The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 2

184 🩺 Do It For 𝑌𝑜𝑢

Yeosang glanced over his shoulder as he heard the soft taping sounds of Wooyoung gently padding over to him in his room. 'Sangie...' He said softly, and Yeosang's chest pulled at the tenderness in his voice.

'Yeah?'

'What are you doing...?' he asked.

Yeosang, sitting in his window seat, glanced out at the world as Wooyoung sat opposite him. He had been dazing off, his mind being carried away by different ideas and memories. 'Just thinking,' he replied.

Feeling a tiny little tug at his shirt, Yeosang glanced down to see Wooyoung ever so carefully trying to catch his attention. 'Sangie... C... Can I...' Yeosang watched as his eyes darted nervously, before he suddenly bit his lip. 'Never mind... Sorry...'

Moving to stand up, Wooyoung turned to get to his feet. But Yeosang reached out and stopped him. 'What is it? What do you want?'

'No it's okay...'

Yeosang pulled at him to sit back with him, forcing him to stay. 'Woo, tell me what you were going to say.'

Nervously playing with the hems of his sleeves, Wooyoung didn't, and couldn't meet Yeosang's gaze, which only made Yeosang's heart ache more.

'I- I just... I wanted to give you something... B- but...'

Yeosang felt a tug in his chest, tearing him apart. It was a tug of war between one side immediately filling with irritation, and the other filling with sadness at the sheer disappointment and devastation on Wooyoung's face.

'Woo, you did this at breakfast the other day as well. Are you acting like this because I told you to never do things for me again?'

Tilting his head up a little, Yeosang saw that Wooyoung's eyes were glassy as he desperately tried to hide them from him. 'K-kind of... well, not really...'

Trying to understand what was going through his head, Yeosang studied his expressions as Wooyoung stared at his hands, a tear slipping down his cheek and immediately causing Yeosang's own eyes to sting.

'H-Hongjoong mentioned t-that you see me as a- a cat... bringing you dead animals...'

Yeosang's chest filled instantly with guilt so strong he felt physically sick. He knew the instant it had come out of his mouth that it had been a lie. But he was mad and hurt and in pain, and he had accidentally let it slip out... 'Woo I don't see you as a ca-'

'No but you do, don't you?' Reaching up to wipe his eyes, Wooyoung sniffed.

'Wooyoung, you're my brother. You're not an anima-'

'Sangie, why'd you drop out of uni?'

The question caught him off guard, causing him to freeze for a moment, surprised. 'B-because I need to be home right now.'

'Sang I know you think I'm not the brightest star in the galaxy, but I'd like to think I'm not as stupid as some people might think. Sang you've only got four weeks to go. Which is beside the point, you love it. How can you tell Hongjoong that you hate me bringing you dead mice as gifts and doing things for you, only to drop the one thing you've been working at for so long, and wasting a semester's worth of tuition fees and your own hard work, just because you don't trust me by myself?'

Yeosang felt like he'd been smacked in the sternum. His mouth dropped open, speechless for a moment. But as he stared at Wooyoung, he suddenly saw instant regret lace his features.

'Wait I'm sorry... Sangie I didn't mean that to sound mean... I- I just... I really feel like the only reason this is happening is because you're mad at me... And I don't want you to throw away all your hard work because of what I did...'

'Wooyoung, don't you want me to stay home? Do you really want me to go back and spend all my time away?'

'No. No of course I want you to be home... If I had my way, you and Joong and mom and dad would all be living in a house next to the ocean miles away from anyone else and no one would have to work, we wouldn't own a car and we would live together happily forever. But Sangie, life doesn't work like that.' Wooyoung leant forward and took his hand in his own.

'Hyung-ah, soon, I will have to go back to work, and when I go back, Joong will probably go back too. I'll probably only start with a few days at first, but I can't even pay my own rent with that, and so soon I'll have to go back full time. By then, Joong will be back at work and we'll barely be home, and Sangie, you will be here by yourself and I know you will regret leaving uni. Time always moves forward, whether we like it to or not...'

Yeosang felt a tear slip down his cheek. 'Wooyoung-ah, all I want is to be here for you. It's my job, and I failed at it before. I wanted to become a doctor to help you. But in the process, I ended up hurting you more than anything else...' His chest pained as he looked at his brother, blonde hair with dark roots... pale and fragile frame...

'Sangie, I think you tell yourself too much that you did this for me... I don't know, maybe that's how it started, but you can't tell me for even just a moment that you don't love it. I'm right, aren't I?'

Yeosang sniffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He did love it...

Glancing over his shoulder to his desk, his eyes caught on the paperwork that he knew was the papers of withdrawal of his course. Tear stained papers, but filled in nonetheless, he hadn't been able to put them through as he'd planned...

'Sangie...'

'Woo you don't get it... I feel so guilty...'

'Well don't. Sang I made my own choices. I understand that I don't see my choices in the same light as everyone else, but Hyung, I made those choices, and they are mine to bear.'

Sniffing again, Yeosang picked up a pillow and hugged it to his chest, leaning back and squeezing his eyes shut as he did - tears spilling down his cheeks.

'Hyung-ah...'

Wooyoung's soft, sweetly gentle voice melted Yeosang's pained heart, and as he opened his eyes, he saw Wooyoung holding out his hand.

'Will you take my dead mouse?'

Yeosang glanced down to see him holding out a small square polaroid photo. As he looked closer, he saw that it was recent - so recent it had the three of them and their parents from the last weekend they had visited.

'Mom and dad would want you to finish... And to graduate for you... Not for me...'

Yeosang felt his heart throb. Picking up the little card, Yeosang tenderly held it in his hands like the most fragile and precious gem in the world.

'I miss them already,' Yeosang whispered, gazing deep into the depths of the photo.

And Wooyoung smiled sadly, nodding. 'I miss them already, too.'

~~~