afterglow ‣ s.jy

021

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JAKE

"It all goes down to her heart again." Hyejin says after Jake's long narration of the conversation he shared and overheard with the Jo family. "Is she terminally ill? If so, I don't understand how she can be so nervous under her parent's gaze."

"Maybe her parents doesn't want her telling anyone about her disease? They are doctors after all, surely they wouldn't want people to know their child has an illness." While Jake spoke about his guess, he then only realized how heartless that sounded, almost refusing to believe it if not for the events he has faced recently.

Even if they were trying to hide it, they weren't doing much of a great job as sending someone to the infirmary once a week seemed enough to arouse suspicions. They were fortunate enough not to be questioned by any students or teachers but he knew they had their guesses, and her being ill, was sure to be on top of their list. Another detail he remembered was the fact Siyeon was always in the hospital, even if she says that's where her parents work, her being there so often after claiming how much she hated that place, could not be explained by merely saying that their family owned that building.

Everything fell to an illness Siyeon had neither confirmed nor denied, yet despite the obvious answer was the itch at the back of his mind which kept saying that it was too simple to be the answer, that whatever she hid was far complicated than his mind has sized it to be. He looked over to Hyejin who had a faraway look on her face, almost as though she was also piecing everything together to make sense of the numerous clues Jake had offered her.

"Let's say she's not ill... what kind of secret could she possibly be hiding? Is the magnitude too much for her to assume that even you would never understand?" Hyejin said, placing her head on one of her palm, allowing her lower arm to carry its weight as her other free hand played with her side bangs. "I'm not smart enough for this."

"And you think I'm smart enough to piece this alone?" There was a tug on the corner of his lips, threatening to raise into an amused smile.

"You can make sense of physics problems, I'm sure you can figure this out if you search that brain of yours a little." She adds, chuckling towards the end before fixing her stance.

A secret she doesn't think he would understand.

A secret that she needs help with.

Something her parents are reluctant to share with anyone.

A secret related to her heart.

If it were an illness, how was he supposed to help her? Unless...

"What if she needs a heart donor?"

That suggestion had prompted Hyejin to look at Jake with a look of disbelief and anger. "No, Jake. You are not going to donate anything to her." She sternly says, her body visibly tensing as the one trait that barely visited her, invaded her face and tone, making it known to him how she felt about that topic.

"I would do it for you." He says, and he meant every word.

"Who the hell said I'm going to ever accept whatever you give me? No, Jake! You are not going to make a sacrifice here!" She was surprising him by how much anger there was on her voice.