𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐁𝐨𝐲| 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧

Chapter 10

Taehyun looked around the plain hospital ward. He was used to seeing the plain colours of the hospital around his room. He felt a sense of boredom creeping up on him and the need to cure that boredom. Reaching out for the television remote on his bedside table, Taehyun turned the television on, in hope of finding some entertainment in a random show. He switched from channel to channel but there was nothing good on air that piqued his interest. He groaned at the lack of entertainment.

Suddenly, Taehyun heard a knock on his door. He yelled for the person to enter. It was his grandmother. "Sweetheart, are you bored?" His grandmother asked him. It was as if she could read his mind and knew how bored he was staying inside the hospital. Taehyun nodded and sighed, telling his grandmother that there was absolutely nothing to do inside the hospital besides staring at the wall while waiting for the doctors to finish checking up on him. 

"Do you want to read your book then?" His grandmother asked him, trying to help him cure his boredom. Taehyun nodded. His grandmother pulled the thick book out of her bag and placed it on her grandson's lap. 

Taehyun's grandmother left the room to go back to her house and make lunch for him, insisting that her grandson needed to eat something that was home cooked and not hospital food. Taehyun tried to refuse but his grandmother did not want to hear a single word. 

Left alone once again in his hospital ward, Taehyun began reading his history book. He flipped to the first page where the note was written. The writing in violet was all too familiar to the boy who read the book at least once everytime he visited the hospital. It was a reminder of his late mother and also a reminder that his late mother had been through the same thing he was going through at that point of time. She did not make it as far as he did, she had passed away during the heart transplant surgery, while Taehyun had survived it. He felt lucky that he had survived the surgery that saved his life but took his mother's. 

As he flipped through the aging pages of the book, he recalled the days when his mother used to hold him tightly in her embrace. He remembered the times when he felt protected and loved, a contrasting feeling to how he felt in the days without his mother by his side, alone and left to fend for himself. 

Mindlessly skimming through the words on the pages, Taehyun's mind drifted away to the girl and boy who had visited him a few hours ago. They were people he barely knew but they visited him as though they cared? Who were they to care about him? He did not like how strangers had seen him vulnerable and weak after another risky and possibly life-taking encounter. He wished that after they had visited him, their memories of him were erased. Especially the girl. Both she and the boy were looking at him with gazes of sympathy but the look in the girl's eyes was what annoyed him the most. In his opinion, Taehyun felt that the girl was looking at him as though she was feeling sorry for someone she knew very well. He hated it. He hated how she had seen him weak and felt sorry for him despite barely even knowing him.

Taehyun let out a long sigh. Now that the girl knew about his condition, he had no idea how the girl would treat him from then on. She was a frequent visitor of his grandmother's store, it was inevitable that he would see her more often. He did not like the idea of that. "I should stop thinking about this," Taehyun stopped his train of thoughts, starting to think about something else. 

He began to think of what he would do when he was finally discharged and free from his doctors' observations . He imagined the sense of freedom he would have when he stepped out of the hospital. It would be a few more months until his new heart was finally adapted to his body but being discharged after that encounter was freedom nevertheless. Taehyun thought of all the things he could do after his heart was finally "his". 

A few minutes passed, Taehyun felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. He felt a sense of drowsiness overcome him as he shut the book and fell asleep, drifting away into a deep state of slumber. 

𝗔/𝗡:𝗜𝗺𝗮 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗴𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗲. 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗮𝗲𝗵𝘆𝘂𝗻'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀? 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴.