Chapter 7

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"Make sure you have enough rest for at least another week. So that your injuries will be healed completely," the doctor instructed Mark, who was now putting on a thick jacket, with the help of Jinyoung.


"Yes, I see, Doctor."


The doctor now turned to Jinyoung and gave him a squeeze on the shoulder.


"I even thought you would be the one, who would need to be hospitalised once your friend was discharged," he said, with a smile. "You have really given a lot of your time here. And yet I need to assign you again, to look after him as much as possible. He lives alone, you said?"


"Yes, he does. I'll, Doctor." Jinyoung smiled.


The two weeks had gone but it had seemed so slow, on Mark's part. He wanted to take the outside air again and go back to his normal life, without always being watched by the eyes.


Later, Jinyoung took him by the arm and they stepped out of the room.


"Mark, you'll go straight home, right? I'll drive you home. Are you hungry now?" Jinyoung asked, as they headed for Jinyoung's car.


"I want to go to where Hoon was buried. You know the place, right?"


It would be a long way and Jinyoung would rather suggest Mark should rest at home. But Mark was going to insist anyway.


"Yes, are you sure you don't want to eat anything on the way?"


"I'm not hungry."


Jinyoung opened the car door of the passenger seat and let Mark in, holding the door open till Mark was settled there.


Afterwards, he went to the driver seat and started the car forward to the direction of the burial site.


It was afternoon but the sun was behind the clouds. And it was thus a cool autumn afternoon.



The whole burial site was utterly deserted when they arrived there. I was merely a field with the graves around. They had to walk a long way before they came to some feet away from Hoon's grave.


"If you want to be alone, I'll wait here."


"Thanks."


Jinyoung remained on the spot as Mark continued to the grave.


When Mark stood in front of the grave, it was like he was completely forced to the reality. This was the grave, inside which was the dead body of Hoon, the one Mark had never thought would be separated from him.


He knelt down before it; the words he was desperate to say only choked out as a sob.


"I miss you, Hoon, terribly. It feels empty without you. Why didn't death take both of us, if it was going to be cruel like this?" Mark let his tears stream down freely. "Will I ever be able to live without you?..."


Jinyoung shifted on his feet. His back was facing Mark and the grave, and couldn't hear anything Mark was saying, from his place. He was giving Mark privacy, he believed. But Mark was taking it long and the wind got quite chilly. As Mark had not come back even after a long time, Jinyoung decided to go to him.


Mark was kneeling and his hands were on the ground, his face downward.


Jinyoung stood beside him. "Mark?" He could hear Mark's sobs. "Let's go. You'll catch a cold."


When there was no response, he knelt down beside Mark and took off his own long coat, to put it on Mark's body. The chilly wind pierced Jinyoung's skin, which was now covered by only a thin T-shirt and pants.

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