Care

ꪀ° 8: an old friend

"Are you okay?" The man asks, his hand reaching out to grab yours.

You look at him, about to reach for his hand but you stop when you spot his face.

Your lips part, your eyes widen, you freeze.

"What are you doing Y/n?" Your manager says but you don't hear.

"T-.....Taehyung..."

"Why are you calling our special guest by his first name!" Your manager bows at him, "Sorry Mr.Kim, she's new, she doesn't really know what she's doing, please forgive her..."

Taehyung chuckles and grabs your hand that froze in the air, he picks you up. "It's okay Mr.Do, Y/n and I know each other," he holds onto your hand but you let go of it, looking away, upset to see the face.

You look down at your shirt, letting the mess on the ground be cleaned by the janitor. You walk towards the exit of the cafeteria.

"Y/n! Get our guest a change of clothes..." your manager says, "please follow her to the changing room, I know we still have a long day ahead of us, I don't want you to stay in these wet clothes."

Taehyung nods and walks over to follow you.

You look down at your feet, not wanting to look at the man you once loved.

"Soo.. you're a caregiver." The both of you reach the room.

"And you can walk... but for some reason you can't text or call.." you reply as he follows you inside the room.

He sighs, "I can explain..."

"5 years with no contact is very explainable, especially after bringing my hopes up, saying we have 5 days, leaving without a trace, changing your phone number, deleting your social media, oh and promising me we would text and FaceTime everyday, THATS–" he grabs your arms, putting you against the lockers.

His body pressures against you, his face is close, "I'm sorry.."

You glare into his eyes, "sorry won't fix my broken heart." You try to keep your tears in.

He holds your face with his hand, "I know..." his face shows sadness, yours show anger and hatred.

"You left me... you promised me 5 days and show up after 5 years." you look down, tears flow down from your eyes.

He wipes your tears with his thumb, "don't cry... I'm here now."

"Being here now won't make up for the 5 years you left me here, crying everyday, living by myse-" you sniffle and stop.

"By yourself?" He grazes your cheek.

You push him off and open the locker behind you, you quickly grab a scrub and give it to him, "My break is over... I gotta go" you sniffle, wiping your tears, "you can change in here," you grab one for yourself and leave the room.

-

As Taehyung walks around the facility, he runs into you a few times, smiling at you each time but you ignore it and carry on with your work. He fell in love with the way you helped Old Bongsu with eating, wiping his mouth as if he's a baby, making jokes about being his daughter-in-law, helping him in place of his busy son and grandson. A man who's lung is failing him soon. You try and make him have his best days until he goes.

-

Throughout the week

His eyes stared at you with love, missing your form in his arms. He couldn't focus on his project with Manager Do, he gets lost in thought, always finding himself staring at you as you help every patient in the best way you can.

-

He eyeballs you as you wheel Pillsoo down the hall, a man in his 50's who suffers from kidney failure, he is the youngest of the patients.

"Mr.Kim- M-Mr.Kim?" Manager Do says, trying to get his attention.

"Yes? Sorry.. I was just Uhh," he glanced at you wheeling the man away again. His heart aches, remembering the past, how you always stuck to his side no matter where he was, you were with him 24/7, and he loved every minute of it. "Yeah..." he sighs, going back to focusing on what Mr.Do was saying.

"So, I was thinking, we could add a staff bathroom here, another office right here, and another storage room across, since the reconstruction will start off right here, from the cafeteria out..."

"Yeah, that's a great idea.." he smiles at the manager, glad to know that he could help make this place bigger. He's happy he finally found you after 5 years.

-

You had gotten off work early, switched schedules with a coworker today. Taehyung wanted to treat you out to dinner.

"I don't want to eat out," you continue walking, making your way to the bus stop.

"Then we can eat in?" He suggests, following you.

You sigh, trying to deny the fact that you really want to catch up with him too but... "you didn't try then, why are you trying now?" You squint your eyes at him, your hands in your pockets as the cold breeze blows your hair to one side.

"Let me make it up to you... please?"

"I- "

"Babe? What are you doing?" A girls voice from behind speaks.

His eyes widened, he turns around, "So-yeon- what are you doing here?" He asks.

"Who are you talking to?" She walks up to him, hooking her arm around his arm, "I brought you lunch... I heard you were working all day? Why're you leaving?"

"Oh... shes..." Taehyung didn't get a chance to talk.

"Hi, I'm Min SoYeon, Taehyung's fiancé, and you are?"

"Sooo many broken promises..." you shake your head and chuckle, "I'm nobody important.." you walk away as the bus stops in front of the bus stop. You rush into the bus before it could close its door, catching up to the people getting inside.

"Who was she?" SoYeon asks Taehyung...

He sighs, "an old friend..." he looks down, disappointed and upset about what just came out your mouth. He takes his arm out of hers and walk back towards his car, not taking the woman's lunch as he leaves.

-

End of Part 8.