to blur my vision. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t take it. My breathing was out of control not allowing me to breathe properly. I stood against the wall to try to calm down but the words kept sinking in and my tears kept breaking me down, breaking my heart than it can take.