Sung-ho and Myung-hee, who had stopped arguing due to Seong's sudden appearance, looked at him and released a sigh of relief internally.
After getting his friend to calm down, Seong asked.
"Jin, what happened? Did you have another nightmare?"
Jin, being a head shorter than Seong had his head buried in Seong's chest. He nodded before muttering.
"Dad was in a car, and it crashed. I don't want him to leave."
Without questioning Jin-woo's words, Seong thought for a moment then turned to a silent Sung-ho and asked.
"Mr. Lee, is it okay if you drive me and Jin to school? I know it's early, but I think that will make Jin feel better. Will that be okay, Jin?"
Seong turned back to Jin to ask, and after Jin-woo nodded his head, he turned back to get an answer from Sung-ho.
Sung-ho hesitated. Not because he didn't want to or that he would be late for work, but they only had one car and his wife had to go to work in a few minutes. He won't be able to return to pick her up and get her to work on time.
Seeing her husband hesitating, Myung-hee knew why so she said.
"It's fine if I'm late to work, Madelyn won't be angry. However, you're going to miss your flight, will your work be okay with you being late?"
Sung-ho shook his head and said.
"It's fine if I'm late, knowing those guys I won't be the only one."
Sung-ho chuckled and then said to Jin-woo.
"Jin, you can go and get ready, I'll drive you to school."
"En."
Jin-woo nodded, but he was still hugging Seong.
Seeing this, Seong laughed softly and asked.
"Do you want me to help you get ready for school, Jin? I can even wash your back for you."
Jin-woo immediately leaped back away from Seong and said annoyed.
"Am I so little I need someone's help bathing myself?"
"Haha, then I'll wait down here for you to get ready."
Jin-woo nodded before he turned and ran up the stairs.
"Jin-woo!"
Sung-ho immediately yelled in exasperation.
"You always scold him for running up the stairs, but he never falls. He even steps on the ones that doesn't creak so you wouldn't hear him running up and down."
Myung-hee said with a smile but Sung-ho responded with a frown.
"Just because he hasn't fallen yet doesn't mean he won't fall soon or one of them gives out. I want to fix them, but why bother when we'll be moving out soon?"
Myung-hee nodded in agreement then turned to Seong and said with a smile.
"Seong, thank you for always helping Jin-woo. You even go out of your way to tutor him. I don't know what we would do without you sometimes."
Seong grinned and said.
"Ms. Lee, I think I'm the one taking advantage of Jin-woo. I always bother him during lunch to play table tennis with me, and I even drag him over to my house on the weekends to play video games."
"I can't see how that is you taking advantage of him, I'm sure Jin-woo enjoys playing with you. You're the first friend he has made since he started school. If not for that illness…"
Myung-hee stopped talking and let out a sigh.
Seong suddenly puffed out his chest and said reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Ms. Lee, I'm sure you'll find a way to help Jin. I'm studying to become a world-renowned Doctor so we can both work together to find a way to help Jin in the future."
Myung-hee couldn't help but have a smile spread across her face. She patted Seong's head and said.
"Just where did a guardian angel like you come from, so cute."
Myung-hee began pinching Seong's rosy cheeks. Seong seemed to enjoy the attention as he placed his hands on his hips and allowed her to pinch his cheeks.
Meanwhile, Sung-ho heard Seong's words, and he looked over at his wife and suddenly felt guilty. He knew why his wife was so knee-deep in her work at that small company, but he still went and said all those things to her. He soon made up his mind to apologize to her after he dropped off his son and Seong at school.
"Seong, you've come so early, have you eaten anything yet?"
Sung-ho asked, and Seong shook his head.
"Dad hasn't come home because of a case he's working on, and Mom left super early today because she got called in due to a patient. She did leave me pocket money though."
Seong reached into his pocket and took out the money his mother left him.
"But… I think she accidentally left a bit more than necessary."
Seong added while looking down at the two paper notes that had '50000' written on them.
Both Myung-hee and Sung-ho were speechless at the sight.
Patting Seong's head, Myung-hee said.
"Come, I'll prepare something for you while getting Jin-woo's lunch ready."
Seong nodded before he stuffed the notes back into his pockets and followed Myung-hee to the kitchen.
Sung-ho watched them as they went before shaking his head slightly. He had already spoken to Seong's parents, but it couldn't be helped due to their work. So, he and his wife sort of became his guardians during times like these.
….
…
..
It didn't take long for Jin-woo to get ready and head downstairs. There he hurriedly ate the remaining portion of the food his mother prepared for Seong, completely ignoring is own before leaving the house with his father and Seong.
Inside the family car that had a few scratches here and there on its bumper, Jin-woo and Seong were excitedly reading a comic on Seong's phone while their father drove them to school.
"Hey, Jin."
Jin-woo suddenly heard Seong call for him and he looked up from the phone.
"Yeah?"
Jin-woo fixed his glasses on his nose before staring at Seong questioningly.
Smiling warmly, Seong asked.
"How can you dream so peacefully when you're the reason I'm dead?"
Jin-woo froze and looked at Seong with a confused expression. He happened to glance at his father in the driver's seat, but he was slumped over a white airbag with half his face covered in blood. The car's windshield was also cracked so he couldn't see outside.
"Wha-What's happening?"
Jin-woo stuttered as he turned back to look at Seong, however, the smiling child Seong was gone. What replaced him was a grown Seong who had blood covering his dyed blond hair and face. His head was slumped against the crack window making the blood drip onto the red scarf around his neck. His body was only held in a sitting position due to his seat belt.
Jin-woo felt his stomach churning while a cold shiver traversed throughout his body to settle at his fingertips. Car horns and what sounded like a distant ambulance filled his ears until everything became disorientating.
"Seong?"
Tears well up in Jin-woo's eyes as he reached out to touch Seong with his shivering fingertips. However, before he could, Seong's eyes suddenly snapped open before he lunged at Jin-woo, wrapping his hands around his neck.
"Se-Seong…"
Jin-woo frantically tried to get Seong's fingers untangled from around his neck, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't.
Jin-woo looked up and saw that Seong was staring at him with an expressionless face. But something in his eyes made it seem as if he was carefully watching as the last breath was choked out of him.
"Se-Seong, I'm sorry… Se-Seong…"
Jin-woo choked out, but he suddenly opened his eyes and quickly sat up in his bed.
*Cough*
*Cough*
*Cough*
Jin-woo held his throat as he coughed violently and tried to catch his breath. The sensation of being choked faded away like it was never there.
After catching his breath, Jin-woo took off his glasses he had gone to bed in and sobbed uncontrollably in his sheets.