Payback AU: What If

Act 3.4 - Through the Night

The night is a scary time.

It is dark, and quiet, and made bad news seem even worse. Yoohan never had a fear of the dark. But he had fear of bad news.

And the quietness of the night made crying sounds seem uncomfortably loud, to the point that it drowned any other thought.

It was what Yoohan had to endure now, being surrounded by loud, uncomfortable crying sounds. Both the sleeves of his shirt and his pants were being clutched tightly, wet from tears. His dry, dark eyes were staring straight forward, at two beds covered with white blankets.

Yes, the night was scary.

Today was supposed to be the day Yoohan presented his finals. He had prepared for everything, he was sure he'd defend them decently. Both his mother and little brother were giving him words of encouragement. He had received a teasing call from Jay. It was a nice start to a day.

His exam was supposed to be held in the afternoon, after lunch. He'd waited with other people who had an exam scheduled for the same day. One by one, the other students were being called in and had their exams. But not Yoohan. He had waited for two hours, and almost all the students had had their turn. When it was only him in the waiting room, he was suddenly told that one of the examinees was absent and couldn't be contacted. They advised him to wait until the examinee—who was famous for being hard to be contacted—gave them any news about his attendance. Yoohan waited, until all the anxiety and nervousness he felt since morning vanished into boredom. Another two hours, and the administrator said it was unlikely the examinee will be there today, and rescheduled his exam for the next day.

The once pleasant day started to feel irritating. Yoohan didn't even have any energy to be pissed at that point. In fact, it seemed like Prof. Oh was even more pissed than he was. So Yoohan just loitered around in the professor's office, along with other teaching assistants. He reviewed his work again, not even caring anymore about the result but just to get this bullshit over with as quickly as possible. And then Prof. Oh took Yoohan and the teaching assistants for meals at sundown, and on the way to the dinner, Yoohan got a call.

It was from the police.

Yoohan remembered he was standing on the side of the street, under the street lamp which cast a long shadow over him, hearing about the news that his mother had gotten into a traffic accident. It was a car crash, and both his mother and the truck driver were in critical condition and being sent to the hospital.

Hospital.

Yoohan hated the hospital. It reminded him of bad feelings and helplessness. But he had to go there now, again. He remembered the situation four years ago, and the bitter fear. But he was calmer now, he had less fear, and he was more optimistic. He calmly told the professor of the situation, and went over to the hospital.

Belatedly, he realized that it was the same hospital as the last time. And suddenly, that optimistic feeling he had before was wavering with the rising of his heartbeat.

And then, it came crashing down entirely.

The crying sound was loud, reverberating in the white, eerie hallway. Yoohan's steps were slowing down as he got closer, as if he didn't want to arrive at the source of that haunting sound. But then he heard his brother's voice among the crying sound, and Yoohan pressed his lips, hurrying his steps again.

Lee Hansoo was talking to a doctor when Yoohan got there. And then the high schooler looked at him, and as if in an instinct, Hansoo ran to him and dove straight to his chest. Yoohan knew then, that his effort to be optimistic was a waste. He could feel his brother shaking and trembling when he hold the boy and Yoohan's shirt was quickly getting wet with tears.