.  Slightly furrowing her brows, Yoo Chun Young’s mother replied, “But don’t you all have to eat something? I couldn’t let daughters and sons of another’s family starve; besides, you must wash and take some sleep……”


  “Um, thank you but we’re really fine……”


  At that moment, Eun Hyung, who was watching us one step back, suddenly opened his mouth. He sounded too calm.

  “You guys should better leave now. We have the results of the operation.”


  “But……”


  Throwing his glance even at Eun Jiho and Jooin, Eun Hyung then turned to look beside him and said, “Do you mind if I can take them downstairs? I think I must see them out.”


  As if she didn’t notice us being stirred up, Yoo Chun Young’s mother replied, “Sure, why don’t you all take a ride back home? Ah, if you’re gonna stay in the patient’s room, you could go bring your things from home.”


  She added, “But Eun Hyung, I suggest that you should go home and take some rest today. This will be a long battle, so instead of sapping your energy in the beginning, go take a bath, have some proper meal, and get some sleep. I know that you’ve been crying all night. I’ll reach out to you as soon as he gets up.”


  Eun Hyung responded without a second thought.

  “Yes, I will.”


  He walked toward us, who were in a daze until that moment, then urged, “Let’s go.”


  I stared at him with mixed feelings. He had been acting strange from earlier such as not keeping his seat in front of the surgery room, picking us up from the parking lot, going to the convenience store to buy us something to eat, and now saying that he would return home without hesitation.

  Something was truly weird about him. However, I couldn’t ask something like, ‘Why aren’t you crying?’ to a person who was trying to keep his head above water.

  ‘Should we just leave this way?’ I wondered. Eun Hyung’s forceful spirit made us stand in front of the elevator in the end. At that moment, someone grabbed Eun Hyung’s arm from behind him and made him turn back.

  “Let me go with you.”


  It was Yoo Chun Young’s voice.

  I never expected that he would follow us, so I just blinked swiftly in surprise. From what I just saw, Yoo Chun Young looked like he wouldn’t leave the hospital until his father woke up.

  Eun Hyung, on the other hand, also seemed surprised. Slightly grimacing at Yoo Chun Young for a moment, Eun Hyung loosened up his strain expression and responded to him.

  “Why don’t you stay in the hospital? If you text me anything you need, I can bring it to……”


  Yoo Chun Young’s response still sounded determined.

  “Let me go with you. I’m gonna take some sleep at home.”


  The look on his face earlier in the hallway didn’t seem like he would be able to sleep even at his house. Probably having the same thought, Eun Hyung squinted his eyes at Yoo Chun Young as if he was looking at a lying kid. However, he just turned his head away from him without any other words.

  “.…… Really? Okay, then.”


  Replying that way, Eun Hyung showed a refreshing smile then stepped into the elevator unwaveringly. Yoo Chun Young followed his back with a straight face.

  After a moment, Ban Yeo Ryung, Eun Jiho, Jooin, and I walked into the elevator with mixed feelings. Watching the floor numbers descending, I quietly put my arms around me.

  It seemed like an unknown battle was ongoing between the two deep in the water, but I couldn’t read the behind story at all.

  On our way back home in the car, I kept thinking, ‘There’s something going on with Eun Hyung.’


  He wasn’t just being weird. Something serious was indeed taking place around him. Eun Hyung was the one, who should be taken care of; we were those who visited the hospital to cheer him up. However, Eun Hyung was acting the opposite such as providing us something to eat and taking us back home.

  Besides, from what he had been kept doing, Eun Hyung seemed to send us back home as soon as possible. Glancing at his composed face across my seat, I slightly frowned.

  ‘Is Eun Hyung the type of person who wants to be alone when something happens? But this isn’t just something; it’s about his father……’ Having that thought in my head, I suddenly realized that I had never seen Eun Hyung being involved in any trouble until now.

  Since elementary school, Eun Hyung had been the perfect fit of a model student. He wasn’t just kind, hardworking, academic, and excellent in everything but also warmhearted to everyone.

  Thus, the only trouble he was involved in so far would be his class being under control during field trips or retreats.

  In other words, I barely had no idea how Eun Hyung dealt with things under stressful circumstances. As soon as that thought entered my head, I felt more pressure on my chest. My heart seemed to become tightened with something like chains.

  How couldn’t I say a word to him, who was undergoing such a harsh situation, when he comforted me so many times in the past? If I could, I also wanted to tell him the same thing that I said to Yoo Chun Young––Can I stay beside you? If you’re okay with that, I would like to since I’m so concerned about you.

  Thinking about it for quite a while, I finally opened my mouth.

  “Hey, Eun Hyung.”


  However, before I was able to finish my sentence, Eun Hyung looked at me and spoke with a swiveling smile. It was exactly the response to what I was trying to say.

  “I’m fine. Get back home ASAP.”


  “Huh?”


  “You’ve had a long day since you’ve already haven’t slept for almost thirty hours.”


  Did I? I bit my lips. Now I had come to think of it, I woke up early in the morning the other day while feeling uncomfortable about the new space. Thus, what he said was true.

  However, I didn’t feel exhausted at all. The moment I tried to ask him if he was really okay, Eun Hyung continued, “Don’t worry about me.”


  This time, I just kept my mouth shut. It was a complete blockade. ‘Don’t worry about me? How can there exist a refusal more rigid than that?’


  That was when I hung down my shoulders and dropped my gaze on the floor.

  “Eun Hyung, I’m hungry.”


  It was such a remark out of place in this situation. Looking aside with my eyes wide open, I found Jooin speaking nonchalantly with his legs crossed. Other than looking slightly pale, he was just the same as usual.

  When our eyes met, Jooin winked at me. Diverting his eyes back onto Eun Hyung, Jooin kept on whining.

  “Mama and Yeo Ryung would be starving, but they have no one in their house since their parents went to Taiwan.”


  “Oh……”


  “Dropping them off at their house this way will just make them go straight to bed, get awake, and become hungry again.”


  Yeo Ryung and I turned stiff at Jooin’s remark.

  ‘Why on earth are they acting like this earlier from the hospital? We aren’t people who would starve to death just by skipping a meal! Eat, eat, eat…… why are they so obsessed with eating?’ Rambling those thoughts in my mind, I lifted my head at Eun Hyung’s following words.

  “Then let’s stop by our house and have something to eat. I’ll drop you guys off after that.”


  “Huh? Ah, no, you don’t need to……”


  I was startled at Eun Hyung’s response. If things kept going this way, we would become shameless bastards begging for food to a person who was actually in big trouble.

  The moment I tried to deny his suggestion immediately, I saw Jooin’s face all of a sudden then changed my mind. ‘Jooin…… did you talk like that because of us? But how does he know that Eun Hyung will be persuaded by those words?’


  While I sat still wondering about those things, Eun Hyung asked the driver to change the direction. The huge vehicle made a gentle U-turn without making any noise and began to go back the way we took.

  * * *

  The annex where Eun Hyung and Yoo Chun Young usually stayed looked clean except for having a few clothes dropped in front of the shoe rack. Picking them up and throwing them to the hamper, Eun Hyung went straight into his room then brought some comforters outside.

  “You’d all be so tired, so take some sleep here if you’re sleepy. I’ll prepare things to eat ASAP.”


  He even placed a few comforters on the floor to make a bed then left to the kitchen. Within a few seconds, I heard him rattling the dishes. That was when I pulled myself together again.

  Standing still like an idiot, I cast my eyes onto the comforter. It looked so comfortable, and I also felt so tired; however, I didn’t want to lie down at all.