paroxysm // jikook

six

"H-hi, um...which room is Park Sunmi in?"

"What's her date of birth?"

"February 21, 1936."

"What is your relation to her?"

"Grandson." The nurse looked Jimin up and down, as if he was lying and posing as her fake grandson. Her stare made Jimin uncomfortable, so he stood shifting his backpack silently. After a few seconds, she then nodded her head towards the ICU rooms behind her and walked in that direction. Jimin followed, trying to keep up with the nurse's faster strides, but failed to do so since she was so much taller than him and had strides like a giraffe.

At the very end of the hallway, the name file near the doorway had "박선미" written in scribbles. The nurse stopped and gave Jimin a forced smile, before turning around and walking back to the front desks. Inside the room lay his grandmother, eyes closed and the monitor by her bedside beeped periodically. Jimin walked over to the bed with slow steps, as if walking too quickly would cause her disturbances. He reached for her small hand, holding it in his much larger one.

"Grandma. How you doing?" No response. Of course there was no response, Jimin didn't know why he waited as if he expected her to reply. Sometimes, he imagined her soft little voice replying back to him in his head.

"This morning, I went to help out Uncle Heechul. He had to update the software on the computers, he wanted to get it done before people came in. My arms really hurt because I had to carry some old computers to the electronic dump. But I guess it's alright because Uncle Heechul gave me some food to eat. Despite being a grump, he's nice sometimes..." He finished speaking, patting her hand absentmindedly.

"Also! I've been repainting the rooms, especially the bedroom. That beige paint was really ugly, I won't lie... but I'm painting it a new colour that you will adore, Grandma. As soon as the doctors say you're good to go, you'll see it." Jimin smiled after updating his grandma about his life, wondering to himself if she would be angry that he changed the bedroom wall colours. It had been that ugly beige since Jimin was born, and he thought it was time to spice things up a bit...

Silently yet swiftly, Jimin reached into his backpack and got out her fluffly velvet blanket that he bought for her. Jimin covered his grandma with the blanket, hiding it under the hospital covers. He tucked the ends under her, since he wanted to be sure that her blanket kept her warmer than the cheap linens that the hospital supplied. His grandma always complained about the cold, especially in this time of the year and Jimin just wanted to help.

"Jimin, you're here again." Said a voice similar to the sound of gravel. Jimin turned around quickly in surprise, his chocolate brown eyes meeting with dark hazel eyes that sparkled wickedly even under the dim hospital lights. His heart climbed to his throat as he saw the face of the man who spoke, and he looked away.

"Yes I'm here again." He replied, smoothing out the hospital covers without making eye contact with the man. He sensed that the man had walked over to the monitor, but didn't look up once.

"Why do you visit so much? There are a lot of holes in what happened to Sunmi and my team is trying to connect the dots. I will call you when we have something to tell you" He said, noting down Jimin's grandma's vitals on the monitor into his notebook.

"She means alot to me and I just wanna keep her company. I've told you this before but if something isn't concerning you, you won't give a shit about it."

"That's not true, Jimin. I always used to help her and buy the best medications that money can buy for your grandma."

"You did all that, Minseong, yet you stabbed me in the back and walked over me like I was a rug." He began to walk closer to Jimin, but the smaller man got up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and began to walk away. But a strong hand held onto his arm, holding him back. Jimin ran into his ex many times, especially in this hospital, and their encounters always resulted in awkward, uncomfortable glances and conversations. It was too unfortunate that the doctor just so happened to be working as a resident at the hospital his grandma was in.