Chapter 157

Chapter 157

She had a very beautiful smile . Judging by what Maru called her earlier, her name was probably Miso . The woman walked over to them as she looked around the room . Her eyes fell on the teddy bear and she smiled .

"So Soojin"s been here?"

"Yes, I feel like a little girl," Maru responded as he tapped at the teddy bear"s head .

Miso"s eyes turned to look at Suyeon, who was still sitting on the bed .

"Eh? Ms . Suyeon?"

"Long time no see, Ms . Miso . "

"It hasn"t been that long . I heard your voice through the phone several times already . "

"But it"s been six years in reality, hasn"t it?"

"That"s right . How odd . People in this industry tend to meet often too . "

"It really is odd . We haven"t even tried to avoid each other either . "

"Would you like to go for a drink, since it"s been so long?"

"No, I have work . "

"Ah, I see . How about you leave, then?"

"No thank you . Plus, investing time into Maru doesn"t feel so bad . "

Suyeon smiled at Maru after finis.h.i.+ng her sentence, she wasn"t a fan of Suyeon"s movements for some reason . Miso wasn’t particularly friendly towards this woman either .

“You must know Maru,” Miso asked Suyeon as she handed over a juicebox .

She received the juice box awkwardly as Miso finally turned to greet her .

“h.e.l.lo . ”

“Ah, h.e.l.lo . ”

“Mind if I sit there?”

Miso was pointing at the chair next to her . She nodded . Miso took her seat and crossed her legs . She kept glancing at Miso from the side, the woman had really thin legs .

“I don’t know him that well, honestly . Hopefully it doesn’t stay that way, though,” Suyeon finally responded .

“I heard it’s pretty rude to visit strangers in hospitals . ”

“Really? I disagree . ”

They went straight back to arguing again . What was up with all of these visitors? None of them were normal so far .

“Big sis . ”

Bada was pulling at her clothes, the girl seemed to want to go outside for a moment . She slid out of her seat and got a little further away . Even now, Miso and Suyeon were still bickering with each other . Maru watched them for a little while before getting back to reading his book . Maru was flipping through his pages with a yawn . The two women continued arguing with each other, completely disregarding him . Just what was happening?

“These two don’t like each other, do they?” Bada whispered .

It really wouldn’t have mattered if the girl raised her voice though . The two women were talking so intensely that they didn’t look like they could hear anything .

“I think so . ”

“What the heck does my brother do outside? Why are there so many adults visiting him?”

“I’m wondering the same thing . ”

Bada looked at the bed with a confused expression, She turned to look as well . Maru let out a sigh as he closed the book in his hands . Its hardcovers closed with a snap, the two women finally closed their mouths .

“Thank you for coming . But any more of this and I’m really going to get a headache . If you two have something to talk about, I recommend the cafe next to the hospital . Also, instructor . ”

“Yeah?”

“Did we pa.s.s?”

“Ah, right . That’s what I wanted to talk about . ”

Miso made a ‘v’ with her hands .

“Pa.s.sed with flying colors . The nationals are next week . We’re representing the Gyeonggi province with Myunghwa High . ”

“I expected as much . You told the kids to not text me about this, didn’t you?”

“Of course . Such good news shouldn’t be delivered by text . ”

“No wonder no one responded . ”

Maru turned to look at Suyeon this time .

“Thank you for coming . But I am a little bit disturbed by your presence, if I’m being honest . We’re practically strangers, Ms . Suyeon . ”

“Call me big sist . . . ”

“We can think about honorifics later down the line . But if you have nothing special to say, I’d appreciate it if you could leave . Things would probably get loud again if the two of you stay here and it’s not like I can kick out my own instructor . ”

“You’re surprisingly cold, seeing how you just draw a line . ”

Suyeon leaned forward to Maru . Looking at that, she frowned from across the room . The woman was clearly taunting Maru . She retracted her previous thoughts about the woman, this Suyeon has bad news written all over .

“I won’t be able to see you off . My leg’s a little bit damaged, as you can see . ”

Maru spoke as he scratched his eyebrows . Suyeon pouted, seemingly having expected a different answer . She ended up shrugging in defeat .

“Please be a little bit more friendly if you can next time . I want to be on good terms with you if possible . ”

“Of course, if I get the chance . ”

“If you don’t?”

“Well, life will go on regardless . Can you please leave now?”

Suyeon’s eyes widened . Maru’s voice was calm and relaxed, but he had strength behind his words . The woman’s lips straightened, and her eyes were frigid for the briefest moment . A smile returned pretty much immediately, but she definitely caught it . This was a scary person, she just knew it .

“You’re too much . I even took out time on my schedule to come to visit you . ”

As Suyeon raised her hand to towards Maru’s face, he grabbed her wrist firmly from the air .

“ . . . That’s cute . ”

“There’s no way such a big dude like me would be cute . ”

“You seemed like such a quiet kid the last time I saw you . Who would’ve thought you’d be so feisty? So that Maru I saw on stage wasn’t anything exaggerated after all . ”

Suyeon retracted her hand with a slight pout, she b.u.t.toned up her jacket and picked up her bag .

“I’ll see you next time, Maru . ”

“Please take care, Ms . Kim Suyeon . ”

“Wow, cold until the very end . ”

Suyeon got up as she flipped her hair back . She watched the woman step out of the room, catching a glimpse of the woman’s face before her figure disappeared entirely .

‘A wild dog . ’

That was the only impression she could get from it .

“I feel sorry for no reason,” Miso said as she licked her lips nervously .

“Seriously . Did you two really have a reason to start fighting in front of a patient? I thought my wounds were going to explode again . ”

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad . ”

The atmosphere of the room loosened up again .

“Oh my, I forgot to even introduce myself . I’m the instructor for the acting club he’s in . ”

Miso put a hand over Maru’s head and shook it . This time, unlike what he did to Suyeon, Maru let her do it . Looking at that made her realize that Maru was actually very picky when it came to people, that made her feel a little relieved . The boy always loved to tease her . That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

“I’m his sister . ”

“Ahh, Maru had a younger sister, huh? How’s he like at home? He’s a total meanie that says whatever he wants, isn’t he?”

“That’s right . He has matured recently though . ”

“Is that so?”

The two of them shared a hearty laugh, she let out a small giggle as well . Miso looked towards her .

“You’re a sister as well?”

“No, a friend . ”

Bada b.u.t.ted right in .

“She’s his girlfriend . ”

“Oh my G.o.d . ”

Miso put Maru under a headlock and shook him . The boy could only manage to squeeze out an “I’m a patient” . She smiled, feeling her cheeks heat up a little . She was embarra.s.sed, but it also felt good hearing that from Bada .

“Were you surprised to hear that he got hurt?”

“Yes . ”

“Was he honest with you?”

“No, he had the gall to tell me he was okay at first . ”

“I knew it . This kid worries way too much about everything . Especially about other people . Well, I guess that’s what makes him so likeable . ”

Miso seemed to know Maru very well . Then again, she was his instructor . Maru managed to get out of the headlock and fixed up his hair before talking again .

“So we both managed to go to the nationals . ”

“Looks like it,” she nodded .

“Eh? What do you mean?”

Miso blinked in confusion . Ah, she didn’t explain, did she?

“I’m from Myunghwa High’s acting club . ”

“Really?”

“Yes . ”

“Mm, so a compet.i.tor?”

“Y-yes, pretty much . ”

Miso narrowed her eyes, the woman’s gaze felt hot and pressuring . It was kind of becoming a little too much, actually .

“Aren’t you going to celebrate?”

Maru took Miso’s attention away just at the right time . The woman sighed lightly in response .

“I was hoping to leave when the kids get here . ”

“When the kids get here?”

Right then, the hallway outside started getting very loud .

“Is it here?”

“I think so . ”

The door opened . Yoonjung was the first to step in with a big smile, the other club members followed in behind her .

“We’re here!”

“Maru, are you okay?”

“Seriously, you . . . ”

She stepped aside to look at the club members . They were all people who worked alongside Maru to create such an amazing play . Being all people from the same club, they seemed to be good friends with Maru . Well, all except two of them, by the looks of it . One of them was the tall boy . She recognized him in an instant .

‘The boy who was good at acting . ’

She could remember the boy’s acting as clear as day . He had quite the charisma on the stage, so it was hard to forget him . Next to him was a shorter girl . She looked rather cute, but also incredibly nervous for some reason as well . Her eyes went to extraordinary lengths to avoid Maru .

It was odd .

She started staring at the short girl without realizing it . Their eyes met for an instance and the girl paled like she just saw a ghost . She turned away . Was the girl sick? Or did the girl have bad memories of the hospital? Ah well, at least she came to see Maru .

“Was the cause of the fire discovered, by the way?” Maru asked Miso .

Miso’s smiling face stiffened .

“We found a tube of glue next to the burnt costumes . They’re not something we use . We only used silicon, to begin with . ”

“That means . . . ”

“We don’t have anything solid yet, but the fire might’ve been intentional . ”

“I see . ”

Maru looked towards her as soon as he got that far .

“I’ll leave for a bit,” she said as she turned .

Maru stopped her .

“No, we shouldn’t talk about this here anyway . ”

Miso joined in with him .

“Yes, you should stay with Maru . We need to leave soon . I’ll give you a call once this all gets sorted, Maru . ”

Miso left first after telling Maru to get better . One by one, the club members promised to come again before walking out .

“Who’s that, by the way?” A boy sucking on candy asked .

He was being quiet about it, but she heard him regardless .

“Girlfriend . ”

“ . . . What?”

“Dojin, can I just be alone with her for a bit?”

The boy exited the room visibly dejected when Maru waved him out . The room was quiet once more .

“Phew, finally . Bada, can you buy me some kimbap outside?”

“Mm, sure . I’ll be out for a few minutes . ”

Bada went outside with a grin .

“Finally, just us two . ”

Maru was saying something so embarra.s.sing so calmly . She smiled lightly as she took a seat .

“Aren’t you popular, Mr . Maru . ”

“You just realized?”

“My goodness . ”

“You’re a lucky girl, did you know that?”

“You . . . ”

“Kidding . I’m the lucky one here . ”

“ . . . . . . ”

Maru extended his hand towards her, she grabbed it .

“I’m sorry for getting hurt . For making you relive those memories . ”

Just how much of her mind did he read? She could only smile defeatedly, she couldn’t get angry like this .

“ . . . Don’t get hurt from now on . Don’t lie, either . ”

“Okay . ”

“If you’re going to get hurt, ask for permission first . ”

“Okay . ”

“You’re just saying okay to everything . ”

As she looked at Maru with a smile, his face started inching closer to hers . His lips pecked away at hers quickly, she blinked in confusion for a second before pus.h.i.+ng him away .

“Youu!”

Maru pointed at his cast with a grin when she tried to push him harder .

“I’m a patient, go easy on me . ”

This guy… Well, she didn’t… hate it .

“Ohh . ”

A sound came from outside the room, she turned around in surprise . Bada was looking at the two of them with a smile .

“You’re a brave one, aren’t you, sis?”

Hah… Was everyone in Maru’s family like this?