Mr Park retrieved his phone from his ear as Jimin, whom had been trying to call for a while now, wasn't picking up his phone, making the old man rather frustrated , his eyes glaring at the phone as if the device had done him terribly wrong.
"Are you calling Jimin again?" His friend ,Mr Kim, spoke as he approached him with the cup of coffee that his wife had just made for him after she had put Yuna to sleep. Both neighbors had came over after SooLin had callled them when she was on her way to the hospital, worried about her little girl that she had left behind as well as her father that wasn't in condition to be staying alone.
"That kid had his phone like an earring all day long except when i call . "The man complained as he turned his chair to face his friend and then stretched his hand ,accepting the cup of hot coffee.
"Don't be so harsh on him.He is working after all and besides SooLin didn't call him because she didn't want to bother him. Namjoon is with her, she will be fine." Mr Kim tried to reassure his friend even though he knew well and could understand his restless worry .
"Namjoon isn't my son however. He doesn't owe us anything to be dragging him in the middle of the night ."
"Oh come on. We both know that that boy would do anything for SooLin. He had been in love with her since i can remember him." Mr Kim laughed as he sat at the couch with his own cup of coffee in his hands, recalling the first day that Jimin had introduced Namjoon to him. So awkward and shy, he used to be.
"That's exactly the problem. He is wasting his youth for someone that hasn't looked at him twice. With what face can i call him for anything when my daughter is just so blind." Mr Park left those words escape his lips without meeting the eyes of his friend, such statements being way out of his character as he never had mingled into his children's personal issues.
It wasn't that he didn't like the late husband of his daughter , ByungHun. He was a nice person and had loved his daughter as well as had tried his best to provide her with love and a safe home. He had taken good care of SooLin and Mr Park had no objections as long as his daughter was happy , however he always had felt sorry towards Namjoon , whom even though had never spoken a word related to his feelings, his emotions were too clear. Everyone knew , everyone except the person that was supposed to know and now that years had passed and ByungHun was no more, he kept hoping that one day his daughter would start her life again. But till that day was to come , he couldn't help but be sorry and feel in debt to this young man , whom had silently been by his daughter's side, through thick and thin, supporting the family in his own way as well as the kids, whom Namjoon dearly loved as if they were his.
" You shouldn't worry about such stuff. They are young, i am sure they will find their way someday." Mrs Kim entered the living room with a tray in her hands and disturbed the conversation of the two males. "You two just eat some cookies and let's all calmly wait for SooLin to call , okay?" The woman smiled calmly , her serene behavior somehow putting the other two in a quieter mood.
---Change of set---
NamJoon and Jimin were waiting at a corridor while the doctor had taken SuJae inside his office and after he had done some check up on him , he had asked them to patiently wait outside , allowing only to SooLin that was his mother to stay with him in the room. It was evident that both of them were incredibly worried as they both kept pacing up and down the corridor, Namjoon eating on his nails - a sign of extreme nervousness he possessed since he was a kid- and Jimin just kept pushing his hair back every now and then while exhaling deep breaths, displaying his clear frustration about the wait that was making them both more anxious by the minute.
They were each focused on their own individual worrisome thoughts regarding SuJae's condition , till their feet brought them to face each other while they were pacing and they both looked up and met each other's eyes, before ending up in each other's embrace. " It's gonna be okay, buddy ." Namjoon patted Jimin's back as he knew well how much he loved his sister's kids and as such he understood well his worry.
" Shut up. Don't try to comfort me. I know you care as much as i do." Jimin hit his back before pulling away and Namjoon lowered his head silently. What else he could do? It wasn't his place to care nor admit that he does so he just kept his mouth shut as he often did when such situations were to occur.
"Thank you. For being there when i wasn't. " Jimin's voice reached his ears making him lift up his eyes again and meet the thankful expression that his best friend had on his face, looking at him with a soft smile of gratitude .
"Don't mention it. We are family." NamJoon replied seriously and Jimin nodded his head, in his mind thinking that NamJoon was indeed that to him. He was like the brother he never had and he always could depend on him. The times NamJoon had gotten him out of bad situations could almost be difficult to be count, as he from a young aga used to get into troubles. Back then it looked to Jimin like he was a magnet for bad luck but Namjoon was always there, in his most desperate moments , to remind him that he wasn't a magnet of bad luck. He just had to work harder than others to get things to flow as he needed them. Nothing comes for free, Jimin knew that well in this life that he had lived, yet his friendship had never a price and for that he felt blessed to have met a friend like NamJoon.
"I can't believe this." SooLin's voice that just got out of the room, drew the attention of the two whom rushed to her immediately , asking what had the doctor said.Their eyes pinned on her face , impatiently waiting for her response .
"The doctor said he had taken some pills. Probably dad's ." She explained and both NamJoon's and Jimin's eyes grew wide.
"What?! How did that happened? You always put the pills at high places and we have told them countless times that they shouldn't play around dad's room." Jimin spoke without thinking much as his words didn't help on anything but made SooLin feel even more guilty at the thought that she must have forgot to put them at their usual place and the kids might have ended up taking some. It was all her fault. Her carelessness had brought her kid to this state and had endangered his life or at least those were the kind of thoughts she had running in her head right that instant.
"It's okay, i am sure he will be alright. Will they put him on gastric lavage or ?" Namjoon questioned and SooLin turned to face him, her eyes getting teary only at the thought of her little SuJae having to go through such a procedure .
NamJoon found himself going weak at the sight of her sad face and a desire to hold her in his arms and tell her that it will be alright, grew in his heart, however even though his right hand reached out a bit towards her, he stopped his movements, knowing well that such a move was out of his line. He had never hugged her in his life, not the kind of hugs he used to imagine in his head, long, warm and full of love. The physical contact he had with her was always at a minimal, once out of respect cause she was Jimin's sister then out of respect to her husbund whom he knew and thought of him as a good person and then out of personal respect for her that he obviously wouldn't like to put in any uncomfortable state.
As NamJoon stayed in place, Jimin took his action and brought his sister in his embrace, knowing well how bad she must be feeling. Her kids were her whole world and no one could ever love them like her. He kept her tightly as SooLin buried her face on his neck , hugging him back tightly while she was trying to put herself together as this wasn't the time for tears and weaknesses . She had to be strong for her son and not let him see her tears.
" I will go grab some coffee." Namjoon said, mostly to himself before turning around to leave , not being able to handle this moment for any longer.
He walked down the corridors quickly as he needed some fresh air as well as a moment to himself but as he was in a hurry to escape the white walls of that building and the atmosphere of sadness that had engulfed his insides, he bumped into someone.
He quickly apologized , not bothering much to look at whom he had bumped shoulders with and continued his way , while you stood there holding your shoulder and growling in pain a bit , even though the unknown to you man , hadn't collided with you with a great force. Your body was still weak and fragile and your head was still quiet messy, and that was mostly the reason why you hadn't thought badly of the person that bumped on you, thinking that it might have been your fault and a result of your momentary lost of balance. Nontheless you looked at the stranger as his back kept going farther away only to disappear at the corner.
Just what am i doing? I should just go back to my room.
You thought to yourself , having already gotten exhausted from the physical movement you had done even though it wasn't anything too straining .
You turned around to head back but as you did so, a small brown object that was laying on the foor caught your attention. You slowly leaned down and picked it up, recognizing it as a small pocket notebook with a leather brown cover. There was nothing written on it on the outside so you opened it, hoping to find the name of the owner somewhere. A doctor might have dropped it or even a nurse but as you thought better , you recalled that this wasn't there earlier, before that man passed, the thought making you assume that it must be his.
You started walking towards the way he went, hoping to catch up to him and maybe ask him if he had dropped it but as your pace was too slow , you gave up on that try. You just looked at the small notebook and thought that maybe you could just turn it in at the frond desk and they would take care of it. However at the thought of going till the frond desk , you felt even more tired and then you thought that maybe it wasn't worth the effort.
What kind of notes can someone keep at such a small notebook after all. Surely nothing important .
You tried to excuse your behavior of not turning it in however as long you kept looking at it , the feeling of finding such an action improper grew more and more in you .
Just a look and if it looks like important notes i will force myself to reach till the front desk.
You concluded, finding this fair as you would end up pushing yourself to put such efforts in that already weak physical state that you were in.
Without thinking much of it, you turned some pages of the small notebook, your eyes reading some non understanding notes of numbers, street addresses and such. You found the notes odd but nontheless you kept flipping through the pages till your eyes caught a name way to familiar to you. Your eyes grew wide as in a hurry you flipped back some pages, trying to find the one that had got your eye and once you got to that page, your mind came to a pause at the realization that your eyes hadn't deceived you earlier.
Choi MinHee's Murder Case. Hypothesis N.1,N.3 .Out.
---To be continued ......