Seventeen Imagines III

#73 "A song of dreams" (one shot story)

I always visit "Hope Hospital" after my work. There I'll see five bright kids, Hoshi, Dino, Jun, Minghao and Jasmine. Every time I come, they welcomed me with shining beam as if they aren't in pain.

"Where is my candy?! You promised that you'll give me one," Hoshi, a cute chubby boy, pouted his lips.

"Candy is bad for you," Minghao, who speaks like an adult, rolled his eyes.

"I'm jealous of you. I wanted to go in and out the hospital too," Junhui, the most cunning among all kids I know, crossed his arms. You can't definitely take your eyes off him or else, the world will collapse.

"Hey, stop dreaming about that. We'll be here forever," Dino, the youngest, drained the spirit of the group.

Their eyes went downcast, staring at their feet. There were no tears but I could feel how sad they were. And so, I lifted my hand and tried to cheer them.

"Guys, it's okay even if you can't go out. We have each other so it'll be fine."

They all looked at me. Next, cute smiles spread on their lips.

"Yes! If you are here, I'll feel happy," Hoshi chuckled.

"Even if you're a nagger, I admit that it's fun with you," Minghao shyly confessed.

Jun jumped up and down while holding his favorite robot. " Then let's play hide and seek today!"

Dino held his shoulder with a sigh. "Dude. Don't move too much."

While the group were being so noisy with each other, I looked at Jasmine, Minghao's childhood friend, who was silent at the corner. She and I never talked but I could feel that she's a good kid.

After playing with the kids, I sat at the corner while catching my breath. Then I looked up the sky.

"Someday, these kids will leave me," I muttered to myself.

Hope hospital is a place where kids with fatal illness gathered. Therefore, it's right to assume that Jasmine, Hoshi, Minghao, Jun and Dino will soon disappear after making happy memories with me.

With that, tears fell down on my eyes.

What's painful is that they already accepted the fact of their early deaths. They know that one day soon, their heart might stopped beating. Maybe next week. Next day. Tomorrow. Or today.

However, they always smile at me. These guys were my happy pills after a tiring day. So I try my best to make each of their remaining days memorable.

"What is your dream?" Dino suddenly asked me.

The six of us are sitting above the grass after having lunch, except Minghao because he had to skip for his blood testing tonight.

I pointed myself upon a child's question. "Me?" I never thought of that after a long time. What was my dream again? It's funny to think about this when I was the oldest one here. So I threw the question back.

"What is Dino's dream?" I asked.

"I wanted to be a famous dancer like Michael Jackson!" He shouted.

Jun also followed, answering, "For me, I wanted to run a Chinese restaurant. Then I'll eat a lot of spicy foods."

"Really?" I giggled. My eyes went to Hoshi. "How about Hoshi?"

"It's like Dino," he pouted. "Ahh! But I want to be a self-producing artist. Like writing songs and making dance steps by ourselves."

"Wow! Can I join you group?" Dino asked Hoshi.