𝗦𝗨𝗡 & 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡 | ᴬᶰ ˢᵒᵒᴴᵒ 『English Version』

Chapter 22

"Yah, leave me alone."

"Ow, you mad already? What did I do now?"

Gotak slumped into his seat, glaring at Hyeori's, which was in the next row, a few seats down from his, scowling as he muttered under his breath.

Baku followed his gaze, frowning, before turning back to him. "What?"

"You think he's her boyfriend?" he asked suddenly, looking at his friend, eyes wide, hoping he'd say no.

"Who?"

"That idiot... Sieun. You think he's Hyeori's boyfriend?"

Baku saw the glint in his friend's eyes and the slight pout of his lips – minimal, but enough for him. He liked messing with him. "Yeah, actually. I wasn't gonna tell you, but I'm glad to know you're not as dumb as you look."

"Yah!" Gotak threw an eraser at him, which Baku caught easily, making him laugh. "Idiot, you were supposed to say no..."

"Why? Honesty's always the best policy. Besides... she's too pretty to be single..." Gotak looked his friend up and down before getting up and heading for the exit. "Hey, don't get mad. Come on, she's a pretty girl. Why is my fault if she's into weirdos?"

* * * 

"Oh! Did you get that? Did you record your boyfriend breaking his record?"

Hyeori watched her boyfriend's smile on her phone screen, her own eyes a little watery. Pausing the video, she kept looking at that smiling face, feeling her nose begin to tingle as his laughter echoed in her ears.

She missed him so much.

When the bus seemed to reach its final stop, she stood up, tucked her phone into her jacket pocket, and got off, walking a few blocks without much hurry.

It was a Sooho visiting day.

The bus dropped her off just two blocks from the hospital, so she always took the same one on these days. When she entered the hospital, she went to the reception desk, asked for the visitor's log, signed it as usual, and felt a little warmth seeing Sieun's name among all the signatures on the nearly full page.

Wooyoung's words still echoed in her mind, no matter how much she wanted to erase them, to diminish them. Every time she saw the boy, it was like reliving everything that had happened a year and some months ago.

"Hi, honey," she murmured as she entered the boy's room, startled when a nurse suddenly appeared. "Oh, God..."

The woman, familiar by now, chuckled softly and greeted her. "I'm sorry, I was just doing his nightly check-up."

"No, no, don't worry..." Hyeori shook her head, smiling faintly before glancing at the boy for a second and then back to her. "Any changes?"

The woman gave a small smile, the kind Hyeori didn't like because it looked like she pitied her. "The usual... Although..." Hyeori looked at her immediately, watching as the woman glanced at the boy's bed. "One of these nights, his pulse was irregular."

"Irregular?"

"Is that bad?"

"It is." Hyeori felt as if she'd been slapped; her breathing grew a little heavier, but her expression didn't change much. "An irregular pulse can mean many things, but none of them good."

"Like what?"

"Well..."

"It's not ICP, is it?" Hyeori murmured, interrupting her, recalling the term from a medical book she'd read a while ago. "Is it his brain pressure?"