Page 60 of Perfect Happiness
“That’s fine.In some ways you slept well, in some ways you didn’t.I’m going to ask you a few more questions.All you need to do is answer thoughtfully, just like you did with the first question.”
He asked Jiyoo a series of questions: if her head hurt, if she had any problems breathing, if she was coughing, how she was feeling.Jiyoo answered each question truthfully.Her head didn’t hurt, she had no problems breathing, she hadn’t coughed since waking up, and that she wasn’t in a bad mood.
“By not in a bad mood, do you mean you feel okay?”
Now he was putting words in her mouth.Jiyoo thought he had asked her to answer truthfully.
“I guess.”
“Do you get dizzy or feel any pain when you move?”
“I haven’t tried moving yet.”
The doctor glanced over at Auntie and said, “Then should we try moving her a bit?”
Auntie hurried over to Jiyoo, who put her arm over Auntie’s shoulder and sat up.She didn’t get dizzy or feel any pain.
After placing his stethoscope against Jiyoo’s chest, he asked, “So you’re not in any discomfort?”
“I don’t think so.”
The doctor nodded.Before leaving the room, he said something that scared Jiyoo.
“I’ll see you again later today.”
The other doctors followed him out of the room.Auntie followed them out into the hallway, then came back with a tray full of food.
“Okay, Jiyoo.Shall we have a bite to eat?”
Auntie had bought a bowl of instant ramen for herself and sat across from Jiyoo.Jiyoo asked something that was on her mind.
“Auntie, was I really that sick?”
“Do you not remember anything?”
Jiyoo thought hard about Auntie’s question.The first thing she remembered was someone hugging her and patting her back with their hand and the damp feeling of a towel.She also remembered Auntie’s voice.Wake up, little one.It’s okay.
Jiyoo had thought she was dreaming.The only people who called her little one were her biological father and Grandma.But now she knew for certain that the person who had been calling her while she was unconscious was her real Auntie, not some fake Auntie from her dream.It was really Auntie who had said, “If you have another bad dream, just call for me.”And it was really her who had fed Jiyoo rice porridge, who had taken her to the bathroom, who had changed her clothes, who had given her a sponge bath.
But Jiyoo had a hard time believing it.The Auntie Jane that Jiyoo knew wasn’t as kind as this woman.She was like Stepfather, always watching from afar.Sometimes Auntie would come to pick her up at daycare or teach her cool words, but never had she called Jiyoo “little one” and hugged her.
“No.I remember everything,” Jiyoo said as she spooned herself some rice porridge.“I was awake for a minute last night and saw you on your laptop.Were you watching a movie?”
“Bzzzt!Wrong.”
Auntie smiled.
“That was a dream, too?”Jiyoo asked in shock.
“No, it happened.But you got the date wrong, young lady.”
This was the fourth day Jiyoo had been in the hospital, and the night Auntie watched a movie was two nights ago, not last night.All the while, Jiyoo’s fever had been coming and going.She only stabilized last night.
“Once you started to look better, I was finally able to get some rest.The doctor says we have nothing to worry about now.”
Jiyoo pushed some more rice porridge into her mouth.She could smell the scent of soggy grass.
“I talked on the phone with Grandma a bit ago.She was happy to hear your fever had gone down.She told me to tell you she loves you.”
