Your Smile, Your Heart, Your Hospital Bed| Lee Dokyeom

1.) Stranger.

March 16th, 2018

The sun sits on its throne high up in the sky, watching me burn from the ultraviolet beams of its radiant sunlight. Unfortunately, walking out of the school gates and sacrificing my dry skin to get sunburnt is a part of my lavish routine.

After walking out of school, I wait by the bus stop to go to the local hospital. It's not like I go there for some dramatic reason, though. Like visiting my dying mom just to meet a rich man I have to marry to pay off my family's hospital bills-my life isn't some poorly written telenovela (it's kinda close to becoming one).

I then walk my way down the tree-lined street, blooming with fresh magnolias, all the way to the hospital. It's the loveliest part of my after-school afternoon. It's something I always look forward to.

When I enter the hospital, I immediately face the chaos of busy nurses with little to no sleep, bleeding patients, weeping children, and doctors tired of their job.

It is truly a sight but not one to see.

I walk through the long white hallway, take a left, and climb up the staircase. Unlike the chaos of the first floor, the second floor was peaceful, quiet, dead-like a graveyard, of course.

I made my way to my mom's office, which was the third door next to the staircase on the right side. Kwon Minji, the only doctor in this hospital who specializes in treating blood cancer-she's a hematologist-oncologist.

I always make sure to knock on the door before coming in.

"Good afternoon mom," I mutter, placing my schoolbag on one of the chairs. Before I could even sit down, I walk up to the water dispenser and get myself a glass of water.

"You look stressed." I say, "Did something happen?"

"I should've chosen art school." Mom sighs as she closes the file, "Then again, I love being rich and realistically, nobody ever gets what they want."

"You know, you can always paint in your free time," I suggested, plopping down the couch while pulling out my phone.

"Co-worker drama? Or a patient?"

"The second one."

Another exasperated sigh escapes her lips.

"Oh..." I frown slightly. It must be hard to treat patients without an actual cure for their illness. All you have to do is give them treatment with a fifty percent chance of them surviving or... not. Mom always has a hard time not getting attached.

Shortly after that, I walk up to the door and turn the knob before saying, "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Be quick. My shift is almost over."

~❁~

On the other side of the hallway was a private restroom exclusively for the staff. But to my surprise, the restroom was occupied-quite rare since the doctors and the nurses here have strong bladders and don't ever seem to have a bathroom break.

I lean back to the wall and wait for a few minutes, only lifting my head up at the sound of the door being unlocked. A boy, no older than 18 but not younger than 14, exits the bathroom. He was wearing a white hoodie, matched with some loose sweatpants that seemed to be too big for him.

He looks at me directly in the eye for a quick second. That's where I notice the line of red dripping down his nose.

"Y-Your nose is bleeding!"

The stranger widens his eyes, goes back to the bathroom while covering his nose with his two hands. "Not again." he mumbles, leaning his body forward to avoid staining his hoodie and to make it to the sink in time.

"Are you okay?" I ask, seeing the blood smeared all over his face from the mirror.

"Yes," he replies, looking down as blood dripped down from his nose and onto the pearl-white sink. "Thank you for telling me."

The bleeding eventually stopped after a few minutes of watching him washing it under a running faucet, over and over again. It was as if his nose was a functioning hose.

He lifts his head and sighs in relief as he looked at his reflection. He turns around and walks out of the bathroom, pausing in front of the door as he bowed and flashed me a smile.

"I..." I say suddenly, reaching for my pocket to grab a pack of tissues. I offer them to him, "Take these. You'll need them."

He looks at me wide eyed, clueless. I would say it was adorable but I won't. He looks like a kid listening to an adult explain something so eagerly, passionately even.

I, on the other hand, look back at him confused.

Then he smiles.

WHAT. SIR. WHAT.

He takes the pack of tissues on my hand, touching my fingers slightly before placing it in the pocket of his hoodie.

And chuckles.

DON'T DO THIS TO ME.

"Thank you." he smiles even wider, bowing at me respectfully as I bow back.

I watch him leave as he went downstairs, and I watch him walk along the street blooming with magnolias. I didn't realize it at that time, but a smile like his could make my day stop for a while. A smile like his would have me thinking thoughts a long time. But only at that moment, an idiot like him walked straight into the women's bathroom, and an idiot like me realized it only at that moment.

And an idiot like me, who helplessly falls in love in denial, could not stop thinking of him on the days following that.