When Your Pain Becomes Mine

***

After she parked her car, she got out.

Sister Andrea was playing with the children at the one corner of the vacant lot and slowly approached when she saw Sun's car.

"Welcome, Miss Sun." Andrea approached Sun with a gentle smile.

"You still remember me."

"Sure. It's not a place where a pretty girl often comes."

Hearing her, Sun replied with a grin. "My office has contacted you. I'm here to give you this."

Sun opened the trunk and picked up a few boxes to put them on the ground.

"Wow, that's a lot. Thank you so much."

"Please, it's no trouble. These products will be of no use if we leave them in our stock room anyway. Where would you like me to put them?"

"I can't make my guest move boxes. Guys, why don't you come here and move these things inside?"

"Okay!"

Hearing Andrea's words, the children flocked like sheep.

The big boys carried one box each, and two or three little boys that were gathered together started moving other boxes.

The boxes disappeared in an instant.

"Did you see that? They all contribute in their own way for everyone's benefit."

Andrea also picked up a box and smiled while watching the children carry the boxes.

Sun was still looking at her and carefully gave the sketchbook that was on the passenger seat of her car.

"I'm here to give this back to you too."

Andrea put down the box on the ground that she was carrying and received the sketchbook.

When she turned over a page, she saw that one or two pages of the sketchbook were scratched with a sharp tool. Andrea didn't ask for any explanation from Sun.

"My dog scratched some of the drawings."

Despite her awkward and lame excuse, Andrea only smiled and nodded.

"Well, then take care."

Sun departed from her awkwardly and turned her body toward the car.

She turned slowly, seemingly determined, and started speaking as she looked at Sister Andrea.

"... Sister Andrea."

Andrea looked at her silently.

After struggling for several seconds, Sun started speaking, "... What happened to him when he was young?"

Her voice was trembling with an unidentified tension.

Andrea nodded slowly while smiling.

"Hmm. Do you have a minute? I think it's going to be a long story."

Her voice rang in Sun's ear quietly.

'I should just go back. That's the right thing to do... However...'

***

In the hospital room.

Looking up at the ceiling, Gyeonhui turned his head and picked up a red scarf.

Feeling the soft texture, he suddenly heard a knock.

'Knock, knock.'

He quickly closed his eyes while hiding the scarf inside the sheet.

The man who opened the door was Dr. Seo. He stepped inside.

"How are you feeling?"

Dr. Seo's words were heard, but he continued to pretend like he was asleep.

"I know you're up. Don't forget that I'm one of the best doctors in Korea."

Hearing Dr. Seo, Gyeonhui slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm sure that you heard what I said to Ojae a while ago. There was a hole in your stomach. I don't think this could have happened unless you were trying to drink yourself to death. It seems like you're under a lot of stress..."

Dr. Seo seemed anxious. He continued talking to him while he was checking Gyeonhui's IV and vitals.

However, Gyeonhui still gave him no answer.

"You need to get more rest. I'll leave you alone."

Dr. Seo raised Gyeonhui's body constrainedly.

"... Doctor Seo."

Dr. Seo stopped right before he opened the door to leave.

He slowly raised his upper body some more and struggled to start speaking.

"Is this curable?"

"There were no complications, and the surgery was done well. Like I said, I'm one of the best doctors in the country ever since..."

"I mean her pain that I feel…"

Gyeonhui continued in a heavily subdued voice.

"... I know I should forget about her and let her go, but I keep feeling her pain. I don't know what she did or how she got sick... because she's a bit careless ...so she gets hurt a lot."

"Hmm. If we try the reverse blood transfusion, we might be able to find a solution. Let's wait a little longer."

Hearing Dr. Seo sounding like he was admonishing him was no help to comfort Gyeonhui.

He was only touching his index finger, still in pain, with his thumb.

Dr. Seo paused as he turned before he left the room.

"Hmm."

"The girl…"

When Dr. Seo talked about her, Gyeonhui finally looked at his face.

"I feel like I've seen her a long time ago. She was familiar."

"... Have you known her?"

Dr. Seo stopped at the door and continued with a soft tone like he was recalling his old memories.

"About a decade ago. She was taken to the hospital due to an accident. I remember it because her blood type was rare, and her name is unique."

"... Accident?"

Dr. Seo's expression sank deeply as he nodded slowly.

***

Ten years ago, in winter, at the university hospital.

"Emergency patient!"

The urgent voice from the emergency medical technician echoed through the whole emergency room.

Dr. Seo was in his office at the time. He put down the chart that he was holding and hurried to the entrance to see the patient.

A girl in a school uniform was covered in blood and was carried in.

"She was in a traffic accident. There is a fracture in her right wrist. There is some bleeding too, but her vitals are stable."

Dr. Seo heard the emergency medical technician's explanation and quickly checked Sun's body.

"Sun! Sun! Are you alright? Wake up! Sun!"

A man who seemed to be her father in relatively clean clothes called his daughter.

"Sir, this wouldn't help."

"S, sir. Please save my daughter. Please, please." The man held Dr. Seo's hand tightly and cried.

"I understand. Please let go for a moment." Dr. Seo calmed the man down and looked at her. "Are you in pain? How about here? Are you okay?"

Dr. Seo asked while confirming a fracture in her wrist, but the terrified child was still trembling without answering.

Her lips turned pale and dry.

"Sun, are you okay? Where is the pain? Talk to this doctor."

Hearing her father, who was asking her in a desperate voice, she started speaking to him while crying.

"Dad... My wrist hurts so much..."

Hearing Sun's crying voice, her father looked at Dr. Seo with a more desperate expression.

"Sir, please take a look at her closely, please."

Dr. Seo nodded at him and looked at the nurse.

"Please contact Dr. Kim right now."

"Yes, sir."

The nurse answered and picked up the phone at the same time.

"Well, we need to go to the operating room now."

Dr. Seo, along with the nurses, tried to carry Sun to the operating room.

Then the man stopped her suddenly while holding on to the doctor and shouted.

"Wait a minute, sir. My daughter has blood type RH-AB."

Dr. Seo's expression hardened after hearing the man's words.

"Do we have any with us?"

"Yes, there is no problem."

"That's good. Let's go."

The process was quick, and Sun managed to enter the operating room at the right time.

"Hah..."

Dr. Seo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was taken to the operating room.

Dr. Seo quickly returned to the emergency room to find her guardian. However, he could not find the man anywhere.

"Where did he go?"

When Dr. Seo was tilting his head in doubt, the emergency medical technician came to him.

"You said it was a car accident, but wasn't there any other person in the car?"

"The guardian was with her in the car too."

"What?"

At one point, an ominous feeling passed through Dr. Seo's head.

"Why are you telling me just now? Find him right away!"

The emergency medical technician and the nurses rushed to find the man.

After a while...

"Sir, sir! Here he is!"

Dr. Seo heard the urgent voice of the nurses.

He began running down the aisle as fast as he could.

When he turned around the corner, he entered a dark corridor.

He saw a man lying down alone in the hallway of the hospital; there was no one else there with him.