I NEED YOU. [✔]

Diagnosis

My eyes fluttered open, and a white sterile light flashed, making me squint. Focusing my vision, I saw my mum. Her worried face triggered memories, so I smiled at her wanting to comfort her. If she was worried then I would be worried too. I couldn't help myself. We were extremely close.

Sitting up slowly, I took in my surroundings. I had been in my room but now I was in the living area, with a scared mum and four curious children peering at me. Haneul was in my eomma's arms, and she cooed and reached her hand out to me, stroking my face. She giggled, making me laugh a bit as well. But my eomma's words distracted me.

"I'm taking you to the doctor's honey," she said sternly, making it clear that there was no point in arguing. But me being me, I still tried, "But eomma, we don't have enough money. I'm fine anyway," I replied, almost as sternly as her, "I was just a bit dizzy because I got up too fast."

"You've been unconscious for ten minutes, gongjunim. That's not a dizzy spell."

Her statement took me off guard. Ten minutes? That couldn't have been true. I trust her, but that couldn't have been right. Ten minutes unconscious? "Eomma, take me in the morning if you're gonna be so persistent. It's late, Haneul should be asleep by now." I said, buying myself some time. I hate the doctors. I don't know why. I just hate it. Everything smells funny, all the people will either get you ill or talk to you like you're a three-year-old. Strangers will give you lollipops and smile at you in a weird way as the talk in hushed whispers to your parents. Almost as bad as work. But not quite.

-------------Time Skip brought to you by Taehyung's amazingness-------------

Morning came, and I woke before anyone else. Today was a rare day off of work, luckily, but my normal routine needed me up at 4 am. I was fine. I was used to it. But I was still tired. Definitely more tired than normal. I trudged to the small kitchen and poured myself a bowl of stale cereal. It was like cardboard, almost soggy but still crunchy, and the fact we had no milk didn't help. Milk was a novelty. Only bought for my or Yeji's birthday. She was responsible enough to go out now, so she would collect money on the streets every-so-often. People really pitied her. She was an amazing actor for her age, and she would go from happy-go-lucky normal child to I'm-still-waiting-for-eomma-to-pick-me-up in an instant. But she only went out if we really needed money. So we treated her. She could have a proper breakfast on her birthday. Sounds crappy, I know, but it means a lot to her.

We didn't own a car. Even if we did, there was nowhere to park it. It was just building and then a road. A busy road. We walked, getting a few stares along the way, a few pitying glances across the street. We were a sight. Four small children, two of which were in a middle-aged woman's arms, the others running beside her, while a young girl walked in front, all of us in ragged and dirty clothing. We walked into the doctors, and the smell hit me like a wave. I've never liked the smell. It's repulsive. 

The doctor sat me down, asked me some questions, the norm. He then asked me to lie down, while he did a check over. I obliged, scared, but sure he wouldn't do anything 'inappropriate' with my eomma around.

Once he had finished, he looked at me with this weird face, as though he pitied me. Looking at my family, Haneul was the only one who was smiling, all the rest looked like someone had died. And he hadn't even told then what was wrong. Not that anything was wrong.

Because I was fine. I was sure if it. The doctor walked over to my eomma and whispered in her ear. Her face paled, before she asked "How much for the treatment?!". She was upset, obviously, which worried me. What was wrong with me then? A thought came to my head, a thought that to me was sadder than dying normally. I glanced at my family. My eomma looked at me, then at the doctor.

"It would be best for someone she trusts to tell her." he said, provoking her slow steps forward. She knelt down to my level, Haneul in her arms still, and the others surrounding her, before saying something I had never expected.

"Gongjunim.... You've got... Kidney cancer."