It was discernible how Youngmi was unable to catch a wink of sleep the whole night. The ramifications of an unscheduled all-nighter had already begun to roll out for her— the dark circles beneath her eyes were too prominent not to be taken into account, after all. With half-shut eyelids, she feverishly shook her head in order to cast off the curse of an impending slumber that had been looming above her head, only for her to trudge deeper into the maze of drowse in the end.

For some reason, her gaze had been relentlessly boring through the plastic bag that was attached to the IV stand across her. So when the tubing originating from it slightly drifted from its formerly-fixed path, her eyes naturally flew open. She trailed her vision along the slender conduit further down till the very point where it was supposed to terminate, unsurprisingly having her lips tugged at the corners when she finally grasped what had spurred the medical equipment to twitch in the first place.

"Rise and shine!" Youngmi chirped, her eyes turning into crescents when the one whom she had addressed, had recognized her greeting.

The male, however, could only hoist his brow in response. A glower stayed persistent on his face, provoking Youngmi into palliating the distrust that must be clouding his senses.

"We're from the same academy, I've seen you there quite a number of times—"

"I know, I've seen you too. That's not what made me shoot daggers at you, though." He spoke, voice still debilitated due to the episode from earlier in the day, "How am I at a hospital? Did you bring me here?"

"That's not how you thank someone, champ." Youngmi feigned a grin, almost resembling the Cheshire Cat, "Yes, I was the one who admitted you here so that you received proper treatment. Did I perhaps overstep the boundaries by taking your well-being into consideration?" Her emphasis on each word that followed was amply profound.

The other person had initially gawked at Youngmi, but soon wound up snickering away the second-hand embarrassment when he ultimately comprehended the essence of her remark.

"Sarcasm," he clicked his tongue, a weak smile adorning his features thereafter.

"Am I good to go, then? Shall I call your parents to take over now? Of course, you'll have to tell me their contact number—"

"No!" He exclaimed out of the blue, "Please don't let them get involved in all of this. I beg you, please."

Youngmi flinched at the sudden change in his tone, "Woah, okay. But you can't possibly expect me to pay your medical expenses, right? I'm a high-schooler too, I don't make money on my own yet."

"About that, I'll pay you back every single penny once I'm out of here. Can you please hold out till then? Can you please do me this one favor?" The boy implored, sincerity flaring in his eyes.

The female could not refrain from reciprocating his expression, "Sure, you can count on me. But in return, would you like to share with me what actually was happening back there? Is it more complicated than I think it is?"

"Sorry, I can't afford to drag anybody else into this mess." He hung his head low in an attempt to avert Youngmi's prying glances.

"It's okay, I understand." She mumbled, her line of sight still fixated at the male's bandaged head, "Anyway, rest up. I'll be there just behind the curtains, so call my name whenever you feel like you need some assistance, alright?" 

The boy nodded, not bothering to lift his head up until Youngmi had acknowledged his gesture and left him in solitude. Regardless, once he did, and in the process, caught the female's silhouette to be consistently shifting behind the translucent piece of green cloth that separated their compartments, streams of tears started to debouch from his eyes as a consequence. 

Swiftly slapping his palms across his mouth, he laid down hastily— ensuring that it was his back that faced Youngmi first, in case she decided to check on him in the middle of the night— hunching over as he compressed his entire physique, thereby resuming to shed the silent tears that had been strangling him till then.

▪️

"Sorry, Yooan. I—I... shouldn't ha—have done that. Real—really sorry, Yoo...an."

Youngmi was wide awake in a jiffy, once the incoherent sound had conceivably dropped into her ears. Considering how it was within her earshot and consisted of an apology that eerily resonated with a memory that had already seeped into her subconscious, an instant realization began to float in her head as she proceeded to put the pieces together.

It just could not be someone from the horde of other patients. In all probability, it had to be the boy whom she had promised to tend to.

Youngmi had jolted up from her bed in a blink of an eye, scrambling into the other side of the dividing curtain at a pace that was absolutely unimaginable. Resting one of her palms on the soft mattress, she leaned towards the male's torso, hovering over him as she noticed beads of cold sweat to be formulating beneath the dressing that wrapped his head.

"Pl—please forgive... me... Yooan..."

Instinctively, she gently grabbed one of his hands, reaching for his forehead as she stroked it with utmost caution, "Hey, you're safe. You don't need to worry about him. I'm here with you. You can wake up. Try to open your eyes."

The mild convulsion that the male had been otherwise undergoing, had gradually started to subside. It was an unsteady downhill trip however, for his condition fluctuated a couple of times before arriving at a relatively stable point at last. Youngmi exhaled in relief when his jitters finally ceased to exist. Simultaneously, his heavy eyelids also perceptibly spasmed, inducing a surge of optimism to occupy her veins.

Although it did not take a nanosecond for Youngmi's smile to droop when the male had refused to look at her.

"Are you fine—"

"I'm causing you so much trouble, how am I gonna repay you for whatever that you're doing for me?" He frowned while fiddling with the duvet that was sprawled over him.

"I'm the one who signed up for all this, ain't I? Then why do you seem like to be on edge? Relax, okay? No one's dying tomorrow, you can always find me at the academy and return the money in installments— or all at once— whichever method you prefer. So try not to fret for nothing and calm yourself down. You get me?" Youngmi's priority was to comfort the boy. Her hand slipping over his shoulder in order to pat it twice substantiated that.

"You're so nice, how is it even possible?" He chuckled, though presenting it as an ironic one was not particularly his intention.

"Are you implying that I have bitch scribbled all over my face?" Youngmi scoffed incredulously, steering the male into heaving his eyebrows.

"Those are your words, I never said that." He brandished his open palms high up in the air, mimicking the position of surrender, "Yet, I won't deny completely either." He released a cackle soon after, rendering Youngmi bewildered at the audacity that he possessed.

"You little—" She muttered under her breath only to dismiss the underlying petulance— that had been prospectively snowballing inside her— just the next moment itself, bursting into a delightful laughter along with her recently earned companion.

Youngmi must have been exceptional in pulling off her facade of being nonchalant about the boy's constant trepidation regarding certain something— without having him suspect her approach at the same time— noting how quite a few couple of hours had passed since she had commenced monitoring him. Even now when her abdomen hurt due to the excessive amount of chortles that were being pretentiously unleashed by her, that was not what truly perturbed her. It was rather the identity of that shadow— that, despite scurrying away when it feared itself getting apprehended, still managed to linger around and haunt them whenever it deemed fit.

She could not let it persist in the long run. She had to step up before a part of her new acquaintance was forever lost to his bully.

It was her own self-worth that was at stake now, after all.

▪️

"You're back already?" The male quizzed Youngmi as she clomped into his section, watching her toss away her school bag and flop down onto his bed next to his feet.

"Yeah..." She droned, causing him to alternate his line of vision between her jaded body language and the weekly in his grip.

The boy swayed his head in mirth, refocusing his attention back to the creative layouts and the classy yet aesthetic font that had filled up the complete page that he was currently on. However, through the corner of his eyes, he could still locate Youngmi glimpsing at him as if she had planned to startle him by disclosing something unequivocally unanticipated. Truthfully, he was not in for the shocker that awaited him, but witnessing glee unfold over her features made his heart swell with contentment.

An epiphany that he would not discard so easily.

"Putting off a surprise reveal for longer than intended actually spoils the suspense of it, you know that, right?" He commented, though his heed towards the magazine did not budge a tad.

"I don't know about suspense, but you surely spoiled the fun part for me." Youngmi objected, a sulk crawling up to her lips, "I made this thing for you... where I compiled the video messages from every student in our class— plus the neighboring one because Mr. Popular here has apparently got some friends in there too. Go ahead," she forwarded her phone towards him, which he nervously accepted, "you may like it, who knows?"

However, once the play button on the screen had been pressed upon by him, and a few get well soon's and wish you a speedy recovery's had settled in his ears, the male's face paled like as if he had just seen a ghost, as he dropped the device from his hands for it to strike the floor with a thud.

He froze, appearing like operating on a remote control whose batteries had just run out.

Youngmi unconsciously gaped at him, her pupils wavering tremendously in incertitude.

▪️

a/n

hey loves! hope you're keeping well. thank you so much for the 1k reads. better late than never, isn't it?😆 i have an entrance exam tomorrow, pray for me pls kshdsk even tho i'm well prepared, i still can't get much confident and sabotage myself in the end, right?😔 anyway, vote and comment if you found the chapter worthy of your support. thank you for lending me your precious time for 'sweet tooth'! 💛