Part III

Jessica slumped on her seat in the cramped hallway filled with patients on trolleys, some tended by strained relatives and some alone. 

She kept her eyes peeled on the navy blue double-door she was waiting to open, and sometimes her gaze would shift to the patients and nurses that would walk by, leaving the sound of shoes against the slate grey floor echoing.

"Miss Ahn!" 

"Yes?" She quickly got up, clutching her arms, thinking of the terrifying feedback that awaits her. She reached for the dull chrome handle and closed the door after she got inside.

She watched her grandmother, still in the bed, deep in shades of agony, perhaps the color of the dead.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting outside for so long,"

"No problem, doctor" The two hours she spent waiting for her grandma's situation to be addressed seemed to go on forever. Now that she was inside the simple cream walls of the private room, she could finally be told what she didn't want to hear.

The doctor was without his usual smile around patients and visitors whenever he was about to break bad news. He'd try his best to offer emotional support, but he couldn't bring back the dead.

"We did an autopsy check on your grandmother, and from the results, she seemed to have suffered a cardiac arrest. Alongside that, she had damaged muscles and bones. She died hours before the ambulance brought her to the hospital. You said you found her on the floor right?" 

"Yes. I think she fell from the staircase."

"The Possibility of that is high. Most elders don't make it after that, and she was in her early eighties, right?"

"Yes." 

"For now, we'll be taking her body to the morgue until you decide what should happen next." 

The doctor pressed the call button and waited for a response. A nurse appeared afterwards, tired but still smiling. She took one look at the body, then turned to face Jessica. 

"My thoughts and prayers are with you" The nurse said to Jessica, who was trying hard not to breakdown. The doctor took the paperworks from the nurse, then handed it over to Jessica to sign.

"Take care, Miss Ahn. I hope you recover from this." 

"Thank you" Her voice was shaky as the tears started trickling down her face. The doctor left to attend to the next patient, leaving the woman in the room to spend the last moment with her grandmother, before her corpse is transferred to the morgue.

On a wheelchair sat a child at the corner of the gloomy hallway. His face had an unhealthy look to it and his eyes were hard open as he stared at the dull commercial prints on the walls. What caught Xin's attention was the cool white sneakers on his feet and blue anpanman theme shirt he had on. The man was tempted to say hi, since it looked like the little guy needed someone to cheer him up.

He crouched down in front of him, letting the boy see his face after he brushed his blonde bangs from his face."Hey there, I'm Xin. What's your name?" 

The boy became still and was quiet for a moment, sitting further back into the chair. His eyes rested on the tattoos that played peekaboo up Xin's sleeves, and his gaze traveled to the man's ears that had piercings. His mother told him to not talk to strangers, and he wasn't sure if the man before him was the type he should talk to, but ever since the nurse left him, he'd been wanting someone to keep him company.

"I'm Kang," his words came out unexpectedly, almost like an accident, spilling out of his drawn inward lips. 

"That's a nice name. Are you lonely?" 

The boy nodded, and Xin patted the tousled dark brown hair sitting atop his pale face "Well I'm here to keep you company until someone comes to get you."

"I want to see the sun" He said, "I've been inside for a long time and I just wanted to see the sun, but now, I always have to get someone to take me there. It's not fair" His blue eyes lost their harshness, becoming rounder, more glossy. Then all at once his face buckled, his breathing stopped momentarily and tears streamed.

"I'll take you outside. Will that stop you from crying?" 

"No!"

"Will that make you feel any better?" 

The boy nodded, wiping his tears away "Yes."

"Alright then, let's go outside together" Xin pushed the wheelchair, following the closest exit that could be easily accessed. The boy's sobbing seemed to have stopped, but to get him to smile again was the new problem.

"I prefer the sunlight to the lightbulbs inside the hospital," He said.

"Me too" Xin agreed. 

"Thank you, Mr Xin!"

The man smiled, before looking at the bouquet in his hands. He had an appointment, but for a reason or two, his favorite doctor was the one that bailed on him. The flowers were for her, but it wouldn't hurt to give a few roses to his new friend. 

"Here you go" Xin handed the boy the flowers, and the boy returned a surprised and confused look. 

"Flowers are for girls" He stuck his tongue out.

"No, they're for everyone. That's why I'm giving it to you as a gift." 

"KANG!!!" They both turned to the direction of the call, and Kang's face beamed the moment he saw his mom and older siblings rushing towards them.

The boy's eyes brimmed with tears of joy, and he didn't like rolling himself, but he did that just to close the distance between himself and his family. As he moved away from the man, The flowers Xin gave him fell from his laps, and hit the ground.

Xin straight smiled, but that was his way of expressing how happy he felt for the boy. He was no longer alone. 

Xin turned away, but before he could get his hands on the handle of the grey double-doors leading to the hospital's third hallway, he heard his name.

"MR XIN!!! THANKS FOR THE FLOWERS!" Kang waved and so did his family behind him, appreciating the stranger for his kindness. 

"You're welcome. So be happy, okay!" He waved back before heading inside the hospital.

Jessica was caught off guard the moment her teary eyes met with Xin's pair of deep black. Tension, shock, and sadness were written all over her face, but she composed herself, clearly not wanting to be seen in her grieving state.

"Why are you looking at me?" 

Xin didn't say a word, but offered her a rose. In return she slapped it away and shouted, "I don't want your cheap rose!" 

He withdrew his hand and sighed as a saying crossed his mind. Not everyone deserves kindness, and the woman before him was definitely part of that category. The two walked past each other, not a word to be said as they went separate ways.