The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 1

146 🩺 I cried

Yeosang in the window seat in the sun, staring out at the world. It was quiet in the house, with Wooyoung having been taken to his physio appointment with his father and Hongjoong, and as he stared out the window, he almost didn't realize his mother softly come into his room. He jumped a little when suddenly, she sat down on the side of the window seat.

'Yeosang honey, what are you thinking about in here?' She picked up a pillow and put it behind her back as she settled in.

Yeosang smiled, passing his mother another pillow in case she wanted it too. 'Not much... Just watching the world.'

Yeosang smiled to himself when his mother reached out and brushed his cheek. 'My boy's all grown up now.'

Yeosang laughed. 'I thought you said that we were still little?'

'You will always be my little baby, no matter how grown up you get.'

Feeling a change in atmosphere, he glanced over at his mother to see her gazing at him with a concerned, worried gaze. It took him by surprise a little to see such raw emotion on her face, since his whole life, she has always hidden it from him.

'Mom, are you okay?'

She nodded, smiling.

And then Yeosang noticed the tears forming in her eyes.

Like the flip of a switch, tears formed instantly in his eyes as Yeosang immediately leant forward and put his hands on her arms.

'Yeosang honey, do you know how proud of you I am for taking care of Wooyoung?'

Yeosang hadn't known what he'd hear, but that wasn't it. He staggered back for a moment before he leant forward again. 'What do you mean? Of course I would. How could I leave him in hospital by himself?'

'No honey. I mean since you were just little.' She reached up and wiped her eyes before putting a hand over one of Yeosang's.

Yeosang didn't want to see her cry, and didn't understand why now of all times, she was saying these things. 'Eons... why are you thinking about that? It was so long ago...'

She gave him a sweet smile. 'I still remember the day the authorities asked me whether I would take custody of Wooyoung.'

Yeosang frowned. Never once in his life had it ever occurred to him that their family's story had started before the day Wooyoung came to live with them.

'Your father and I spoke a lot about it...'

'W-why?'

'You never had a sibling, Yeosang. We knew Wooyoung needed a lot of love and attention and support, and we weren't sure you would understand why suddenly everything that had once been exclusively yours, needed to be shared. We were worried that having to share your parents and everything else in your life, you two might not get along...'

A tear spilled down Yeosang's cheek as he listened. This was the first time they had ever spoken, or even acknowledged the fact that he and his brother were from different families, and Yeosang wasn't sure he liked it. 'Eoma, why would you think that?'

'Yeosang all families who go from having one child to two go through it. But Wooyoung was not a baby when he came to us, and you were not related-'

'But we were best friends!'

'But best friends, Yeosang, do not share the same home and parents.'

Yeosang wiped at his cheeks. 'I love him, and not once in my life from the moment you sat me down and told me that he was going to be my brother from now on, have I ever seen him as anything but exactly that. I don't care what blood is in our veins. I don't even have the same blood type as my own mother, so what does blood matter anyway!' Tears slipped down his cheeks as he worked himself up.