What Eun Chae did was nothing different from a spear piercing through Yu Jin's heart. He was perplexed, unable to comprehend why she could have such a hysterical outburst. Simultaneously, Eun Chae was also tormented by her own words. She did not even know why she let those words out. However, she knew for sure the emotional damage she caused on Yu Jin was irreversible. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she could do nothing but burrow under her blanket, covering her face to hide all those tiny beads of water gushing out.

"I'm just...really tired...leave me alone...please!" Her voice seemed to gradually fade away, being replaced by the heart-wrenching sounds of her sobs.

"Fine, if you think so, then I'm sorry. I'm not gonna annoy you any longer," Yu Jin angrily said and strode out of the room.

But in the end of the day, Yu Jin was not that type of cold-hearted guy who would leave his friends in the hospital alone. Despite the lingering tension, he still ended up bringing her both her lunch and dinner. It was just that they did not exchange any words. Yu Jin simply placed the food onto a table next to her bed and then left. Meanwhile, Eun Chae also felt awkward and struggled to just even look straight into his eyes.

******

That evening, because of not staying with Eun Chae, Yu Jin returned home earlier than usual so he had some spare time. He wanted to have some rest so he right away flopped onto his cushy bed.

But it was impossible for him to have a real peace of mind as the thoughts about his struggles in all aspects of life kept wandering in his head. Being occupied by all those negative thoughts, he began to question himself about his own decision to come to Seoul. Life in Seoul was tough, way tougher than he used to imagine. Before he came to this city, he had always been optimistic about how well-prepared he thought he was, until the cruel reality hit him. His academics, his work, his relationship, all of them were like a brutal slap to his expectations, crushing out all the self-esteem he once possessed. In addition, having to deal with his family matters also aggravated his situation. Would things have been better if he had chosen to follow his parents and stay in Busan?

But all those thoughts were just temporary and they soon vanished when he took into consideration all the immense efforts he made to get this far. Medicine was a gruelling "sport" and studying it was a painstakingly long, tedious marathon. So if he could not even hurdle little obstacles like these, what could he really do then?

Thinking about being a doctor also lit up an idea about how he could persuade his father to undergo the surgery. He asked his mother to send him the checkup results of his father and consulted his father's doctor about his condition. Armed with all the information required, he finally had the confidence he needed to call his father and change his mind.

"Hi mom, is dad there?" He called his mother and softly said.

"Yes, he's here, you wanna talk to him?" His mother excitedly queried, "Have you just found a way to persuade your dad?"

"Well...I dunno if it works or not, but I'll try."

"OK, sure," his mother said and then beckoned her husband, "Hey, Yu Jin is calling you!"

"Are you gonna convince me again?" His father flatly inquired.

"Yeah, of course," Yu Jin said.

"Then don't waste your time, I'm not doing. Goodbye!"

"Wait dad...I know you don't like me. But please, hear me out this time, OK? I'll tryna explain everything in detail to you."

"..." His father remained silent and gave him a heavy sigh.

"So...I took a look at your CT angiogram and talked to your doctor. The main problem here is that your aneurysm, or swelling, is very close to the ophthalmic artery, which is the main artery to nourish your eyes. They are almost connected. And..."

"And then what?"

"The doctors intend to perform a coil embolisation surgery, which is basically filling the swelling with metal coils to prevent rupture. However, there is a slim chance that the metal coils may block the blood flow to the eye which might..."

"Might lead to loss of vision?"

"Well...ermmm...I can say so. But th..."

"Then why do you still want me to undergo such a dangerous procedure? Do you want me to go blind or what?" His father raised his voice.

"Of course no! But the thing is...the doctor promised that they will block your swelling very carefully so...yeah...you won't lose your eyesight."

"But what if they can't?"

"Well...I'll be honest with you, the surgery is risky. But...even if there's something going wrong and they need to completely block the artery, it isn't the end of the world. Your eyes don't solely rely on only one artery, there are other circulation pathways too. And if they carefully check when they start the procedure, which they will definitely do, they can see if those pathways are well-developed. In short, there will still be a chance that they'll be able to prevent vision loss even if the artery gets blocked due to heavy bleeding."

"Is that...really true?" His father reluctantly asked.

"Yeah, it's true. But you don't need to worry too much about it as the possibility of you losing your eyesight will be very low. I'm confident that the chance of you dying because of aneurysm rupture is way higher. You are still luckier than many other people as the doctors found out your unruptured aneurysm so you have the chance to prevent that from happening. There are a lot of people who collapse on the street and die because of it. So please dad, please agree to undergo the procedure. You're literally having a ticking time bomb inside your head, and we have no way to know when it goes off."

"Can you...give me some time to think about it?"

"Of course, I know that it's worrying to think about losing your eyesight. Just think about it, if you still don't wanna do it then..." He smacked his lips, "I'll run through everything again tomorrow."

The second talk ended with signs which were way more positive than the first one. At least, his father decided to consider going through the procedure. If things continued at this rate, it was likely that Yu Jin would be able to persuade him. For the first time in his life, Yu Jin could use his medical knowledge for something meaningful and it really gave him an adrenaline rush. If his father eventually chose to undergo the surgery, he would be even more proud of himself.

******

The next day, Yu Jin still brought Eun Chae her breakfast. Nothing changed. The room was still filled up by an awkward atmosphere and an awful silence. Because Yu Jin did not stay with Eun Chae, he spent time on going to a book store near to the hospital where he came across a book called "Life on Mars." As an astronomy fanatic, there was no doubt that Eun Chae would definitely love it.

"Should I buy this to say sorry to her?" He mumbled to himself, picking up the book and taking a quick glimpse of it. "Darn it, why is it so expensive?" He grumbled when he saw the price tag of the book, "Never mind, I still have money though."

Ultimately, he decided to put the book into his basket. It was true that the book was not cheap. But he was the one who made his friend mad, so he could find no reason not to buy it to reconcile with her. In addition, he also spent some time browsing the books at the science section, where he heard a girl's voice from afar.

"Hey, Yu Jin!" It was Hae Rin's voice.

"Oh damn," he muttered and tried ignoring her.

"Han. Yu. Jin. I am talking to you," she persisted and raised her voice.

"Oh hi...sorry I didn't..." He stammered.

"Tell me, what's the relationship between you and Eun Chae?"

"We're just...friends."

"Friends?" She said and glared at him with a palpable scepticism on her face. Out of a sudden, she grabbed his wrists and pinned him against the shelves. "You sure?" She moved her face closer to him, so close that he could even feel her every single breath.

"What...what do you mean?" Yu Jin became flustered and could not speak fluently, "We're...really...just friends."

"No," she backed off, but her hands were still keeping him from moving, "You're sweating, stammering and you're not looking into my eyes. All of those point out...that you're lying."

"Hey Hae Rin, what's wrong with you?" He grunted and removed her hands, "OK, fine! If you really wanna know it, then...I like her."

"What?" She seemed taken aback.

"I said I like her. But I've never told her that, and I'm not planning on doing that anyway."

"Well...you really shouldn't. This may sound too blunt but...I don't think she should date a guy like you."

"It's apparent. You have been disliking me since the incident between me and Han Bin, right?"

"Well...I can say so, but listen, you prick..." She put her right hand onto his left shoulder, "I saw her crying today and she told me that she had some arguments with you. I don't know who was wrong but...If I see her crying because of you again..."

Yu Jin's breathing rate escalated while his heart was literally beating like a drum. Her hands were clutching his shoulders so tight that he could feel an awful pain in them.

"Remember that I do learn taekwondo, and I have black belt. If you make her cry again, I'm gonna rip this mouth off your handsome face. I. Will. Kill. You!" She whispered into his ear while some of her fingers were rubbing his lips.

"I will kill you," those words kept echoing inside Yu Jin's head even after Hae Rin had left. It was not the expression that the primary school kids often used to threaten one another. Her sheer determination really made it sound like she would kill him if he did anything bad to Eun Chae. Eun Chae always called Hae Rin "Kitty Kang" but she was obviously not a little kitten, but a fierce lioness.

Shortly after Hae Rin left, Yu Jin phone's received a call from Eun Chae.

"Hey Yu Jin..." She said with a soft voice, "I...I'm sorry."

"What?" Yu Jin asked in confusion.

"I...I'm really sorry..." She said and soon bursted into tears.

"Hey, don't cry like that. Just calm down, OK?"

"I...I'm sorry for...calling you annoying...I...I really didn't mean to," her crying seemed to become louder and louder over time.

"Hey don't cry, it hurts me, you know? It's fine, I'm also sorry for scolding you yesterday."

"It's not your fault, I was the one who messed up with you first. By the way...can you come to the hospital now? I just...wanna see you"

"Sure, have you had lunch yet? You want me to buy something for you?"

"I want porridge."

"OK, I'm going there."

Yu Jin quickly went to the cashier to pay for her book and then came back to the hospital to buy her some porridge. Stepping into the room, he saw Eun Chae lying on the bed with her eyes closed, covering her body under a white blanket.

"Hey Eun Chae," he touched her head.

"Huh? How do you get here so fast," she sluggishly sat up and asked him.

"I was pretty near so it didn't take me too much time to get here. Your porridge here," he handed her a box of porridge, "I couldn't get the chicken one because they ran out of it, so I bought you pork."

"It's fine, I only eat it so that I can take the medications. It doesn't matter."

"Have you felt better now?"

"A bit, I guess."

"If there's any problem then tell me. By the way, you want me to spoon-feed you?" He pinched her cheek and chuckled.

"No, I'm not a baby, don't do that."

"OK then," he stroked her hair.

She seemed to be able to eat more today, which was a positive sign. Perhaps it was also because porridge was more easy to eat than sandwiches and rice, which she normally liked and Yu Jin often brought her. Looking at her eating, Yu Jin also felt a sense of relief as he knew she was somehow better.

"And yeah...I've got this for you," he took out the book "Life on Mars" that he bought and handed to her, "I'm sorry...for being mad with you yesterday. I should have understood your feelings better."

"What is this?" She received the book with her hands. As soon as she touched it, she started to cry again. For some reasons, she seemed much more weepy and emotionally sensitive recently.

"Hey what happened? Don't cry like that, it hurts me," he said and used some tissue to wipe out her tears.

"Yu Jin..."

"Huh..."

"Why are you so...nice to me?" She looked at him with her tearful eyes.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^