boyfriend for rent • kim yohan

032

It was hard to tell what was going on, especially when things felt like they were happening at once.

One moment, Jiwoo was baking a cake with Yohan, and the next, she was running along the hospital corridors, desperately trying to keep up with the sprinting Yohan.

They both stopped outside the Emergency Room, Jiwoo panting harder than the boy next to her.

A doctor, Lee Dongwook as his nametag gave away, walked out, his eyes grim and lifeless. Jiwoo wasn't stupid, his actions and demeanour were tell-tale signs and told her everything she needed to know about this situation, even if it was a fact that she didn't want to register as real.

Yohan, on the other hand, outright ignored the stiffness in the doctor's shoulders and the downcast of his eyes.

"Where is my mom? Is she doing better?" He asked- but it sounded more like a demand for answers rather than a question.

Dongwook's eyes drifted upwards to meet the teenage boy whose height almost rivaled his. The nurses by the sidelines could only sympathize with Yohan. He had been here ever since his head was below their shoulders' height, and now, he towered over them all.

And yet, he was the same little boy that wanted nothing but his mom to get better.

"I'm sorry. Your mother didn't make it."

———
Yohan had been holing himself up in his room for the past four days. Jiwoo had skipped school all of those days just to stay with him in the house, but couldn't do anything more other than bringing him his meals on a tray, and occassionally tapping on his door, begging him to talk to her.

She knew he was avoiding her too, because he had somehow managed to grab his meals and finish them whenever she wasn't there, or whenever she took a nap in front of his bedroom's door.

But on the fourth day, when Yohan was reaching out to grab his lunch tray- Thai food that Jiwoo had ordered from the shop nearby- the fork on his plate fell and clanked against the metal tray, effectively waking the napping girl up.

Jiwoo's brain and reflexes usually weren't at its best whenever she had just woken up, but today was an exception. Her body moved faster than she could think, her hand reaching out to grab his wrist, and her foot slid in just in time to stop the door from closing.

The two of them stayed in that position for a while, none of them losing the eye contact. Yohan's eyes were puffy and red, as they would be from days of crying. His face was sickly pale, and his usually smooth hair clung to his forehead. His trademark goofy smile was gone, and was instead replaced with a sense of vulnerability she had never seen from the boy before.

He was probably silently judging Jiwoo too. Her hair was tousled, messier than they usually were when she headed for school. She looked tired, dark circles prominent under her eyes from the lack of sleep, for all those times she was waiting for Yohan to step out of his room. That was probably the reason why he was still not closing his door yet.

But now that Yohan was out of his room, Jiwoo's lips went dry. She had no idea what she wanted to say to him.

And that was when she realized. He had nobody else but her right now. If she couldn't make him feel better, who could? She grabbed the tray out of Yohan's hands, setting it on the floor next to them. Yohan's eyes lifelessly followed the actions, before sliding back up to her face again.

Jiwoo pulled him in for a hug, one hand on the back of his head guiding it to rest on her shoulder, and the other wrapping it around his much larger frame.

Yohan didn't fight it, but he didn't hug her back either. He just stayed that way limply, breathing in her soothing, lavender smell.

"It's okay," Jiwoo's voice softly drifted into his ears. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise. I'm here for you."

Yohan's arms moved to tightly wrap around the girl, but this time, no tears slid down his face. He simply basked in the sense of comfort and security that Jiwoo provided, burying his head deeper into her shoulder.

And maybe, posssibly feeling a little bit better than he did four days ago.