Name: Park Chaewon
Heart Cancer Critical Stage
WARD 11
A trainee nurse brings Hyejoo and Chaewon their breakfasts the next day.
"Is this what we're gonna eat everyday, or is there a menu?" Chaewon asks, tilting her head quizzically at the sight of the food. It looks unappetising and artificial. It just doesn't look like food.
A bowl of plain cooked rolled oats and a metal dish of boiled unsalted pork, a glass of water, and a dessert.
"Yes. Get used to it." Hyejoo eats her tray of warm oats and boiled pork in silence. Her dessert is a small cup of orange flavoured ice cream packed in with a wooden spoon while Chaewon's is a dish of cubed watermelon and honeydew.
"Can I have more ice cream?" Hyejoo asks, scraping at the inside of the paper cup with the tiny wooden spoon.
"Sorry, Hyejoo," the trainee nurse says, smiling apologetically. "It might worsen your condition..."
"I mean, if I'm going to die in a month, you might as well make it comfortable," Hyejoo says, frowning. "Come on, Seul. Just one more cup? Even half a cup would be good."
"No can do," Haseul repeats, firmer.
Chaewon gags after the last spoonful of oatmeal slides down her throat. She chews the discoloured pork, appreciating its chewy texture, then downs half the cup of water.
"You can have my fruit," she whispers shyly, holding it out to Hyejoo.
Hyejoo narrows her eyes and bites the inside of her cheek. Then cautiously, synonymous to a cat ready to bat an insect, she takes the dish of fruit from Chaewon.
She feels bad as the watermelon juice satisfies her sweet tooth. Chaewon seems to be nice; she should try to be her friend. No family will visit her anyway, and she might as well make this worth while she's still alive.
"Son Hyejoo, it's your treatment session now," another nurse calls out to Hyejoo, looking at her clipboard which she presses to her chest afterwards.
Reluctantly, she gets up, and with the help of Haseul, she unhooks herself from all the wires and tubes and walks into the treatment room.
