A Great Assortment

Oh brother! - VII

Kongbop

My father fell down the stairs at work and fractured his right leg.

He had to stay about 3 weeks in the hospital for his injury. It took him three months to complete recovery after that. During his hospital stay, my brother and I visited him almost every day because Por missed us so badly, often we ended up staying there in a small hospital bed beside the patient bed with my brother. Of course, There was no way two men with adult-sized bodies could sleep in such a small bed. My brother and I both had dark circles under our eyes as we stayed there.

And this happened the day before he was dismissed from the hospital stay.

"Are you really OK, Pho?"
P'Arthit asked him again for the last time before we left his room.

The hospital is the worst place to be a presence for all of us.

"......"
-I know how my brother feels.

I lost my mother.
P'Arthit lost his mother and his unborn younger brother.
Pho lost his 3 beloved people...

It's not the hospital's fault, but we have too many bad memories of the hospital.

It's terrible.

"No worry.....Hey, it's getting late. You guys should go now."
Pho glanced at the clock on the wall said,

It was just three minutes before the end of the visiting hours. We didn't apply for an accommodation permit today, so we had to leave.

"Well, we will be back tomorrow. If there is something, you need to call a nurse."
P'Arthit said.

"I know. Don't worry, Oon. I will be alright."
Pho shooed us.

P'Arthit bit his lower lip and nodded.

I can see he is starting to worry about him again. So I grabbed P'Arthit's hand to get out from the room and quickly said

"OK! See you tomorrow. Sleep well, Dad."

We didn't get on the elevator because I'm not too fond of it. So we walked to the long corridor to lead to the stairs. I felt the hall was quieter than it had been when P'Arthit was this quiet also. I only see a few people walking around.

I tightened my grip on him while we walked to the hospital stairs' warm yellow-colored light. It seemed strangely inorganic and a little eerie. It might be my overly fertile imagination that makes me think of extra things.

The hand that I'm holding with him is getting moist and sweaty. But P'Arthit was still quiet, didn't complain about it, unlike him.

I was exhausted when we finally arrived at the hospital entrance on the first floor.

I quickly let his hand go and wiped my sweaty hands on my shirt.
"Well."
I felt a little embarrassed after wiping sweaty hands. I quickly reached into my pocket and frowned.
"huh?"
I dug around in my pockets and clicked my tongue with disappointment.

"...What?"
P'Arthit looked at me annoyingly.
I guess he returned to the 'normal' himself.

"I think I left my key at Dad's room!"

"You mean, our house key? I have one. You can get your key tomorrow."
P'Arthit shrugged.

"No. The gym coin locker key! M and I are sharing in school. He needs to use it tomorrow. Damn it!"
I groaned.

"Why don't you ask your gym teacher for a spare key? They should have one, dumbass."
P'Arthit arched his brow.

"Shut up. This is the third time if I ask for the spare key. The gym teacher won't let us use it anymore. Crap, M gonna get mad at me."
I ruffled my hair with frustration.