|| Awake || On Hold

|4|

When I got a call from Mr.Kim during my work hours at the day care, I knew something was wrong. Mr.Kim never called me unless it was for grandmother. He was always a man of few words and phone calls were practically non-existing for him.

After taking permission to leave work early I run to my house. Internally I kept hoping that she is fine. She is a lady born with an iron body, of course she will be alright. Nothing will happen to her. She had promised me once that she would not leave me till I get married. It was one of the reasons why I did not want to get married. She has to stay with me forever.

However, externally I was aware that she was counting dates. She despised a lonely life without her husband and often spoke about how the only reason for her to live was now me.

I took the shortest route and reached within minutes. I run up the stairs two step at a time and came to a rough halt in front of my grandmother's room.

The room door was open and there were four people inside the room. My grandmother lay on her bed with her eyes closed and a doctor was treating her while Mr.Kim and his son stood next to the door.

One look at Mr.Kim and all my worries become validated.

••~•••~••

It's been two weeks since that day and to say that it was the toughest two weeks would be an understatement.

Contrary to the situation my brain was making me ready for, my grandmother was alright. She had a major heart attack in the afternoon during her nap and it somehow made her fall down from the bed which made her unconscious.

We rushed her to the hospital she was diagnosed with heart-attack and due to a small operation she was put in a sleep-induced coma for a few days. While the doctors had assured us that it was not a serious case and she is in that state to rejuvenate herself, the fear in my heart and the tears in my eyes never left me.

For the past two weeks I spent maximum of my time in the hospital room with her. I barely went home for the fear of breaking down. Mr.Kim and his son kept coming by with food and other necessities for me at least twice a day.

In the first eighteen years of my life if there was one thing that I was completely alien to, it was connection to a person. In the orphanage while all kids lived together I never had anyone that I could call a friend or a sibling. I had learned not to get attached to young children as they were the first to be adopted and once they were gone it was tough for me to get out of that slump.

It all changed when my grandmother saw a child desperate for affection and took her in.

When my grandmother was first admitted to the hospital two years ago for her stomach aches, it was the first time I cried for person. I thought like everyone in my life, she would leave me too.

"Areum. You should eat food." Kim Moon Bin, Mr.Kim's son insisted lifting up a spoon to my mouth.

We are in the hospital room with my grandmother still sleeping and Mr.Kim is taking a nap on the sofa. Wordlessly, I opened my mouth and ate the food while I focused on the issue of who paid my grandmother's hospital bills.

Two days ago we had been informed that we have to pay half of the hospital bills now and the rest will be after discharge. I had called up grandmother's insurance company to cover it when the receptionist today informed me the bills were paid anonymously.

As far as I know grandmother had no secret benefactor who helped us with her bills before.

A secret admirer? Ayyy. No way. She is too old for that.

"Areum-ah. Now stop thinking about it, will you?" Moon Bin Oppa said. "Just be thankful to that person and be happy. Why do you keep staring at the bills all the time?"