Hortus ||Park Jihoon

14

Jihoon waited at the garden for haneul to arrive. He hummed to the song that he was listening to in the earphone as he played with the chain that haneul gave him. It was silver chain with a pendant that had a star inside a heart.

The time moved fastly but haneul still didn't come. It was already late. Jihoon decided to visit her at the hospital. He went to the information desk.

"Excuse me"

"Yes, sir. Can i help you with anything?" the girl behind the counter asked with a smile on her face. You will almost believe that it was a genuine smile, that just proves how much she mastered it.

"I want to-"

Jihoon stopped as he remembered her words from that day.

"Because i don't want you to see where i live, when that place contains nothing but sickness"

"No, nothing. I'm sorry for interrupting your work" jihoon said as he bowed and turned around towards the entrance again, not even turning back.

Maybe she will come tomorrow.

He returned to his home hoping that he will see her tomorrow. He didn't mind waiting for her.

                              ☘️☘️☘️

Days passed with jihoon waiting in the garden for haneul everyday. It was during holidays time so he would come to the garden early in the morning and wait until dawn for her. His family noticed that too but didn't mind asking him since they thought that asking might make it hard for him. They tried to cheer him up during dinners by cracking up some jokes but he would just give a small smile. It was weird he would always be the one who cracks up some jokes and would laugh even if it wasn't funny. He was the moodmaker of his family.
They missed the old jihoon when he was all happy.

On the seventh day, after much thought he decided to go meet her in the hospital.

He went to the information desk and knocked on the wooden desk.

The same girl looked up again, with her mastered smile.

"Can i help you with something, sir?" she asked.

Jihoon nodded.

"I want to know the room number where lee haneul is staying" jihoon said.

The girl stood up before pulling out the drawer.

"Perhaps are you jihoon?"

"Yeah, but how do you know?"

"Park jihoon?" she ignored his question. Jihoon nodded.

The girl took an envelope from the drawer and placed it on the table before sliding it towards jihoon.

"Here"

"Haneul told me pass this on to you"

"Haneul told you to?" jihoon questioned taking the envelope into his hand.

"This was the first request she ever asked to me. To anyone. First and the last"she said her eyes becoming teary.

" L-last? "jihoon muttered under his breath but the girl caught it. She nodded as she wiped a tear away that threatened to fall before it could.

" She placed this on the desk in her room with a sticky note on it. I just found it out about 3 days ago. A cleaning lady gave it to me saying that it was addressed to me."

"In that sticky note she requested me to give you this"

Jihoon was shocked, it was too much for him to take in. He came here with the hope to see her but well it was crashed now.

"You know, she never really talked to anyone. She had the same name as my younger sister who died in an accident two years ago. So i really wanted to help her and be there for her. She never talked to me, no matter how many times i went there. But she never pushed me away too"

"She was really lonely. But i guess it's a thanks to you, for last few months she didn't seem that much lonely. She started to smile a little at me"

"Thank you, jihoon. For being there for haneul" she said as she wrote something on a paper and handed it to jihoon.

Jihoon just stood there. Taking everything in. He took the envelope and the paper as he went out of the hospital not even bidding goodbye to her. He went to the garden and sat on the usual bench that they would usually sit on.

A tear fell down followed by another. Soon it turned into sobs. His tears fell on the envelope cover wetting it. He cried and cried until he couldn't anymore.

He looked at the fountain in front of him. That's when he realised why haneul always watched it.

It felt like he had company.