Moments 2.0 | Sweet Home | Cha Hyun Soo

Chapter 8: Whispers

Eunhyuk was tired, but he couldn't let himself rest yet.

He should sleep, he needed to sleep; Eun Yoo needed to survive which meant he needed to survive and to do that he needed to think clearly, and to think clearly he needed to sleep but there was just so much left to do, the tenants needed structure, rules, a plan B and if that failed a plan C and perhaps also a plan D and E and F because there were too many uncertainties, but they had to be as prepared as possible.

He would sleep soon- later,  there was too much yet to do.

Eunhyuk sighed, combing his fingers through his hair. His gaze fell away from the completed building map that he and Yeonha had worked on earlier, to look at the girl herself. She was sleeping in a chair opposite him, slumped with her head resting in her palm on the table.  

His memories of her from high school were not fond, she had been infuriating, and he had hated her. But since then, it seemed she had changed considerably.

Her stubbornness was still the same, but what had surprised him when meeting her again was her compassion, how much she cared about other people, the tenants of Green Home- strangers no less.

Something else that was unchanging though, was that one quality about her that he had always hated most, it had been over petty things in school, answers to questions in history and language classes, that contradicted his, proving him wrong and her right. She still had that quality and that combative attitude that always made her challenge him.

He hated her for it during their high school years but couldn't hate her for it this time. Not when the thing she had challenged him about this time had been the children in 1408. After taking some time to reflect, he could accept that this time he had been wrong.

Recalling the look on the faces of those children who had arrived from the 14th floor, he remembers how the older of the two had wrapped her hand tightly around her younger brother, she refused to look afraid or sad until the moment her brother looked away from her and that was when her lip trembled and she let out a stray tear- at that moment he had been reminded of himself and Eun Yoo.

He had to remain stone-faced and calm no matter what, he couldn't let himself falter or seem afraid because he needed to be strong for his sister.

It reminded him too of Yeonha's words. 

"Those kids' lives matter just as much as anyone else's, and so does Hyun's, and if you can't see that- then you're more of a monster than any of us."

Hyuk had tried to be pragmatic, he wanted to save as many people as possible, but perhaps his calculations, his methods, and his words had been flawed. He snorts to himself, shaking his head. Maybe she was right, maybe he was the monster.

He pushes the bridge of his glasses up his nose and is about to turn away from Yeonha to continue drafting another backup survival plan when he notices Yeonha is not quite sleeping soundly.

Her softened brow had creased into a furrow and it wasn't until he saw the tremors travel up her shoulder that he realised she was shivering.

Immediately the basic knowledge from his med school classes filed into his thoughts, as he assessed her condition. Pale lips. Pale skin. Cold temperature. 

Iron deficiency anaemia would have been the normal conclusion, it was more common in women, especially dancers and athletes, due to their strict diets. Yeonha had been training to be an Olympic gymnast the last he had heard, so it checked out, Eun Yoo had developed the same condition from ballet training too, so he was familiar with the signs.