The Sun to my Moon

Chapter 3: Recovery

Gi Tae-ung stayed in the hospital for three weeks.

Kim Se-hun, Kwong Hwa-sook, and Cha Dal-geon rotated their visits on and off to keep him company and to help keep the office covered. Well, Dal-geon wasn't much help on that point, as he was more likely to stretch out on the couch and catch a catnap than do anything useful like answer the phones, but he did go into the NIS on occasion, for appearances' sake.

Go Hae-ri was at the hospital almost constantly. She could be found there at almost any hour of the day, reading to Tae-ung from a stack of crime novels or teasing him about one of the nurses having a crush on him. Dal-geon even caught her fluffing his pillow, for God's sake. Watching her fuss over Tae-ung, he realized he was gaining a keen insight into what it must have been like in Hae-ri's household whenever his brother was sick or injured. She would have always been at his side, spoiling them terribly and providing whatever comfort occurred to her to offer. Dal-geon's heart ached a little, thinking that he wouldn't mind being on the receiving end of her tender ministrations for a change.

Go Hae-ri left only when one of the other members of Vagabond was there to watch over Tae-ung, and when she did, it was usually only to go home and grab a shower before heading into the office for a few hours before returning to the hospital, usually bearing food of some kind for her patient.

Dal-geon was sure she wasn't sleeping, a fact confirmed when she showed up one morning after she had ostensibly left to catch a few hours of sleep with a batch of the most awful cookies he had ever encountered. He ate one out of curiosity. It didn't taste too bad, actually, but it was hard as a rock and he had to quit after the first couple of bites for fear of ending up with a mouthful of cracked teeth. Tae-ung, on the other hand, actually seemed to like them. He crunched away happily on the things like he actually took pleasure in consuming organic matter that appeared to have been fossilized and then excavated from some kind of archaeological dig.

Dal-geon was a little surprised that Tae-ung didn't seem to mind Hae-ri's hovering. Not that he, Dal-geon, would have, but Tae-ung was made of sterner stuff than he was. It was possible that Tae-ung just realized that Hae-ri needed to hover for her own reassurance and that he let her do it more for her sake than for his, but Dal-geon had the sneaking suspicion that his colleague was actually enjoying being fussed over. Which as he'd said, he could hardly blame him for.

Go Hae-ri was unfailingly cheerful on these visits, probably because she believed Gi Tae-ung needed an example of a positive outlook to lift his spirits while he recovered. On the rare occasions Cha Dal-geon's time in the office overlapped with hers these days, she was as brusque and focused as ever, always the consummate professional.

Dal-geon wasn't fooled. She put up a brave front, but he knew that Hae-ri was withdrawing into herself. He was an expert at displaying a sunny exterior to the world when inwardly the pieces were crumbling; he recognized the signs. Plus, the quality of her baking was improving, which despite what Se-hun thought, was unfortunate, because it meant that she still wasn't sleeping. Hae-ri was getting up in the middle of the night to pore over cookbooks and turn out batch after batch of cookies, muffins, and scones which she brought to Tae-ung. Se-hun, profiting from the surplus of baked goods delivered to Tae-ung and clueless about his boss's nocturnal baking habits, was delighted by this turn of events. Dal-geon, however, knew the truth, and was disturbed by it.

He saw her shoulders slump, ever so slightly, when she thought no one was looking. Saw her rub her eyes and fiddle with her cross. Saw her look off into the distance and appear utterly lost. Then come back to herself with darkness glittering in her eyes.

Frankly, it was really starting to worry him.

He hated seeing her upset. If he had said this to her, she would have told him that was a surprise to her, given that he was the one who usually seemed to go out of his way to do things that he knew would upset her. It was true, though. He liked to rile her up, yes-it was so fun to watch her when she was piqued- but he hated the idea of something he had done actually upsetting her. Of course, that ship had pretty much already sailed, what with him getting a member of her team shot. Still, he hated seeing her like this. Pretending to be fine, shoring up the rest of the team. Meanwhile, the ground was turning to quicksand beneath her and no one else had noticed.