Cool With A "K" PART 24 - CHAPTER 18

"Have you ever done any drugs?" Dr. Lee asked Tae-Hyun, "Marijuana? Cocaine? Anything like that?"
Tae-Hyun shook her head, "No, never."
"Alright, good to know." Dr. Lee said, writing something on his clipboard, "Do you regularly take any NSAIDS, like Aspirin or Ibuprofen?"
"Not very much." Tae-Hyun said, "My older brother, Kyung-Sam, sometimes gives it to me when I had a stomachache or a headache, but not very much."
"Okay," Dr. Lee wrote something else, "Have you ever drunk alcohol?"
"Well, my brother let me try a little, tiny bit of Japanese Saki he brought home one time, but I thought it was awful and did not have very much."
"I see." Dr. Lee said, "Does your family ever push anything like drugs or alcohol on you?"
Tae-Hyun shook her head quickly, "Oh, no. They never would."
"Have you ever smoked?"
"No."
Dr. Lee wrote one last thing down and said, "Alright, Miss Nam. That's it for questions. Thank you."
Tae-Hyun nodded and Dr. Lee left.
Leo got up from his seat across the room and sat down on the side of Tae-Hyun's bed. He stroked her hair and said, "How are you doing?"
"Not as good as I like, but better than before." Tae-Hyun said, smiling.
Leo stroked her hair and smiled at her.
"I'm so happy you're okay." He said.
Tae-Hyun smiled and said, "Me too."
Ms. Nelson came in and put her hand on Leo's shoulder.
Leo looked up.
"Leo, I think you should be getting back to camp." Ms. Nelson said, smiling warmly, "It's a field trip and you've missed half of day three."
"I don't care." Leo said, holding Tae-Hyun's hands with his, "I'd rather stay here with Tae-Hyun."
"Leo," Tae-Hyun said.
Leo looked at her.
"Go back to camp," Tae-Hyun said with a smile, "I'm fine. You don't need to worry so much about me."
"You said you were fine before and then you threw up blood." Leo said, biting his lip.
Tae-Hyun's face fell and she studied him.
"Then ask the doctor." Tae-Hyun said, smiling warmly, "He'll know if I'm okay or not."
Leo nodded and stood up, reluctantly letting go of Tae-Hyun's hand.
"Okay." Leo said, "I'll see you later."
Tae-Hyun nodded and smiled tiredly, "See you later. Thank you so much."
"For what?" Leo asked.
Tae-Hyun laughed, "For getting Mary to call the hospital, for being here with me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
Leo stood, frozen where he was.
"You saved my life, Leo." Tae-Hyun said, smiling and tearing up, "Thank you."
Leo breathed in shakily and said, "Can I hug you?"
Tae-Hyun nodded and Leo gently hugged her.
Tae-Hyun hugged him back and laughed and cried at the same time.
Leo stood back up and just looked at her. He said shakily, "Tae-Hyun..."
"Yes?"
Leo stared at her and his hands started shaking. He put his head down and walked out of the room.
Tae-Hyun watched him walk away, a bit disappointed that she didn't get to hear what Leo was going to say. She sighed and leaned back in her bed.


Leo walked down the hospital halls, telling himself under his breath how stupid he was.
Then, a young guy rushed into the hospital lobby so fast, he almost fell over. He looked kind of familiar.
Leo walked up to him and said, "Hey, are you Kyung-Sam?"
The guy looked at him and Leo said, "Tae-Hyun's brother?"
The guy studied Leo for a second and smiled slightly.
"Uh, yeah." He held out his hand, "You must be Leo, right?"
"Yeah." Leo grinned and shook Kyung-Sam's hand, "How'd you know?"
Kyung-Sam looked like he was holding back a smirk. He cleared his throat and said, "Oh, uh, he's mentioned you."
Ah. Kyung-Sam didn't know Leo knew Tae-Hyun was a girl.
"Oh, has she?" Leo asked.
Kyung-Sam almost looked impressed. He grinned and said, "Oh, yeah. The hair, the age, the eyes. That's how I recognized you."
Leo blushed and said quietly, "She... Talked about my... Eyes?"
Kyung-Sam looked very pleased with himself and said, "She... Mentioned them."
Leo hesitated before he asked quietly, "What did she say?"
"She said that they're beautiful." Kyung-Sam said, smiling warmly.
Leo's heart stopped beating for a split second. Kyung-Sam could be lying. He's Tae-Hyun's older brother, brothers lie!
Then, Kyung-Sam suddenly looked worried, "Have you seen my sister?"
Leo nodded and said, "O-oh, yeah. She's doing great. Her room is that way."
Kyung-Sam nodded and walked down the hall Leo had pointed to.
Leo followed behind him slowly.
He watched Kyung-Sam go into the room and Tae-Hyun's face light up.
Kyung-Sam cried and hugged his sister.
Leo smiled a little and sighed. He turned and went back to the waiting room.
Ms. Nelson was waiting there, looking at her watch. She saw Leo and said, "Leo, where have you been?"
"I'm sorry, I ran into Tae-Hyun's brother on the way here and said hi." Leo said. There was no life to his voice.
Ms. Nelson sighed, "Alright. Come on, I'll drive you back to camp."
"Are you going to stay there or come back here?" Leo asked.
"I'm going to come back here." Ms. Nelson said, "I need to sign a ton of paperwork."
Leo followed Ms. Nelson out of the building and said, "Wow."
"What?" Ms. Nelson said.
"Tae-Hyun's brother drove all the way here to see his sister." Leo said.
Ms. Nelson said, "Well, you were worried about her, so you stayed here instead of going to camp."
"Yeah," Leo said, "But camp is only fifteen minutes away. Home is four hours away."
Ms. Nelson smiled and said, "Come on, Tae-Hyun will be fine with her brother. Let's go back."
Leo nodded reluctantly and followed Ms. Nelson to her car.