.

The look on my face darkened while watching the screen.

‘What Eun Jiho said was true… Thank God Chun Young’s mother wasn’t along for the ride, but I never imagined that Eun Hyung’s father would get involved in the accident too. Before everything, how could he act that way when he was also having a hard time?’

Squinting my eyes, I fell into thought again.

‘Why is Eun Hyung forcing himself to act like he’s okay? His heart would be bleeding for his father… Are we that incredulous to him?’ Having those thoughts in my head, I felt a pressure on my chest.

Not because of Eun Hyung, of course, but it was due to myself who was not being his reliable and trustworthy friend.

Another possibility also existed, on the other hand, which was Eun Hyung being confident of the two men quickly recovering from the injuries. ‘But…’ I stamped my feet with my crossed arms. From what I could tell, Eun Hyung wasn’t that positive character.

At that moment, the old lady at the cashier looked in this direction out of the blue and uttered, “This place would also become noisy for a while because of the reporters.”

“Excuse me? Oh… yeah, right…”

“Since they can’t tell when he’s gonna wake up, there will be a fuss while he’s in the hospital.”

Nodding my head, I soon turned stiff at her following words.

“Anyway, what would happen to the driver? The president is gonna die because of him, so even though he also recovers, once people begin to assign blame to the driver, it won’t be living but waiting to die you know.”

I was horrified at her remark. The moment I tried to argue on her way of speech, a calm voice intervened in her words.

“How much are these?”

When I looked back, Eun Hyung was putting down the things he picked on the counter. Two bottles of water, rice balls, and some snacks… The cashier lady scanned the barcodes nonchalantly and quickly entered the purchases into the cash register. Looking at the things piling up beside the counter, I felt loads of concerns sitting heavily on me.

I kept throwing a glance at Eun Hyung standing beside me and wondered, ‘Did he hear that? No?’ His face still looked serene that I couldn’t tell what was going on inside him.

The reporter’s voice continued above my head.

Since Chairman Yoo Jin Young was actively participating in the group’s management, analysts predict the situation would be a severe blow to the company and focus their attention on fluctuations in stock prices. Public attention also continues to look for whether the absence of the chairman would lead to an emergency management system immediately…

How could they talk about management and stock prices when people were almost dying? I suddenly realized that Yoo Chun Young and his family were living in a different world. While I slightly revealed a terrified expression on my face, Eun Hyung took the bag from the lady.

Turning his head toward me, Eun Hyung said, “Should we go now?”

He would have usually waited for me to reply, but as soon as he spoke that way, Eun Hyung bent his steps ahead of me and left the store.

Heaving another sigh, I walked after him with heavy footsteps.

* * *

Until the end of the surgery, nearly no one attempted to have the foods that Eun Hyung bought, so it was left untouched on the seat. Eun Hyung, however, didn’t express his feelings toward that sight at all.

If Yoo Chun Young looked like he was enduring all the painful situation while burying his face onto his palms and waiting for the time to stop, Eun Hyung bore everything with his usual demeanor.

Thus, Yoo Chun Young was seemingly more serious, but I was more concerned about Eun Hyung. As if others also felt the same, Yeo Ryung and Jooin grabbed Eun Hyung’s arm from time to time; however, they couldn’t say anything. Whenever that happened, Eun Hyung just smiled and asked, “What’s up?”

We wouldn’t be able to respond to him at all, of course.

After two or three hours, Yoo Chun Young’s mother arrived. It was my first to see her directly, but looking at her black hair and blue eyes, I could clearly tell who Yoo Chun Young looked like.

That was when Yoo Chun Young, who sat still like a rock with his face shoved onto his hands, barely lifted his head. A word slipped from his pale lips.

“Mother.”

“You’ve been waiting for a long time?”

Getting on her knees to make eye contact with Yoo Chun Young who was cowering on the seat, his mother continued to talk.

“I’m sorry to leave you alone until now. Your brothers also took the flight to come here at two in the morning. They are gonna be at the airport soon. I sent a car for them, and…”

Gently speaking that way, she turned her head and looked at Eun Hyung. Not only me but Yeo Ryung and Jooin, who was sitting both sides of Eun Hyung, also flinched.

As if we were invisible to her, Chun Young’s mother fixed her blue eyes only onto Eun Hyung and called him, “Eun Hyung.”

“Yes.”

The look on Eun Hyung’s face, replying to her, was the most expressionless that I had ever seen. His eyelashes tinged with red cast a long shadow over his white cheek. As if he became a doll that way, Eun Hyung didn’t even blink at all.

There was a moment of silence in the hallway. Holding our breath, we were just waiting for the action that would come next.

At that moment, Yoo Chun Young’s mother stretched out her arms and embraced Eun Hyung’s shoulder. She then dropped a remark heavily.

“How scared have you been…”

Another round of silence took place. Amid the situation, Eun Hyung slowly opened his lips, at last. A stiff, mechanic voice then came out.

“No. I was…” After a pause, he continued, “… I’m sorry.”

“Eun Hyung.”

“I’m sorry.”

Gently holding Eun Hyung’s shoulders, Yoo Chun Young’s mother went on, “Why would you be sorry? The witnesses at the scene already testified that your father had nothing to do with this accident. It was another car that suddenly intervened in… so please do not worry.”

“But…”

“Should I apologize to you about the thing that happened ten years ago here?”

When a wave of mild anger smeared into her voice, that was when Eun Hyung changed the look on his face. I never saw such a sensitive expression appearing on his countenance until now. Watching the sight, I suddenly realized something.

Right, it was also a car accident, which took Eun Hyung’s mother away from him and made Eun Hyung tremble when confronting a similar situation. However, Eun Hyung was pretending to look composed until now. Why was he behaving that way?

At that moment, the operation room opened just in time, and the doctors came out. Releasing her arms from Eun Hyung, Yoo Chun Young’s mother went toward them hurriedly.

A doctor, who had dark circles under his eyes, took his face mask off and detached his lips.

“Both surgeries went successfully. They just moved to the recovery room.” With a short pause, he soon continued, “But the problem is whether they could regain their consciousness or not. As from the explanation beforehand, the fatal head injuries have caused huge damage to the brain…”

Cutting in the words determinedly, Yoo Chun Young’s mother replied, “If the surgeries were successful, that’s enough. Both men would wake up and recover soon.”

Listening to her remark, I heaved a sigh of relief. Anyway, they overcame an obstacle just now. As the doctor said, there, of course, existed a matter of whether both men would wake up or not, but listening to her determined remark, I began to regard that the two gentlemen would recover from the coma as soon as possible.

Clenching my fist secretly, I decided to ask for a miracle inside this horrible novel. A crisis in a novel was always just a process for the main characters to grow; therefore, I wished that this accident would just become a challenging moment that would pass soon to Yoo Chun Young and Eun Hyung.

At that moment, Yoo Chun Young’s mother switched her gaze to this side and said, “Thanks so much for staying here until late at night. I heard that you’ve all been waiting in front of here for more than ten hours. Your parents would be very concerned…”

Speaking that way, she sent a warm glance to us one after another.

“Let’s go home now. I’ll drop you all off,” she said.

“Uh, it’s okay.”

It was Yeo Ryung. Shaking her head, she continued, “Our parents went to Taiwan for a holiday trip, so no one’s at home anyway. We’re fine to stay here.”

I also nodded my head enthusiastically beside her. Where would we go in this situation while leaving the two boys here?