.

Eun Hyung said that he didn’t tell his sister about the accident yet. He even asked the nurses not to turn on the TV on purpose. That was because he might have not wanted to cause any psychological issues for his little weak sister.

However, how could she assume that Eun Hyung wouldn’t visit her although she had no idea about the accident? Wondering about how that could happen, I was startled at her following remark.

“Because you all haven’t reached out to me at all.”

“…”

“I thought you guys forgot someone like me,” murmured Eunmi with a bitter smile. “I, at least, sent a Happy New Year message to Chun Young oppa though…”

Her words gave me a big shock. I turned my head aside to look at Eun Hyung with a pale face. Since Eun Hyung was a perfect son, class president, and a friend, I also regarded him as a perfect brother to his little sister. However, according to her words, he was…

Suddenly, the look on Eunmi’s face changed. Unlike the cheerful mood that she had while treating us earlier, Eunmi continued speaking with a cold and straight face.

“What do you want me to do when you usually don’t keep in touch then suddenly stop by and talk to me a few hours only when you feel good?”

“…”

“Am I really your family? What the heck are you doing with me?”

There was an ice-cold silence. Yeo Ryung and I looked at each other then took a step back.

As if demolishing a peaceful land, a deep hole that suddenly appeared between the two siblings bewildered us. Amid the situation, Eun Hyung managed to maintain a composed look on his face.

He spoke with his usual calm voice, “Eunmi.”

“Yeah.”

His following words then loosened up the strain expression Eunmi had on her face.

“What shall we do when you recover?” asked Eun Hyung.

There was another moment of silence. In front of Eunmi, who was looking at her brother speechlessly, Eun Hyung slowly bent himself toward her and placed his hands on her bed. He asked kindly, “Is there anything you want to do when you get better?”

Eunmi kept silent still with a shocked face. After a while, her mouth opened; her voice was trembling harshly.

“Why are you saying something like that? You never have…”

“Huh?” replied Eun Hyung.

“… You never have said that kind of thing before…”

“…”

While Eun Hyung didn’t respond anything, Eunmi’s voice got louder.

“You never have asked me what I want to do or where I want to go when I get better… as if you’re a person who doesn’t trust that I’ll recover one day!”

“…”

“So I… I… braced myself alone again… and again…” cried Eunmi. Her eyes were now filled with tears. My heart jolted while looking at that sight.

When Eun Hyung or Eunmi cried, it looked like an old castle collapsing rather than a river flowing or rain falling. Only those who had endured the challenging times with unimaginable patience could cry that way. Her tears falling to the bed seemed like bricks than just beads of water.

While the sounds of her tear fall resonated around us, Eunmi suddenly grasped the hand drooped low on the bed.

“But what is all this out of the blue? Visiting me with your friends all of a sudden and dropping such words…”

“Eunmi…” Eun Hyung blurted out in sorrow; however, Eunmin neglected him. Shaking her head vigorously, Eunmi yelled, “When did you start believing something like that? Huh? Now it doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not!”

Shouting that way, Eunmi suddenly pulled the blanket over her head. Eun Hyung moved his hand to put it on the back of her palm.

I felt uncomfortable as if I was looking at an unpermitted family photo album. As if they were also having the same feelings, Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings quietly pointed at the door with their chins.

That was when I heard Eunmi’s voice again.

“Whether you believe it or not, I’m gonna become happy. You’ll never know how desperately I’m fighting my way through this and thinking that I could get better one day. But now you came here out of the blue, who’s done nothing on the trust I have about myself, and talk about what I’d like to do when I recover… Who the hell you think you are?”

“…”

“Oppa, you don’t deserve that to me!” shouted Eunmi. She pulled the blanket over her head again. As I heard her crying soundlessly through that white fabric, it felt like someone seized my heart.

That was when I realized a terrifying fact forgotten in the bright and large space. No matter how spacious and clean this place was, it was just a patient’s room in the hospital in the end.

This room was Kwon Eunmi’s battlefield. From the moment she was first hospitalized, Eunmi had been fighting alone in this place until now between her belief and frustration toward recovery.

Eun Hyung, however, didn’t provide any support in her battle at all. In Kwon Eunmi’s perspective, Eun Hyung’s sudden remark was unacceptable. I could clearly understand her feelings and point of view.

That was when I heaved a sigh in despair. Eun Hyung, who was just staring at her little sister wordlessly, opened his mouth out of the blue.

“Eunmi,” he uttered.

“I don’t want to hear anymore. What the heck is all this after so long a time…?” she cried.

“The reason why I said that I respect both Yeo Ryung and Donnie is that…”

Eunmi’s eyes widened at that part. Yeo Ryung and I also opened her eyes wide while wondering, ‘What does he want to say?’ Holding my arms tightly, I waited for his next words to come out.

Eun Hyung concluded his words, “… Is because I saw you from them.”

“…”

“I never thought you as a fool… never ever.”

As Eun Hyung dropped those words in a low and composed voice, Eunmi slightly pulled down the blanket from her face. Her eyes under her disheveled hair had reddened with tears.

Eun Hyung continued speaking quietly, “I wasn’t expecting you to not get well. I also have never thought that you wouldn’t recover one day.”

“Then?” asked Eunmi while gasping.

“I was afraid to believe you since I was such an unlucky person.”

Eunmi’s eyes grew wider. Folding his hands, Eun Hyung kept on speaking, “I feared that my misfortune could move on to you… and that would affect you to become not well…”

Scowling at Eun Hyung with a spiteful glance, Eunmi struck a retort.

“What kind of bull** is that?”

Showing a faint smile, Eun Hyung replied, “Right, it’s bull**, but that’s what I had in mind.”

Eunmi suddenly turned quiet. Watching her behaving that way in silence, Eun Hyung soon detached his lips again. His next words made my eyes widen.

“I wrote ‘doctor’ on my career path worksheet.”

‘Doctor?’ I had never heard about it from him until now. Now I had come to think of it, Eun Hyung never told us properly about what he wrote on his career path worksheet. Considering his usual, even-handed personality, I had imagined that he might have written ‘attorney’ or ‘lawyer’ for his future career.

In another round of silence, Eun Hyung stretched out his arm and grabbed Eunmi’s hand.

“The reason why I brought my friends today is to make them witnesses to my words. I want to keep this promise to you.”

“…”

“Eunmi, I’ll make you become well.”

The hostile look flaming fiercely in her green-gray eyes gradually disappeared. Holding Eunmi’s hand firmly, Eun Hyung repeated composedly, “I’ll, at least, not leave you alone in this battle. I’ll be with you, I promise.”

Eunmi was close to tears.

“What is all this… for real…?”

“I wish you get well,” replied Eun Hyung.

We listened to his words while holding our breaths. His warm voice spread out in the quiet patient’s room like a ripple.

Pulling Eunmi’s hand closer to his lips, Eun Hyung spoke as if he was praying.

“I wish you become happy.”

“…”

“I mean it. I’m sorry that I’ve left you to fight and struggle against all these alone.”

When Eun Hyung uttered, ‘I also want to be happy together,’ with downcast eyes, Eunmi pulled his head in her arms and burst into tears.

Exchanging eye contact once again, we quietly left the room this time. As if we would make any noise, we carefully closed the door and began to have a conversation, at last, while leaning against the wall.

I uttered first, “I honestly don’t understand why Eun Hyung thinks I’m respectful. In my point of view, Eun Hyung is a hundred times admirable than me.”

Throwing a glance at the patient’s room, Jooin replied, “Nah, I do understand why Eun Hyung spoke that way.”

“Huh?”

I tilted my head in wonder.