chapter 40
Seojun loved biking. He enjoyed it all year-round. Even with the cold tearing through his sweater. The feeling of motion, the speed, the rise and fall of the path, and the chance to navigate all kinds of terrain: grass, mud, and even roads. It all felt so seamless. So automatic. A sort of freedom that he had always yearned for.
He passed the mass of cars on the highways, their passengers slumped in their seats, and turned sharply into the park. Seojun brought his bike to a skidding halt, and took a moment to admire the blossoms and birds in his vicinity. He had little time to do so, however.
Today was the day his mother finally got to come home. Seojun idly pulled on the strap of his backpack and then stowed his helmet away. He would retrieve his bike afterward. He had to be careful not to let his mother see him riding the vehicle she so strongly disliked. Though he understood where she was coming from, Seojun simply couldn't imagine his life without his bike. It was a part of him. An extension of his own being.
The boy absently made his way to the entrance of the lavish hospital, his feet striking the ground with every step.
"Good evening, sir. The City Hospital is delighted to welcome you to the premises this evening." Seojun gave the receptionist a quick nod of greeting. This hospital wasn't like the one he was used to. The front desk staff here seemed more like fancy plastic water dispensers than actual human beings. Individuals with lives and emotions outside of just being the best at their jobs. Seojun was astonished when such a fancy establishment had upgraded his mother to a VIP ward. The well-being of patients, along with their comfort, was the hospital's priority - that is what they had said. And yet, something about it did not sit right with him.
The boy rounded the corner into the VIP hallway. There was just about as much character here as elsewhere in the hospital. Grey slates laid on the floor and somber doves lined the walls. There was a polystyrene ceiling made from squares placed on a grid-like frame. Here, however, the light was quite bright. Too bright, in fact, for his eyes after the darkness outside.
Every few seconds Seojun passed a different set of intricate doors with fancy hand-sanitizer dispensers: past oncology, then geriatrics, and maternity. He walked by them all, heading straight for the recovery wards.
The boy soon came across the familiar metal grey double doors with their dull chrome handles. His dark eyes fell on the garish bouquet of flowers in his calloused hands, their dampness seeping in even through the leather of his biking gloves. Oh. The gloves. Seojun ripped them off his hand and stuffed them in his pockets. He couldn't let his mother see them.
Without a pause, he then pushed at the door with his body weight, although he didn't quite have to. The door swung open soundlessly and with ease. A draft of air hit his face, warm and with a tincture of bleach. He caught a glimpse of the hallway that stretched beyond out of the corner of his eye, divided into tiny squares by thin wires in the window panels. And suddenly, the cost of the flowers did not seem to matter so much to him anymore. It was worth it. As fancy as the place was, his mother was going to need a splash of color after all this time.
A little to his surprise, the doctor was already in the ward when he arrived.
"Eomma?" the boy called, letting the bouquet hang in his hands. "Is everything alright? Are you okay?"
"Oh, Seojun?" his mother called. She looked up from her reports with a wide smile that made the boy's heart swell. "I'm fine. Dr. Kim just came in for the final checkup."
"This must be your son."
"Ah, yes," Mi-hyang replied, turning back to the balding man. Seojun sent a nod of greeting to the doctor, which the man returned with a gracious smile.
"Well, the transplant is taking well and her numbers are all good," he said. He gave the woman a gentle squeeze on her shoulder before turning towards Seojun. His expression was still gentle, though much more severe than before. "Make sure she doesn't skip her medicine and gets a lot of rest."
"Yes, sir."
His face broke into a subtle grin.
"Well, that's all then," he said. "You can take her home."
Seojun kept a polite smile on his face as Dr. Kim passed by him, muttering unintelligible words under his breath. His ears caught something about financial constraints and treatment fees. And at that, Seojun's smile dropped. Before he could think more about that, however, his mother neared him.
"Why did you come here instead of going home after school?" Mi Hyang asked innocently, bag of medicines in hand. Her eyes then narrowed, raking over his wind-swept hair and crumpled sweatshirt. "Don't tell me you rode your motorcycle here, Han Seojun!"
Of course there was no hiding anything from his mother. She knew everything, even if he tried his best to lie to her. Seojun decided not to give her the satisfaction of an affirmative response, a small grin breaking out on his face instead. He handed her the modest bouquet he had been holding all this while.
"Congratulations on being discharged from the hospital, Mi Hyang-ssi," Seojun exclaimed, pulling his mother closer to himself. It felt good, finally knowing that she was okay. "We should call Go-woon out and grab something nice to eat."
His mother only looked back at him with furrowed brows. "Seojun, you promised me."
Seojun let out a grunt of disbelief. "I told you I was done with it," he whined, now taking the packet from her hands. He matched her scrutinizing gaze with a cheeky grin of his own."Eomma, why are you being such a worry-wart?"
Mi Hyang continued to stare at him. Her anxiety soon seemed to melt away and she chuckled, giving the boy a soft pinch on his cheeks. "Now," Seojun continued. "About going out to celebrate..."
One moment the hallway was empty. The next, something knocked against Seojun's body, sending a jolt of pain through his body.
"Ouch. Hey! Can you watch where you're going?" Seojun exclaimed in surprise, turning a piercing glare at a head of brown hair. He never bothered to take a closer look at the person, eyes narrowed and hands massaging his neck to ease the sharp sting brought on by the collision. At least not until his mother called out to a very familiar name in greeting.
"Oh my god. It's so good to see you again, Yoon-ah dear!"
Seojun's head all but whipped in his mother's direction in surprise, just as Yoon-ah raised her eyes to look at him, open-mouthed. He stared back at her unblinkingly. The brunette looked much the same as he had seen her at school in the afternoon. The same set of brown eyes, and the same expensive floral scent lingering on her hair. It was a wonder he hadn't noticed it the moment he stepped out into the corridor.
Yoon-ah blinked, her brows furrowed. It was as though she had stumbled across him at an unfortunate time. "Oh, shoot. I'm so sorry," she finally said, her hand closing around her phone tightly. She turned it off and stashed it in her pocket. "I wasn't looking where I was going. I should have been more careful."
Her startled - and still disoriented - gaze swept over his figure absently. Seojun swallowed. He suddenly felt odd. Almost...on edge. The feeling disturbed him. It was as though the brunette's arrival had raised the temperature of the hallway by a hundred notches. He couldn't bring himself to reply to her, the pungent smell of bleach suddenly feeling like too much for him to withstand.
Fortunately for him, his mother took the liberty to break the awkward silence that had ensued after the girl's apology. "Oh, it's okay. Seojun is a strong lad," Mi-hyang said with a light chuckle. "But dear, it's such a surprise seeing you here so late."
Yoon-ah shifted closer to the older woman, wearing a gracious smile on her face. She didn't bother sparing Seojun any more than a fleeting glance. It sent a ripple of annoyance through him. While her actions seemed casual in practice, it was obvious she was trying to avoid conversation with him.
Seojun stubbornly shoved his hands in his pockets. He had no reason to be bothered with whether or not she was paying attention to him. But he was curious still. The boy interrupted the two before they could continue with their pleasantries.
"Hey," he called, his curious gaze finding the brunette once again. "Didn't you have study group or something? Why are you here?"
Yoon-ah cast him a surprised glance over his shoulder. A frown came over her face for a brief moment, before being overtaken by yet another easy smile.
"Oh, you know, just general checkups," she said, gesturing vaguely in the hallway behind her.
Seojun blinked, his brows pulling down into a slight frown. General checkups? Again? This was the second time this month that he knew of Yoon-ah's visit to the hospital, and her reasoning had been the same both times. There was so much he wanted to ask her, know what she was doing at the hospital. It always frustrated him how she never seemed to tell him anything. She did things her own way, and her explanation for everything was always so vague. It drove him up the wall.
And yet, an overwhelming sense of worry swept through his body. His main concern was whether she was alright. He couldn't help but press her further, unconcerned with his mother's curious gaze dancing between the two. "What do you mean?"
The brunette gave him a pointed look and Seojun reluctantly clamped his mouth shut. Unease was gnawing at the pit of his stomach, but Yoon-ah seemed apprehensive about conversing in front of his mother. Had this anything to do with her insomnia? It had to be. And if that were truly the case, he should be glad that she was finally seeking medical assistance for it.
"Oh, Seojun, stop nagging her," Mi Hyang scolded, looking at the brunette with a kind smile. "I'm sorry, dear. He needs to learn to behave."
Yoon-ah tore her gaze away from him, facing the older woman with a stiff smile of her own. "Oh, yes. I totally forgot to thank you for the tteokbokki!" she called out all of a sudden. Yoon-ah took his mother's hand and gave it a grateful squeeze. "You were very kind to send extra."
Confusion rippled across Mi-hyang's face. "Tteokbokki? What tteokbokki? I-"
Seojun's heart jumped in his chest. "Yah, now's not the time for this!" he exclaimed urgently to Yoon-ah, wedging himself between the two. He faced his mother, purposefully keeping his back to the girl. "Eomma, you've just been discharged. Why are you bothering yourself like this? Let's go."
"Really? Ms. Lee, that's amazing news!" Yoon-ah's smile held a quiet cheer. A soft, gentle cheer that allowed others a positive space to open up into. The loud, exuberant kind of cheerfulness had its place of course. However, in such settings, it could discourage people. It is difficult, in the end, to share your love and prayers with someone who seems so far removed from reality. Cut off from the outside world by the heavy double doors of such a hospital.
The girl's demeanor told she understood that well, and it made him wonder if she was much more familiar with these grim settings than he had imagined. Ever charmed by the girl, of course, Mi-hyang chuckled.
"I hope Seojun doesn't ride his bike all that often," his mother continued pleasantly. It was quite out of the blue, almost making Seojun choke on his own spit.
"Oh."
His frenzied gaze shot toward the brunette. His mother had just been discharged from the hospital. He wasn't sure if she would handle the breaking of her trust well.
He could swear he saw a sliver of conflict on Yoon-ah's face before it dissolved into an innocent expression.
"Oh, Miss Lee, I can't recall the last time I saw him on that thing," she said, eyes drifting to him idly. Her gaze was accusing, and yet so casual in its manner that it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. "I'm glad he's finally listening to you."
His mother seemed surprised for a moment, only for her expression to dissolve into one of innocent delight. "That's such a relief. I can finally sleep in peace at night," she said, ruffling Seojun's hair. "It has to be your influence on him. He's never listened to me before."
Seojun felt a stab of guilt in his chest. His eyes found the brunette. She had her gaze trained on her shoes, the tension in her shoulders was evident to him. It was obvious Yoon-ah did not enjoy lying to his mother and yet she had done so seamlessly. If he hadn't known the truth, he knew he would have believed her himself.
The thought scared him somehow. He had not anticipated the girl to be this good at lying. It made him wonder if the most adept liars really were the ones with a reputation for being truthful.
"Oh, dear, why don't you accompany Seojun and me right now?" his mother suggested suddenly. Seojun's heart leapt in his ribcage. "He could drop you home afterward. It's late anyway."
The girl glanced at the packet in her hands with an uncertain air. As he waited for her reply, Seojun felt as though his body was teetering on the edge of pointbreak excitement and he wasn't quite sure why.
Yoon-ah met his mother's eyes tentatively. "I'm not sure," she said. "It feels wrong to exert you too much. You should be resting for a quick recovery."
"Yah," Seojun called out, drawing her attention to himself. He had to work to keep the frown on his face. "Just come along if she's insistent. Don't be such a bother all the time."
The gruff tone seemed to irk Yoon-ah. It looked like she was about to snap back a snark reply when her gaze fell on his mother again. A sort of contented resignation replaced her annoyance within an instant. "Alright," she declared finally, discreetly rolling her eyes at Seojun. She then looked at Mi-hyang with a warm smile. "I'm sorry. I'll just be a moment."
"Of course, dear. We'll wait at the entrance."
Shameless as it was, Seojun's eyes were still fixed on the girl until she disappeared from his line of sight.
"She's lovely, isn't she?" Mi Hyang's voice cut through Seojun's trance. He glanced down at his mother. Her eyes seemed to be glistening with a speculative gleam that he had never seen before.
Seojun puffed out his lips. "Eomma, why did you invite her? I thought it was supposed to be just the two of us," he complained, though he knew his heart wasn't quite at peace with his words.
'Oh, don't feign innocence in front of me, I'm your mother,' Mi Hyang teased. "Your face was beaming with joy. You didn't want to let her go, never mind eating out with me after seeing her here."
Seojun's face twisted in mock disbelief as he placed a hand on his heart. "Eomma, how could you say such an outrageous thing?" he asked. "I could only ever love you and you alone."
Mi Hyang laughed at his words, fond eyes looking back at him. Then, she shook her head in disappointment. "If you hadn't insisted so often that you were just friends, I'd almost think you both were dating," she said. "The way you both act, anyone would think you two are in love."
The heat rushed to Seojun's cheeks once more." Eomma!" he exclaimed. "Don't say such nonsense. I told you we are just friends!"
"For now."
At that, Seojun let out a forced grunt of exasperation. "Eomma, you need to stop watching so many romance dramas. It's not good for you," the boy exclaimed. He interrupted her before she could reply. "That's it. I'm going to get some water!"
Seojun promptly turned around and marched to the water dispenser. He kept his back to her, unwilling to let her see his reddening cheeks- even though he was certain she already knew. His mother always did.