--------------------
I push through the crowd and approach the counter where my brother is.
"Excuse me. Sorry, just a moment...!"
Someone please call 119!!
A faint voice echoes in my ear.
Oh my, what should I do? I think someone has collapsed...
Whispering whispers flow into my ears.
Cool-
" are you okay? "
"It's okay, I just breathed wrong..."
Only then did I remember the look in my brother's eyes, which would make him smile with a particularly bitter smile whenever he said that.
" ···. "
Once again, I push through the crowd and approach the center of the crowd.
" oppa, "
For a moment, I lost my balance and stumbled. When I regained my composure, I saw a table on the other side.
" uh··· "
no.
The person who had collapsed wasn't my brother. I watched the people around me administer first aid to the unknown man, and then I saw my brother sitting at the same table with a woman. A sense of relief washed over me.
"You really..."
Occasionally, voices could be heard from the table, which had a somewhat ominous atmosphere.
" ···. "
At that moment, the woman, who had been snorting in disbelief, turned her gaze toward me, and perhaps out of nowhere, my brother also looked in my direction. I didn't expect her to come my way, but...
I didn't know you would grab that woman's arm and run away.
I stood there blankly, looking in the direction where the two people had disappeared, my hands dropped.
*
" ···. "
"Patient, are you awake??!"
" what··· "
"He was found suddenly collapsed in the hospital room. How are you feeling···"
"Seo Su-ah."
" ···yes? "
"Where is Seo Su-ah?"
*
So, the time I spent waiting for my brother at the table increased from ten minutes to an hour, then from an hour to two hours, then to three hours, and yet he never returned.
When the clock struck five o'clock, I got up from my seat and left the cafe listlessly.
"···Can I go back to the sickroom?"
The images of Kim Min-gyu and the student lingered before my eyes. Of course, I knew my brother wasn't that kind of person, and it felt foolish to not even return to the hospital room for something like this. But...
" under···. "
So what on earth do I do in this situation? What on earth do I do when my boyfriend grabs another woman's arm and leaves?
*
"Have your memories... returned?"
The nurse rolls her eyes, seemingly flustered by the patient's sudden need for someone. The doctor, quickly arriving at the news of the VIP patient's awakening, checks on Min-gyu's condition.
"Mr. Kim Min-gyu, are you okay?"
" ···teacher. "
" yes? "
"Seo Su-ah... Do you know where Su-ah is?"
"Do you remember..?"
" ···. "
Without a word, Min-gyu jumped out of bed. He put on a thin coat and walked briskly to the flower garden without a moment to think about what was next.
*
" ouch··· "
I fell down.
Since I was wearing the skirt Yuna gave me, there was a shallow scratch on my knee.
"Nothing's going to work, damn it..."
Finally, I burst into tears, cursing in frustration. As autumn transitioned into winter, the wind was quite cold, and it was already nighttime.
"Hehe,... if I really meet Seungcheol Choi, what the..."
If you were looking for me, you'd probably run into him at least once. Even if you sat on a bench for an hour or wandered around the hospital for hours, he never showed up.
"Kim Min-gyu, however... didn't run away holding another woman's arm like thisYou bad boy!!"
You bad boy!
You bad boy!
You bad boy-!
I timidly shouted, afraid that someone might complain at such an early hour, and the sound echoed through the empty hallway.
"Really, really... If I look back again and it's not there... "
I'm going to run away to Sooyeon's house. Really.
It was too embarrassing to go into the hospital room and meet him... So I went back down to the first floor and started looking for Choi Seung-cheol again.
"···Seo Su-ah."
No, I would have started if I hadn't met him.
"···Kim..Min-gyu?"
" ···. "
He suddenly rushes in and stops, leaving a distance equal to his height.
"Kim Min-gyu···"
" ···. "
Just turn around slowly.
" ···sorry. "
" yes..? "
"No, I'm sorry. I just... I remember seeing you last time, so I..."
" ···. "
I stare at him intently. The voice calling "Seo Su-ah" was so familiar. The tone, the scent of the voice... it was like,
" ..brother."
Because it feels just like back then.
" ···yes? "
He opened his mouth like that.
"···It's been a while."
" ······. "
"Do you remember me?"
That memory isn't something like a number being called. It's not something as trivial as finding a wallet.
The memory of kissing him like that in the flower garden. The memory of me holding his trembling hand. The memory of that alley where blood remained.
" ···huh. "
We know that it is the memory I told him and he knows.
" ···. "
" how have you been doing? "
After hesitating for a moment, such vague words flow out of his mouth.
"Yes.. How have you been?"
" huh··· "
how have you been doing.
I keep my mouth shut as the conversation becomes exhausted.
Warak -
Then he hugged me. I could feel his thin coat and his trembling breath.
" Sorry.. "
With a slightly trembling voice, he conveys his feelings to me. What expression does his invisible face have?
" I···. "
" ..I'm sorry, Suah.."
With my face buried in his chest, I don't bother looking up at him. He must have told me not to look up.
"I've been thinking a lot..."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Suah."
He sheds tears.
Because of me. Because of me, Kim Min-gyu is crying.
"Honestly, I didn't suddenly fall in love with her, I just..."
"You're the first person who treated me like you did. So, "
"Everyone was just rambling, but you were the first to show your emotions without any filter. When we first met and started swearing at each other, I thought it was interesting... Honestly, it was interesting, but I thought it wouldn't last long."
"I tormented you, I tormented you, but... at the same time, I felt a vague desire to treat you well, but I couldn't figure out what it was. But it just happened unconsciously..."
" I think I just unconsciously thought that. Instinctively, when this person said he loved me, I thought, isn't that true love? After seeing the hypocritical love of others that was expressed based on conditions, when I saw you, it was just... a feeling that my heart, which had been so stuffy and blocked, was opened up. It may not be a very sophisticated metaphor, but to me, you were a space to breathe. I really had to see you to breathe. That's why, without you, I..."
He buries his face in my shoulder, shedding tears like a child.
"I don't think I can live. It's cliche, but I don't think I can live. It wasn't until I came to the hospital that I realized that that feeling was love. It was only then that I realized, I... I've never really loved anyone, so I'm not good at expressing it. Because I'm not good at it, I lost you, and so... I thought I sent you away in the wrong way... So I tried to pretend not to see and just pass by. But I'll really try. I'll really try hard. I'll only look at you, Su-ah. So please."
"Please... please don't go. I know it's shameless, but can't you please stay here by my side..."
He doesn't move, his face resting on my shoulder, which is at least 10 centimeters shorter than mine, and his arms tightly around my waist.
"Brother..."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
He cries, swallowing back tears. Kim Min-gyu, who looks unfamiliar, hugs me tightly.
" ..there, breath, breath···"
" ..Sorry..! "
When he said he couldn't breathe, he quickly fell down and checked his complexion.
"First of all, let's go over there."
He pointed to a bench in the corner of the flower garden.
*
"···Then please do so. Please."
"Uh- Be careful on your way in."
After finishing his story, Seungcheol stands up with his heavy body.
"···Is it really not possible?"
"If there was any hope... would you have said something like that to a VIP patient? Be careful going in."
Seungcheol walks through the noise of the street, which has now become dark. None of the sounds sound pleasant. He sighs deeply, overwhelmed by the dissonant, colorless sounds, and slowly walks.
" ..phew.. "
It's already eleven o'clock. Hurry up...
Quick, I have to go see. The night sky seemed to swirl toward Seungcheol from different directions. He barely managed to straighten his vision, the throbbing pain making him let out a short sigh.
← Sua ❤
1 Su-ah, go to the hospital room first.
I think I'll be late because something came up
1. Do you want to sleep first? Sorry..
2:12 PM
I stare blankly at the KakaoTalk messages I haven't read yet.
" ···under, "
You're not angry, are you? No, you are. You deserve to be angry.
He'd resolved to be as cold as possible, yet he sent her a message as usual, as if it were a vivid memory from the past. He roughly ran his hand through his hair, tousling it, and then collapsed in the middle of the noisy night scene.
*
"That's it, oppa."
" therefore··· "
When I hesitate, unable to find the words, he looks into my eyes, blankly smiling slightly. Does he notice the tear stains?
He reached out and gently wiped his eyes, then sat back down and opened his mouth.
"I'm... sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
" uh···? "
"It wasn't my fault that you left. I was shaken, I was shaken for a moment by myself, and that's why it happened."
" ···. "
"I'm... sorry."
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was being sincere. Even now, Seungcheol's face lingered in my mind, so how could I possibly be sincere if I just wavered?
"···But aren't you cold..?"
He asks if I saw him shivering slightly from the cold.
"Ah... a little?"
...Oh, this isn't what I wanted...
I stopped him from taking off his outer garment and covering my legs.
"Uh..uh, no, aren't you cold?"
"I'm fine, but..."
He lowers his gaze to the ground, then kneels down and sits on the floor.
"Wait a minute, what's wrong with your knee? Did you fall...?"
Maybe it was the streetlight right behind the bench that caught my eye.
"Slightly···"
"Hey, do you want to go to my hospital room first? I'll treat your wounds and then."
" ···. "
He looked at me hesitantly, then looked at me with an expression that seemed to suggest that I had asked for nothing.
I'm sorry, but what should I do...
Maybe it's because I thought about the hardship I must have given to Kim Min-gyu,
" song. "
I stood up without saying a word.
*
"Ah ...
Seungcheol carefully let go of the hair he was holding and returned to his hospital room. He wondered if she was asleep. He scanned the spacious room with his eyes. But...
" ···?! "
There is no water.
She wasn't in the hospital room.
And to welcome him.
"Why is this here···,"
As I sat back down, clutching my head, I saw her fallen phone, still holding an unread KakaoTalk message. Come to think of it, I think I said earlier that I couldn't find it.
Seungcheol's breathing becomes short.
I have to find it.
/
"Soo-ah... Seo-soo-ah!"
Unable to make a loud noise, Seungcheol, worried about where she might have gone at this late hour and whether she was hurt, quickly looked around the hospital. How many times did he go around like that?
"···Su-eung, "
His footsteps, which had been walking weakly, dragging the ringer he had just inserted in an unfamiliar way, froze at the entrance to the flower garden.
The girl who had been smiling at me just a moment ago was now in the arms of someone I didn't know, offering no resistance. With neither of their faces visible, Seungcheol stared at Sooah's clothes. His head throbbed with disbelief.
Yeah, maybe that's right. Maybe this is actually a good thing. But...
...But even though I know that, my heart still hurts so much.
As he watched them, Mingyu and Sua sat on the bench for a moment before heading off somewhere else. As Mingyu examined Sua's injured knee, Seungcheol's heart ached as if it were being torn apart.
I try to reach out to the two walking away in vain, but they are already gone.
"Ha, huh···"
--------------------
Oh, oh, oh, I'm 1 hour and 20 minutes late... I'm sorry... (and showing off my worst writing skills ever)
Why, why is my phone blocked by time limits? Why is my life...? I'm in 3rd year of middle school...?
···But Su-ah, take responsibility for the mess, the mess,,