"When am I going to get out of here," Ji-ho whined.It hasn"t been thirty minutes since his awakening and the boy was already making such requests.
Due to Minhyun"s power, Ji-ho was luckily able to get his blood transfusion quickly. Now, he was able to move but, there was a problem. His body was not the same as before. There was a terrible consequence of getting shot. Since his body was in its final stage of its illness, his wound would not heal. It wasn"t life threatening - according to the doctor"s - but it was enough to bring him lots of pain.
Therefore, she thought it was best for him to stay in this room for a few more days.
Yoona grabbed his hand. "Stop moving! You"re going to agitate the wound and make it bleed more. Then the nurses have to bandage you again. Do you want that?"
Ji-ho groaned. "But still…"
He grabbed his hair in frustration. "Man, I should"ve just died. Avoid all these problems and lie in the clouds, surrounded by beautiful half-naked angels."
Yoona fought the urge to slap him.
She knew he was joking, especially with his unnecessary perverted comment, but the realism of the situation made it hard to laugh.
"Don"t say that." A sense of urgency filled her voice. "Please."
The white-haired boy stared at her in surprise. He didn"t realize how much his joke hurt her. After scrunching his face for a while, he let his usual smile fill his face.
"Kidding," he sang. Then he sent her a wink. "You"re too serious."
She ruffled his hair. "Whatever."
Ji-ho looked out the window. His eyes staring into the dark outside world. A feeling of dread enveloped his heart. "But I really want to escape from here."
Out of all the words he could"ve used, the fact that he used "escape" brought chills up Yoona"s spine. It was ironic. The place that was keeping him alive was the same place that he hated more than death.
"You should ask Minhyun later to help you then," Yoona suggested. Then there was a pause. Conflicting emotions arose in her chest in regards to Ji-ho"s wants. Clearly Ji-ho hated the hospital to the point of bringing him deep emotional discomfort, however, it was the only place that Ji-ho could get the fastest treatment. What if an emergency situation popped up? Especially in this stage of his disease? "Do you want to move to another hospital? Would that be better for you?"
There was a sense of hesitation in her voice in case her words hurt him in any way.
After hearing her question, Ji-ho turned his head towards her to make eye-contact. Chills ran down Yoona"s spine to see how lifeless they were.
"No. I hate hospitals. I don"t want to be no just here but anywhere near them."
She understood.
Yoona sent him a smile. "Okay."
Seeing how it was rare for Ji-ho to be so depressed this sent sirens to her brain. It was a sign that she shouldn"t ask more questions about this conversation. However, there was still a feeling of sadness in her chest. What was so terrible about the place that had tried to save him? And was there a way to change these feelings of negativity to something happier?
Whatever. At the moment, the most important part was that he was fine. Besides, it may not be the right time for him to tell her about his trauma.
Perhaps Ji-ho had sensed the darkening mood, because he tried to lift it with another comment. "By the way. Where is Minhyun? I basically saved him as a hero. He should"ve already been here, kneeling down and kissing my feet," Ji-ho said proudly.
Yoona let out a chuckle. It still shocked her to know that this little buzzer jumped in front of Minhyun with the mentality of sacrificing his own.
She glanced down at her phone. "Minhyun should be here soon. Apparently they ran into some complications. Seriously. That CEO really doesn"t give it a rest does he?"
As if luck was on his side, a recognizable deep voice penetrated through the air. "Are you s.h.i.t talking me?"
When she turned around, she could see that her boyfriend was leaning against the door frame. In his hand was a plain red shopping bag. She wondered what could be inside. Perhaps a present for Ji-ho.
Although he tried not to act like anything had changed, she could see the happiness in Minhyun"s eyes when he saw Ji-ho behaving normally as if he never gotten hurt in the first place. A smile filled her face. What was this tsundere? The CEO was trying to conceal his emotions but he wasn"t fooling anybody.
"Minhyun!" Ji-ho yelled happily. "Finally you have come! No we weren"t s.h.i.t-talking you but waiting for you to come… What is that in your hand? My present? Of course you have. After all, I am the saviour of your life."
Minhyun ignored him and walked towards Yoona, kissing her forehead. "You should leave. You have school tomorrow."
Yoona swallowed. "But-"
"I have a driver outside. The maid stocked our fridge with side dishes in case your hungry after tending him the whole day."
Something told her that the two had things to talk about - stuff that she wasn"t allowed to know about yet.
She just nodded. "Okay."
For now, she would agree. Hopefully they would tell her later. Knowing Minhyun, there was a reason to why Minhyun was withholding the information. She trusted him completely. Therefore, she wasn"t going to bother trying to get information out of him.
She turned to Ji-ho and sent him a wave. "See you tomorrow!"
"Bye!" He waved.
Once Yoona left from the room, Minhyun paid attention to the young boy. He brought the red bag to Ji-ho"s chest.
"What"s this?" The boy grabbed the handle and rummaged through its contents, surprised to see several items within the large s.p.a.ce. He grabbed the most familiar item, the painkillers that Minhyun had supplied him before and let out a smile. Then, he moved onto the unfamiliar box within. He took it out to find an interesting robot, something he"d never seen in his life.
"Is this MH"s new product?"
Minhyun scratched the back of his head. "It"s a new prototype. Thought that you should be the first person to use it since it"s very new in its field… Sort of like a token of appreciation? It"s around a two million dollars so be careful with that thing."
Ji-ho widened his eyes. "How in the world?"
"It"s a miniature humanoid robot made with state-of-the-art technology. It has similar structure to humans and made out of rare materials to mimic muscle tissues. I thought that while you"re alone you could have fun coding this thing."
There was a pause. "Are you trying to extort knowledge out of me before I die so you can have code for this thing…"
Minhyun rolled his eyes. "Take it, or leave it."
Ji-ho let out a cheeky smile. "Just kidding! Thanks."
The CEO placed his hands in his pockets, slightly rocking back and forth in his spot. It looked like he wanted to say something but was holding back. His ears were slightly red from embarra.s.sment.
"And thanks for saving me," he mumbled.
Ji-ho looked up, his eyes widened with surprise. A grin widened. "What did you say? You were too quiet."
"Thank. You." Minhyun stated, louder than his previous attempt.
Giggles escaped of Ji-ho"s mouth. "Better."
Feeling weirded out by the "warm" atmosphere created within this room, Minhyun felt the urge to change it back. He wasn"t a pessimist but there was confrontation that needed to happen anyways. "Back to important matters. Ji-ho. There"s something very wrong with your body. You know that right? You feel it."
The young boy stayed silent before nodding. "Is it that obvious? I tried to hide it."
The pain was growing. While he was in the washroom, he found himself at the toilet again. The blood escaping out of his body. In his eyes, the blood transplant was a completely waste, knowing that it was going to escape sooner or later.
"You can"t hide it from me," Minhyun said. "You"ve been avoiding the hospital when you need to be here the most. I"m thankful for you saving me but now we"ve come to this point of no return. You"re illness has become a lot worse, both due to your neglect and injury. Now we don"t know what"s going to happen to you."
"What"s the estimate?"
Minhyun at first was hesitant to say the answer but he had to break the news. "Maybe two to three weeks."
Ji-ho closed his eyes, letting his thoughts run through his mind. "Then as payback for saving you can you do something for me?"
"What do you want?"
"I want to die happily. Not confined in this nauseating building."
Minhyun stayed silent. A shaky breath escaped from his lips. "Granted."