Mayu had no idea how she and her brother arrived at the hospital. She never even remember how their old man looked as her brother struggled to carry him.
"Here." The aroma of steaming hot coffee made her look at the cup and eventually at the hand holding it.
"I'm sorry," she heard him softly say. She looked at him, there was sorrow and regret on his eyes. Tears fell from her eyes. She did not know what to say. She believed she should be the one saying it.
"No you're wrong, it's all my fault. Maybe he's thinking of ways to keep me busy again. He's always thinking of me. Gramps," she sobbed. She felt him gently stroking her back.
"I'll go back," she finally said after a moment of silence. Her brother returned her gaze.
"You don't have to,"
"Yeah, I don't have to but I need to. For him..."
"No you're wrong. Actually, he just..." his words trailed off when the doctor came out of the operating room.
"How is he?" they simultaneously asked. The doctor removed his mask and smiled.
"Strong as horse. I think we need to sedate him though, he's too noisy. He's on his room now." she looked at her brother and found him staring back at her and both heaved a smile of relief. He stood up and extended his hand to hers. She happily grabbed it and they walked hand in hand to their gramps room. The doctor was right though, he's really noisy.
"I said I'm okay, you're making my grandchildren wor..." he sensed them in the room and turned towards them.
"Gramps, lie on your back and rest will you."
"You should not stress yourself too much. I can take care of it, sir." her brother's probably talking about the hospital management again.
"Cut it with the business you two!" she barked.
"Take a rest Gramps. You're stressing yourself again. You're also stressing us, especially me, I'm getting ugly." she hugged her grandfather and made him get back to bed again. She kissed his forehead and he closed his eyes. Typical of the melodrama she usually views. Actually he resigned his shoulders and grunted.
"You two must be happy now, this old man's gonna be on leave messing with your lovelife." What?
"What lovelife are you talking about?"
"It's much better now sir." her brother cut. She moved her gaze between them, both are smiling.
"Did she already..."
"No but we're going there." He replied, trying to hide a tiny smile. O my!
"O my, you got a girlfriend???" She asked in disbelief. For a while she saw their expression changed, they looked horrified, her brother barked back.
"What is that to you?"
"Hey don't be too prickly. I won't ask anymore. Actually you still haven't paid me back when you asked me to introduce you to the cute girl at the gym." His eyes widened with surprise. Her grandfather looked the same.
"How did you remember that?"
"Excuse me! My memory is not old like you both, of course I remember. Anyway, have you started dating already?"
Her brother looked conflicted. He bit his lower lip and replied, "We got together."
"Then why are you looking glum? You looked more like you've broken up." she pried.
"Well, I'm not sure if we did. She just. Doesn't know me anymore."
"Oh, that's rude. Would you like me to get revenge for you? I already told this before but you did not listen. If you look for a girlfriend, she should at least be like me, sweet." then she grinned and bared her teeth.
"You have something stuck between your teeth. Stop grossing me out," he growled.
"You're trying to move away from the topic." she noticed. He's not usually this avoidant so it must have hurt badly.
"He's brokenhearted right now so keep quiet Mayu," her grandfather answered when her brother remained silent.
"Oh okay." she nodded. "By the way, I've already decided to go back to practice now."
"Really?" she saw hope on her gramps eyes. She smiled bitterly. Goodbye laptop, drafts, and stories. Goodbye to the writer me. Hey wait, I can still write on my free time, right? Laptop, draft, and stories, come back here!
"Are you sure?" she heard her brother's voice again. "I mean, it's okay if..."
"No, she's already decided." they both shut up to hear authority from their grandfather's voice. She really doesn't want dealing with this side their old man - his bossy side. She felt like any sort of excuse or reason would not work with him, which definitely is happening right now.
"Hey, no need to be serious Gramps. I'll do it, okay. I just need some time."
"You don't need more time," Kristoff said matter of factly.
"Oi, oi, oi. Why are you bullying me? I won't run away okay. Promise. Even if they all die."
"Mayu!" she grinned when she saw their glares.
"What?" they both sighed. She can already see what they're thinking - she's a lost case.
"You remember the patient we operated on last week?" she looked at him with irritation. Yeah, I remember. I took an overtime without eating. You're so cruel. I thought you're my brother, you don't love me at all. Uhuhu. I'll tell you on gramps.
"Yeah and that was like last last week, right? Why? Did anything happen? Did he die? I don't think that's my fault, you made me go overtime and I did not even get to eat but I did my part responsibly. I don't remember disregarding anything."
"You didn't eat?"
"Yeah, but I don't see that being the cause of the patient's death. I swear, I did everything to the best of my ability. I can't kill any person. I'm afraid of ghosts,"
"You should have told me. I didn't know. What if you collapsed there," it looks like he's no longer listening to anything she said and settled on his conference with his conscience.
She turned to their grandfather who's smiling from ear to ear. When he caught her looking at him, he just shrugged his shoulders and positioned himself facing away from them. Why? Why should I console him? I did not do anything!
"Hey," she lightly tapped his shoulders.
"Huh?"
"Uh," she scratched her head. "I just thought, you don't have to be so protective of me. Your little sister is strong. I mean, I really did miss out on my meal but I'm already an adult and I can decide for myself. You don't have to worry about me. I'm okay, really."
"Okay," he smiled helplessly. He did not look convinced. She grew more annoyed when he ran his palms on his face in frustration. Ah, I can't take this anymore. Before she knew it, her brother already flew from his seat. The old man, who already found a comfortable position to sleep, suddenly rose from the bed.
"What was that all about?" he roared loudly at her.
"I punched you!" she roared back.
"I can clearly see that," he replied with sarcasm while holding onto his chest.
"Mayu, I think we deserve some explanation for this. You went too far this time," the old man stiffly said.
"Well Gramps, your grandson is acting like a kid," she pouted. "I'll just get a breather. I may crash into him if he keeps acting like that. He always treats me like a baby. I'm already old enough. Get a life." she stopped on her tracks and yelled once more.
"Get a wife."
"Oh, you're saying that now. Let me tell you..." their old man started to talk like war is coming but Kristoff stopped him.
"That's ok, Gramps. 'Twas my fault anyway. Turns out I'm worried for nothing. You wanna go back right? But you're asking for time to think. Well, I'll give you one."
"Great, thanks." she's already near the door when he called her name and threw a crumpled paper on her face.