hoping for love | kth

|| part #13 ||

|- meili pov -| 

I took a deep breath before I turned the coin colored knob to the hospital room, my other arm wrapped around the bouquet of crepe lilies.

The smell of medication and antiseptic came over me.

My eomma's nurse stood crouched over her, a glass of water in her hand.

"Hi," I said softly, closing the door behind me and walking over to the two.

The nurse flashed me a warm smile. "How are you, dear?"

I smiled back. "I'm alright, thanks. How's she doing?"

The nurse sighed. "Okay. She's doing okay. As you know, she took a pretty hard fall from those stairs, but we'll probably have to keep her for a bit longer because of her Alzheimer's symptoms."

I nodded and looked at my eomma as she stared at me, an eyebrow raised.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" She asked me.

I forced a smile. "I'm your daughter. I'm here because today's your birthday."

It seemed that everytime I visited my mother I was repeating myself, but she wouldn't remember.

She nodded, puzzled. "Are those flowers for me?"

I walked over to her and placed the bouquet on her side table.

"Thanks," she replied, still confused. She paused. "I think I'm going to sleep."

I nodded before reaching over to grab her bony hand. I gently squeezed it before brushing it with my lips and letting it go.

"Love you," I said, walking away from my eomma and towards the door.

"Bye," she called back.

I opened the door, exited, and shut it behind me.

I leaned against the door, sighing.

It seemed to only get harder each and every week I visited my mother.

I  closed my eyes as images of the
past years flew in front of me.

I opened my eyes, deciding to leave before I got emotional. Grabbing my bat from the cerulean plush chair outside the room, I speedily walked down flight after flight of stairs to the lobby.

"Have a nice day!" I called to the receptionist, opening the hospital door.

I walked to the bus stop, the chilled air freezing my lungs.

After around ten minutes or so in the cold, the bus arrived. I paid the driver and took a seat towards the middle.

A few moments later, my pocket began to vibrate. I checked my phone.

A video call from Minjun.

Putting on a smile, I answered the call.

"Hello!" He said cheerily from the other end of the line. 

"Hey," I replied.

He smirked before turning a tad more serious.

"How was your day? What did you do?"

"Not much," I said, scratching my head. "Took the day from work, slept in a bit."

"Good! A little rest is good," he paused. Minjun smiled at me before speaking. "Did you visit your eomma?"

I nodded.

"Next time you see her, tell her I said 'Happy Birthday.'"

I nodded again, dropping the volume of my voice. "Not that she'd remember you, Minjun." I looked away from him.

He sighed. "Meili, don't always act so strong.  When you're not feeling great,  it's okay to let go. Just because you're a bit older than me doesn't mean that you can hide everything from me."

I blinked.  "I know, Minjun."

I glanced out the window - I was almost at my stop.

"Uh, I'll call you later, Minjun." I said, ready to hang up. "Bye."

He waved back. I shoved my phone into my back pocket as the bus arrived at my stop.

"Thank you," I said to the driver, glancing at his flaming red hair.

"Have a nice day!" He replied, cheerily.

I got off at the stop and walked to the dorm house, my feet creating a steady rhythm against the pavement. 

I unlocked the lock and entered the room to find Areum leaning over her desk, a silhouette of a figure in the chair next to her.

"Hey," I said, closing the door behind me and walking over to my bed. I began to unpack the textbooks and water bottle in my bag to start studying.

"Oh, did you take the day off from work?" She asked me.

Taking a sip from my bottle, I turned around to face her.

I began to choke on my water when I saw who was next to her.

His cheek slightly bruised and a cheesy smile on his face, it was none other than Taehyung.

Of all the people in the universe it had to be him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, standing up.

I nodded, continuing to cough for a few more seconds.

"We have a project in our class, Taehyung's my partner. He might be coming over often." Areum said.

I nodded, avoiding eye contact with Taehyung.

"Meili, we're not strangers, are we?"

I slowly turned to face him. "No, I suppose not."

"Really? You guys know each other?" Areum acted.

"Yeah, he goes to the café I work at," I responded curtly.

She nodded.

"Uh, you two continue with your project, I need to get my work done." I said awkwardly.

"Okay."

Taehyung smirked before sitting down and continuing.

Sighing, I sat down on my bed and took out a pair of headphones, connected them to my phone,  and began my work.

School had been hectic lately and the workload heavier, of course, requiring more focus.

So heavy and do much focus, I guess, I didn't even notice Taehyung staring at me.

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iKON question: Do you like 'Love Scenario' or 'Killing Me' more?

I like both of them, but I would say 'Killing Me.' I just liked the style a bit more than 'Love Scenario.'