Meteor

Seventeen

"Mi Jin, listen to me," Yu Jin took a deep breath and gently said, "Just stay calm, don't worry! I'll tryna research and explain everything to him to make sure that he'll go through the surgery, OK?"

"You promise me?" Her sobs started to fade.

"I promise, so don't worry. Just focus on your studying."

"OK, if you need me to talk to him, then tell me."

"Sure, I will."

After the call ended, Yu Jin did not come into the room right away. He just stood on the balcony, looking down at the glistening light of the houses and skyscrapers which were adorning the obsidian sky behind. For no reason, a weird question popped up in his head: Was he looking south? If yes then Busan should be somewhere along the horizon, and so his parents. The physical distance between them was just under one hour of flight. Then why did they all feel so distant, so distant that his mom did not even call him and inform him of such an issue? Was it because they hated him for moving to Seoul? Or was it because they thought that he would not listen anyway so there was no point in telling him? But either way, he was wrong. Ever since he was small, he was never aware how much his parents loved him. All he knew were only those times when they were strict and harsh on him. As a consequence, he became too reserved and never managed to talk to them properly. He had always been accusing them of not understanding him, but it was partially because of him, who could never really sit down and give his parents a proper discussion about his dream career. Every time they talked together, there were only tension and argument due to his hostile manner. If he had chosen to behave in a different way, would things have changed a little bit, or maybe...a lot?

From that moment, taking advantage of the additional time he had due to his suspension, Yu Jin began to do more research on brain aneurysm than he had ever done before, hoping to come up with a few solid points which could change his father's mind. However, he knew for sure that was not going to be a simple task. His father was very determined and once he made a decision, the possibility of some changes occurring should be terribly low. Sometimes, Yu Jin also wondered whether his stubbornness was inherited from his father or not as they were just equally uncompromising.

The next day, Yu Jin came to the hospital in the morning to bring Eun Chae her breakfast as usual. But today was different as he intended to stay there until the early afternoon, partly because he was unoccupied and partly because he wanted to spend some time with Eun Chae.

"Hi Eun Chae," he said and entered the room. He was taken aback to find out that Eun Chae was already awake when he arrived. Normally, she would be sleeping and it would take Yu Jin some miserable time to wake her up. However, it was not the only noticeable thing. She was having an IV bag with a tube hanging from her arm.

"Hello," she tiredly said.

"What happened to you, why are you having an IV bag?"

"I don't know, my doctor only told me that I needed it."

"You are still alright, right?" He sat down on the side of her bed.

"Yeah, I'm OK," she smiled and looked at him.

"You sure that your condition is not getting worse. I'm worried, you know?" He gently tidied her tousled hair and held her hands.

"I'm fine, don't worry. You really like overthinking, don't you?" She grumbled.

"Never mind. By the way, your breakfast," he handed her a box of sandwiches, "It's chicken sandwiches. I bring two for you."