episode_0217

Even as my body grew cold, there was a warmth surrounding me.

The feeling of padding for the first time made my eyes open wide.

Kylon, no, it’s Minhee. You’re that girl named Yoo Minhee.

When I faced that fact, I felt like tears were about to burst out.

But my body was so sore from the lack of nutrition and moisture that I just felt a lump in my throat and no tears came to my eyes.

It used to be this cold, this chilly, my body was numb, but now it’s not like that.

Actually, I thought there would be nothing. Or maybe I was worried that I would wake up too late and miss you because I left the hospital late.

I thought about it over and over again.

I wonder if I missed my chance, if I was too late.

In fact, there is no such thing as Yuminhee, and I wonder if it was just a lie by Kylon to appease me.

Because I wondered if, as I experienced, there was another world other than the one I lived in and the one I experienced.

In the end, without you, I felt like I would be okay with dying, so I gave up and lay here.

If someone passes by and lives, that too is my life, and if someone passes by and looks at me strangely and I die so lonely, I tried to accept it, thinking that that too is my life.

But now that there is someone who asks my name and tells me that she is Yoo Min-hee, I can no longer calmly say, “Everything is okay because this is my life.”

My lips trembled for some unknown reason, whether it was because of the cold or this emotion.

“… This, this is. What, was.”

There you are. You weren’t an illusion of mine.

Even though I wanted to say that, my mouth was stiff and it was difficult to say anything properly.

As I was frowning in frustration, the warmth that was embracing me came to me.

“… It wasn’t a dream.”

Minhee’s emotional voice rang in my ears.

I had the same thought. I hesitated, thinking it might be a dream, but when we met like this, my heart started pounding.

I couldn’t control my pounding heart.

“Jimin, Jimin… It’s you… ”

Thanks to Minhee hugging my body tightly, I felt pressure on my body.

As I closed my eyes tightly, accepting it, her hand moved carefully.

“You’re so skinny… Your complexion isn’t good either… ”

By the way, the nurse said I was malnourished, but I wasn’t sure if that was okay.

So, I was in the middle of trying hard to do something.

But since I couldn’t say that to Min-hee whom I had just met, I just smiled bitterly.

It couldn’t be helped that my body’s muscles wouldn’t listen to me. I was already in pain, and it would be strange for my body, which had been unconscious for a month, to listen to me.

“Hee, heehee… ”

“… Why are you laughing? Are you sick right now? Look at this, you came out in your hospital gown.”

I tried to smile and say it was okay, but Minhee didn’t take it at face value.

If it had been Veronica’s body, it would have been accepted, but in this state, it was something that could not be covered up.

On his left arm, there was a red sticker left, where he had tried to stop the bleeding, and in this cold winter, he only had the hospital gown he had been given. His soles looked red and flushed, perhaps because he had been walking on the cold floor without shoes.

As my body was shivering, Minhee looked at me with a serious expression, then carefully pulled me up after putting the padding over my shoulders.

I don’t know if it was because my body was light or because she was strong, but my body felt light.

As I walked hesitantly, supported by someone, Minhee looked at me with a worried voice.

“You came all the way here barefoot? The hospital is far from here.”

After saying that, he almost lifted me up without giving me time to come to my senses and caught a passing taxi.

The taxi departed for the hospital written on the patient gown, and I watched the changing scenery through the window.

*

After completing the discharge formalities, I entered her house blankly and looked around.

Kaylon and Yuminhee were there. They seemed to be very enthusiastic about something since they brought me here, calling me their home instead of my original home.

I don’t know if it was okay, but I just sat there blankly on the bed she was using and watched her go back and forth in the room.

“… I’m out of my mind. I just woke up, so please understand that I’m running out of energy.”

“Oh, I don’t have to worry about it.”

“What are you talking about? Patient, be quiet.”

She was so shocked by the words, “It’s okay,” that she scolded me and left the room again.

I remember her freaking out when I went back to the hospital and when I was going through the discharge process, doing everything for me.

There was a delay in discharge due to loss of contact with my parents, and at the same time, there was a brief commotion due to me running away wearing only a hospital gown.

There were many things that shocked her, but what seemed more troubling was that she had come to the meeting place wearing only a thin layer of clothing on that cold day.

Patient, patient. They keep telling me to be a patient and not do anything.

My mouth feels bitter. I must have eaten a lot of food over the past month, but it feels like it was all a dream, and the bitter smell is etched into my mouth again.

As I frowned and shook my head, trying to shake off all the painful memories, I soon saw Minhee coming towards me carrying a bowl.

“… … .”

Of course, when I first saw him, I couldn’t have been happier, but when I was treated as a patient with this body and received such great treatment, I didn’t know what to do and just felt awkward.

I glanced at Min-hee to see what she had brought, and she put her spoon in a steaming bowl and placed it on the table next to me.

“… Dead?”

I knew what it was as soon as I saw it.

There was a completely white porridge in the bowl. It looked like it hadn’t been seasoned with anything, but it was good.

The hospital told me to eat porridge because my body might not be able to handle it for a while, so they made this for me.

“I just watched the video and followed along.”

“… Thank you.”

I felt so grateful for the porridge he gave me, I felt like words wouldn’t be enough to fully express my gratitude.

I felt like my emotions were constantly changing in strange ways.

The hospital said that contact with my parents had been cut off, so I thought I had been abandoned and was in despair, but when I saw Min-hee bringing me here, saying that it was a good thing that I ended up like this, I felt really happy.

Is this okay? Is it okay for me to be indebted to you like this?

Although he was someone I wanted to see so much, I still felt like I couldn’t figure out how I would ever repay this huge debt.

He carefully turned towards the table and reached out for the spoon stuck in the porridge.

Then Minhee blocked his hand with a “tok” and shook her head as if telling him not to do it.

Before I could even ask myself why, she scooped up the spoon and carefully held it out to me after letting the porridge cool down.

“Aaang, try it.”

“That, this, this is… ”

“Did you put too much? I’ll give you a little less.”

The embarrassment didn’t go away. But Minhee didn’t seem to care and put the spoon in the bowl, making a ting, ting sound as she scooped up some porridge.

Although I was grateful that they let me eat little by little without opening my mouth wide, it wasn’t the amount that went into my mouth that was the problem, it was the awkwardness of having to feed me like that.

If it had been Veronica and Kylon, I would have just let it be.

But now things were different.

I was Han Ji-min, and she was Yoo Min-hee.

I wonder if I should say this, but she was taller than me, and she was pretty, and she gave off a strong older sister vibe.

My heart felt like it was beating faster and faster as my pretty older sister kept bringing her face closer to me.

“… What’s wrong? Does it hurt?”

“No…I’ll eat alone… ”

After realizing that she was my older sister, I thought that I should stop using informal language. However, when I saw her not saying anything even when I used informal language, I groaned and wondered if it was right to talk like that.

It was difficult for me to tell whether this was right or that was right.

Anyway, when I said that I would eat it myself, Minhee said no in a firm voice.

“How can such a skinny kid even lift a spoon? Eat quickly. I even ordered some nutritional supplements.”

“That, sir, is embarrassing.”

“… Where did all that tail-wagging from Veronica go?”

“Ugh.”

When I said that, my face turned bright red.

At that time, I was desperate, but I thought, “Isn’t it okay if I just live like this?” and because of that thought, “If it’s Kylon, if it’s you, it’s okay,” I acted comfortably, and that’s what led to that result.

After those fleeting thoughts, I was finally able to gather my thoughts.

Yeah, it’s okay if it’s ‘you’.

I thought so, but when I actually saw her face, those words sunk in.

“Ugh,” he groaned, and Minhee raised the corners of his lips.

“Why? Are you embarrassed when you see me up close?”

“… What is your sister… ”

“When I was going through the discharge process, I saw that you were a year younger than me.”

“… … .”

“Okay, let’s eat.”

“… … .”

“Would you like me to feed it to you?”

“Ah, no…! Well, I’ll eat it, just eat it.”

“You should have done that a long time ago.”

That’s how Han Ji-min and Yoo Min-hee’s rehabilitation exercise began.

Her rehabilitation, where I, who was abused and abandoned, never received any attention whether I was alive or dead.

This rehabilitation exercise seemed like it would make not only our bodies healthy, but also our lives.