Sehun and I spent an hour sitting in front of the emergency room, feeling restless. My parents had been contacted already, but as they were both out of town – what a coincidence – they were still making their way over to the hospital. My sister was contacted as well, but as she had her own children to take care of, I told her there was no need for her to swing by the hospital.

            I paced around the corridors, praying that my grandma’s condition would not be critical. Through my peripheral vision, I saw that Sehun was nervously shaking his leg. It seemed as if he too, was nervous about my grandma. As he looked up and made eye contact with me, the doctors who attended to my grandma exited the ER. They tiredly informed us, “Mrs. Kang’s body is still in shock so she’ll need to recover. After properly resting, she should be fine. But be sure to limit her spice intake.” Immediately, relief flooded our faces before we hurriedly thanked the doctors. They soon left us to make their way to their next patient.

            Sehun and I then collapsed onto the nearest seats. He was still wearing his Hello Kitty apron and we both smelled like kimchi – lovely, we looked like country bumpkins. Fortunately, everybody at the hospital was too exhausted to even cast us a judging look. “You can go home now since there’s work tomorrow. Thanks for staying behind,” I said while rubbing my temples.

            To my disbelief, Sehun shook his head. “It’s my fault we winded up here anyway. The least I can do is wait for the rest of your family to arrive. I don’t want you to be lonely. Besides, I’m sure Yi Fan won’t mind me missing a day.” Sehun’s genuine words touched my heart. Although I never openly stated that I hated being alone, it seemed as if he had me all figured out – as if he knew how much I enjoyed other people’s company. For that, I was secretly thankful to Sehun.

            We sat in silence, overcome with fatigue. Before we knew it, our eyes closed and we drifted off into oblivion. An eternity later, I was shaken awake. While I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, consciousness slowly came to me before I realized that my head was placed on Sehun’s shoulders. I looked up, searching for answers. My mom stood in front of me with her hands on her hips.       

            “Oh , Sehun!” In a hurried attempt to untangle myself from his embrace, my head bumped into Sehun’s chin, startling the poor male. A groan of pain escaped Sehun’s mouth before he blindly rubbed at his sore chin.

            He belatedly said, “Ow…”

            Immediately, my mom jumped on him with her motherly instincts kicking in. “Are you okay, dear? Do you need ice? Hye Su’s head can be very hard – you might want to get your chin checked out.”

            Sehun opened his eyes before piecing the puzzle together. He politely bowed his head as he stifled a laugh. “I’m fine, thank you.” But even then, my mom didn’t seem to believe Sehun. Her eyes narrowed at his chin as her pain radar went off.

            “Umma!” I groaned in a futile attempt to redirect my mom’s attention. It worked, but I could still see that my mom was worried about Sehun, or maybe she was attracted by his face – I guess it ran in the family. “When did you get here? Is Appa here as well?”

            She eventually tore her gaze from Sehun before answering me. “Your father’s in the room with your grandmother.” I immediately stood up to enter the room but she stopped me. “She’s currently resting right now, so why don’t you and your friend go home and rest? You’ve been here for a long time.”  

            So Sehun and I left together.

            By the time we reached our neighborhood via taxi, it was already noontime. If we had taken the bus, we would have gotten to our neighborhood later but Sehun insisted on using the taxi. He claimed that it would be in our best interest to find the smoothest and quickest transportation. I could only assume he was subtly alluding to getting kicked out of public places; I was offended but I was too tired to make a big deal out of it. Like a gentleman – and also because I left my wallet at home – he paid for our fare.

            “Do you actually live here?” I said, curious as to why Sehun was st