Love Yourself: Him

S: H A F

"Eomma, Eomma, Eomma, Eomma!"

Little Jeongguk gripped onto the wrist of his mother and pulled, hard. Even though he was an seven-year-old, he was strong enough. He bet he could lift a car, just like those stories about mothers who would lift cars off their babies.

He tugged and tugged but all it really did was make his mother shift centimeter after centimeter. He still kept tugging until finally, she flipped over and fell onto the floor.

"Eomma, wake up!" he yelled in her ear, but she didn't seem to hear him. She must've be really tired if she couldn't even hear her son screaming. "Get up, I have to show you something! I made you something! Come on, look!"

Jeongguk ran into the living room and grabbed the picture he'd just drawn. He figured, since he woke up before her for once, he'd surprise her with a drawing. She had always seemed so tired in the morning, even after she drank her tea and ate her vitamins, so maybe she just needed some motivation from her Jeongguk.

He ran back into the bedroom, where his mother hadn't moved quite yet.

"Look, Eomma, look, I drew us!" he says, bouncing. He points to where he's drawn himself. "This is me. I'm wearing my favourite overalls. And this is Appa. I don't really remember what he looks like, so I just drew him. And this is hyungie, before he left! Look, his hair's all long. And this is you, Eomma! I drew you with a big smile because you don't smile a lot, so in this, you'll smile all the time! And you're wearing your favourite red dress with the paint on it!"

He waited for her to finally get up and see what he made for her. He waited a minute. And then another minute.

"...Eomma, are you still sleepy?" he asked quietly. Maybe she was ignoring him because she wanted to keep sleeping. "Here, I'll put this here for you, 'cause I have to go to school. But you can look at it when you wake up." He put the picture down, and to make sure she didn't get cold, he grabbed the blanket and covered her up, and then grabbed her favourite pillow and put her head on it, and planted a little kiss to her hair. "Love you."

She didn't respond, since she was still asleep, and he got dressed and went to school.

When he came home, she was still asleep.

"Eomma, did you wake up and then go back to sleep?" he asked. He poked her side. "You've been asleep all day, Eomma, are you sick?"

With his little hands, he pushed her so she could lay on her back.

Her eyes were open.

"...E-Eomma?"

He shoved her a little, but she didn't respond to it. He put his little head on her chest to see if he could hear that heartbeat he'd felt so many times when she hugged him. Her chest wasn't even moving and her skin was really cold.

"Eomma, wake up." He climbed onto her lap and looked right down into her eyes, which weren't colourful anymore. They looked grey and white. Her lips were all chapped, rather than wet like when she kissed him and left a big spot on his cheek. "Eomma."

She didn't even move.

Jeongguk picked up the phone and dialed 119.

"Hello, police?" he said into the phone. "I think Eomma's sick, s-she won't get up." They asked him what she looked like. "Really, really pale and white. And her eyes are white, too. She won't move, and her heart isn't moving, n-not even when I hug her."