“Omma, I’m home!”

“I’m in the kitchen, honey. Did you have lunch? Oh my god! What’s with you face? Did something happen? You didn’t sleep yesterday right? You look awfully tired.”

I can’t tell her. Hongki asked me not to. Even chairman Han asked me not to. “Oh I’m hungry. Feed me. Palli, palli.”

“Tell me what happened. I’m your mom. You can tell me everything.”

“Mom, normally I tell you everything. But this is something I can’t tell you. Please don’t ask me about it. And thank you for the food. I’ll sleep for a bit now. Today is a hectic day. I had sessions till lunch break.” I went to my room, put the alarm or 15 minutes and jumped to my bed.

*********************

I opened my eyes to see what the loud bang is.

Bang! Bang! Bang!  Beep! Beep! Beep!  Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Yoori~ah! Irona! Yoori!” omma’s banging the door.

“Mom, I’m up.” I shouted and sat on my bed.

Ah! My head is aching like hell. I want to sleep more. A bit more. The alarm is going. I stopped it and looked at the time. 2.30! I’ve been sleeping or 30 minutes? Oh god, I’m going to be late!

I jumped from my bed and fell down. I stood up and fell again. With the help o the bed, I stood up again and forced myself to the bathroom with the help o the things around.

A shower could take away everything. I stood in front of the mirror and examined myself. Messed up hair. Swollen eyes. Puffy cheeks. Even my complexion is bad. And now my legs hurt too. I took o my cloths and stood under the shower. Every drop of water makes me feel better. This is heaven! Every pain has vanished. I quickly dried myself and looked at me from the mirror. Better. I quickly put some make up and wore a skirt and a blouse and went to the living room, where my mom is reading a magazine.

“Omma I’m going. I’m late.”

“Wait. Here’s some ddabokkie and kimchi. Don’t eat ramyeon every night, okay?”

“Okay, thanks. See ya!”

*****************************

Knock, knock.

“Come in.” I said rom my room.

“Doctor, doctor Min asked you to come I you’re free now.” A nurse said.  

“Nae. Gumawo.” I looked at my schedule. I have two hours before the meeting. It would do. God please tell me this is not serious!

I took a deep breath and knocked the door. “Come in. ah, Yoori-ssi. I guessed right. How much time do we have?”

“Two hours.”

“Two hours would do. So I have the report.” Or once I forgot to breath. “Let me show that to you.” She the light where the X-ray of Hongki’s brain is being hung. My heart skipped a beat. Tears blurred my vision. Oh on. This can’t be happening! Lot of neurons are damaged already! Oh god! No no no no no no no……..

“As you can see, some neurons are dead already. This is highly unacceptable. I was surprised too. for an early on-set patient, this is too much. His neurons are getting damaged very fast. We have to give him strong medications. And we have to have sessions once a week. They have a concert next week you said?”

I nodded. I’m too shocked to talk right now. “Yoori, speak will you? You’re a doctor. You have seen this many times.”

I blinked very fast and replied, “The week after next in Japan too.”

“Well we can’t miss the sessions. You talk about the days they have concerts and let me know. We’ll fix a date then. And Yoori, you have to explain his condition to him today. It would be better if everyone knows. But-”

“I’ll ask from him about that. He won’t say no. well everybody know that he’s sick, and he knows that they will help him.”

“Ok, good. And take the medicine too. Yoori~ah, I know you’re upset. We’ll try everything in our power to slow down the process. And I heard your research is somewhat successful. Who knows, I the government agreed to this we’ll be able to save Hongki.”

“I don’t think they will. 1$ per pill? We have to spend 1$, and when it goes for the market, it’ll be like 3$. They won’t agree to it. Even the doctors in other countries disagreed to this. You’re coming for the meeting right?” Dr. Min nodded