Don'ts Of An Arranged Marriage

35. Do Mend Hearts

SHIN

My brother wasn't as interactive as I had foreseen him to be. He stormed off the room when I had disclosed the childish reason behind why I hid my status from them. I explained why I yearned to live on my own terms and not had them worried during the earlier stages because that wasn't going to lead me anywhere. They had been on edge their whole life because of me- I couldn't bear it any longer.

They didn't get it. I didn't expect them to. I envisioned myself in their shoes- I might have been pissed beyond scripture if I was them. Understandable. But when they took some days to pacify and reach a belief is when it got tense. The shift meant how real this all was.

The week at the hospital I was treated with utmost devotion and care- the lighthearted conversations we shared while Lee attempted to soak in all the Korean humor that he was clueless about. We all laughed while he frowned on his mobile screen deciphering the meaning of what we meant. Dad had the most fortunistic quotes at his disposal as he occasionally hugged me goodbyes during the night. Years of importing fortune cookies had taken a toll on him- he was a living motivational Pinterest page and it helped me so much with sleep along with the countless drugs that they pump through me.

I wake up to see the bags under the eyes of Lee, his fatigue and stress glossy as he greets me every morning. His comforter crumpled beside the visitor's couch. The only time he breathes in solace is when I kiss him and assure him of my Well Being. It's then the guilt weighs me down- he was always quick to notice it as he tries to cheer me up with an unpredictable strategy.

Smuggling homemade food or letting me dye his hair to ash blonde, we even solved a jigsaw puzzle of a panda having spaghetti along with Edmund. It was something he brought along with him when he visited me- Fischer was there too.

They both were the loudest of all the visitors I had so far.

There was no sympathy, just support, and faith. They were convinced as they spoke of my cameo in the movie, the actress the production plans on casting, my input as a scriptwriter or everything on the project that was a promise of future, and it's then I saw the radiant grin occupy the gorgeous features of Lee and so on me.

I did get discharged with still no response from Hwan.

"Why has he stopped being the annoying prick that he is?" curiously I asked Lee when I spot him by the door. He was just about to enter aiming to find some peace in our room. The one which still came under the guest sector of Elzina and Alexander Whites domicile.

Lee cautiously walks and sits next to me on the bed, plucking the wrappers of crisps and chocolates that lay decorated on the bed after I had them.

"Probably because he is still- I don't know, angry with you?"

He doesn't look at me but directs his interest on sweeping off the crumbs with his palms.

When I ceased to reply for a while, he diverts his gaze at me. The love and anguish that swirled in them has me in a vice. His smile never colors his face- I pale within realizing if this is how he had felt. Still feels. Betrayed and hurt. With so much that happened, with the rest of the dominant meds I seldom had the stability to think of the aftermath. Of what must have happened when I was asleep. What he must've gone through.

I saw him assembling hope.

But I never saw him break. Or what piece of him change during the course.

He must've seen the regret, tempting me to peel away from him, his brow arcs as his arms wrap around me pulling me gently flush against him.

"You overthink" he warns.