Meet Me Here

Chapter 13: One More Light

Warning: Do prepare tissues...

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On a bleary morning, when the skies were dark and the rain was pouring hard upon the roofs, two adults were standing in the kitchen, their hands moving as rapidly as their mouths. Their words, strung from frustration and grief, poured out of them ceaselessly. 

Dr Hyun and his wife was the prime definition of two souls fighting for the same thing yet in different ways. And that morning's conflict was rooted in their grievances over their precious son and the new situation.

After months of fighting against the unknown, change became one that the family feared.

Seeing their youngest changing from that young man who had an unrivalled love for sports to a man whose cheeks were hollowed out to the point he couldn't get out of bed some days was especially heart-breaking to those around him.

That morning, as Hyun Bin's parents fought, the young boy was huddled up under his blankets, drowning out the rising sound of his loving parents shouting at one another.

He did this...

He was the one who caused this.

Who else could cause his parents, that has always been incredibly giving towards one another, to fight the way they were now?

And when the voices grew louder, Hyun Bin only buried his face closer to the giant hamster stuffed toy Ye Jin had gotten him one year for his birthday. Perhaps he was hallucinating, but he thought he could smell the sweet scent of his girlfriend wafting from the hamster that she loved to cuddle whenever she was around.

Rubbing his hand nervously across the silky fur of the stuffed toy, Hyun Bin tensed up even more when a hand slammed down hard on the countertop in their kitchen, the marble surface bearing the brunt of Dr Hyun's grief as he heaved from his anger.

Beside the couple, the kettle trembled angrily, its' high whistling progressively growing more urgent as the fight continued.

"What if something happens along the way? What if the doctors there can't help him too?" His mother spoke in frustration.

"Honey, my friend there specialises in such diseases. He's interested in our son's case. Shouldn't we at least try?" Dr Hyun's patience was thinning by the second.

Momentarily, their voices became muffled by the whistling of the kettle as the water threatened to boil over. As the couple aired their frustrations openly, Hyun Bin stumbled out of his bed when he felt the familiar waves of nausea overtaking his body.

Back in the kitchen, the water dangerously tipped over the edges, garnering the attention of the couple as Hyun Bin's mother rushed to salvage the situation.

"Aish, nothing is going well today." The stressed mother lamented, carelessly wiping away the burning water that boiled over the kettle.

"Jagiya, be careful." Dr Hyun stopped his wife before she could burn her fingers.

Whirling around, the woman's eyes were filled with tears, for she, like all of them has been strong for far too long. There were a million thoughts running through her mind now, but the most prominent ones were these.

She didn't ever wish to have one more chair in the kitchen that they didn't need. She didn't ever want to stand in her son's closet one day just to try to talk to him. She didn't want to keep a hand-me-down suit that he would never grow into.

Yet, she knew that if...

Oh, it was too painful to think about.

Above all, any mother wouldn't ever wish to experience all the reminders that would pull the world from her feet if she ever lost her own child.