Remember 1999

Chapter 25 - Sunshine

"Ye Jin!"

Hyun Bin's eyes flew open as if waking up in a long dream. He squinted slightly from the sunlight streaming down from the window. He felt a soft material underneath him and a blanket wrapped around him. He looked around and realized he was still in the attic.

'Last night is not a dream,' he mused with a hopeful look in his eyes.

He was with Ye Jin last night. He could still feel her soft body from his hands, could still hear her ragged breathing, and could still remember how her hands which tried to remove his arms away, gently caressed the top of his head in the end.

"Oppa? Are you okay now?"

Hyun Bin glanced at his side and saw Hyo Jin smiling at him. He felt a pang of guilt after seeing her. It had been ten years since he cut his communications to his step-father's relative. He never had the time and luxury to even say goodbye. It was never easy for him but it just happened that way. Some things happened inevitably somehow, like how people grew apart along with the change of time. Some feelings changed, some remained. And, it occurred to him that Ye Jin became the only person that connects him to them.

"Where's Ye Jin?"

"Eonnie? She went out early. She tagged me here and I freeze," she answered. Only then he realized that she was strangely stuck on the wall, not moving at all.

"She has been away for a long time now, Oppa. Can you give me a high-five to unfreeze me?"

Hearing that, his heart grew worried and anxious. Did she leave me again? As he tried to get up, an immediate pain pulsates in his head.

"You should lay down still!"

A voice sprang from the doorway. Hyun Bin saw Ye Jin coming into the room. He pushed himself up so she hurriedly went to him and helped him lean on the wall. Her mere presence calmed his anxious heart. She wore a look of concern on her face and then after a while she high-fived Hyo Jin.

"Go down now, Hyo Jin. Grandma is looking for you," Ye Jin told her. Hyo Jin squealed happily and ran down, leaving them two alone. She brought her hand up to feel his forehead and was relieved that his temperature was not as high as last night's.

"Wh-where did you go?" he asked in a weak voice. She couldn't help but glance at his pale lips gravely.

"The water has subsided already. I help them get some relief goods from the town, and... I have to buy you a medicine too," she said sighing.

She gazed at him as if he was a lost puppy and he, himself, thought that he was indeed in one of the most miserable state in his life.

"I thought you left," he mumbled.

"How could I leave you? You were freezing with a fever last night... And look at that! How could you look so miserable and dejected since the last time I saw you!" she snapped with a trembling voice.

"I mean... I don't exactly remember how you looked like three days ago but I know for sure you don't look so miserable as today," she inhaled sharply.

"I've been looking for you," he said wistfully.

Ye Jin could only stare at him and then she put her head down. She opened the plastic bag she was holding. She brought out a bottle of water and medicine.

"Here. Take this first. Take another rest and don't think too much. Alright?" She gave him the medicine and helped him drink the water.

"By the way, do you have your phone with you? I have to make a call," Ye Jin asked.