Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Thirty - Blame

 A wave of relief rushed through me as I heard the word 'minor'. I nodded. 

"Bed thirty," she stated bluntly. After thanking her profusely, I looked around for a sign to direct me. "That way." She sighed exasperated, pointing to the hall on her left. 

I hurried down the long hallway, through a set of heavy white double doors, and entered an even larger, more chaotic ward lined with pale blue beds on either side. The smell of cleaning products and bleach stung my nostrils and made my eyes water. From every side I was accosted by loud noises, coughs, moans and yells as people in multicoloured scrubs rushed past. 

I spotted him at the very end of the ward, standing at the end of a bed that was shielded by a curtain. I ran to him, ignoring the glare of two senior looking nurses and called out to him. Just as he had looked up I was there, pulling him in and holding him so tight that I'd never let go. I felt Park's fists grab two handfuls of my shirt from behind as he pressed his head deep into my chest. 

We stood like that for awhile, just holding each other and willing everything else to melt away. I tried to impart all the remorse and apology I could into the hug, all the guilt I had for putting him through this. As long as Park was in my arms, in this moment nothing could hurt him. I could protect him from anything. 

I held onto him for as long as I could, but eventually he pushed back and I was forced to let him go. We both looked over at the bed in front of us to where a pale Mr.Park was lying, several IV bags of different fluids attached to his arms.

I took up one of Park's hands and squeezed it in both of my own. "What did they say?" I asked nervously. Park rubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and sighed. "I don't know. The doctor said he collapsed from exhaustion but they didn't know the reasoning why. When we arrived they took some blood from him for testing and then took him for some kind of scan, but they haven't come back with any results." 

I nodded, and led Park over to the seats beside the bed. Not knowing what to do with myself, I began pacing up and down the length of the bed while Park held his head in his hands. I wasn't used to not knowing what to say, in fact, the only times I've ever been left speechless was with Park. I was painfully aware that nothing I could say or do would make this situation any better. After ten minutes of pacing a nurse in pale green scrubs approached us. 

"Sorry," I apologised, automatically halting my pacing. I made to sit down when he gently placed a hand on my arm to stop me. "No, it's not that," he said kindly. "I've just come over to move you all into your private room." 

Park shot up in his seat. "That's not covered in our policy." He said, alarmed. The nurse scratched his head and looked down at his chart, "Well it says here you have a private room that's been paid for. Maybe your policy has changed?" 

I could tell by Park's face that he was certain that their policy had not changed and my stomach twisted a little in discomfort. I was fairly certain that if I went out to the reception right now I would find Mom and Nok filling out paperwork. I looked over nervously at Park, us paying for something he couldn't normally afford normally upset him greatly but this time seemed to be an exception. He nodded knowingly at me and began gathering up anything around the bed to bring with him. 

It was a short walk and elevator ride to the new room but it felt like years. Once we got there and the nurses had checked on his vitals and left, we sat down on the new, slightly comfier seats beside the bed. 

Now that we were outside the emergency ward, there was finally some silence. Park bowed his head, hands clasped together in silent prayer. I dug under my shirt, pulled out my half of our necklace and clasped it tightly, concentrating. 'Please,' I thought, 'Please let everything be okay."