Chapter 62

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They sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes, listening to the occasional sounds of birds chirping and vehicles driving past them from the main road. In this real heaven on earth, hidden from plain sight, Y/n and Irene found themselves almost falling asleep.

"I think we should return now," Y/n said to Irene after a few more minutes, thinking that it was time for them to go back to the house – although he wished he could just stay there and let things play out without him, he would have to face reality, whether he liked it or not.

Irene stretched a little before looking at Y/n, smiling, "yeah – we should get going now," she replied as she got up from the massive rock. "They must be..." She almost slipped off the rock when she stepped on the mossy part of it, but Y/n was quick to catch her.

Y/n quickly pulled her up and away from the mossy area of the rock before chuckling softly, "be careful – the fall might not be high, but it would still hurt you," he reminded as he looked below them – the severity of the fall wouldn't be life-threatening. However, if she fell head-first, it would still send Irene on a hiatus.

"Um..." Irene cleared her throat, blushing at the proximity of their distance, "you uh...you can let me go now," she said shyly, snapping Y/n out of his thought – realizing that he had an arm wrapped around her waist from pulling her to safety, he quickly pulled it away before looking away in embarrassment.

"Sorry," Y/n quickly said before climbing down the rock, helping Irene. "I was thinking about the risk that comes if you fall, that I didn't realize I was still holding you," he said defensively – they promised not to get too invested in their past attraction towards each other, and now, Y/n was worried that Irene might get the wrong idea.

Seeing the panic on his face, Irene couldn't help herself from laughing as she climbed down the rock as well, "hey, it's okay, really," she reassured, tapping Y/n's shoulder to show that she understood what he was trying to say.

Meanwhile, Mr Kim, Y/n's grandfather, was in Dr Shin's office. "How long does he have, Doctor Shin?"

"Based on the tests ran by my friend a month ago," Doctor Shin sighed softly before taking his glasses off, putting them on the table and looking at Mr Kim with a sad smile. "Four to five months – six if he's lucky."

"But we will run a few more tests ourselves and see if anything changed. We will inform you if there's any update."

Mr Kim stared at the table for a while, his face etched with concern, before sighing. "I see..." he nodded before finally meeting Doctor Shin's eyes, "I will let my family know," he said before getting up from the chair.

"Thank you, Doctor Shin," Mr Kim offered his hand, and Doctor Shin smiled, nodding before taking his hand.

Doctor Shin got up from his seat and walked Mr Kim to his door, "we will be taking care of Kim Sang-Il, so you may go home and rest, Mr Kim. I promise that he will be in good care in this hospital," he said optimistically as the old man stepped out of his office.

***

That evening, Mr Kim returned home by bus, much to his family's surprise.

"You could've called us – we can ask Manager Song to pick you up," Y/n scolded as he led his grandfather to the dining room, where the others were gathered – some of them at least.

Mr Kim clicked his tongue before dismissively tapping his grandson's back, "I know, I know – I just don't want to bother Manager Song," he said before sitting beside his wife. "Now, take a seat – I have something I need to tell everyone."

Y/n quietly sat across from him before resting his hands on the table, waiting for whatever news his grandfather brought from the hospital. Right then, Sejeong entered the kitchen with an empty glass in hand.

"Oh, Sejeong – come here for a second," Y/n called as he gestured to the seat beside him. "Grandpa have something to say," he added, and Sejeong looked at them – she raised her eyebrows for a while before nodding.

She put the empty glass in the sink before walking into the dining room, sitting on the chair beside Y/n before looking at their grandfather, who was looking at everyone in the room intently. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat, "okay, so...not long after you guys left the hospital, Doctor Shin got the rest of Sang-Il's report from the hospital in Seoul."

"The report that he showed us wasn't the complete one, and his friend ran into a few technical problems – but after they were fixed, he sent the rest of the report later this morning," Mr Kim said before scratching the back of his head, "anyway, it turned out that Sang-Il was aware of the cancer long before he was hospitalized a year ago – but he ignored it and continued to consume a large amount of alcohol."

Y/n looked at Sejeong, expecting her to voice her dissatisfaction or complain about her father being brought up, but she handled it very well so far, much to the former's surprise.

"What else did Doctor Shin said?" asked Sejeong, grabbing onto Y/n's wrist – that was then when Y/n realized that it was not that Sejeong didn't care anymore. She was braving herself to hear whatever their grandfather had to say, and she grabbed Y/n's wrist as a form of emotional support.

Mr Kim sighed heavily before leaning against his seat, "even after he was hospitalized, Sang-Il was as stubborn as always – he hardly listened to the staff in charge of treating him."

Sejeong scoffed before looking down, "what do you expect from a coward?"

"Sejeong, I'm not done yet," Mr Kim softly reminded before leaning deeper in his seat, "the test result from Doctor Shin's friend that was made last month said that Sang-Il's life expectancy is four to five months, and it might extend to six if he was lucky."

That was the last thing the room needed to hear – even the Red Velvet members, Irene and Joy, who were there with them, fell into deep silence as they listened to the news. The Kims were quiet; Lina and Y/n's grandmother exchanged looks before comforting each other while Sejeong tightened her grip on Y/n's wrist.

Y/n looked at his cousin before patting her head with his free hand. He then looked at his grandfather, "if that report was from a month ago, then..."

"Shouldn't we be spending more time with him then?" Sejeong asked, cutting Y/n off. "I mean, he might be a monster, and what he did was too much, but shouldn't he at least have his final moment with his family?"

"Sejeong, don't say that – what if the test that Doctor Shin's team would give your father might fruits a different result?"

Sejeong shook her head before looking at Y/n with a half-smile, "Y/n, I know you – we are trying to be optimistic about the situation, but let's be real for a second – have you ever met someone who suffered from stage four cancer survived?"

"Sejeong—"

"And even if there were people out there who were able to avert their faith and survived, what percentage was it compared to the death count? I'm sorry, Y/n – but I don't want to be optimistic when in reality, the chance of him surviving is as good as zero."

Y/n sighed and nodded, "I... I'm sorry... I thought..." he looked down before placing a hand on top of hers, caressing it gently.

Sejeong took a deep breath before sighing, "I'm sorry too – I know what you were trying to do," she replied softly before looking at their grandfather, "are you going back to the hospital soon, Grandpa?"

Mr Kim looked at her before shaking his head, "not today, no. Maybe tomorrow," he said with a small smile.

"Okay," Sejeong nodded before exhaling sharply, "can I come with you tomorrow?"

[A/N – Guys, if I were to, say, make another Red Velvet member x Male reader book, which member would you love to see?] 

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