Prologue

* * *

The child opened his eyes.

And then the fact hit him.

His face cracked like shattered glass.

It couldn’t be.

It couldn’t…

Could it?

Over and over, he mumbled himself, like a broken record player, until he finally stood up. The cold marble floor sent chills up his spine.

He couldn’t feel the pain anymore. even though it was the pain that had refused to leave.

No way.

His trembling voice trailed off, weak with anxiety.

As he opened the hospital room door, everyone was running in the same direction, as if they were all in a hurry.

Thump. Thump.

Was somebody hitting something?

Whatever it was, it was way too loud.

His pale feet stepped out into the hall.

He felt like it had to be a dream, but he was more awake than he’d ever been.

He followed the crowd, he was guided down the halls as a fish does by the current of a river.

When he finally came to a stop, he found himself staring at the number plate of another room.

Room 714.

As his gaze strayed away from the number plate, the open door and the scene inside the room caught his eyes.

A crowd of white-clad figures seemed to be fixated on someone.

“3, 2, 1!”

Thump. “3, 2, 1!”

Thump.

One of them turned away.

The child could finally make out the face of the figure that had been swarmed by the crowd.

Thump.

He saw the ghastly body of a young man helplessly jump up and down along with the machinery.

Thump.

The dull thumps continued to echo through the child’s head. He still wasn’t sure where they were coming from.

The man’s face looked peaceful like he was having the best nap of his life.

A slow stream of tears began to fall from the child’s trembling eyelids.

He began to wipe at his face, breaking down with teardrops all over his hands.

“Liar.”

It was the only word he could wrench out from his lips.

His body shook with the growing cold.

When the nurses finally realized he was in the room, they couldn’t help but stop in their tracks.

There stood a boy, still as a statue, crying himself to death. His voice was as silent as the man on the bed in front of him.

Chapter 1: Fate (1)

* * *

Kaylee took a deep breath as she stood in front of the hospital room door.

‘Just think of the money, Kaylee. No one pays more than they do.’

Reminding herself of the monthly paycheck, Kaylee grabbed the door handle.

The boy sat against the wall looked up from his book, now focusing on the quietly opening door.

The sun was shining through the curtains, the rays lighting up the boy’s black hair and the white pages of his book, all while bouncing off his cheeks and causing his skin to glow ever so slightly.

Kaylee clenched her sweaty palms for a moment before she let go and finally broke the silence with an unusual high-pitched voice.

“Hello, Dohyun! I see you’re reading again.”

Her cheerful hello felt somewhat awkard.

Dohyun nodded gently. The movement of his head was barely noticeable.

“Is that so? Hold on a sec, let’s read together.”

Kaylee hung up her coat and went to wash her hands in the bathroom before returning.

As she slowly moved toward the chair beside Dohyun’s bed, she couldn’t help but ask the same question she’d already asked herself over and over again.

‘Why does he make me so uncomfortable?’

It had already been a year since they’d first met.

Kaylee would ask herself the same question every day, but she still couldn’t found the answer.

After all, she liked kids. She even had a child of her own around Dohyun’s age. She was just as compassionate as anyone else, possibly even more so.

If she didn’t know how to sympathize with those who were suffering, she wouldn’t have been a professional caregiver for so long.

‘So why, then?’

Kaylee recalled the day they’d first met.

Even back then, rumors about Dohyun had already been spreading among the caregivers.

A loathful child whom nobody wanted to look after, regardless of the amount of money they got offered.

Kaylee didn’t buy it.

She had been sure that it was baseless gossip made up by some dumb racist who found out that the kid was Asian.

She promised herself that she’d be the one to take care of the poor child who must have been hurt by the actions of the disgustingly rude crowd.

Her confidence shattered when they finally came face to face.

‘He’s such a sweet, gentle boy…’

Kaylee held back a sigh, taking a seat as she tried to clear her mind.

“So, whatcha reading?”

“Demian.”

The book was far too advanced for a boy who was only eight years old.

But Kaylee was used to it by now.

“So, do you want to continue reading? Or do you want to play with me?”

A faint glimmer appeared in Dohyun’s dark, solemn eyes upon hearing the question.

With a slightly louder voice than before, he gave his answer.

“I want to play.”

His voice was too calm for a child of his age, but it still couldn’t hide his excitement. Kaylee found herself grinning.

The emotions that broke his usual deadpan expression were enough to wash away her unease for a moment. It was adorable, even.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid this beautiful. Are all Asian kids like this?’

Sure, his pale white cheeks looked a little weak from staying in his room all the time, but that also added to his mystique. Sometimes, he even looked like he was a fairy.

In contrast, the inky blacks of his hair and eyelashes were like black holes that caught one’s attention and pulled a person in.

Above all, his eyes were the most captivating. Kaylee had never seen anything like them. Sometimes it looked like they reflected the stars in the night sky, whenever there was a shine against his pitch-black eyes.

Kaylee didn’t even notice that she’d started talking.

“So, where should I start?”

“Here. I’ll play Sinclair. You play Kromer.”

He hadn’t gotten too far into the book yet.

Kaylee nodded and dragged her chair closer.

“Alrighty then…”

Ahem.

Kaylee cleared her throat.

She clumsily began to recite Kromer’s lines.

“Really and truly?”

She could hardly call it acting. It was a simple reading, at best.

But just the moment, the atmosphere around Dohyun had shifted.

Kaylee blinked instinctively at his sudden transformation.

Dohyun, now Sinclair, responded.

“Yes, really and truly!”

In just a few words, she could hear all his innocence and anxiety.

His voice didn’t tremble in the slightest, but the way his shoulders stiffened and his eyes shook told her that he was nervous.

She could never get used to it no matter how many times it happened.

The boy who was just right beside her had disappeared completely.

But as this wasn’t her first time Kaylee managed to catch her breath slightly as she read the next line.

“Hand on your heart?”

“Hand on my heart.”

Dohyun’s voice rang loud and clear as he tried to stay calm, but his restless eyes couldn’t hide his unease.

At that moment, he was Sinclair.

They continued reading.

Kaylee almost believed she was threatening the little boy as they continued the story of Sinclair and the tales he told in his attempts to fit in, and Kromer, who continued to question him.

“I haven’t any money. But I’ll give you something else. I’ve got a book about Indians and soldiers and a compass. I’ll fetch it for you.

The child begged desperately. His lies couldn’t prop him up any further.

The boy’s anxiety and worry. His guilt. His fear. Kaylee could feel every last ounce.

He looked miserable. She could have sworn he would start crying at any moment.

And thus, Kaylee became Kromer. Then Sinclair’s father. Then his mother. And finally, the titular Max Demian, as she stood beside Emil Sinclair.

Flap. Flap. Flap.

Kaylee and Dohyun continued relentlessly, their performance accompanied by the never-ending turning of pages.

It wasn’t until Kaylee let out a coarse cough that Dohyun stopped before his next line.

And just like that, Dohyun was no longer the spitting image of Sinclair.

“Is it okay if we stop for today, Kaylee? Thank you for playing with me.”

“All right… s-sure.”

The room fell silent as Kaylee finally came to her senses.

Demian had been walking alongside Sinclair when he saw the hospital room in front of him, bringing Kaylee back to the real world.

In front of her was Dohyun, back to staring at his book all alone.

‘Christ. Not again.’

It was like she’d been possessed before she was flung back to reality.

An unpleasant itching at the back of her throat reminded her of the discomfort she’d forgotten about up until a moment ago.

“I’ll go drink some water.”

She jumped up from her seat and rushed towards the fridge.

With a cold glass of water in her hand, Kaylee glanced back at the boy.

Playtime with Dohyun was overwhelming.

There was no other way to put it.

‘I felt like I wanted to stop, but at the same time I didn’t.’

It was strange. Very much so.

It felt like the person in front of her was Sinclair. Not Dohyun.

Almost felt like she was Alice in Wonderland, lost in a world of fiction.

‘Get a hold of yourself, Kaylee. You’re not Eric.’

Kaylee shook her head as her own six-year-old son came to mind. To her little boy, the world of storybooks was real.

She needed to find something to keep her mind occupied. She eyed Dohyun and his book for a moment before opening the fridge to grab some apples.

Extra special fruit for an extra picky eater.

Kaylee felt sorry for the boy. She’d practiced carving fruit day after day to try and do something nice for him, and by now she could turn fruit into all sorts of shapes and sizes.

As she got to carving the apples, the door swung open.

Her eyes turned towards the door, and Dohyun raised his head up from his novel slowly.

There stood a middle-aged man wearing a white gown and glasses.

Dohyun looked surprised at the sudden appearance of his doctor.

“Nice to see you, Dohyun. How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

“Did you make sure to take your walks?”

“Yeah, I take a walk around the park every day.”

Benjamin smiled.

Two weeks ago, Dohyun had convulsions. For the following week, he was too weak to get out of his bed, let alone walk.

But the pain had left just as suddenly as it had arrived, and Dohyun had recovered in no time.

Benjamin began to talk as he listed details to write down on Dohyun’s chart.

“I’m here today because I have good news.”

“Good news?”

“Do you remember what I told you? About how there was a patient with similar symptoms in Korea?”

Dohyun had been suffering from a rare condition. That was something that modern medicine couldn’t diagnose.

It had already been six years since he’d been transferred to the Withers Center for Rare Diseases, which stood at the cutting edge of research. They had been sure that he was the only one.

And yet, two years ago, news had arrived that they’d found a patient suspected of having the same condition.

Dohyun still remembered how surprised he had been. It didn’t seem possible.

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, the patient asked to be transferred to our facilities after hearing about you. He should arrive here in about a week.”

Dohyun instantly understood what was happening.

“His condition’s gotten worse, hasn’t it?”

Benjamin paused for a moment. He didn’t expect a child to catch on the situation so quickly.

“Well, yes. There don’t seem to be any hospitals in Korea that can provide additional care, so he’s coming here. Seeing as how you’ve been here with us for so long.”

The doctor knew that the boy was brilliant, but he couldn’t help but be caught off guard whenever the boy acted as older than his age.

Benjamin had taken countless patients over the years. Many of them were around Dohyun’s age.

Which made it all the more obvious that he was both far too mature and too intelligent in comparison to the other children.

Perhaps it was due to his environment? Or maybe he was just naturally gifted.

Whatever the case, it was a shame that such a promising young child had to be confined to a hospital instead of going out and making his mark on the world.

Benjamin continued, making sure to hide his pity for the boy.

“Up until now, we only had you, but now that we’re going to have another patient, I think our research should go along more smoothly.”

Of course, he was lying.

They wouldn’t suddenly find a cure just because they had another case to study. Dohyun obviously knew that.

But he made sure not to show it.

After all, no one tried harder to treat Dohyun than Benjamin.

‘Although, I do have to admit. I’m only in this for the glory of conquering the unknown as a researcher…’

Benjamin thought to himself.

Dohyun nodded, his expression emotionless as ever.

Even though Dohyun didn’t seem to care, Benjamin was ecstatic.

“Oh, would you like to meet him when he arrives? After all, he’s Korean, just like you.”

Despite Benjamin’s expectations, Dohyun showed no signs of interest.

After a short period of consideration, Dohyun refused.

After all, what was the point? It wasn’t like they shared any common interests. They simply had the same illness, that was it.

Benjamin was disappointed by his reply but chose to respect the boy’s decision.

As Benjamin left, Dohyun began to think to himself.

‘Someone with the same disease…’

Could this really be a chance for him to get better?

He couldn’t help but laugh when the thought popped into his mind.

“As if.”

Dohyun quickly decided to forget about what Benjamin said.

After all, it was preferable to have no expectations than to have them crushed instead.

(To be continued…)