Duality | Monsta X [√]

24: Someone to lean on

Even when I close my eyes
You're still here

-Anatani deawnakerepa,
Aimer

I had finally gathered the courage to visit my mom so here I was sitting on a chair beside her bed as she slept peacefully with some of her grey hair that she had on the front of her head falling on her innocent face ever so gently.

I watched her chest heave up and down, a heart monitor beeping beside her and the bag filled with liquid attached to her standing by. The air purifier continuously let out puffs of white cloud, a few sunflowers on a table beside her.

I wondered if she was in pain, I wondered if she would smile at me and tell me everything was be alright when she'd wake up, just like she'd been doing all her life. Telling lies, saying she was fine when she was not.

"Did your mom pick that name for you?" A voice said from the side, Kihyun who was sitting beside me. "That name of yours, Daisy."

"Yeah, you don't like it?"

Kihyun scratched the back of his ear as his other hand held his striped overcoat to his chest. "Well, it's an uncommon name for someone born in Korea."

"I think I've said it in the English club before, that my mom had quite an interest in that language. And she's been working with a herbal medicine specialist for a long time."

Kihyun had some of his gelled hair falling on top of his forehead neatly, unlike every other time when I saw him at night when his hair would be meticulously back brushed revealing his undercut on both sides. One of his veiny hands was grabbing the neck of his black turtleneck sweater.

Why was I observing him in detail? Quickly I had to turn away.

"That's why my mom knows a lot about flowers and plants. The flower Daisy represents innocence and purity."

Kihyun hummed lightly in response. "That's pretty."

"The flower?" I again glimpsed at him sitting there in a straight posture, his one leg on top of other.

"Your name," he replied.

With that, the air around me grew warm, even though it felt so cool before. The air condition must not be working properly.

To cut through the thick awkward atmosphere, I spoke again. "You aren't smoking today?"

But I was met with a chuckle as if I was saying the stupidest thing on earth. "Do you expect me to smoke inside a hospital?" Well, indeed my question was stupid.

After a short pause he talked again, "I'm not a chain smoker if that's what you think I am. I only smoke three to five cigarettes a day to relieve stress. And one glass of red wine in the evening because I like that."