CHAPTER 57 #2
Duri moved closer but stopped beside the bed. “You don’t have to decide everything today.”
Noeul looked at him. “Police?”
“Not today.”
Dr. Daniels leaned slightly forward. “No one in this room is going to interrogate you.”
Noeul swallowed.
“And I’m not examining you until we’ve talked about what that examination involves and you’re able to agree to it.”
Noeul looked at him.
“But I need to be honest with you. Some of your injuries may need treatment. Avoiding the hospital doesn’t make those injuries disappear.”
Noeul closed his eyes. “Then treat me here. No hospital. No police.”
“You’re in pain?”
A faint nod.
“Where?”
No answer.
Dr. Daniels waited.
Noeul’s face reddened. He looked away.
“Down there.”
The words were barely audible.
“Is there still bleeding?”
Noeul’s eyes filled. “I don’t know.”
“All right.”
Dr. Daniels didn’t ask him to look.
“Would you allow me to examine you here?”
Noeul’s eyes snapped toward him. Fear returned instantly.
“Duri stays.”
Duri stared at him.
Noeul looked toward Ji-Woo. “And Ji-Woo…”
His voice broke.
“Outside.”
Ji-Woo’s face changed. For a second, hurt crossed it. Then understanding.
“Of course.”
Noeul looked at him.
Ji-Woo forced a small smile. “I’ll be right outside.”
He walked to the door. Before leaving, he turned.
“If you want me, call me.”
Noeul didn’t answer.
Ji-Woo left anyway.
Dr. Daniels did not begin immediately. He explained first.
“I need to look for injuries. I won’t do anything else without asking you.”
Noeul stared at the ceiling.
“You can tell me to stop at any time.”
Duri sat beside the bed.
Noeul reached toward him.
Duri looked at the hand. Then took it.
Noeul’s fingers closed around his.
Cold. Damp. Trembling.
“Will it hurt?” Noeul whispered.
“The examination may be uncomfortable,” Dr. Daniels said. “If something hurts, tell me and I stop.”
“I don’t want pain.”
“I know.”
“No more.”
Duri’s grip tightened slightly.
“No more,” Noeul repeated.
Dr. Daniels waited until Noeul looked at him. “Then we go slowly.”
Noeul nodded.
The examination began.
Dr. Daniels kept his movements brief and clinical, explaining before each one.
Noeul stared at Duri. Not at the doctor. Not at his own body.
Only Duri.
His hand tightened whenever the doctor moved. His breathing became uneven.
At one point, his entire body went rigid.
“Stop.”
Dr. Daniels stopped immediately.
Noeul squeezed his eyes shut.
Duri didn’t tell him to calm down. Didn’t tell him he was safe.
He simply remained there.
Noeul breathed.
Once.
Again.
Again.
“Do you want to continue?” Dr. Daniels asked.
Noeul didn’t answer for a long time.
“Finish.”
“Are you sure?”
A faint nod.
“Say it for me.”
Noeul opened his eyes. “Yes.”
Dr. Daniels continued.
The examination revealed tears and extensive bruising, unmistakable evidence of repeated violence.
Dr. Daniels’ expression remained neutral.
Noeul was watching too closely.
When the examination ended, Dr. Daniels covered him immediately.
“Finished.”
Noeul’s eyes closed.
“Finished?”
“Yes.”
“No more?”
“No more.”
His fingers loosened around Duri’s hand.
Dr. Daniels removed his gloves and moved away from the bed. “You have injuries that need treatment.”
Noeul didn’t respond.
“Some are superficial and should heal with time. Others need careful monitoring. I’m concerned about infection, and I want to discuss medication and appropriate testing with you.”
“Stitches?”
The question came unexpectedly.
Dr. Daniels looked at him. “Not based on what I’m seeing right now.”
Noeul released a shaky breath.
“I’ll explain everything before I give you anything.”
Noeul nodded faintly.
“And I still recommend a hospital assessment.”
“No.”
The doctor accepted the answer without argument. “For now.”
Noeul opened his eyes. “No hospital.”
“For now,” Dr. Daniels repeated. “Provided nothing changes.”
Noeul seemed satisfied with that.
His eyes closed again.
When Dr. Daniels left the room to speak privately with Ji-Woo, Duri remained beside the bed. Noeul still held his hand.
Neither spoke.
Eventually, the door opened slightly.
Yujin appeared.
She looked at Duri first.
Duri nodded.
She entered carrying the tray from earlier. The juk was still warm.
“I reheated it,” she said.
Noeul opened his eyes.
Yujin placed it on the nightstand. “You don’t have to eat.”
Noeul stared at the bowl.
“I know.”
Yujin smiled. “Good.”
She sat in the chair near the window. Not beside him. Not close enough to make him feel watched.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Noeul eventually looked toward the food again. Then at Duri.
“Hungry?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
Noeul reached for the spoon. His hand shook.
Yujin stood automatically.
Then stopped herself.
Noeul noticed.
She smiled awkwardly. “Sorry. Mother reflex.”
He picked up the spoon. The first mouthful took effort. He swallowed. Waited. Then took another.
Yujin looked away deliberately, pretending to straighten something on the table.
After several spoonfuls, Noeul stopped.
“Enough.”
Yujin turned back. “Then enough.”
She took the tray.
No persuasion. No one more bite. No disappointment.
Noeul watched her leave.
“Duri.”
“Yes?”
“Your mother…”
He lost the thought. Duri waited.
Noeul frowned. “She’s…”
Another gap.
“Nice?”
Noeul looked at him. Then nodded. “Nice.”
Duri smiled. “She likes you too.”
Noeul’s expression became confused again. “Why?”
Duri’s smile faded into something gentler. “You don’t have to figure that out today.”
Noeul considered the answer. Then closed his eyes.
Ji-Woo stood alone in the kitchen. Dr. Daniels had gone over the instructions twice.
Head injury. Hydration. Medication. Monitoring. Follow-up. Sexual-assault care.
Things Ji-Woo had never imagined needing to know about his brother.
When the doctor finally left, Ji-Woo remained exactly where he was. Yujin placed a cup of coffee in front of him.
He looked at it. “I don’t think I can drink that.”
“Then don’t.”
Ji-Woo looked up. Yujin sat across from him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
“He won’t go to the police,” Ji-Woo said eventually. “He won’t go to the hospital.”
“I heard.”
“He could protect someone else by reporting him.”
Yujin didn’t answer immediately.
Ji-Woo’s jaw tightened. “I want him arrested.”
“I imagine you do.”
His chair scraped violently across the floor as he stood. He crossed the kitchen and drove his fist into the wall. The sound cracked through the apartment.
“Keep your voice down,” Yujin said firmly. “Your brother is sleeping.”
Ji-Woo froze. His fist remained pressed against the wall for a moment before he lowered it.
“I want him to suffer.”
Yujin folded her hands on the table. “That I also understand.”
Ji-Woo looked toward the hallway. “But?”
“But nothing.”
He looked back at her.
Yujin’s voice remained quiet. “Want whatever you want, Ji-Woo. Be angry. Hate him. I certainly do.”
Something in her bluntness surprised him.
“But your brother has spent several days having every choice taken away from him.”
Ji-Woo said nothing.
“If the first thing we do after rescuing him is decide what he must do next because we think it’s best, then we’re asking him to surrender control again.”
Ji-Woo’s eyes burned. “So I do nothing?”
“No.” Yujin leaned slightly forward. “You stay. You feed him if he asks. You sit outside his door if that’s what he wants. You take him to the doctor when he’ll go. You listen when he speaks. You shut up when he can’t.”
Ji-Woo looked down.
“And when he’s strong enough to decide what comes next…” Yujin paused. “…you stand beside him then too.”
Ji-Woo looked toward the hallway. Every part of him wanted to act, but the decision wasn’t his to make.
“Then we wait until he decides,” he said.
Yujin nodded. “That’s right.”
Back in Duri’s room, Noeul slept. Duri sat on the floor beside the bed, his back against the wall. He should have slept too. Instead, he watched the slow rise and fall of Noeul’s chest.
Every few minutes, Noeul stirred. Once, his hand moved across the mattress, searching.
Duri watched it. He hesitated. Then placed his own hand on the mattress nearby.
Not touching.
Noeul’s fingers moved again. Found his. Closed around them.
Duri looked down.
Noeul didn’t wake.
Duri stayed exactly where he was.
Outside the room, life continued quietly. Yujin moved through the kitchen. Ji-Woo took a shower. The washing machine started somewhere down the hall. Morning light spread slowly across the floor.
Noeul slept through all of it, still lost somewhere between memory and the present.
But this time, when his hand reached through the fog, someone was there.
And this time, the hand he found did not hold him down.
It simply held on.