Before You Go. |Lee Know

(Eight)

Rona looked at him in the eyes for seconds then her eyes moved to her hands that were still holding his cheeks. She pulled her hands quickly and was about to step back when Minho pulled her into his embrace. He rested her head on his chest and placed a hand on top of it.

"Stay still for a little please." He whispered. "I missed you." His voice came soothing and calming to the panicked girl. Rona was thankful that her head was buried in him because she was sure that she blushed. "Didn't you miss me?" He asked.

"No, not at all."

"That's a lie. How could you not miss me?"

"Okay. Just a little, not much."

Minho giggled lightly then they both went silent for some time. Minho's heartbeat was rapid that even Rona who is not a doctor could tell that something was wrong with the boy's heart.

"Your heart is beating really fast, Minho." She mumbled.

"You can hear it?"

"Sure, it's loud and fast. Are you sure you are okay?"

"I was. Now I'm not!"

Rona pulled back and looked at him in confusion mixed with worry. "Why? Are you getting that pain again? Will you go through another crisis? Let's go to the hosp-" She panicked again.

"It's not that bad. I guess I'm just nervous." He said, looking down at her.

"And why is that?"

"Cause you are that close. You are not helping my heart, Rona."

Rona pushed him gently and managed not to smile although she was sure that her lips twitched and he saw that. "Then, stay away. I don't want to see you collapse again."

***

After some teasing and bickering, the two kids laid down on the ground, looking at the sky as the sun was going down slowly. They stayed silent for a long time. That silence was different. It was the kind of silence that Rona would enjoy, not hate.

"What did you do when I wasn't around?" Minho asked.

"Nothing. Classes and studying. What about you? Where you at the hospital the whole time?"

"Hmm." He hummed as an answer.

"What did the doctors say?"

"Nothing new."

"Which is?"

"I'm a hopeless case." The boy sighed. "My heart is damaged badly and I need heart transplantation which is not available now. And even if, it's too late for me already."

"What kind of shit is that?" She sat upright and looked at the boy who was lying down calmly beside her. She was panicking again. "Are you sure they are doctors? How could you be a hopeless case when you are alive and breathing? How could they say something like that? How?"

"Hey, hey. Calm down." Minho said as he sat upright, looking at the girl who got nervous and her eyes started forming tears. Rona shoved her head in the opposite direction, trying her best to avoid looking in his face. She felt great pain in her chest whenever she talked to him about his health state. How can he be calm like that? "It's okay. It's going to be okay." He said, placing a hand on the small of her back to assure her.

"It's not, Lee Minho. It's not. You are dying."

"We all are going to die at some point."

"Not that soon! You are still young." She yelled.

"People die at even younger ages, Rona."

"How is this universe being managed? How could people just leave like that?"

"I told you this world is fucked up already."

Rona shoved her head back to him and she was already flooding with tears. Minho quickly wiped her tears with his warm fingers. He moved closer. He pulled her to be facing him and rested his forehead on hers while caressing her damp cheeks.

Screw his stupid heart that was beating crazily!

"Don't cry, please. I told you that my heart is weak for this." He pleaded. Rona started to calm herself down just for him but deep inside her, she was ready to make another Han River. "Don't worry. I promise you that when I die I would come back as a ghost and haunt your house." Minho chuckled.

Rona frowned at the joke. How could he joke in such a situation?

She wanted to hold on to him, she wanted to comfort him. She wanted to tell him that he was going to be okay. But she couldn't because simply, she knew that those were all lies and that death was the only truth in this fucked up world.