In The Heart of Darkness

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Jieun sat on the side of her bed and stared out the window. She was perfectly well enough to go home, but her father convinced the doctor to keep her another day. It was nice to have caring parents, but this was a bit too "caring," in Jieun's opinion.

She watched the world outside darken a bit as the sun began to set. She had missed another day of teaching. Another day that Taehyung had to pick up the slack for. He had already done so much. She smiled and felt her cheeks heat a bit. He was so kind to her. He had texted her several times to tell her funny things the students had done throughout the day.

"Do Bong ran up to me crying today. He had lost his first tooth and wasn't prepared. It was such an ordeal. I don't think I've ever held a memorial service for a tooth."

"Little Ji Hye said to tell you she misses you. She said I'm an okay teacher, but she prefers you because she gets too distracted by my handsomeness. She's now the teacher's pet. Don't judge me."

"Get well soon, Jieun-ssi. Jae Hyun has spent most of the day pouting in the corner because you promised him homemade snacks before your accident. He now thinks they're never coming. I hope they will be good and you still have plans to make them. I'm always needing a good snack."

Jieun giggled as she read through the texts once more. She missed her class and her co-teacher. It was an absolute delight to teach alongside him. His love for the kids shone through every day. Oftentimes, he was the "easy" teacher while she had to be the disciplinarian. Most of the time, when a child committed a trespass against the rules, more often than not, both the child and Taehyung would be standing in front of her, giving her puppy dog eyes in an effort to get the child off the "hook."

She was desperate to get off her father's "hook" and free herself from this stuffy hospital. Jieun rose from her bed and walked towards the window, looking down into the street. The entrance to the ER was directly below her window, just a few floors down. She frowned slightly as the fuzzy faces and happenings from yesterday still floated around her mind. She tried so hard to remember the face of the blonde man staring down at her in her memories. Her head began to ache, and her hand instinctively went up to press lightly against her sore temple. The man's image remained a blur in her mind and a heavier frown set on her face.

The strong scent of tteokbokki assaulted her nose, and she felt a cold chill run down her spine as she realized someone must have come into the room without her knowing. She turned slowly, the heavy frown still embedded in her beautiful face.

Taehyung stood behind her, holding up two styrofoam containers with chopsticks taped to the tops. He grinned widely but then his grin faded slightly as he noticed her frown. He set the containers down quickly on the bedside table and made his way over to her.

"You'll need a Botox treatment before you leave just to get rid of the frown lines you're going to have if you keep this up." He reached his pointer finger up and placed it between her eyebrows, relaxing the deep furrow that was residing there.

Jieun relaxed as she realized who her "intruder" was and smiled softly. "You might be right."

"Did you not hear me come in?" he asked.

Jieun shook her head a little in the negative. "No. I heard nothing."

"You must have been in deep thought," sighed Taehyung. He walked back to the containers and invited her to join him on the small sofa across the room. "Have you remembered anything else?"