"Hyejoo?"
"What?" Hyejoo yawns, slightly angry that her peace of reading has been disturbed. At night, Hyejoo reads by lamplight. She wants -needs- to spend every second left like she wants. When the thought of checking the time crosses her mind, she reaches over to her phone and presses the home button.
2:34 am
"What do you want, Chaewon?"
"I can't sleep," she whimpers.
"Hey, how old are you?" Hyejoo asks, closing her book with her thumb in between to keep the page.
"I'm twenty. You?"
"A year younger," she says, before turning away and going back to her book.
"Wait, I wanna talk more... I know I'm gonna die soon and my family doesn't want me, and I'm guessing it's the same with you, right? And it's really painful being hooked up to the tubes and all, and overall I'm just really scared, and you're the only one here..." Chaewon blubbers. She wipes a stray tear away.
"Okay."
Hyejoo can practically feel Chaewon's face light up.
"Oh, and my family doesn't want to visit me not because I have heart cancer at critical stage, it's 'cause I'm... and they're homophobes, and I'm guessing it's the same for you too," she says, voice husky from not speaking for five hours since her treatment.
"As if it's any help to treat me anymore. They might as well give me more ice cream whenever I ask for it, I'm 'bout to die anyway."
Chaewon sucks in a breath.
"I don't wanna die, n-not like this," she stutters, wiping away more tears. Every movement in her arms hurt, from her fingertips to her elbows; the skin and muscle still sore and prickly from being set up into the IV drip and machine tubes.
"It's okay, Chaewon. While we're still alive, yea, I'll..." Hyejoo hesitates. Chaewon's eyes pop so wide in lamplight Hyejoo can see the confused question mark appear above her head. "...I'll be your friend."
Chaewon smiles widely. Hyejoo sees the heart-shaped bow lips clearer.
"You know, you look like a celebrity. I'm Son Hyejoo," she says, extending her arm to reach out for a handshake.
"It doesn't hurt?" Chaewon asks, reaching her own arm out. Hyejoo shakes her head no ("It's a little annoying, but you'll get used to it soon.")
Chaewon grabs her hand and holds it instead of shaking it. Confusion takes over Hyejoo for a split second, but it washes over her that she should let this poor, scared child hold it. After all, they're going to die in more or less the same time.
At ten in the morning, Haseul walks into Ward 11 with the meal cart to see the two patients asleep, one with her book flipped onto the ground, and the other pining for her hand with both of her own.
