Chapter 13.1

Chapter 13.1

The presence of the man who had occupied Yeon-ha’s thoughts so much vanished from her mind in less than a month. It was due to the unexpected absence of her grandmother. A frantic phone call informing her that her grandmother had collapsed at the restaurant led her to leave school early and head to the hospital in a taxi. What was she thinking at that moment?

“The weather is getting hotter, so I’ve lost my appetite. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Her grandmother’s appetite had noticeably decreased recently. She had also been struggling with a persistent cough after a severe bout of the flu. Yeon-ha had cautiously suggested that her grandmother take a month off work, but naturally, her suggestion was dismissed.

Then, just last week, her grandmother had suddenly taken a few days off. While Yeon-ha was at school, her grandmother had finished all the housework and prepared dinner for them. She had returned to work just three days ago, unable to complete even the planned week off due to the restaurant’s urgent need for help.

Please, let it be nothing serious. Desperately hoping, Yeon-ha arrived at the hospital only to be met with the worst possible outcome.

After several days of various tests, the diagnosis was terminal lung cancer. The cancer had already metastasized to multiple areas, making it untreatable.

She would never forget the moment she first heard those words. Yeon-ha learned then what it felt like for her heart to die, an intangible sensation. The doctor’s explanations, pointing at the CT scans, seemed to scatter meaninglessly in her ears. In such a dire situation where surgery was of little use, the hospital said there was not much they could do.

It felt as if the world was deceiving her.

“If we’d discovered it earlier, surgery would have been a viable option.”

The doctor added quickly that lung cancer often doesn’t show symptoms early, making early detection difficult. As Yeon-ha listened, she felt a ringing in her ears, which might not have been just her imagination.

“How is this even possible?”

She kept denying reality. Why hadn’t the local clinic noticed anything when her grandmother collapsed years ago? She had been blissfully eating the dinner her grandmother made a few days ago, completely unaware. Remembering her ignorance and indifference made her feel nauseous. What was the point of all that studying? When her grandmother said she had no appetite or couldn’t sleep well, she should have taken her to a bigger hospital immediately. She should have acted more quickly and decisively.

Yeon-ha couldn’t accept any of it.

The situation hit like a bolt of lightning, demanding harsh choices and decisions she was unprepared to make alone. She didn’t even have time to grieve or be miserable. She lacked the strength to deal with the immediate reality.

Her grandmother, always so strong, remained silent. The barrage of tests was exhausting for the patient, leaving her without the energy to speak. Yeon-ha couldn’t begin to guess what she was thinking.

“Grandma…”

In the dark hospital room, holding her grandmother’s thin, wrinkled hand, Yeon-ha struggled to keep her mind clear. Regret overwhelmed her, making it hard to breathe. She should have skipped school. After all, her only reason for studying so hard was her grandmother. She should have quit and done something to let her grandmother rest. There was no end to the “should haves.”

Her grandmother had worked without a proper vacation for decades. Now, finally, she didn’t have to go to the restaurant anymore, but under such tragic circumstances, it felt painfully ironic.

Chemotherapy—or more accurately, the desperate fight to extend life through palliative care—was her grandmother’s decision. When Yeon-ha returned to the hospital room after a meeting with the doctor, she found a man she had never seen before, arguing loudly in the crowded ward. This man, supposedly her uncle, was someone she had never even heard her grandmother mention.

“…!”

Though she entered mid-conversation, Yeon-ha caught her uncle’s words clearly: “She’s already struggling, why burden her further?” Her grandmother, lying in bed, weakly waved her hands and firmly shut her eyes, telling him to leave.

“Why are you yelling at Grandma? How can you talk to her like that?”

Yeon-ha was furious, raising her voice at the man she had never met. She knew it was inappropriate to cause a scene in the hospital, but she couldn’t hold back her anger. The middle-aged man’s initially puzzled expression quickly turned to one of mild irritation.

“So, you’re Yeon-ha.”

His casual remarks about how much she’d grown and how pretty she was only made her feel disgusted. She was livid, yet he seemed completely unfazed, smirking as he asked about school and graduation.