basketball ➸ lee eunsang

| 24 |

haeyoung sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting room, waiting for the news and conditions of her grandmother to be shared to her. she bit her fingernails and tapped her leg on the ground in anxiety, nervous of what would happen to her grandmother.

just a while ago, she found out that her grandmother had a stroke. luckily, just in time, yoomi, her neighbor, called an ambulance before it was too late.

"kwon haeyoung?" the doctor said, out of her grandmother's room.

"yes?" haeyoung said, immediately standing up.

"as you already know, your grandma had a stroke. this is going to require special treatment." he said, then continued explaining about her condition. "she's gonna be having a brain scan, a surgery, and additional hospital treatment, which in total costs around 15 million to 20 million won [around $13,000 - $18,000 if ure wondering]."

haeyoung gulped. twenty million won? where am i supposed to get that?

"all right. thank you, doctor." haeyoung said.

"as for now, your grandmother will be staying in the hospital. feel free to visit her during the correct visiting hours. however, i'm sorry to tell you that she may stay unconscious for a while, until we do surgery, which we will try to do next week." the doctor said.

"after the surgery, if successful, she will remain unconscious again, have temporary memory loss, and will have a bit of a change in personality. don't worry, though, her memory will come back. i'm gonna let you do the research on the rest." he added.

"okay." haeyoung nodded. "thank you, doctor."

"all right. you should go home now, haeyoung. visiting hours are almost over, and you should go rest. don't stress too much about your grandmother, all right? we promise to save her life." the doctor said, giving a reassuring smile.

"yes, doc. thank you, i will be going now." haeyoung said, bowing before walking away.

"stay safe!"

➸

haeyoung laid in her room in the middle of the night, staring up on the ceiling, in the dark, quiet room. she couldn't sleep because of her anxiety once again. it was friday, it's supposed to be her favorite day, but why does it feel so empty and sad?

what if my grandma will not survive? what if i'm going to be alone again? who's gonna take care of me? thoughts filled up her head as tears escaped from her eyes. how am i supposed to pay for my grandma's treatment? if my grandma doesn't survive, maybe i should just end it all.

haeyoung's grandmother was very important to her. she was that light in the dark haeyoung found when her parents died. she was her best friend when no one was there for her. she was her mother when her real mother was gone. she was everything to haeyoung.

now thinking of it, haeyoung's life would feel empty if her grandmother wasn't there. but, she had to accept reality. she had to accept that her grandmother wouldn't stay with her until the end. she had to learn to be independent, and had to learn how to survive by herself.

her thoughts were interrupted when a notification hit her phone. who would be texting her in the middle of the night? she checked her phone while her vision was blocked by tears, and through her blurry vision, she could see that it was eunsang who was texting her.

eunsangie_

haeyoung !!

are you ok??

you just suddenly disappeared a while ago.

where did you go?? :'((

I'm fine.

I just had to go home a while ago.

Why are you asking?

i'm just worried about you.

and you don't seem fine to me.

How can you say that I'm not fine?

because the 'fine haeyoung' i know never uses caps.

am i fine now?

no, you're not. c'mon, i'll cheer you up.

at 2AM? aren't your parents gonna get mad?

don't bother, i'm really fine. please.

nah, they're not gonna care. c'mon, park near the school, now. i'll be waiting for you even if it takes you hours, so you better come, ok?

eunsangie_ went offline.

eunsangggg

don't goooo

i'm really fine, i swear.

ugh fine you beat me.

➸

haeyoung had no choice. if she doesn't meet eunsang, then he'd be waiting in the cold for the rest of the night.

haeyoung got up from her bed, and looked at her mirror. gosh, i look like a mess. she thought.

she was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie as pajamas, so she didn't even bother changing from them. since it was 2AM, it was really cold so she just wore an extra coat, socks, and slippers.

she brought her nose-level bangs onto her face that it would cover her swolleb eyes, so eunsang wouldn't notice that she was crying. she put on a face mask [the ones you put on your mouth] so it would cover the lower portion of her face, before heading out the empty, quiet, house.

the cold breeze hit her face as she walked along the cold, silent road that were only lit by street lamps. after a few minutes of walking, she reached the empty park, which only cased a familiar figure. of course, as haeyoung guessed, it was eunsang.

haeyoung walked up to eunsang, who was facing away from her, watching the waves of the sea meters away from them. she stood beside eunsang, waiting for his reaction.

"hey, eunsang." haeyoung said, not daring to look at eunsang.

eunsang faced her, took a look at her face, and pulled her into his arms tightly.

"i heard what happened." he said, "i'll always be here for you, okay?"

➸