Chapter Text
The first time Yoo Joonghyuk meets Kim Dokja, he was meeting up with his younger sister.
Since it was only Yoo Joonghyuk who could take care of Yoo Mia as her only known blood relative, all matters related to her naturally fell upon his shoulders. She had given him a scare – doing something as stupid as getting herself hurt to the point that it required surgery on her legs. He was both livid and proud of her heroic actions.
Naturally, because Yoo Mia is his baby sister, and he himself is a very rich man given his occupation, he can only provide the best for her recovery, upgrading her hospital room to a private room. His visit today was to deliver some things that Yoo Mia requested, given how bored she has been in the past month.
Eyes peered over to the tall, handsome man striding through the painfully white hallways, gossip floating about and behind his back. His black clothing stood out like a sore thumb against the sea of patients and hospital staff, making him all the more eye-catching. Ignoring the crowds of people, Yoo Joonghyuk made his way over to the fourth floor.
His feet came to a stop outside the private room door. Reading the number and confirming with his memory, he knocks a few times before promptly opening the door.
His feet come to a stop a second time.
He forgot that private rooms like these don’t have names labeled outside their doors to ensure privacy.
Before him is a man covered in a multitude of bandages. From his face, to his neck, to his exposed, slim arms and hands, some part of his skin was covered by bandages. Different tubes are attached to his arms, inserting him with all sorts of solutions to help keep him alive. One would imagine that having all those bandages meant that they would be in a lot of pain, but it appeared that the man sitting in the bed was unbothered. Like it was the norm.
In his hands was a phone, and based on his focus, he was most likely reading something.
Noticing that his door was swung open, the man looks up to meet Yoo Joonghyuk’s stiffened face. For a moment, a look of surprise swept through the sickly man’s face before returning to a soft smile.
“Are you Yoo Mia’s oppa?” the man asks timidly. His voice sounds like it hasn’t been used in a long time, hoarse and a little depressed despite the brilliance that shone on his pale face.
“How do you know her?” Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes. The man sitting in the bed could only offer a puff of a chuckle.
“She’s quite friendly.” he starts, putting his phone away. “She mistook my room for hers one time. She also made the same face.” he laughed softly.
“Oh, since you are her oppa, I’ll tell you that your guess was close. She’s in the room to the right of mine.” he added.
Yoo Joonghyuk would have already been irritated by now with the way this man was talking, but given his bright personality despite his sickly-looking state, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Besides, the way the man laughed was… somehow pathetic. Pained. Lonely, even.
The atmosphere inside the quiet hospital room further added to his loneliness. It seemed that others didn’t bother to check in with him aside from the doctors and nurses, given the lack of chairs and personal items that one would normally find in a room, especially a private one.
His room had only the barest of necessities, if one ignored the massive stash of bandages in the corner and large monitors reading his condition.
Thinking about how he was going to see his sister, who had visitors coming and going, something within his heart twisted with a sharp pain.
Normally, he wasn’t like this to strangers, even if they were on their own and struggling. Normally, he’d politely say goodbye and think nothing more of it, eventually forgetting of the mishap.
But, somehow, when the other man spoke first, Yoo Joonghyuk was inclined to listen to the end. His tired, average-looking face had something else to it, a sort of charm that Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t put his finger on it.
“… I’ll make up for it later.” was all Yoo Joonghyuk could think of before politely closing the door behind him.
Before he could fully close the door and make way to Yoo Mia’s room, the man sitting in the bed opened his mouth with an earnest request. He could hear a hint of happiness in that hoarse, weak voice.
“Tell me a story when you come back, okay?”