Hwan looked around himself in confusion. It was not the dark room he got used to seeing. He was in a room that was totally opposed to it.

There were wide windows that covered an entire wall. The room was filled with sunlight. There were two off-white couches in front of a last model TV. Hwan walked up towards the couches and froze with the sight.

It was himself as a child, and he was laughing. He was sitting and playing with his little brother, who was a baby.

Hwan widened his eyes in shock, a few seconds later, his eyes started to tear up. It was not because of sadness or anger this time. Now, it was because of happiness. Seeing his younger self free even for a second made Hwan feel like there was still goodness in his past that the bad things tried to suppress.

But now, as he was looking at his baby brother's toothless, gummy smile, Hwan tried to hold onto that feeling of hope he felt for the first time in a really long time.

16.11

As Xander was waving his hand to Joo-Won, who was going up with the elevator, he couldn't help but feel worried.

It had been a couple of days since everything happened, and he knew how hard it was for Joo-Won to go through it. He was supposed to be resting in his room, but here he was again, coming to the hospital and going to Hwan's room. Even though Xander was worried, he knew Joo-Won was safe with Hwan and also the fact that Hwan would protect him with all his life.

After the elevator doors finally closed, Xander quickly went to the stairs and went up to his father's room. He had some explanation to make.

When Xander finally reached his room, he took a deep breath before opening the door.

Mr. Park lifted his head and turned to Xander. When he saw it was Xander, he put his pen on the table and got up. "Xander? What are you doing in here son?"

"How could you do something like that to Joo-Won? He is your son!"

Mr. Park's upper lip pulled up as he frowned. Wow, he was not even ashamed to show his disgust towards his own child...

"Uh, that brat again. Do you know what he did? He could have got me fired!"

Xander widened his eyes in disbelief and yelled at him with anger. "Is your job more important than his life?! You nearly killed him! Have you seen his throat?!"

Mr. Park slightly widened his eyes and got up, putting his index finger on his lip as a sign to say 'shut up'. "Don't scream in here like that. It's not that important, he is still alive after all."

'He is still alive?! That's it?! Are you fucking kidding me?!'

"That's the only thing you care?!" Xander went up to him and slammed his hands on his table, causing the objects on it to shake. "He could have been dead! DEAD! And stop deluding yourself, we both know you would have done it in a heartbeat."

The voice of Mr. Park's slap echoed in the cold room. Xander continued to look at the floor with his widened eyes. Then, he put his hand on his stinging cheek. Mr. Park's heavy rings made it even harder, causing his entire right cheek to burn and throb in pain.

Xander turned to him, it was clear that his father had no intentions of apologizing. "Are you happy? Do you feel better now?"

Mr. Park stayed silent.

"I asked you a question. Answer it!"

"You can't raise your voice at me."

As he lifted his hand to slap again, Xander grabbed his wrist, causing him to freeze in shock.

"Or what? Are you going to hit me? Choke me like you did to Joo-Won just because he made a friend?" Xander pushed his hand away in disgust. "Is this the person you want to become? A father who abuses his children? A father who nearly MURDERED his own son? That's what you want to see in the headlines of the news?"

Mr. Park stayed silent and just continued to stare at his eyes.

"Flash news! The head doctor of one of the best hospitals in Korea MURDERED his OWN SON! WITH HIS BARE HANDS!" As Xander yelled at him, he pushed his father away with all his strength.

This time, he didn't hit Xander to silence him. He just looked around the room.

"Joo-Won just wanted to be Hwan's friend. Is it a bad thing? Do you even know what Hwan went through? The horrible things his family did? The horrible thing this hospital did?!"

Mr. Park's face showed his discomfort as he took a few steps toward the small library behind his desk "Enough."

"No!" Xander walked to him and forced him to look at his eyes. "I don't know why you hate Joo-Won so much, but can't you at least let him make friends?!"

Mr. Park gritted his teeth. "Shut. Up."

Xander pushed his chest again. "I said no! You are going to listen to me and you will answer me. Hwan is just a patient here, and Joo-Won doesn't even work here. So why is it a problem for you?!"

"Stop-"

"We talk with patients all the time and nobody says anything about it. So why Hwan is such a big deal for-"

"Because it is risking the agreement I made with the Shin family!"

Xander froze and widened his eyes in disbelief. Agreement? Wait... Was he talking about...

His mouth slightly opened as his eyebrows raised in shock. He felt sick. He couldn't breathe, he felt like his chest was burning.

No... He refused to believe that his own father was this cruel.

"You... You did w-what?"

Xander's struggle to even talk made Mr. Park understand that he knew the whole story. "The hospital needed some pieces of equipment to be different from the other hospitals, to step up, so people would prefer and trust here more than the others, and they offered a great deal of money. Enough to upgrade this hospital."

Xander took a step back in horror. "You are keeping Hwan in here for years for... Equipment?"

"I had to! Now, we are one of the best hospitals!"

The honor in his father's voice made Xander feel even sicker. "They SOLD Hwan to you! And you... You didn't even hesitate, did you?! Have you lost your mind?!" With his shaking hands, Xander tried to take out his phone. "I'm calling the cops."

Mr. Park first widened his eyes. Then, his eyes went back to normal, with a relaxed expression on his face, he shrugged and sat on the couch in front of his desk. "While you are at it, you can report your little friend."

As he was trying to type the numbers, he looked at his father. "W-what friend? What are you even talking about?"

"You know, the intern, Kyong. For giving out patient information to people other than the staff."

Xander's hand froze and he nearly dropped his phone. "W-what? H-how..."

"Oh, my son..." Mr. Park got up and walked up to Xander. "You really think I am that stupid? Do you think you children can fool me, and I wouldn't notice?" He slowly walked around the room, Xander's terrified eyes following him. "Go ahead, call the police. You know what will happen. Giving out patients' information also has serious consequences. He will need to pay a lot of money," Mr. Park showed a pitying smile. "Which, we both know, that he doesn't have. Or I can just... Make sure that he goes to prison. For a long time." A small, but evil, smile formed on Mr. Park's face as a fearful gasp escaped from Xander's lips. Mr. Park shrugged again and walked past him. "You decide."

"You have no proof!"

"Oh, believe me, I do." He turned to his son, who was looking at him in disbelief with his widened eyes. "You know how much he needs this job and the money. Looking at how close you two are, you probably saw where he lives, and how small the place is. Do you really think it's because it is more convenient? Do you think he left his family and specifically came here to just... gain experience?"

Xander stayed silent and looked down. He remembered how much Kyong got upset when he brought him gifts, and he also knew how small his place was.

When he saw Xander was staying silent, his father smiled. "Well, let me answer that for you. Because he is lying to you."

Xander knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Mr. Park sighed. "He is a bright kid, I cannot lie. He is hard-working and very clever. So, when he came here to interview, we gave him the internship. I was curious about his choice of coming to Korea, so I asked him why he left his family in China. He told me that they couldn't afford to come here, and also his stepfather was abusive and was holding them by force, so he actually ran away from there. He told me he is saving the money to save them, and they need it badly. He was ready to risk everything to help his family." His smirk got wider. "Even keeping this little agreement a secret if he got paid enough."

Xander closed his mouth with his hands. Kyong... knew this? All along? And he was even a part of it?! "N-no, you are lying. Kyong would never do that to Hwan!"

"Really? Even if his family is at stake? His poor, sick mother and brother need the money. What do you think will happen to them if... let's say... their beloved Kyong couldn't send them money anymore?"

Xander's eyes started to tear up as his knees got weaker. "W-what do you mean s-sick?"

Mr. Park showed him a pitiful face. "Oh, you didn't know? His mother is on the verge of death. Well, another reason why he agreed to keep our little thing as a secret I guess."

Xander felt like he couldn't breathe anymore. He needed to get out of there. Now.

"You are a monster!" With the little strength he had, Xander threw himself out of the room and slammed the door.

Mr. Park smiled in satisfaction as he sat down in his chair. Of course he made it all up. First of all, his stepfather was not abusive or anything. He was more like a... good for nothing. Also, Kyong was not even poor, he was doing fine on his own, like his family. Yes, his mother was sick but the hospital bills were not something they had a hard time paying. Before felling ill, his mother was a very successful chef and saved every last of her penny for bad days.

He also didn't have too much information about Hwan in the first place, and he wouldn't be punished hard to give the name and the condition of Hwan, maybe a warning? He also had the money to pay if he ever got fined for giving out patients' information.

He was just a card up Mr. Park's sleeve to silence Xander.

The sound of the door echoed in the hall, making the nurses and doctors on the floor turn their heads to Xander. And to his luck, one of them was Kyong.

Kyong widened his eyes when he saw Xander and ran towards him, holding him the last second he was about to fall to the ground. The second Kyong's hand touched him, Xander pushed him away. "You sick bastard! How... How could you?!"

Kyong widened his eyes in shock as he accidentally dropped the files he was holding. "X-Xan? What are you even say-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Xander pushed him away again and quickly got out of there, leaving shocked Kyong behind him.

_____________________________

Everything was starting to get back to how it was with Joo-Won. His voice was back to normal and he didn't constantly need to clear his throat. He still couldn't eat too hard-to-swallow foods because it hurt a little, but other than that, he was back to usual. His head injury was not really dangerous but he needed to go for checkups every day just to be safe. But his back was a bit bruised and he was still in pain, so his doctors suggested for him to get pain killer injections every other day since taking pills was a challenge for him. But thankfully, when they went to the doctor, she told them there was no permanent damage. She suggested Joo-Won rest and eat more soft foods, and the marks would heal with time. Thankfully, they were not severe so a big part of it was already gone, there was just some redness and light-green spots left.

"Joo-Won?"

Joo-Won instantly slip out of his thoughts and turned his head to Hwan, who was sitting beside him. He was in his wheelchair while Joo-Won was sitting on the chair that was beside his bed.

Hwan smiled when Joo-Won looked at him and put his hand on top of Joo-Won's. "I asked how you are feeling."

"Better." Joo-Won showed him his neck and closed it with his turtleneck after. "Still hurts a little, but better."

Hwan sighed and fondled the top of his hand before planting a small kiss on his lips. He silently leaned to Joo-Won and rested his cheek on his shoulder. "You should rest, you promised me."

Joo-Won smiled and rested his cheek on top of his head. "I will." He lifted his head and slowly got up. "I will get a bottle of water and then I promise I will rest. Okay?"

Hwan smiled and nodded as a sign of okay. Joo-Won smiled too and got out of the room, walking to the vending machine while humming a song.

"Oh, Joo-Won!"

He turned his head and looked at Min, who was waving at him.

"Hi Min. How are you?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

"Same." He pushed his coin and pressed the buttons.

"How is your day going? Are you better?" Because she brought Hwan that day, she saw what happened to Joo-Won and they needed to explain what happened.

"Better now. I was with Hwan."

As Joo-Won took his water bottles and got up, he saw that something changed in her expression. "So... Did he talk to you?"

Joo-Won knitted his eyebrows in confusion and tilted his head to the left. "You mean Hwan?" Thinking she was talking about Hwan's thoughts on how the doctors increased the voltage of his electrotherapy, Joo-Won smiled sadly. "No he didn't, but I can understand he doesn't want it."

Min blinked a few times in confusion. "He doesn't want it? Are you sure?"

Joo-Won nodded. "He really doesn't."

Min looked at him, confused even more. "But... But he was the one who told me that he wanted amputation."

The sound of the water bottles hitting the ground made Min close her mouth and look at him. Joo-Won blinked a few times. Did she say... amputation?

"What did you just say?"

Min took a step back in confusion. "A-amputation. Y-you just said you k-knew, and I thought-"

"Min what did he say?!"

Joo-Won couldn't help but raise his voice a bit, which made Min slightly widen her eyes in fear. She started to talk again in her panicked voice, a bit faster this time. "H-he said he lost all of his senses in the bottom of half of his legs and he was thinking about prosthetic legs,... but told me he wanted to talk to you first."

Joo-Won couldn't understand what she said properly as her voice started to get far and far away as his ears started to ring. He couldn't focus.

"He lost all of his senses..."

The only thing that was echoing in his mind was this.

He tried to pull himself out of it and forced himself to talk. "M-me? But why? I get that there might be something going on but how can I decide on such an important thing?!"

"I really don't know either, and I think you should be the one to ask this."

With different and unexplainable waves of emotions, Joo-Won slowly kneeled and picked up the water bottles. He silently turned his back and took small steps back to Hwan's room.

Hwan wanted to talk with him first? To find an answer to something this important? The future of Hwan really depended on... him? What if he chooses the wrong option? Hwan might get injured or worse if he stays like this, but if he amputates, his recovery will be very painful and hard. It will take years for him to adjust himself! Joo-Won couldn't just pick a future for him, right?!

With his shaking legs, Joo-Won got inside the room but stopped when he saw a figure in front of him. He lifted his head and looked at the back of the boy that was nearly as tall as him. With an instinct, he looked at Hwan, who looked as confused as Joo-Won.

He quickly got in front of Hwan, which was harder than he expected with shaking legs, and eyed the boy. He had black hair, brown eyes, and glasses. To Joo-Won's surprise, he looked startled as well. Maybe he was in the wrong room?

But what made him feel weird was that he... He strangely resembled Hwan, actually.

"Who are you?" Joo-Won said in a cold tone.

The boy eyed Joo-Won from head to toe and turned to Hwan again. He took a step closer, which Joo-Won responded to his action by opening his arm to prevent him from getting closer to Hwan. Joo-Won knitted his eyebrows and refused to move.

Hwan peaked his head from his back and looked at the boy with his knitted eyebrows. "Who are you? Are you lost, kid?"

A sadness grew on the boy's face. He dropped his arms to the sides in defeat, blinking in disbelief. "Hwan? You really don't know who I am?"

Joo-Won turned to Hwan, who was now frozen. Then, his eyebrows rose in disbelief. He held his breath, eyes widening and instantly filling up with tears as he slowly pushed his wheelchair forward. Now, he was in front of the boy who was kneeling to see him better.

"Seojun?"

___________________________

The final extra character, Seojun (16-17):

Let's see how much the Shin siblings look alike!

Not much, but still lmao