The Boy From Two Doors Down

Chapter 14

"Hi daddy. I'm here." Su-mi pulls up a chair next to her father's hospital bed. "How do you feel?" She speaks to him in a soft tone.

Her father takes in a deep breath and exhale slowly. "Better now that you're here to see me. I wasn't expecting you to fly over here."

"Uncle Choi told me the news. I came as quickly as possible. Hye-mi is going to try and get the days off." She places her hand over her father's arm, looking sorrowfully at him.

"I see. You haven't spoken to your mother?"

Su-mi looks away and shakes her head. "No. I haven't. I rather not anyway."

She could feel her father's gaze on her. She looks back up. "Dad, what happened? Have you not been taking care of yourself?" She frowns.

Her father sighs, pressing his lips into a straight line. He shrugs his shoulders and looks over at the window next to his bed.

"A lot has happened since you left, Susy girl."

Su-mi furrows her eyebrows. She leans closer. "What do you mean by that??"

"Well—" her father sighs again. "You leaving was difficult to deal with. I don't mean to sound selfish, but you and Hye-mi, my only two daughters, living so far away was harder than I expected."

"Oh dad." She places her head gently on his arm. "I don't know what to say. I wish you would have answered my calls instead of ignoring me the entire time. I was feeling just as sad, you know....." She gently pecks her dad's hand. "Why did you ignore me so much then?"

Her dad pats her affectionately on the top of her head. "I wasn't ignoring you Su-mi." He moves his hand away. He clears his throat and rubs his chin while looking down at his lap. "Like I mentioned before, a lot has happened since you left."

Su-mi sits up in her chair, furrowing her eyebrows as she listens intently.

"I—.....your mother and I— "he struggles to find the right words. He continues to rub his chin. "I found out that she was seeing her old lover...the same guy from many years ago."

Su-mi's eyes widen. "What??"

Her father nods. "Mhm." He hums. "And I don't know how long she's been with him. But I filed for divorce immediately. I even went as far as kicking her out of the house. I threw all her clothes out on the front yard. It was a big mess, Su-mi. Things got really ugly. I completely lost it. It was too much for me to handle. My job, you leaving, then this—my body just couldn't handle it... especially at this age."

Su-mi shuts her eyes closed, looking down at her lap. She pulled her sleeves over her hands and buried her face into her palms. "....my worse nightmare comes to life."

"Now that I think about it, I'm glad that you weren't around to witness or be around it." Her father forces a smile, trying to remain positive. "You don't deserve to see such a thing."

Su-mi continues to burry her face into her hands. "That's exactly why I left, dad. I knew you were going to catch her, despite her making me swear not to say anything. I just knew it was going to happen. I was too scared to be around it."

She looks back up, taking a deep breath and frowns sorrowfully. "I don't know what to say dad. I feel awful. I really do. This isn't fair. I'm so sorry." Her voice begins to crack at the end. Her bottom lip begins to tremble uncontrollable. "I'm really am so sorry." She buries her face again into her palms.

Her shoulders tremble up and down now as she quietly sobs. "Now look at you. You're on a hospital bed. Maybe I shouldn't have left." She whimpers out loud.