.

Meanwhile, Eun Hyung kept on speaking while pressing his unstoppable tears with his palm, “Argh, so weird. Why does it keep falling?”

Yoo Shin intervened yet with a grin, “It’s okay to cry. If you feel uncomfortable, try to regard it as crying all your emotions out that was piled up since you were young.”

“Come on, hyeong, it isn’t a mileage you know,” replied Eun Hyung with a faint smile.

Yoo Shin giggled too; however, he suddenly changed the look on his face and pointed at the car with his chin.

He asked, “Eun Hyung, what you’re gonna do? Do you want to stay home or follow us to the hospital?”

“I…” Eun Hyung, who revealed a clumsy smile just now, slurred the end of his sentence. His expression subsided again. The air around us also became heavy.

Looking at the look on Eun Hyung’s face, Yoo Shin also turned stiff and said, “I’m not forcing you to come when you’re going through such a challenging time. Of course, you can stay at home, but… I’m afraid you’ll miss a critical time, which you may regret later.”

Staring at Yoo Shin, who spoke hesitantly that way while touching his messy blond hair, Eun Hyung finally uttered, “Hyeong, I…”

“Uh-huh.”

“… If I long for something, it always doesn’t come true, so…” Casting down his eyes onto the ground, Eun Hyung concluded his words quietly, “So I’d rather not go there…”

“…”

“If something else happens again, it seems to be my fault. That’s why I can’t go. I… don’t want to increase any more misfortune…”

At that moment, Yoo Shin, who was listening to Eun Hyung’s response with cross arms, bent his steps out of the blue. While Eun Hyung looked up at him in wonder, Yoo Shin stretched out his hand and put it on Eun Hyung’s shoulder.

Not only myself but also Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings looked in that direction as if we were gonna take Eun Hyung out of this place immediately if something occurred. While a tense atmosphere prevailed in the space, Yoo Shin’s calm and low voice broke the stillness.

“Eun Hyung…”

“Yes?”

“Does that scare you? I…” asked Yoo Shin as softly as he could. He then pinched Eun Hyung’s cheeks all of a sudden. As if Eun Hyung’s face was like a plush toy, Yoo Shin shook it wildly and ended his sentence.

“I’m more scared of my father scolding me once he wakes up and finds out that I didn’t bring you there!”

‘Why aren’t you thinking about me even a bit? Huh? Dude, how much did I adore you when you were young? Do you know that I’ve almost raised you…?’

My face turned quickly stiff at Yoo Shin’s exaggerated remark. ‘What the heck,’ I thought. Amid the situation, Eun Hyung, whose cheeks were still being shaken by Yoo Shin, blurted out in confusion, “H… yeong…”

“Dude, this isn’t something like having a jinx on baseball games. If you go, those men won’t wake up; if you don’t, they would. What kind of bull** is that? Are you an angel of death? The king of the underworld? Why is it your fault!?”

The look on Eun Hyung’s face darkened right away. At that moment, Yoo Shin finally took off his hands from Eun Hyung’s cheeks then placed them back onto Eun Hyung’s shoulders. It was a softer touch than earlier.

Yoo Shin continued, “Do what makes you feel comfortable.”

“…”

Pouting his lips a few times, Eun Hyung just dropped his gaze to the ground wordlessly. Yoo Shin pinched Eun Hyung’s cheeks and shook them again with a grin. He uttered, “Geez, why are studying other’s face even in this critical situation? Man, you’re too good-hearted, Mr. Mellow!”

Eun Hyung displayed a strange expression at what Yoo Shin just called him. So were we. ‘Mr. Mellow? This is an emotional sight, but that title is too cheesy…’

I heard Yoo Chun Young and Eun Jiho whispering to each other, “Mr. Mellow?”

“Are all the Mr. Mellows dead now? If he’s Mr. Mellow, I’m Mr. Cutie-pie,” replied Eun Jiho.

Jooin blurted out, “Jiho, you’re going too far…”

While I agreed to Jooin’s small retort in my thoughts, Eun Hyung detached his lips in the end. We all turned our heads to look in that direction. Eun Hyung slightly smiled with reddened eyes as he burst out crying earlier.

“I’ll go to the hospital too,” he uttered.

With a face full of smile, Yoo Shin raised his hand and disheveled Eun Hyung’s hair. We then delightfully watched Eun Hyung and Yoo Chun Young being dragged by Yoo Shin to the car.

* * *

After a while, Yeo Ryung and I, who dashed to the hospital as soon as we received a call, slid open the patient’s room door hesitantly.

“Excuse me? Hello.”

My voice, which abruptly intervened in the quiet space, seemed like an unwelcomed guest. Geez, I should have said those words before I opened the door. It was too late to regret, but I looked inside the patient’s room.

The space, a single-occupancy room, was brighter and wider than I expected. It was a perfect spot to view the garden and cityscape over the large window.

And there was a girl sitting on the bed. Her short red hair, which resembled that of Eun Hyung, was swinging three centimeters below her ears; her eyes were also green-gray.

If she had been going to school until now, she might have taken the class president position every year. Her atmosphere was that much mature. The grin on her lips was there from the beginning to the end.

I thought, ‘So this girl is Kwon Eunmi.’

Putting down the book that she was holding in her hands, the girl said, “Hi. You’re here too, oppa.”

“I brought my friends,” replied Eun Hyung.

We spoke embarrassedly, “Ah, hi.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Soon after we shared such awkward greetings, we shoved the juice, which we brought as a gift, to the fridge and took seats.

Eun Hyung’s sister, whom we didn’t even know her existence until now, looked so similar to Eun Hyung more than we had expected, which surprised us so much. If a group of scientists performed a secret experiment and switched Eun Hyung’s gender to a female, he might have looked just like her. Above all, her composed, reliable, and mature aura resembled that of Eun Hyung very much.

Although a bunch of strangers bundled into the patient’s room, she didn’t look startled at all. This young girl might have not met these many people ever since she was young; however, she looked at us one after another with twinkling eyes then shouted ahead of us.

“Eh, hold on! Please don’t tell me your names. Do you mind if I can guess?”

“Huh? Um, yeah.”

As soon as I responded that way, she smiled and called each of our names properly. Perhaps, she had heard a lot about us. Especially, once she looked at Yeo Ryung, she spoke with a twinkle in her eyes, “Unnie, you’re really pretty.”

“Uh, thank you.”

“What lip tint do you use?”

The girl then looked for something in the drawer beside her then took out a magazine. Flipping over some pages, she soon pointed at an editorial.

“Your lips look the same as the color here,” she uttered.

The corners of the magazine were quite worn out. That was when I realized how long she had been staying in this room as a patient, who was hungry for sharing conversations with girls of her age.

Looking down at the magazine, Yeo Ryung swept down her hair and said, “Ah, I don’t use any lip tint though.”

“Are you sure? But how can you have those gorgeous lips?”

“Well, but I think I have this one. Should I bring it next time?”

Yeo Ryung’s response brightened the girl’s expression. ‘Of course, I wish you do it!’ Shouting that way, she then turned her head to look at me this time.

“So, you’re Donnie unnie, right? I heard a lot about you.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

I was somehow very embarrassed. Scratching the back of my head for a moment, I suddenly felt curious.

“What did Eun Hyung say about me?” I asked.

Eun Hyung, sitting beside me, showed an awkward look then averted his eyes from me. Eunmi began to giggle at the same time.

“What he said was…”

“Uh-huh.”

“He told me that you’re very amazing and respectful.”

‘Eh?’ My face reddened. ‘I’ve never done anything to hear something like that,’ I wondered. When I looked aside, Eun Hyung also turned his head away from me as if he felt embarrassed too.

Diverting her gaze to Yeo Ryung, Eun Mi repeated the same words toward her.

“Ah, he also said that to you. Both of you are incredible especially being consistently hard working.”

“Oh…”

“He can’t do it like you guys.”

Speaking that way, Eunmi stared at Eun Hyung with a reproachful look for some reason.

‘Eh? What’s wrong all of a sudden?’ That was when I tilted my head in wonder. Looking up at Eun Hyung with her green-gray eyes, Eunmi detached her lips out of the blue.

“I thought you aren’t coming on this holiday.”

Her words dumfounded me again.