THE RESTLESS AUTUMN (completed) (a full-length novel)

Love Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 8

A half an hour talk with the private nurse covered everything he needed to know. Ji-heon took note of his father's appointment with the heart specialist and listed the contact number of the dietician recommended by Nurse Goh. After a quick climb at the grand staircase he reached the master bedroom at the far end of the upper floor and entered without noise. The room reminded him of his early childhood where he had spent countless hours building robots out of stacks of Lego and reading manhwa on the carpeted floor. It was also in this room where he remembered his mother biding him good-bye, a memory that had kept him sleepless for many years. Ji-heon found his father in his favorite nook, a corner beside the window, sitting in a wicker chair with feet up on a foot stool. Jung-hwa was so immersed in the sports news page that nothing could distract him from reading about the latest victory of his favorite baseball team. But as soon as his son came in, the old man lifted his face from the newspaper and adjusted the frameless eyeglass over the bridge of his nose. Ji-heon bowed and quietly shut the blinds to block the sunlight from coming in.

"Have you taken your medicine?" Ji-heon asked as he walked to his father's side. "The nurse said you haven't been cooperating."

"I'm sick of taking all those pills. My fingers are sore from too much pricking."

"You know you need those medicines. We can't afford to have another seizure." Ji-heon bent on one knee to closely inspect Jung-hwa's swollen feet. "Nurse Goh recommended a good dietician for you."

Jung-hwa smiled and patted his son on the shoulder. "I don't need a dietician."

He gently massaged his father's feet and applied pressure on the soles. Ji-heon was never good at expressing his affection to his old man but he was never lacking in time and attention. "Yes, you do. You're an old man now. You're no longer the iron man that you were before."

"What will I do without you, son?"

"You'd probably be the most miserable man in the world. Or you could probably be the most miserable man in the hottest cabaret with young girls swooning all over you."

Jung-hwa laughed at his son's teasing. "Are you staying for good?"

"You've asked that a million times."

"Just making sure."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Good."

"I'm moving you into another house. Nurse Goh said it's getting harder for you to climb the stairs."

Jung-hwa put the newspaper away. "I can't leave this house."

"You need to."

"I'm already old. I want to spend the rest of my days here."

"But I don't understand. This house gives you a lot of bad memories."

"There were many good ones, too."

He observed his father's eyes had turned misty. Good memories simply meant the early years of his parents' marriage, their frequent trips together and intimate parties for family friends. But Ji-heon knew his mother would never be included in this particular conversation because Jung-hwa had long stopped mentioning her in his presence.

"Why do you keep holding on?" Ji-heon asked.

"Mwoh?"

"She left us a long time ago. You should move on, too. Leaving this house would be a good start."

"I feel happy in this place."

"You're lying. You've always been sad. You're so good at pretending that I could hardly see you not smiling."