Young Jae wanted to plead to his cousin and say he didn't want to be treated anymore.
The horror Young Jae felt could not be described through words, but his body language expressed it… with the mouth hung open, disbelief written on the half-visible face drained of blood, and his entire body shivered.
With the fear gripping him to the core, Young Jae wanted to call his cousin. He decided to plead diplomatically. "Chin Hae Hyung… Let's go back to the hospital. I don't want to be treated here. I don't think we can take too much time from the crazy doctor. Let him have his moments with other crazy things and not my eye. We don't have to trouble him.."
"There is no trouble at all", even before Chin Hae say something, the crazy doctor stated.
Young Jae wanted to cry and plead. He felt like maybe dying after his father's heavy beating would have been better than being an experiment subject to the doctor who has no experience in treating detached retina. The fear and worry were visible on the partially-hidden face.
Chin Hae moved towards his terrified cousin and patted him on the shoulder. "Crazy doctor Ro might not have experience in this. But he is reliable. Don't worry. He is the best at whatever he does." His attempt to comfort his cousin ultimately failed.
Young Jae can't help but worry about his fate. He started to blame himself. He had always been unlucky in life, even though his name meant destined to be prosperous. He never got the credit for any of his hard work.
How could he foolishly believe having cousin's support might put him in any form of advantage. It was not that he didn't trust them. There was no option but to trust them. But the change of event made him wonder maybe death would not torment him emotionally this much. If he was dead, he didn't need to feel all the worry about the future, his treatment, worry about his mother, and his stolen dreams.
All these thoughts make him worry and want to seek death. He tried his best so far to distract himself from taking an easy way out - committing suicide. He reached the limit and wanted to give up.
Maybe it was hard for his cousins, so they decided to dump him in a research institute as a guinea pig.
Maybe that was all he was worthy of!
Maybe that would be better for everyone!
The thought spiral was draining him of every last bit of the remaining energy. The façade he kept of trying to understand everything so far started to fall apart.
He couldn't fake it anymore.
He couldn't act like he was trying his best to understand.
He couldn't act like everything would be okay at some point.
Before every bit of energy gets robbed off by self-depreciation, a soft laugh of a young woman reached his ears, followed by the sound of the door opening. Two people who entered the room stopped talking and paid attention to the weird atmosphere in the room.
"Don't look like you want to die, Young Jae. Our crazy doctor is good. He will be there in the operation theatre. He will take care of it," Chin Hae tried to reassure him.
Young Jae resorted to pleading with what he genuinely think right now "I am scared now… Can I not have any operation… Please… Doctor Ro said he never did this before. I don't want to have more damage then what already there…" he tried to lower his voice and not create any issue in the relationship between his cousins and madman…
"Hey! Call me a crazy doctor and not doctor Ro… How many times do I have to tell you that…" the doctor complained as if that was the only offending words uttered by Young Jae.
Young Jae wanted to smack the doctor in the head.
A soft female voice interrupted them. "I think there is a misunderstanding. Why would Uncle Ro operate you when he is not qualified for it?" The newcomer words calmed Young Jae as he knew someone supports him in the mess his cousin created.
He could sense the newcomer walking slowly towards him as the voice was growing close to him. "Who told you Uncle Ro would be operating you? He is not operating you. Dr Gem Carrington would be operating, and Uncle would be just observing."
The loud hump caught everyone's attention. "It is not the I can't. It is just that I am not allowed to. I will qualify for it soon… wait and watch…" the arrogant voice of a crazy doctor made Young Jae to frown more.
"Crazy doctor and my cousin said that he would be my doctor. So, I thought…" Young Jae couldn't help but let his voice trail down because he was not sure.
The newcomer sat on his bed, not too close to make him uncomfortable but at a safe distance. It gave him some comfort and showed that she was reliable, but there was a little awkwardness.
"You don't have to indulge in my uncle's craziness and call him a crazy doctor. Calling him a doctor is more than enough. He can be a little too much at the time, but he means no harm. He is just way too occupied in the head about what to say. He forgets most of it trying to pick important information and forgets the important things too." The female clarified further for him, totally ignoring his awkwardness.
She seemed like someone with more sense than his cousin and doctor together. Young Jae felt happy for finally meeting someone sane enough to deal with them. He was curious about her identity, but before he asks, she continues, "Your cousin and my uncle have to work on their communicating skills. Their communication skills are on par with a tadpole."
Young Jae was processing the information present to him.
Before he wants to ask more, the crazy doctor's voice rained over to his thought-parade loud, "tadpole don't have communication skills…"
'As if that is the important point, you crazy doctor…' Young Jae wanted to scream loud but held back.
But that didn't mean others would hold back too.
"Exactly my point. You don't have it either. But looks like Chin Hae lost his by staying in the same building with you for few hours." The female's voice mocked both the doctor and cousin, making Young Jae feel an odd sense of comfort.
Some stranger cared enough to talk for him…
"How can you scold me, baby doll?" the pouty-spoiled voice of the doctor reached his ears.
Young Jae would have gagged for the pitiful voice if the nickname did not entirely steal his attention.
"You know I don't lie. Now, please step back and let Dr Gem Carrington look at her patient. Remember that you will be in the operation theatre to observe the procedure only if Young Jae Oppa agrees for it." Baby doll spoke. He liked the fact someone important to his cousins accepted him as 'Oppa'.
Dr Carrington asked a few basic questions and started looking at the document for more specific details.
"Young Jae Oppa, I am Yang Ming Jee. Your cousins' hoobae. Kang Chin Mae Oppa asked me to take care of you for the next few days." She told him with a smile that can be felt even in words. She was delighted to be there for him.
The realisation made him happy and jealous at the same time.
How many people in his life would care for him in an emergency?
Here his cousin's junior decided to care for him, a stranger, just because they asked. He wants friends like that in his life. He wants to make friends who will accept him for who he is! And not for his so-called Moon family Or for the benefit used to attach with the pseudo name he used for work, Dusk…
He does have a best friend, Kim Shin. He was similar to him. Life was full of misery and problem. The last thing Young Jae wanted was to add burden to his only best friend, Kim Shin. He started to wonder what happened to his best friend and was Kim Shin worried about his sudden disappearance...
Before thoughts consume him entirely, he pulled him back to reality.
He scolded himself for not answering his cousin's junior. "I am Young Jae."
He introduced simply without even realising that he left out his family name while introducing himself.