Few days later Shin Yi was discharged from the hospital. His mum came to pick him up. As soon as he walked out of his room it dawned on him that he was no longer home.
Everything around him was different. The building was structured different, the lightening also different and the people were also dressed differently.
Is this a new world? Heaven perhaps.
Shin Yi could feel people staring at him as he drove in the four wheel contraption and he wondered why. He payed a very close attention to his surroundings observing everyone around him silently.
He wondered at the diverse emotions floating around him. Somewhere happy, a lot angry and frustrated and others so sad that they were weeping. They were a lot of people and the building looks so big and beautiful that it boggles his mind.
The strangeness surrounding him scared him a little, but being afraid wouldn't help him. He just need to find out where he is? why he is here? How he got here? And then he can figure out a way to get back home.
When they got outside the building, his mother waved down a four legged strap, one that Shin Yi has never seen before. He immediately looked apprehensive, not that his mother noticed.
"Get in son!" She commanded softly when he hesitated to enter the strange looking object.
Shin Yi gulped and did as his mother asked. He sat with his body squeezed very close to the door and his eyes shut tightly as he braced himself for whatever the weird looking strap does.
He slowly opened his eyes when nothing bad happened and gazed out of the window in wonder, taking in the amazing tall buildings, flashing lights, beautiful women on large boards.
The ride was done in silence, soon the beautiful city houses transitioned into the ghetto surrounding of the suburban streets where Shin Yi host lives with his family.
He became aware of the ponds of dirty water, street vendors yelling for their goods to be bought, shops dragging customers, meat and fish markets.
All of these looked familiar to Shin Yi except for the way everyone is dressed. He was smart enough to arrive to conclusion that he must have travelled to the future.
This realisation scared him , though his young chubby face remained impassive as he gawked out of the window. He will just have to figure out a way to get back when he feels stronger.
When they arrived home he was amazed at the state of their humble home, taking him back to the days he lived in a small hot with his father.
The thought of his father made his heart ache. He was worried for his health, having to lose the only family that he has got. His mother preceded him inside.
Even though the house was shabby and small the inside was painstakingly take care of and neat, and he knew it was the handiwork of the woman who walked in ahead of him with his belongings.
She left the living room into another room just as a little girl with a chubby frame ran out of another room and ran to him screaming his name with so much excitement and tears running down her chubby cheeks, her long dark waves swaying from side to side.
He remembered her from the memories of his host. She is his sister. He braced himself for the hug he knew was coming. He has never had a younger sibling before and didn't know how to react to the little girl. He stood rigid in her tight embrace, an awkward look on his face.
The little girl clung to her brother with all her strength, relieved that she hadn't lost him. She knew that her brother has been sad for a while but didn't know how to cheer him up. She loves her brother so much and doesn't want to lose him.
"Please Oppa! Don't leave me again," the eight year old cried heavily tightening her grip around her brother's slightly larger frame.
The little girl's words made Shin Yi heart bleed and he finally lifted his hand to hug her back. He was still weak from his ordeal so his grip wasn't strong and he was feeling a slight pain from where his host sister was clinging to him tightly. He didn't want to ask the girl to let go but the pain is gradually becoming unbearable, and his legs are getting tired.
His host mother who had returned and had been watching silently saw the look of discomfort on his face and intervened.
"Sa-rang leave your brother alone let him rest," she said softly and walked away again.
Sa-rang released Shin Yi and stared up at him with her big brown eyes. "You are not going to be sad anymore, right Oppa!"
Their mother who was about to walk out the door stopped to hear her son's answer. It kills her inside that she hasn't been aware what her son was going through. Since their father's death things have been very difficult. Paying off his debts and keeping the roof over the heads of their children and food on their table. She has had to work herself to the bone to make that happen.
Shin Yi has an idea what his host life had been like, he was aware the boy was depressed but he didn't try to kill himself. What he did was what he thought he needed to do to escape his bullies. His eyes grew hard briefly at the thought of his host tormentors. He was going to make sure they paid.
The hardness softened when he looked down at his host sister. He scrunched down so they were at eye level. "I promise," he placed his hand to his heart, "never to leave you."
A sparkle appeared in Sa-tang's eyes as she stared at her brother with hope. "You promise?" Her young voice asked needing a second affirmation.
Shin Yi forced a smile to put the little girl at ease. "I promise," he said softly and hugged her.
Sa-rang felt as if something has changed in her brother. He never used to hug her or talk to her like this. He always wants to be left alone, and snaps at her angrily when she tries to talk to him. She liked this version of her brother.
Their mother who was watching the interaction between her two children left with tears in her eyes to go and prepare food for her son.
After their interaction Shin Yi left his sister and walked into his room. It was more like a storage than a room. Very small that he had to bend to go in. The room was bare like his host never had any interest in anything. He could see from everything around him that his host wasn't happy. He wondered if the jump hadn't been intentional.
There was a long mirror hanging off the wall in the room that caught Shin Yi's reflection and drew his attention. He walked to the mirror and stared at his image. He looks so different from his reality. He had gone from his toned and lean muscular body of a young man with chiselled handsome features to a fat, average looking teenager. The gods must be laughing at their sick joke.
Shin Yi patted the excess fat at his side with a slight disgust. He had worked hard for his looks in his past life and now he has this. It is not surprising that his host was bullied with him looking the way he was. His first mission is going to be to loose all these fat, Shin Yi taking another glance to his rounded protruding belly.
Maybe that is his mission. To turn things around for his host. To make him happy again. It is going to be a heavy task but he knows just where to start.
A knock sounded at his door and his host mother poked her head inside.
"Breakfast is ready," she said softly.
"I will be right there," Shin Yi responded in the same tone and his host mother left. He stared at the door wondering why the woman hasn't said more than few words to him. Does she suspect that he is not her son.
Shin Yi didn't have a mother growing up, but he has heard that most mothers have psychic powers to know things about their kids. Shin Yi made his way to the door with a resolution that if confronted by his host mother he will come clean but now he is going to do his best to live as his host until he figures out how to go back.