Broken String

Chapter 3

 Byun Baekhyun:

Visiting the same hospital room, spending money with flowers and fruits, pouring a glass of water in every ten minutes, supporting a weak patient to step on her toes, cracking up corny jokes—but at least she laughs in every single one of them—and narrating funny stories from the past were how my first two weeks of summer had been. Every eight o’clock in the morning, with the warmth of the rising ball of fire opposed with the cool morning breeze, I would stop by at a flower shop, pick her favorite yellow tulips, walk all the way up to the bus stop, and sit at the very end of the bus as a curve of excitement plastered on my face. Mentally hopping with happiness, I would walk down the hallways without missing a staff to greet and bow to. With my often visits, most of the staff already had known me and even gave me a nickname.

“Here comes the cheeky eye smile boy.” Ms. Kwon, the head nurse assigned at the desk, would smile and greet me every time I’d come and check in. “Room 804?” I nodded. “She just had an appointment with Dr. Lee this morning. She should be free and resting by now.” I bowed and said thanks before walking to her room with enthusiasm.

            I slowly opened the door with my head peeking cautiously, being careful not to wake her up just in case she was asleep. As her head whipped to the side, I was greeted with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

“Hi, Baekhyun.” She waved. I noticed that she was reading something from a piece of paper possibly torn from a book. Curiosity perhaps obviously appeared on my face, as she told me, “I’m reading this old page from Sunkyu’s autograph book. She said it might help me remember a few things about me, which actually kinda does.”

“Oh, so she visited? When? By the way, I bought these for you.” I said and smiled as I placed the tulips on the tall, white vase, replacing the old, wilted ones. I took one tulip from the vase and gave it to her.

“Thanks, Baek. These are my favorite,” Of course I know. She sniffed the tulip, and her face enlightened much brighter than the morning sun. “She visited last night after her part-time job.”

“So how was it?” I positioned myself on the stool.

“It was really awkward at first. I didn’t know her at all. But she’s really understanding and chirpy, so after a while I became comfortable around her. Then she gave me this sheet to study. She also told me a lot of stories during middle school days.” Her blissful face as she talked pleased my heart. I smiled at her and lent my ear to listen carefully to every single word that she would say. She seemed to be very happy to get to know about her past, slowly but surely. The whole time I was smiling as she continued talking. “There’s this one funny story she told me. Oh My God, that was hilarious!” She laughed, and my heart fluttered hearing her harmonious giggle once again. “Okay. So one time during middle school, she told me, there was this fat, ugly guy who bullied me and kept teasing me at gym class. And then there’s this one guy who ran up to us and kicked him in the groin and punched him in the face. The fat guy punched him back, but he was so tiny and dodged his punch, so the fat guy ended up tripping and falling head first on the bucket of water. And since he was too fat, his head got stuck in the bucket, and everybody saw him and laughed at him when he flung his arm everywhere and tried to walk with the bucket stuck on his head. Oh My God!” She was laughing so hard that she couldn’t even tell the story properly. Beads of bliss formed in the crinkles of her eyes, and this somehow made me laugh as well. Half of me wasn’t paying attention and kept admiring her stunning, elated expression. “Oh, and,” finally she settled down from laughing too hard, “that guy who saved me is a sweetie pie. After putting that fat guy into shame, he walked up to me and comforted me. Too bad Sunkyu didn’t remember who the guy was.” Her lips turned into a tiny pout.