Mr. Wealthy

Beginning

The beeping of the machines resonated in my ears as I woke up. I had fallen asleep sitting next to my brother's hospital bed after finishing my part-time at the local ice cream parlor. I remember being so tired when I entered his room only to find him happily sleeping. Taking advantage of the situation, I decided to rest a little myself. I had earned it after all!

"What is the time?" I asked my brother who seemed to have woken up quite some time ago.

"It's late enough for you to get
a whooping from Mom for being out so late" he replied bluntly. He hardly ever smiled nowadays. Well, I had the perfect thing to bring out his old cheerful self.

"Well, she's not here anymore so......." I sighed as I stretched my back which ached because of the awkward position I had been asleep in.

I got up and walked to the mini fridge by the door. "Guess what I brought for you?" I said in an annoying sing-song voice (At which he cringed) as I removed the bucket of ice cream I had sneakily stol- ahem borrowed from the parlor where I worked part-time.

His eyes lit up immediately.

"Ice cream!" He exclaimed and snatched away the bucket immediately. The huge smile on his face immediately brought one onto mine. The Je family had always had a strong connection with ice cream.

"It's your favorite flavor, Chocolate brownie!" I said, exciting him even more.

Yeong was about to dig his spoon into the bucket when he suddenly stopped and turned toward me.

"Is it okay for me to eat ice cream?" he asked. My heart dropped. "Of course it's fine, I even confirmed it with the doctor!" I reassured him. He nodded his head and scooped out a huge spoon. As soon as he started eating a knot around my heart started opening and the tightness disappeared, Yeong had not been eating since yesterday because of swelling in his mouth due to the chemotherapy. I had googled and found out that ice cream helps so I brought some for him.

I watched my brother eat scoop after scoop, guess he was not gonna leave any leftovers for me. The door opened and the doctor handling Yeong entered.

"Ah Yunhee, I'm glad you came by! You're presence certainly brightens up Yeong's mood!" He said as he watched Yeong chug down the ice cream without waiting to even catch a breath. "I'm afraid your brother might die from choking before cancer gets to him" he chuckled.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I changed the subject and ignored the thoughtless and dry joke. "Ah yes of course please follow me" he said.

We left the room and walked through the bland white hallways to reach his office. The door had a silver nameplate on it with the name 'Bae In' imprinted on it in black.

We sat down as he opened his drawer to fetch out Yeong's folder. The office was quite simple. It had the same creepy white walls with his doctor's certificate hanging on one side and a photo of him with his wife just next to it.

As Dr. Bae In scanned through the folders to find my brother's I couldn't help but feel anxious. Usually, Doctor would give me the report as I sat beside my brother holding his frail hands, but today he called me away from him to discuss something in secret.

"Yunhee don't worry, your brother's recovery is going well. Although it's slow we are seeing positive changes" he said as he noticed me fidgeting with the cuffs of my work uniform. However, that didn't help me calm down. I knew something was wrong otherwise why would he wish to talk separately?

"However there is something else that worries me.... Yunhee, you haven't been paying for the treatment" he said slowly so I could process the situation.