"When you get a new heart, will I still be in there?" She says, barely a whisper. "Will I still be in that heart?"
"You're not just in my heart," Jeongguk replies truthfully. "You're in the blood flowing through my veins, you're in my mind, you're u...
Sometimes he wonders if she transforms people into animals, or whether she finds the beast inside them, and frees it.
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The room is suffocating.
He's been yearning for some fresh air, something other than these plain white walls and the smell or chemicals stuffing his nostrils.
So when Jeongguk tells his mother that he wants to go to the cafeteria to get some food, it takes him a little bit of convincing. His mother hesitates at first. She isn't sure about his condition and worries that he might hurt himself if he isn't careful enough. Eventually, she let's him go after telling him to promise that he would take care of himself.
Jeongguk feels like she still treats him like a child. Maybe it's because he's too precious for her to lose. He's her only family after all. Jeongguk realises this and takes it as a motivation of some sort. That's what he does everyday when he wakes up. It gives him the will to continue the day without feeling like a lifeless corpse.
She doesn't offer to go with him and he's thankful for that. She knows that he'd rather be alone and that he needs some time to breathe. He wants to be like other teenagers, free and happy.
Jeongguk takes in the familiar surroundings as he shuffle his feet through the hospital hallway. He's already gotten used to seeing the same dull walls, ceilings and flooring. He feels like it's trying to suck in all the colours in his life. As if he isn't dull enough already.
His room is located on the upper floors. As much as he wants to, he doesn't take the stairs. Safety precautions and stuff like that due to his condition. So instead, Jeongguk goes for the elevators.
The door slides open when he presses the button. It's empty inside the elevator so he steps in, thinking that no one else is going to enter with him when an elderly woman in a wheelchair slowly wheels herself in. Jeongguk leans to the side to see if there's someone accompanying her and frowns when he realises that she's alone.
He steps aside and gives her the broadest smile he can muster before closing the elevator doors. Once it starts to move, Jeongguk looks down at the woman and wonders if he should say something. He notices that she's holding a photo frame in her hand. Squinting his eyes, he sees a couple standing in front of a what looks like a tiny farm house. They're smiling widely and their hands are intertwined.
"Is that your husband, ahjumma?" Jeongguk asks softly. "He looks like a really good man."
The elderly woman looks up at him in surprise, as if she hasn't been expecting him to say anything. She smiles back in response.
"Yes, my dear. He was," she says, and the mood in the elevator instantly lightens up. "I miss him dearly."
Jeongguk wants to comfort her, realising that her husband is probably not around anymore. She must be really lonely. What about her children?
