𝚆𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝙵𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙸𝚗 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 | 𝐇𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐣𝐮𝐧

3

"Good morning Miss Jeong."

I groan as Haeun opens the curtains, letting the bright morning sun into my room. I shield my eyes as I open them. I see her smile at me before walking over to check my vitals. I roll over on my side towards her and close my eyes once more.

"How can you be tired? All you ever do is sleep."

"No, all I ever do is close my eyes. I actually don't get to sleep much."

She laughs.

"Three and a half days isn't enough?" She asks playfully. I hear her writing on her clipboard. I open my eyes and look up at her, smiling.

"Three and a half days is nothing." I say in a tired tone. She smiles again.

"Be sure to tell the doctor that when you see him in a half hour."

I frown at her words. She notices. I roll over, no longer facing her. I take my blanket and cover myself fully. She sighs.

"Come on Yusoi, he doesn't bite."

"I don't need to see him, I'm fine now."

"No one would be fine after what you've been through."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm an exception."

I feel the bed shift, signaling she took a seat.

"I- I don't want to see you in pain, okay? I've known you for, god how long? Six years?"

"Six and three quarters." I mumble. I could tell she was smiling, but not in a way I appreciate.

"I'll leave you some money for another drink if you promise to behave. How does that sound?"

I remove the blanket from over my face. I look at her.

"Two. Someone took mine yesterday."

She raises an eyebrow, but smiles sweetly.

"Two. Only if you promise."

"Deal." I huff, sitting up and grabbing the tv remote.

"Deal." She says softly before patting my leg and standing up. I turn to the tv, turning it on, ready to flip through channels.

"What's this?" I hear her ask. I turn to see where she is. She looks at me, pointing to a gift bag. I smile.

"It's a gift, from an acquaintance." I say. She 'ah's'. She takes a peak inside while opening my door.

"Did you eat any of it?"

I shake my head.

"No. I'm going to be giving it to someone else."

-

"Yusoi, long time no see."

"We saw each other last week." I reply flatly.

Doctor Lee smiles, smoothing his coat before sitting in his large, plush desk chair. He adjusts his glasses and opens his notepad. I watch as he chooses a pen, clicking it.

"I notice your appearance has changed. Have you been feeling like any of your symptoms have worsened?"

I chuckle.

"Of course they worsened." I spit. "I've been having problems since I was a child, of course nothing has gotten better."

He clears his throat, scribbling something down in his notepad. I try to take a peak, but I'm sitting too far from his desk to see.

"Recovery starts with you, you know. If you refuse to get better, then you won't see any progress-"

"You think me having hope is suddenly going to make my heart better? You think me smiling at random people passing by me in the halls is going to magically give me the money to pay off my hospital bills, or better yet, get me a new heart? You think me sitting here, wasting my last days of life, talking to you is going to cure cancer?" I feel my face become hot. I can't stand talking to him.

He sets his pen down and takes off his glasses. He sets them on his desk, putting his hands together, and bringing them to his face where he rest his chin on top of them. He makes eye contact with me.

"I know talking to me isn't you're favorite part of the week, but it's what we need to do."

I scoff, turning my head away from him, blinking multiple times to prevent tears forming in my eyes.

"Should we put you back on your meds?"

My head snaps back to look at him. I feel my face become red out of anger.

"No. I don't think we should." I say as calmly as possible.

"Well if you're going to act like this, then maybe we should-"

"I don't need them!" I yell. He sighs, sitting back in his chair. I sit back in the sofa as well, looking down at my hands.

"I don't need them." I repeat, more quietly this time.

"Then prove it." He says.

-

I push my dinner around my tray. Although I didn't eat yesterday, I lost my appetite after therapy. I sigh, resting my head on my hand. I set down my spoon, continuing to look at my food.

"I heard things didn't go so well."

I look up and see Haeun. She takes the seat next to me. I look back at my food, ashamed.

"You could say that." I respond, quietly. She sighs.

"I thought we made a deal?"

I look at her, feeling frustrated.

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have agreed." I say. She looks down. She reaches over to me and grabs my hand. I look at her holding my hand, rubbing her thumb in a circular motion on the back of it.

"I'm only trying to look out for you-"

"Well stop! I never asked for you to care. You're not my mom." I retort. I take my hand away from hers and stand up. I avoid her gaze and begin to walk away.

"Hey, Yusoi!" I hear her call after me, but I continue to leave the cafeteria.

-

As much as I hate it, I couldn't stop myself from having a few tears escape my eyes. I look down, hoping no one would ask what's wrong. I wipe my eyes and look back up, just noticing someone about to run into me. She knocks into me, us both falling to the ground.

"Hey!" I say, annoyed.

"I'm so sorry!" I hear her say. Wait, I swear I've heard that voice before. I look over at the girl, seeing her helping me up. She finally raises her head to look at me. We both gasp.

"Lim Jugyeong?" I say in complete shock.

"Jeong Yusoi?" She says at the same time with the same tone.