DM Chapter 86
The idea of him being laid off was beyond a joke. Eden City belongs to Owen. Surprised, Sarin was about to ask again when Owen grabbed her shoulder with his hand and turned his body in the direction of the hospital room.
“What’s that….”
“It’s a joke.”
His voice was deadly serious. As he lightly nudged her back, Sarin walked back toward the room.
For some reason, this time she didn’t dare to look back. Forgetting to take a deep breath, Sarin opened the door to the hospital room and entered.
“Auntie.”
Hayan noticed Sarin and weakly waved his hand. Sarin breathed the familiar hospital air.
“Hi, Hayan, did you rest well?”
The child nodded. As Sarin approached, Yujin, who had been sitting there, tactfully said she would take a break and left through the door she had entered. Sarin stroked the child’s head as she approached, but Hayan only smiled with a pale face.
“I had a lot of fun today.”
While Hayan talked about training with Yujin, she noticed the envelope of postcards in Sarin’s hand, and her eyes lit up.
“Hayan’s uncle got this for you.”
“Uncle?”
The child, who opened the envelope, looked at the postcard with a curious look. This place was just as unfamiliar to the child. Pointing to the picture with a dam and a rainbow, Sarin said,
“Auntie saw this today.”
“Really? Is it true?”
The child had never seen a real rainbow. As Sarin nodded her head, the child asked once again if she had really seen such a beautiful rainbow. Then she placed the postcard between the bed and the wall and smiled weakly.
“I’ll bring a frame with me next time.”
“When is next time?”
“Tomorrow?”
Hayan looked at Sarin with innocent eyes. In the child’s eyes, there was a wall of pain that Sarin could never cross. Perhaps the bitter thought crossed her mind that the child might also see such things through her eyes. Hayan lifted her bandaged hand and tenderly grasped Sarin’s palm.
“I’m going to live, Auntie.”
Her heart sank. The moment the child, who had said it’s okay to die, talked about living, Sarin felt afraid.
“Hayan.”
“Uncle said it’s a secret, but I’m only telling you, Auntie. He said, Dad is a bad person and doesn’t care if I live or die.”
Steady, without a hitch in pronunciation. He spoke as if he had practiced these words for a long time, with eyes that had grown so big.
Talking about Pavel made her breath hitch with pain. Sarin couldn’t bear to stroke the child, who was in such agony, because she couldn’t bear to withdraw her hand from the small hand.
Owen said this child clearly carried their bloodline. In the end, he inherited the blood that never hesitated to grasp what it desired.
“So Auntie is g-g-going…”
“What are you saying, Hayan?”
“Mom said Auntie was someone who had to go.”
Painful words popped out of the child’s mouth. The words, which were still a wound to each other, pierced their hearts.
“Where will Auntie go, leaving you behind?”
She couldn’t hide the tremor in her voice. Hayan patted her back as if he were comforting her. Despite growing up with a frail body since childhood, the child’s eyes belonged more to an adult than to his peers. With eyes like Owen’s and affection resembling her sister, White looked at Sarin.
“It’s Auntie’s turn.”
“Ah….”
Why did the child throw a tantrum?
Sarin hastily guessed that since the child had only seen his father as the sole blood relative under the sky, he must be seeking him. She thought there was a part in the child that she, as an aunt, couldn’t fill.
She never asked him the real reason. She only thought of the child’s struggle to somehow fill the void left by her absent sister.
Silent tears streamed down Sarin’s eyes. They fell onto the child’s wrist, which she held.
“I’m okay now because I have Uncle, Auntie…”
Hayan spoke calmly and affectionately, unlike her crying self.
Her sister had left behind the tiresome reality and gone to Eden City. Leaving behind her mother, who needed care, and herself in Korea, Sarin knew how difficult it must have been for her sister to leave.
It was she who had caused her sister’s departure.
She hoped her sister would be okay. She hoped her sister would fly away somehow.
Now she understood immediately what it meant for it to be her turn.
Why the child didn’t give her affection, or rather, couldn’t.
She was the one who would leave—the one who would soon fly away. That’s why she told the sick child in advance. She knew how much despair her addiction had brought to her sister. She must have regretted leaving.
“You can go now, Auntie.”
It was as if the dead Irin was speaking to her.
She was telling her to go to the other world—the one she’d hoped for, the one she’d only known briefly.
Sarin collapsed as she held the child’s hand. She knelt on the floor, buried her face in the sheets, and closed her eyes tightly. The quiet sobbing filled the hospital room. After crying to her heart’s content, leaning against the remnants of her sister’s presence, she lifted her head. The child smiled with red eyes.
“It’s not fair for you to make Auntie cry while only you laugh.”
“My hand hurts.”
Upon Hayan’s request to let go of his hand, Sarin was startled and released his hand. His tongue peeked out from between his lips. Only then did Sarin realize it was just a joke.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere without you.”
As she said that, Hayan suddenly pulled Sarin into a hug. Even though they are the only two people in the room, he whispers in a very low voice.
“Dad is a bad person, Auntie. He told me he would never leave you alone.”
Sarin clenched her fists against the sheet. She could see why the child was so frightened. To warn this little child that he would not leave her alone, not to mention crush his hopes.
“Hayan.”
“Daddy understands that hurting me hurts Auntie, and hurting you hurts me.”
A voice, now even softer, burst from the child’s throat. She could guess what the child wanted to say. But she couldn’t do that.
“Uncle won’t let that happen; don’t worry. He can do anything.”
“If Auntie is hurt… I can’t… Auntie…”
Sarin choked up at the child’s determination to survive even if things went wrong. The sobs made Sarin realize that she must somehow make it through this moment. She nodded. She reassured Hayan with a firm voice not to worry.
Swoosh.
When she heard the sound of the door opening behind her, she thought Yujin, who had briefly left, had returned.
“Hi. You must be Miss Sarin’s nephew.”
The lively voice belonged to someone familiar. Surprised, Sarin turned and quickly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Gayeon stood at the door, holding a large teddy bear. She half-expected Owen to appear behind her, but the door remained closed as if nothing had happened.
“Who are you?”
At the sudden appearance of a stranger, Hayan’s hid slightly behind Sarin.
“She’s Auntie’s friend.”
Gayeon approached with a smile and handed the teddy bear to Hayan. The guarded look in the child’s eyes melted away instantly upon receiving the gift. Hayan hugged the teddy bear, which he could barely hold with both arms. Gayeon, who naturally took a seat on the chair where Yujin had been sitting, began to chat affectionately with the child.
“Auntie doesn’t have any friends.”
With a puzzled look, the child shook the teddy bear’s nose. Sarin’s face quickly turned red.
“No, Auntie has friends, too.”
“Mom said Auntie doesn’t have any friends.”
His words were so firm that Sarin couldn’t refute them. Gayeon chuckled and looked at Sarin, who couldn’t move.
Soon, Sarin left the distracted child with the teddy bear and fetched a drink from the fridge, handing it to Gayeon before taking a seat opposite her.
“Did you cry?”
“A little.”
She answered, wiping away any remaining traces from her already clean cheeks. Gayeon laughed bitterly. Even though her face was slightly disheveled from crying, it looked completely different from the one she had seen just a while ago. Back then, she seemed so unstable that she might have been ready to leave at any moment.
“You look like you’ve made up your mind.”
“I’m staying here. Thank you for always taking care of me.”
Sarin said without any hesitation. Hearing that response, Gayeon finally recognized the deep intertwining of this woman with the household.
“That’s how the men in this household are. They end up captivating people. Don’t they?”
Gayeon’s words sounded like a sigh.
“Just saying they captivate people isn’t enough.”
When Sarin quietly agreed, Gayeon laughed louder than expected, looking surprised that Sarin would make such a comment. Then, she took out her phone from her pocket and handed it to Sarin, who was sitting quietly.
“I’m just going to take a picture.”
“Why?”
“I want to keep a photo with a friend.”
It sounded like an excuse she just made up, but Sarin didn’t stop her. It’s been so long since she’s been in front of a camera that she doesn’t know what expression to put on his face, but Gayeon snapped the photo casually.
“Oh….”
“Just in case. Oh, and he knows I’m here.”
“Owen?”
“He agreed to let me in. I can’t get into this hospital room because those guards over there are like fortresses. Not even bribes work.”
Sarin thought of Owen again when he mentioned that they couldn’t enter without his permission. She still couldn’t guess what he was thinking. As she watched Sarin lose herself in thought, Gayeon quickly finished her drink and said,
“Don’t worry too much. It’ll never harm Sarin.”
Because Kirill had told her that, Gayeon could say it with confidence. No matter how much she hid or concealed, that much was certain.
“I know.”
He only told her what was necessary. Sarin didn’t want to know what she didn’t need.
