Eunha was the little girl Shen met in the hospital. While he was recuperating after the surgery for his right knee, he met her. She accompanied him while he was on the bed. She read many storybooks for him while he could not walk.
Her circumstance caused him to always smile for her despite how hard it was for him. Since then, she always visited his ward and they played together every day.
A man with a broken leg and dream and a lonely little girl. That was how he passed his hard time until his friend introduced him to the virtual world where he could run normally again.
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The little girl turned around, her bright brown eyes widened in surprise. She threw the pink bunny doll in her hand to the bed before she rushed down from the chair.
Shen did not allow the little girl to run, he rushed toward her before she could rush toward him, "Oops, you are not allowed to run, do you forget your promise?"
He picked her up and rebuked the little girl. But the twin-tailed little girl did not care about the rebuke. She had her short and tiny hands around his neck and hugged him tightly, "Oppa~!" Her cheerful voice rang in the room.
Yes, Eunha was Korean, her family moved to Shanghai because of her father's work. Even so, she was fluent with her Chinese, quite smart for someone her age.
Shen sat on the bed and put her on his lap. The little girl looked toward the table calendar on the table next to the bed, five dates circled in red, "You come early," and she realized that today was not the day he was supposed to visit her.
"Yes, I am going to check up early because I fell yesterday," when Shen mentioned he fell, the little girl hopped down from the lap to the bed. She looked at his right knee concernedly, "Does it still hurt, Oppa?"
"Calm down, Eunha. Calm down, don't get too excited," Shen was more worried for her. Eunha was too active for someone who had a weak heart.
Yeah, the reason Eunha was admitted to the hospital was that she was born with a weak heart. She could not have too much activity, especially running or jumping around. Even one of the times, she could not walk too long or she would have a hard time breathing. That was why she was put in this building, and this was her third year already.
It was not that her condition was not improving. She was discharged seven months ago, but she was forced to return to the hospital a month later. The reason was that her parents were too busy to watch her, she almost suffered heart failure because she played too much in her home.
This was why Shen made sure that he visited the little girl at least once a week. She basically had no friends. A Korean that came here since she was a little, so she had no one but her family. However, her family did not have time for her.
They were the same but also different at the same time. He never saw or even remembered what his father looked like. But he had a loving mother who spent her time with him despite working very hard so he was well fed. Until his mother fell sick because of overworking and left him forever.
Eunha had her parents, but they did not have time for her. Her situation was worse than him as it made a little difference whether they were alive or not. Shen never planned to replace her parents' position either, he just wanted her not to be lonely. He knew how hard it was to be alone, he had been there, after all.
"It's not hurt anymore," he rubbed her black hair while shaking his head. Shen then brought the paper bag up, "Here, I have brought your favorites," Eunha loved candies, he brought a lot of them from her favorite shop.
Of course, not it was not all candies. He brought her his favorite snacks and also a few storybooks for her to read. Also grapes, her favorite fruit.
"Yay~!" Eunha cheered up as she took over the bag. She rummaged through the paper bag to see what was inside. She took out three storybooks. There was a book with a bunny as the cover, she handed that to him, "Can you read this for me, Oppa?"
Shen was about to comply, but he noticed the untouched tray of food on the table. She checked the clock, it was one in the afternoon, "Okay, but I have one condition."
"What is it? I will comply as long as you read the story for me, Oppa~," Eunha nodded her head. One of the moments she enjoyed the most with Shen was reading a storybook together.
"You have to eat your lunch while I read this for you, deal?" He offered her his pinky. The little girl without hesitation took the pinky promise with her pinky too, "Okay~"
One and a half hours later
Time passed quickly when they spent it together even though they just stayed in the ward. Both were like a brother and a sister, spending their time together. They finished a book together, and the last page was a colored image of a bear and bunny.
The bear was sitting on the ground, leaning its back against a big tree. The bunny was sitting on its shoulder, having its meal.
Eunha looked at the picture before she gazed outside the window, the park between the main building and this building. After a moment, she looked back at Shen with puppy eyes.
"Oppa~ can I play in the park?" Shen was expecting this. The little was longing for playing outside, but her condition did not allow her to.
He looked at the picture before looking at the little girl back. It was not that she was not allowed to play outside too, but she could not get tired or move too much. It would be bad for her health.
"Okay, but you have to make a promise to me?" Shen agreed after some thought, "Ten minutes of walk, promise?"
Even though it was ten minutes, Eunha nodded her head vigorously. She was longing to go outside, it was not every day she could go outside.
"Okay, I will call the doctor first. We need his permission, and we only go outside if the doctor allows us to, okay?" Of course, Shen was not that careless to bring her outside without her doctor's consent.
"Okay, Oppa~" Eunha smiled happily.
"Alright, wait here for a moment. I will call the doctor first," Shen got up and took his phone out. He had Eunha's doctor number saved in his phone.
While Shen called the doctor, Eunha was sensible to tidy up her bed. She put the gift and the storybooks into the paper bag and placed them on the table. She then got the pink bunny doll and hugged the doll. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she was waiting for Shen while swaying her little feet excitedly.
Two minutes later, Shen came back to the girl with a smile, "Alright, the doctor allows us to go to the park, but you can't run around, okay?"
The smile on Eunha's face widened as she kept nodding her head.