The bar was filled with people dancing crazily. It's better to say they were all just moving their bodies and waving their hands as they wanted to. The colourful, eye-catching disco lights were moving all around the place. In the corner of the room, a boy was sitting on a sofa with a girl on his lap. His hand was on her belly, and it was going up.
"What a pervert!" Seokjin mumbles and places the bottle of wine in front of them.
That boy slightly touched the girl's chest, and she swats his hand. She laughed hysterically, probably because of the alcohol, and the boy looked at Seokjin as if he has interrupted their moment. "Enjoy!" Seokjin feigns a cheerful tone and walks past a girl who was too deep in dancing to notice him.
He put the tray in front of the counter and sighed heavily.
"Another tough day?" The barmaid asks.
"You know that. This place makes me go crazy, Sumi."
She smiles a little. "The VVIP area is much better."
"Who cares? You won't be there."
Sumi rolls her eyes and softly says, "Your salary is rising. Isn't that what you always wanted? Some extra "
"I do. But I won't be able to see you often then," he says while playing with his fingers.
Sumi is his one and only friend here, and he spends most of the day in this bar as a waiter.
"Don't be silly. We can also meet out.."
"I don't want to meet you in that life." Jin says it severely.
"It's funny how you always say 'that life'. It's like you've put an invisible wall between the bar and the outer world," Sumi ends with a giggle.
Jin didn't reply to her. He started organising glasses on the round tray. Sumi waited for a minute, even though she knee he won't answer.
" Ok. We won't meet there. I forgot to say Lee called you."
Seokjin shows zero curiosity and asks in a not-so-interested voice, "And why?"
"C'mn, Jin. He likes you. Why don't you accept his proposal??
"I don't want to; that's why. I didn't ask him to give me a promotion to the VVIP area. I don't want his extra care," he says harshly, not minding if others hear him.
"Now tell me, why did he call?"
"I don't know. He just asked me to tell you to meet him in his office."
Jin knocks at the door of their manager and walks in, hearing Mr. Lee calling his name.
"You called me?" Jin asks him as politely as he can.
"Yes, I did, Seokie!" Mr. Lee walks out of his chain and puts his big hands on Jin's shoulder. Jin pressed his teeth together and clenched his fist. Seeing Jin's reaction, Mr. Lee moves his hands and chirps happily, "We have your new uniform!" he points to this office table. "Now go and try it."
"I didn't know we had different uniforms!" Jin exclaims.
"Yes, we have. Now change into them."
"Where?" Jin says, looking at him. He was astonished.
"You can do it here." Mr. Lee replies with a wink. It took everything for Seokjin to not screech.
"Manager, I have told you multiple times that I'm not interested in you."
Lee sighs. "Then you can leave and try them out somewhere else," his face full with disappointment.
Seokjin was unable to figure out how a person could be disappointed after hearing the same thing again and again.
"I'll change it at home." Jin walks to the door, not interested in entertaining him anymore.
After finishing his evening duty, Jin came out of the bar in his regular dress. Sumi had left before. He started walking on foot to the destination he went to every evening. After 15 minutes of walking, he came to the 19-storied building. It could have been much better if he had taken a taxi but Jin had a lot more to be concerned about than a cab journey.
The girl at reception greets him, "Welcome to Seoul Hospital. How can I..." She stops seeing Jin and smiles brightly.
"Seokjin! I was just wondering why you were."
Seokjin gives her a subtle smile. He gets into the elevator and presses 10. He gets down on the 11th floor and walks to ER room 10. The nurse on duty looks at the door, hearing his footsteps.
"Any progress?" he asks her. She shakes her head in disappointment.
She always felt sad about this young, handsome, helpless man. He had a bright future once, and now it's all shattered. Even though he is not showing, she knows deep inside his heart that it's hurting.
Jin walks to the bed with a woman lying on it. He sits on the chair by the bed. The woman lying there is beautiful. Same pretty oval almond eyes, heart-shaped full lips as his. She looks like an angel, like a sleeping princess. He takes her hand and places it on his cheek, "Mom!"
She opens her eyes and looks at him. Her lips moved a bit, smiling at him, eyes filled with tears as she looked at his tired face. Seokjin does his best to contain himself. He needs to be strong for his mom.
"You've got to fight. You need to survive for me and for us. You know that, right?"
She blinks twice, and tears escape from her eyes.
The nurse turns on her back. She has been watching the same thing for the last seven months. Yet she feels like crying whenever she sees them.
Jin sighs, holding his mom's hand. He kisses the hand and places it on her belly as she falls asleep again.
It's the same old thing. But he is waiting for a new day to come and to lighten up his life, just like before.
