Two days passed since the last time Minseok saw Saehee. He didn't have a piano lesson on those days. He was anxious to see her. After his scheduled lesson, he rushed to the study room to wait for her. The other two times she had been there waiting for him, but she wasn't there. He panicked. He tried to calm himself down by pacing around the room. What if she doesn't want to see me anymore? Minseok thought.

After a few minutes of pacing, he froze when hearing the door click open. He turned around to see Saehee hiding behind the door—only half of her body was able to be seen.

"Saehee—“

"Minseok-shi," Saehee interrupted him, "Can you forget what you saw the other day?" Minseok furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why do you want me to forget?"

"You saw something weird."

"It wasn't weird." Minseok disagreed.

"Don't lie. It scared you, right? I was talking to something not real." Saehee gulped, her eyes beginning to get watery. Memories from people she encountered in the past came flowing back. She scared them because she heard and saw things that weren’t there. She looked so vulnerable at that moment; it showed how insecure her mental disorder made her.

"I'm not scared, so you can come in." Minseok took a step forward to pull her into the room. She stepped back.

“I want to stop tutoring. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable by being forced to be here.”

Minseok racked his brain to find the right words to comfort her. "I have a weak heart. I spent most of my childhood in the hospital. When I turned fifteen they released me because I was getting better, but I still can't do everything that I want to do. I can't over exert myself or else my heart starts to hurt a lot. When I excused myself before it was because I went to take my medication," Minseok explained.

As Minseok spoke, Saehee silently listened. "How do you deal with it?" Saehee asked in an almost inaudible voice.

"If you come in I'll tell you." Minseok encouraged her to come in. He wanted to see her. He missed her. Slowly, she opened the door wider to get herself through. Now that she was fully visible, Minseok could see that she had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was tied into a side ponytail. He patted the sofa-like chair for her to sit. She obeyed. Minseok sat on the edge of the work desk so that he could face her.

Minseok exhaled before speaking. "I deal with my heart condition by telling myself that I can do anything no matter what. I know it sounds cliché. Even if my body isn't physically able, I know that my mind is.”

Saehee remained silent for a while. "I'm jealous of you. I can't deal with my condition."

"Of course you do. You deal with it every day."

"No, I hide from it and pretend that it doesn't exist."

"Then stop hiding. You can fight your condition. You don't need to be pulled down by it."

Saehee let out a small chuckle, "You make it sound so easy."

"It's not." Minseok's expression changed from serious to melancholic. When he was still in the hospital, he felt like dying. He'd have random panic attacks and he was lonely. He couldn't run around and had to stay in bed all day. It wasn't until he had been released from the hospital when he gained his love for piano back. He started private lessons with Jonguk, and then gradually he became happier by making friends at school and being involved in academics.

"But," he paused, "I think if you find something that makes you happy, it makes the process of dealing with it a lot easier." Minseok concluded.

“I don’t know what makes me happy.” Saehee looked Minseok right in the eyes as she said that. Her eyes were blank and emotionless.

“Then find it. Don’t wait for it to find you. And also, I’m not going to stop being your tutor. I’m not being forced to come. I come because I want to.” The atmosphere grew silent and tense; she lowered her gaze to her hands that rested in her lap. Saehee was deep in thought, while Minseok contemplated if what he said made any sense.

After a few moments of more silence, Saehee raised her head to look at Minseok. “Thank you.”

“Hm, for what?”

“For staying with me.”

A/N: Just to let you know, I might not update this story for the rest of this week because of school >< "Dat senior life" lol

(updated: 12-10-13)