I skipped down the hospital steps, something I almost never did. But I couldn’t help it, I was just in a really good mood and part of it, okay maybe all of it, had to do with Jinyoung. It all had to do with what he just told me.

          “Minyoung,” he said earlier when I was in his hospital room. He said it in such a tone that I found myself a bit afraid about what would come out of his mouth next. “I don’t want you to be too shocked, alright?”

          “Oh…um…okay,” I hesitantly said. I tried not to show the worry that I was feeling inside on my face. If he had some sort of bad news to tell me, I didn’t want him to think that I was going to negatively react to it. I felt like I should show him a positive image. I figured that he might be surrounded with a bit of negativity, especially because of being in the hospital and because of his limited interaction with the world outside of the stark white walls. That was why I always tried to smile and be in a good mood. While there were times when I would let down the walls, I wanted to be someone strong for him, someone who would stand there for him no matter what. It was moments like those, though, that made me realize just how much of an impact Jinyoung had had on my life so far.

          “Why do you look so serious?” he wondered. I could detect the joking tone in his voice.

          “What are you talking about?” I asked in an attempt to play it off. “I’m perfectly fine.” I made a lousy attempt at getting the conversation back on track, one he probably took note of, but he didn’t say anything else about it and continued.

          “It’s some shocking news,” he said as he turned to look out the window.

          “Oh, is it?” I asked. My heart felt like it was going to burst from the suspense. I wanted to know what was going on. I automatically assumed that it would probably be bad news. I wondered why he was trying to prolong the subject. Was it something that he didn’t want me to know? Was it something he was telling me out of obligation?

          “Minyoung,” Jinyoung said turning to me with the serious glint in his eye. He reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders so he knew that I was looking right at him. “I’m getting released from the hospital.”

          It took me a moment to register what he had just said. Released? From the hospital? I probably stared at him in shock and zoned out. I’m not sure how long I was unresponsive for, but when I snapped back into reality, Jinyoung was waving his hand in front of my face with a gummy smile on his face. He had to know the kind of effect that the news had on me. Still, I couldn’t believe it. Was he really getting released? Did the doctors really approve it?

          “I’m serious, I’m not joking around,” Jinyoung said. “I’m really getting released.”

          “I…what?” I somehow managed to get some part of my voice to say something in response. “Like…out of the hospital released?”

          “Out of the hospital released,” he chuckled.

          I couldn’t hold back anymore and immediately hugged him. It felt like I was in a dream. Jinyoung would be leaving the hospital. I really couldn’t remember the last time that I saw him in normal clothes, that I met with him outside of the four white walls that held him in. My mind immediately went to think of all of the things that I wanted to do with him. It was weird to think about the couple things that people do, but my mind went there. I would have never thought about that a year ago. Relationships were always the last thing on my mind, but Jinyoung made the difference. He was someone important to me, someone that I wanted to be around for a very long time.

          “Don’t worry, we’ll have time to do everything,” he said as if he were reading my mind.

          “When’s your release?”

          “They haven’t set an exact date yet, that still has to get worked out, but they said that they think it’ll be within the next couple of weeks.”

          “What’s the very first thing you want to do when you get released?” I wondered. I had never really asked him that question before and I wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe I somehow thought that he would never leave the hospital? Even though I didn’t want him to die, maybe some part of me was slowly getting prepared if that moment ever decided to show itself. Or maybe it was because I didn’t want to cause Jinyoung more unhappiness by thinking about things that he couldn’t have. It could be a possibility that I didn’t want to have him think about things he couldn’t do.

          “Spend time with you,” he said as the gummy smile came back to his face. He leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. “I just want to spend time with you, like a real couple.”

          “A real couple,” I whispered.

          I smiled at the moment that happened just an hour ago as I walked into the café to meet Shinwoo. He and I met up more frequently for simple chats. I think the both of us realized that we need a place where we can just talk freely, without mentioning the hospital and Jinyoung’s condition. I really had no one else to talk to and just naturally befriended Shinwoo. He was Jinyoung’s best friend, after all.

          “Shinwoo-oppa, Shinwoo-oppa,” I immediately said when I entered.

          “Someone looks happy today,” he immediately observed. “Did something good happen?”

          “You’ll never guess what,” I excitedly said sitting down in the seat across from him. “Jinyoung-oppa said that he’s going to be able to get released from the hospital. They don’t have an exact date yet, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he’s going to be released!”

          “That’s good news, isn’t it, Minyoung.” Shinwoo smiled as he said it but I could tell that his mind wasn’t that focused on our conversation.

          “Is something wrong?” I asked. “You seem distracted.”

          “No, there’s just—oh, they’re here,” he said mid-sentence. His gaze extended past me and I turned around to see who he was looking at.

          A middle aged man and woman entered the café and brightened when they saw Shinwoo, who stood up to gesture them over. It didn’t take me long to figure out that they were probably Jinyoung’s parents.

          I had never really once heard Jinyoung talk about his parents before. I didn’t know anything about them and didn’t want to ask any questions. Therefore, it was a subject that we just stayed away from. To see them in front of me was a surreal feeling. As soon as they made their way to the table I stood up to greet them along with Shinwoo. As would be expected, they seemed very familiar with one another. I moved to the other side of the table to sit next to Shinwoo, leaving Jinyoung’s parents to sit across from us.

          “Minyoung, I’d like to introduce you to Jinyoung’s parents,” Shinwoo said only confirming what I automatically suspected.

          “Hello, I’m Seo Minyoung.” I formally introduced myself to them but was unsure about what to call myself. Did I tell them that I was Jinyoung’s girlfriend? Did they know that he had a girlfriend? Did they even know that he was in the hospital?

          “They know, don’t worry,” Shinwoo said. “I’ve been keeping them up-to-date on Jinyoung’s condition and I’ve told them a little bit about you as well.”

          “Actually,” Jinyoung’s mother said, “we’re the ones who requested to meet with you.”

          “You wanted to meet with me? Why?” I had never really had anyone want to meet with me before, unless it was a boss at a job. My mind instantly went into a frenzy thinking about the different things they might ask. Did it have something to do with me dating Jinyoung? Did they not like the idea? Or was it something more severe than that? I also wondered why they would want to meet with me in person? Why would they want to meet with me at all? So many questions went through my mind at that moment.

          “We’d like to thank you for taking such good care of Jinyoung,” his mother said after a moment.

          “Thank me?” I asked. I was taken aback by her statement. She wanted to thank me? I didn’t think I had done anything that deserved thanks. I should have been thanking her, instead, for giving birth to Jinyoung. For allowing me to somehow meet him. He changed my life.

          “Shinwoo has told us all about how you’ve helped him along the way and everything you’ve done for our son. We’d just like to express our gratitude.”

          “I…but…” I began but discovered that I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t used to conversations like that. I wasn’t used to people thanking me. I had never done anything that deserved praise like that before. It was a strange feeling, being thanked. It felt like a warmth spread over me. Having someone actually appreciate me, it felt different, a good different.

          “We aren’t able to see our son much,” his father continued. “That’s why we’re appreciative towards you. You’re there when we’re unable to be.”

          I wanted to ask why they weren’t able to be there with him. I wanted to ask why Jinyoung never spoke about them and if they had a bad relationship. Something inside of me wanted to fix it if that were the case. If they did have a bad relationship, I didn’t Jinyoung to experience the same regret that I had with my mother. I didn’t want his parents wondering ‘what if’ if something bad were to happen to Jinyoung. The idea formed in that moment.

          “It just came up today,” I hesitantly began, “and I just thought about it now, but would you like to help me plan something?”

          “Plan something?” his mother asked.

          “You see… Jinyoung just told me today that the doctors are finalizing his release from the hospital. And I just thought about it now, but how about we all throw him a welcome home party?”

          The plan began to take shape in that moment. I wasn’t sure what the future was going to hold for any of us and I definitely had more questions than answers at that point regarding Jinyoung and his parents, but I pushed it aside in hopes that we could all work together to do something nice for Jinyoung. He was stuck in the hospital and his release would be the first time he was out in the real world in who knows how long. I wanted to do something special to commemorate it and if I were to help rebuild a couple of bridges in the process, then so be it. My only wish was that Jinyoung felt the same way I did.