a reason for being | jung jaehyun

twenty three

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟑

-그녀의 성역 - 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲

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AFTER HOURS OF ANTICIPATION, the news was revealed that mrs. cheon was all-in-all okay. she'd experienced a seizure, although the trigger remained a mystery. as she laid in the comforting embrace of blankets on her bed, jejune screens monitored her vitals as the rhythmic beep evinced that she was indeed still alive.

seonmi was sitting in mrs. cheon's room, ironically. while she should've been resting and under the elderly woman's supervision, the roles were now reversed. seonmi put aside her sickness to be responsible for the woman.

the girl sighed to herself. it was extremely unfair. after everything mrs. cheon had done for seonmi, this is what she got in return? 

a light knock resounded at the door, and at the crack of the door peeked in hendery, whose smile was still as vibrant as ever. seonmi's conscience told her it was a bad idea — that she should avoid being around him. doctor's orders, after all. it would be dangerous for both of them to be near each other with her infection, the flu, and their weak-lunged condition.

"hi, seonmi," hendery whispered at the doorway. he watched the girl suddenly stand up, rubbing her eyes with her cardigan sleeve that still decorated in splotches of sanguine blood. "are you leaving?"

"mmm, yeah," she admitted. "i've been here all day, i should go get some rest now."

"oh," hendery voiced. "but how are you feeling?"

seonmi blinked. after witnessing such a tragic scene, the answer was obvious, yet she lied anyways. "me? i'm okay."

"really?" hendery frowned. obviously, seonmi was not okay. she'd been communicating with hendery less, her joyous radiant flush in her skin was gone, and replaced with and her smile was transparent. this was the sickest he'd seen her.

the girl chose not to answer, and instead she smiled kindly. "you can go in. i'm gonna go back to my room." hendery backed away from the doorway as seonmi made her way towards it, being cautious to keep the distance required for health reasons. "let me know when she wakes up."

"you got it!" hendery cheered. with a big goofy grin, he gave her a thumbs up and waved as she walked away.

i'm so glad mrs. cheon is alive seonmi thought to herself in the halls. she trudged with heavy feet towards the elevator, praying that the woman would be in okay condition from that point on.

as she stood in the elevator, light orchestral music played through the hospital speakers, bringing a nostalgic sensation throughout her chest. music, especially ballet scores, always managed to tranquilize her from meticulous fragility.

the ding of elevator doors signaled her arrival onto the eighth floor. she decided to walk the rest of the way up to the ninth floor, wanting to stall and avoid the alone time she would experience once again. the speed in her steps came to brusque decline while she focused intently on the music that resonating through the halls, but it was so quiet that she could barely register it.

but she knew what it was. it felt familiar. it was from the nutcracker, the christmas eve fairy tale ballet that she'd danced to so many times before. the peripheral view of rain pouring heavily outside the large windows caught her attention, and as she stood in the middle of the halls, her gaze landed on the reflection of an open door in the window.