The color that spreads through the window is dazzling. As the sun was setting, and thinking that the blowing wind was now quite cold, I could see a white hand protruding from somewhere skillfully closing the open window.
When I looked at the man with a short admiration because he was tall and had great proportions, I could see the manās head, which was only showing his back, slightly turned around and stared my way.
His face slowly revealed with a swaying curtains.
Am I dreaming?
Lee Ha-Jin looked at the man in front of him and blinked.Ā What a beautiful face,Ā He seems somewhat familiar; the man who had a smiled on his face approached him in a quick pace.
Oh, heās going to bump into me.
Even before he thought so, the man lightly passed through his body, with that empty feeling Lee Ha-Jin clicked his tongue this time.Ā I guess I really am dreaming huh.
The man who passed right through him sat down in a simple chair beside the bed, and then he started talking about something quietly.
As he got closer, a little girl, who was hidden from his view by the manās body popped out. She had a pale face and dazzling round eyes, but she was so pretty enough that you could see at a glance that she would be a beautiful woman when she grew up.
As Lee Ha-Jin stared at the little girl, thinking that her small mouth and her whispering resembles a canary bird. The bed, IV for a sick person, and a room covered in a white paint everywhere were clearly a hospital room.
On the other hand, it was a lonely sight because the only one bed in the room was exceptionally big.
Why I am dreaming about something that I donāt even know?
If I look back on my memory, Iām sure I was definitely on my way home after making a deal.
But strangely enough, after that, all I could see is pitch black.Ā Did I pass out?Ā Lee Ha-Jin looked down again at the man and the little girl.
The manās fingertips were gently brushing the girlās hair. It was a careful and sensitive movement that felt like it was a touch of touching something precious, that he felt when he saw the two for the first time.
The conversation was quiet and full of everyday things. The little girl who smiles when their eyes meet, blushes and pretends to vomit at the manās jokes that she occasionally hears.
A soft silence, an intimate touch. The hospital room, where there were only the two of them, was full of such things, and there was something so distant the he felt as if this was the only different world.
Itās quiet, and Lee Ha-jin was just staring at the two without saying a word from one side of the hospital room where no one came. Then, like a lie, time went by.
The man would returned home and will come back a few days later late at night, and as soon as he opened the door of the hospital room and came in, Lee Ha-Jin could tell right away how important the child was to him.
The way his faced changed, the expression of wandering somewhere in hell aimlessly and finally returning to his resting place.
The tired manās face softens at the girlās voice calling out to himĀ āoppaā.Ā He looked relieved.
The peaceful time passed in an instant, and in that time, Lee Ha-jin was just staring at the two without saying a word.
I didnāt know when it would end, but I think it was not a bad dream
The wait wasnāt very long. When he looked up at a certain feeling that ran through his head, the door of the hospital room that had been closed became transparent as if it was announcing that it was time to wake up.
It was an unbelievably delicate dream; so it was a moment when he woke up from the seat where he was always sitting and to get out of the hospital room with a short smile.
Please protect this child
It was the man. The words that came out from his mouth while staring at him with a gaze full of desperation.Ā I am a very weak person, so I may not have a confidence to live on any longer.
With a quiet voice, the manās gaze was lowered to a corner of the bed that was now empty. He looked tired.
She donāt know the world where she have to live alone, so please
She is unaware of the hell-like reality. So, I wanted you to protect that childā¦Ā he could see the wet manās cheeks shaking.
Every person whoās fallen into despair has always made the same face. Thinking that he had a familiar face, Lee Ha-jin turned his steps and tried to leave the hospital room.
The end of those who knew despair was always similar, and it was natural because he did not become the kind of person who sympathized with it or felt sorry for it.
Yeah, Iām sure it was.
Stood frozen, Lee Ha-Jin looks down at the man crying silently. The darkened memories were slowly flooding into his mind.
I was on my way home from the deal. Dae-joon, who was driving, glanced at the rear-view mirror as if he was anxious.Ā Boss, The car in the back isnāt showing any signs of slowing down.
I blinked my tired eyes, told him to send them first, and then closed my eyes.
I felt uneasy even though I knew it. And at the next moment,Ā Fuck!Ā When I opened my eyes reflexively to Dae-joonās loud voice, the car that left the guardrail crashed with the sense that it had been hit hard from the back.
Oh, this is how Iām going to die
Lee Ha-jin remembered the last scene. At a very close distance, the man, who was clear to have crashed into his car, was crying sadly with a bloody face. There was nothing different from the face that is crying in front of him now.
Get out of here!
Sentences such as red warnings constantly came out of his head.Ā Yeah, I have to go. Then he tried to move slowly, but he couldnāt move as if his foot was stuck on the floor at the sound of the manās voice again.
Iām so weak, Iām not confident to live anymore, but still, somebody.
Please protect that child. Please, somebodyā¦ Please pleaseā¦.
Itās a voice that resembles prayer. The tears flowing show no signs of stopping, and the manās cheeks are constantly soaked. When he felt that he couldnāt wait any longer, the footsteps he couldnāt move finally fell off the floor.
The manās cry grew louder as he walked without hesitation toward the closed door. In the afternoon in the hospital room, by the window where the sun shines, where only the two of them spend time together.
His hands stretch out.
***
His palms were soaked in tears, but not knowing that it was mercy for the rest of his life.
I got it. Donāt cry.
Lee Ha-jinās hand headed to the manās cheek instead of the doorknob in the hospital room. The man, who was crying, raised his head by his awkward voice as he clumsily wipes his wet cheeks.
Their eyes met, and looking at Lee Ha-jin, the man smiled with a wet face as if he had witnessed salvation for the first time in his life. When he bites his tongue because with a sad smile, the manās face slowly fades away.
Everything began to spread dizzyingly as if the space were breaking, and in between, a manās cracking voice could be heard over and over again.Ā Thank you, thank you. Andā¦.Ā his vision is getting darker. The sound is gradually disappearing.