Treasure From The Stars

Chapter 36

Slowly, my eyes opened.

I was in a dark room.

Turning my head to the right, I saw a window. Out the window, it was dark, but I could see several lights of several colors blinking from different buildings. It was a nice view.

I realized I was in a hospital room.

I heard a door slide open and from the corner of my eye, I could see some light peek in from the hallway.

I used the small strength I had in me to sit up.

"Yumi, you're too weak to do that on your own-" a dark figure rushed to my side. They clicked on the lamp next to me.

I looked up to see Minjun. "What are you doing here?"

He furrowed his eyebrows, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in a survival show right now?" he fought back.

I sighed from the feeling that I had lost.

"What happened?" He asked, finally sitting down.

I felt a pit in my stomach at the thought of the news. "Give me your phone."

He raised an eyebrow, confused, but willingly handed his phone over.

I went into K-Exclaim and went into the breaking news section, clicking on the most recent article about Yujun's case. I handed Minjun's phone back to him.

It only took a few seconds for him to scan the title of the article. And just like that, his eyes changed from pure curiosity to mixed emotions of sorrow, shock, and anger. He spent a few minutes reading, but it didn't take long for him to turn off his phone and throw it into his bag.

I watched as his emotions changed. "Who told you to read this?"

"I didn't. I saw them explain it on the news."

"Why in the world would you watch the news? Plus, I thought watching the news was one of the things you hated doing the most?"

"It is not my fault the rest of them wanted to watch it."

He massaged his eyes and sighed. "Do you know why you fainted?"

"It was just shock."

"You apparently are iron deficient."

I stayed silent.

"You have iron deficiency anemia." He paused for a moment, "And the doctor thinks you could possibly also have vitamin D deficiency. He's going to prescribe you pills for both of them. You need to take the iron one two times a week and the vitamin D one once a week."

Again I just listened.

"You aren't surprised?" Minjun raised an eyebrow at me and sat down beside the bed.

I drove around the question, "Do my parents know of this?"

"No. Just you and me."

I raised an eyebrow, "Not even Manager Hani?"

"Not even her."

"That sounds like something I would do, not you," I remarked.

He softly chuckled, "In a way, I guess." He didn't explain anything further.

"Can we go for a walk?" I brought it up wanting some fresh air.

"You aren't even in the state to walk around."

"You can take me in a wheelchair if that pleases you."

I saw him think about it for a moment. In the end, he gave in.

✩☽☆☾✩

He pushed the wheelchair out into the hospital gardens. Within a few minutes, Minjun parked me by a bench and he sat down.

I sighed. Not of sadness, but not exactly of relief. It just came out.

"Is something wrong?" Minjun asked, turning his glance over to me.

I thought over the question for a moment, keeping my gaze on the night sky.

A moment of silence washed over as he waited for an answer or a nod or something.

"It just sucks."

Minjun shifted his body, so he entirely faced me. He cocked his head to the side.

"All this time, my whole family blamed themselves." I sniffed and smiled. "Oh, it was my fault," I mimicked. "I could've done something... Why did I do that? I could've saved him."

For once, Minjun listened without any interference.

"The thing is- We couldn't, none of us could. That's how life turned out to be. It's interesting though. Our family blamed ourselves, we could've blamed the company, the person who published that scandal... I wonder why it always has to come back to this. I think it could've been better if we didn't find out the truth. This is just a whole new shock- We're figuring out that it wasn't our fault, that we had no control over it. And I think that just hurts more." My body trembled. I thought deeply, "No. You know what hurts? The fact that I grieved over this alone. No one knows!" Then I squeaked, "But I can't blame them. I didn't tell them."

"Didn't tell... what?"

"That Yujun's my brother."

I saw Minjun's eyes widened a bit. "They don't know?"

I shook my head. "I refused to tell Manager Hani, or Nam PD-nim. I haven't told Hyeji or Joori either. I could imagine the headlines if I told the world."

Minjun slightly smiled. "Why don't you?"

My focus on the sky and the topic broke. I looked down at him. "What?"

"Why don't you confess? That Yujun's your brother."

"For what? Pity? No. I'd rather live with it in secret."

"Why? For what good will it do you?"

I had no answer.