Summary | He was a man who had wanted too much, and you were a woman who had lost so much. Once the wounds from the past come in the way for you to embrace your future with the man you love, the option for a new beginning comes in the form of erasin...
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PRESENT DAY
"Welcome to The Eden Initiative. How may I help you?"
Hoseok raises his head, trying his hardest to keep his face stoic to hide the way his nerves are spiralling out of control inside him. The female receptionist keeps her bright smile on her face as she waits for Hoseok to finally speak. She must have gotten used to dealing with nervous patients such as he is to be able to stay calm and nonchalant about it.
"I—yes, I'm sorry," Hoseok shakes his head, trying to get himself together. "My name is Jung Hoseok. I have an appointment for a consultation regarding an upcoming treatment."
"Certainly. Let me check your name. Will this be your first appointment?" The receptionist speaks to him with a cheerful voice, though it sounds a bit robotic, and Hoseok could only nod pensively. "Will you please wait a moment while I inform the specialist that you're here?"
"Sure," Hoseok says, following the receptionist's guide to head out towards the waiting room.
Hoseok stops right at the doorway, feeling like his legs had turned to stone.
The waiting room feels cold and forlorn. He can see a few other people sitting there, waiting, keeping their distances from each other. He looks around for a while, trying not to pay too much attention to them as he tries to find an empty spot. If his unsteady nerves are anything to go by, then he knows that they would be sharing the same uneasiness as the one he is feeling inside, which means that his prying eyes are clearly unwarranted.
He is relieved to find an empty seat far in the corner, away from the solemn-looking patients. He keeps his eyes looking on the ground as he makes his way across the room, only finding them doing the same thing and not looking his way once he is seated.
In the end, as minutes continue to pass by slowly, his curiosity gets the best of him and Hoseok cannot help but take a quick glance around.
His eyes fall first at the young woman sitting the closest to him. Her eyes are empty, the bags under those eyes are dark and deep, her hands are clenched tightly on her lap with a soiled handkerchief in her tight clutch. He cannot help but wonder if you were like this the day you came into this facility to do your treatment, if you had looked just as broken as she is when you asked for their help.
Hoseok quickly looks away and presses a hand over his chest just as pain strikes right at the center of his beating heart. He cannot think about you, not right now. So he takes a deep breath, steadies himself before looking the other way. Then his gaze falls to a couple sitting in the corner. An old man is there with a younger woman who appears to be his daughter. Each of them carrying an urn on their laps and neither were speaking or looking at each other.
On the other corner was a lone man, sitting on his own with a cardboard box on his lap. He has his head down, but Hoseok could see him stealing glances left and right, looking so tense is if he is planning to bolt right out of here anytime soon. Hoseok looks away just as the man glances right at his way and pretends as if he is more interested in reading a random brochure that had been placed on the coffee table in front of him.
