CALL ME • MYUNG JAEHYUN - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

EUNHYE
The room was still except for the faraway beeping of machines. Sterile white walls, creased sheets, and a tray of food I hadn't eaten. The sky outside was growing dark.
I looked at the nurse as she entered to monitor my IV. "When... can I go home?" I asked softly, holding the thin blanket a little tighter.
She smiled at me softly, but her eyes said something I didn't want to hear. "Not yet. Just a little longer. The doctors need to keep an eye on your condition more closely before they let you go. It's for your safety, okay?"
I nodded slowly, turning away.
Jaehyun's birthday was tomorrow. He had reminded me many times already. He wanted me to go over-to meet his family, to be there.
A hollow pang pushed against my chest.
I wanted to leave. I really, really wanted to leave. To watch him face when I surprised him. To sit in that chair, perhaps laugh. Perhaps forget, even for a night.
The need to call him hummed in my fingers. My phone lay on the bed, still and untouched since yesterday.
I picked it up, looked at his name in the notifications. So many missed calls. Unread messages.
I hovered my thumb over the call button.
But then I paused.
What was I going to say?
"Hey, sorry I disappeared. I have a brain tumor now."
It sounded absurd. Heavily. Heartless.
I flipped the phone over so the screen was against my face and closed my eyes.
Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe not.
JAEHYUN
The sun rose in the morning through the windows, but it did nothing to alleviate the burden resting on my chest.
It was my birthday.
And I hadn't received a word from her.
Not even a single text. No calls. No responses. Nothing.
I went through the messages I sent her in the past two days.
|"Are you okay?"
|"Where are you?"
|"Please say something."
|"Eunhye?"
And the last one I sent, still stuck on "Delivered" since last night:
|"Even if you don't come to my house today, just let me know if you're okay. Please. I just want to see you."
It practically wasn't even my voice.
It was the voice of someone pleading.
Because I was.
Pleading with her to come back. To just appear at school. To say anything.
I didn't even care about the party anymore.
I just wanted her.
Evening came.
Laughter overflowed from the living room.
Voices, too many of them, piled upon each other like static.
I was standing on the edge of the staircase, alone from the rest, a paper cup in my hand with nothing inside.
I hadn't blown out the candles.
I hadn't even glanced at the cake.
She didn't arrive.
Not even a message.
"She probably forgot," someone had teased beforehand.
But they didn't know her.
Eunhye wouldn't forget.
Something was wrong.
"Jaehyun."
I glanced up. One of my cousins was sitting next to me, legs twisted uncomfortably. She'd always been direct, that one.
"I was actually surprised when I heard you hanging out with this girl Eunhye," she said lightly.
My hand tightened slightly on the cup. "Why?"
She blinked. "Well. because she was the last one who spoke with your best friend, wasn't she?"
The air crackled.
"What?" I said slowly, cautiously.
She cocked her head. "You didn't know? Before he-before all that, he called someone. Eunhye. I saw it referenced once, like, in the news. She was the last one he called."
I didn't say anything.
Couldn't.
All the sounds around me disappeared-music, voices, even my own breathing.
That name. That night.
She said someone called her. That they passed away because she didn't answer.
She never mentioned who.
But she knew.
She knew.
And yet, she smiled at me, those sleepless eyes looking guilt-free.
Like she wasn't the one to whom he outstretched hands.
Like she wasn't the one to whom I lost him.
My hands tightened so hard on the cup that it bunched in a crumple.
I was on my feet, sweat-filled chest thumping, anger itching its way up my throat like acid.
The girl I trusted.
She was responsible for his death.
She knew.
And yet, she just stayed with me as if it was all just nothing.
Within an instant, I detested her.
More than I ever believed possible that I could detest a person.
And the worst thing?
I wasn't certain that I loathed her more for what she did-
...or because she lied to me.
EUNHYE
Hospital Room, 10:03 PM.
The room was still, with only the occasional beep of the monitor by my bed.
I hadn't moved much all day.
The IV line pulled against my arm every time I moved.
I didn't know if I was tired or numb.
Outside, the city lights twinkled dimly in the window. I could see the shadow of buildings against the black sky. It almost felt like I was still in my room. Like this was any other evening.
But once, my phone buzzed.
I picked it up slowly, the screen glowing with his name.
Jaehyun.
|"So that's why you didn't come here huh."
I gazed at the words.
What?
I read it again.
And again.
What did he mean?
Why did it sound... different?
There was no question mark. No follow-up.
Just that sentence, sitting there like a sharp blade.
I left my finger hovering over the screen, not wanting to respond.
But I didn't.
I couldn't.
Some part of me wanted to call him.
To ask what he meant.
To tell him that I wanted to go, that I really did.
That I wanted to see his smile, ruffle his hair and hear his laughter ring close by me.
But something in that message-
...sounded final.
As if he already knew something.
As if he was finished trying.
I locked my phone and placed it on the side of me, face down this time.
My chest was weightier than the machines beside me.
And I didn't sleep that night.
How could I... when the one person I wanted to see me
Might've already stopped looking.