UAI Chapter 10

 Episode 10

8:30 AM

The door to the hospital room opened, and the caregiver walked in.  

"Oh? Hello! Why are you here so early?"  

Hajin greeted her in surprise.  

"Hoho. I left early yesterday, so I decided to come a bit earlier today."  

"You didn’t have to do that! From tomorrow onwards, please come at 9 o’clock instead."  

"Don’t worry about that; I’ll take care of it. How did our Sejin sleep?"  

"Hello. Good morning!"  

"Well, well. But Sejin, what’s going on with your hair? Ahaha!"  

The caregiver burst out laughing as she greeted Sejin.  

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Hajin scratched his head and said,  

"Haha, I did his hair, but it looks really bad, doesn’t it? I’m not very skilled at things like this…"  

"Hohoho. I actually brought something that might help with that."  

The caregiver sat on the sofa and placed a small shopping bag she was holding on the table.  

"Huh? What’s this?"  

"While I was heading home early yesterday, I passed by an accessory store, and I bought some hair ties and pins for Sejin."  

She then took the items out of the shopping bag and placed them on the table.  

There were cute rubber bands with apple decorations, yellow chick hairpins, strawberry hairpins, and even a fabric hairband.  

"Oh, you didn’t have to buy these… Thank you."  

"It wasn’t much. Don’t worry about it. If Uncle can’t manage to tie his hair with a hairband, you can use these pins to clip his bangs back. Or you could use the hairband. Initially, I thought about getting a regular hairband, but those can be uncomfortable, so I opted for a fabric one instead."  

"Thank you so much for being so thoughtful."  

Although it was a small gift, Hajin was genuinely grateful.  

"Come here, Sejin! Let Grandma fix your hair."  

"Okay!"  

Sejin quickly ran over to the caregiver and sat down.  

Since he was still small, climbing onto the sofa was like scaling a mountain for him.  

"What style would you like, Sejin?"  

"Hmm…"  

Sejin stared at the accessories he had just received, contemplating for a while before finally making his choice.  

"This one! The chick!"  

"Do you like this one? Alright, let’s use it."  

With quick, skillful hands, the caregiver neatly fixed Sejin’s hair and secured it with the chick pin.  

"Oh my! You look so pretty!"  

"Hehe, thank you, Grandma! Thank you for the gift, too!"  

Sejin hugged the caregiver tightly to express his gratitude.  

Knock, knock. 

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and the security guard walked in.  

"The next staff member has arrived and would like to greet you."  

"Oh, alright! Please let them in."   

As expected, a sturdy man entered the room.  

“Hello! My name is Kim Jinsoo. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  

“Hello. I’m Seo Hajin. This is my nephew and the caregiver.”  

“Hello~~”  

“Wow! You’re really well-built.”  

“Yes! Nice to meet you. I’ll be on duty now, so let me know if you need anything.”  

“Thank you.”  

After the greetings, the security guards left the room.  

At that moment, Hajin’s phone rang, and it was a call from Jaewon, one of his bandmates.  

“Oh, hey, hyung.”  

“Hajin, did you sleep well?”  

“Yeah, I slept great. What’s up?”  

“Well, we’re planning to visit later, and I wanted to check if you needed anything.”  

“You’re coming again today? Aren’t you tired?”  

“The guys have been making a fuss about visiting Sejin all morning.”  

“Haha.”  

“So, is there anything you need?”  

“Hm, nothing specific comes to mind.”  

Overhearing the conversation, Sejin shouted, 

“Uncle Jaewon! I want strawberry milk!”  

“Huh? Sejin, you want strawberry milk? Alright, Uncle will get it for you.”  

Before Hajin could say anything further, Jaewon jumped into the conversation.  

“Hajin, we’ll take care of it. The hospital convenience store will probably be crowded, and if you go, it’ll cause a commotion. I’ll have Minsu buy it. Just ask Sejin if there’s anything else he wants.”  

Following Jaewon’s suggestion, Hajin asked Sejin again.  

“Sejin, Uncle Jaewon will bring you strawberry milk. Do you want anything else?”  

“Hm… chocolate milk?”  

“Strawberry milk and chocolate milk?”  

“Yeah!!”  

“Oh boy, Sejin, your teeth are going to rot at this rate. Okay, just strawberry and chocolate milk. Got it?”  

“Wait!! Banana milk, too?”  

“What? You little rascal! Too many sweet drinks aren’t good for you!”  

“Hmm…”  

Sejin pouted at Hajin’s refusal. Seeing him sulk, Hajin felt his resolve wavering and quickly decided to wrap up the call.  

“Hyung, just bring one strawberry milk and one chocolate milk. Enough for today and tomorrow.”  

“Didn’t Sejin also ask for banana milk?”  

“No, that’s too much. Too many sweets aren’t good. Just the two, okay?”  

“Alright, got it.”  

After finishing the call, Hajin comforted his disappointed nephew.  

“Sejin, you’re not fully recovered yet, so eating too many sweets isn’t good for you. You need to eat vegetables, meat, and other balanced foods. If you drink nothing but sweet milk, you’ll lose your appetite and ruin your teeth. So let’s stick to one flavored milk per day, okay? If you want, you can drink plain milk instead. That’s fine. Got it?”  

“Hmm… okay.”  

“Good. Should Uncle read you a storybook?”  

“No, I want to watch TV!”  

“Alright. Go ahead and watch whatever you want.” 

When Hajin handed the remote control to Sejin, he began flipping through the channels.  

‘Cartoons are fun, but at this hour, it’s all about morning dramas!’  

Sejin stopped on a morning drama while switching channels.  

“Oh my! I haven’t been able to watch this lately. Sejin, are you going to watch this?”  

The caregiver asked in surprise.  

“Yes!”  

“Hmm… I don’t think this is something Sejin should be watching…”  

“Sejin, wouldn’t it be better to watch cartoons? This isn’t really suitable for you.”  

Both the caregiver and Hajin tried to intervene, but Sejin ignored them, his eyes glued to the TV.  

Even though it was his first time watching the drama, morning dramas and soap operas have a way of making their plots obvious as you go along.  

Watching Sejin completely absorbed in the drama left Hajin and the caregiver dumbfounded. Unable to stop him, they ended up sitting down to watch it with him.  

Before they realized it, they too were caught up in the drama’s plot, their empathy levels hitting 100%.  

“Ugh, that one! That awful one! It’s because of people like that the in-laws always get criticized!”  

The caregiver shouted, prompting Hajin to ask,  

“Are those people the in-laws?”  

“Yes! They’re siding with the cheating son while bullying the daughter-in-law. Can you believe it? They’re treating her horribly just because she can’t have children!”  

“Seriously? It’s not like having a baby late is that unusual. Why do they have to go that far?”  

“Exactly. But you know, I don’t think the baby that mistress is carrying belongs to the husband. That mistress is such a sly fox.”  

“Huh? Really?”  

Hajin, now completely engrossed in the spicy drama plot, chatted away with the caregiver as they watched.  

‘They told me not to watch it, but now Uncle’s more into it than I am. Well, once you start, it’s hard to stop. Looks like Uncle’s finally discovered the allure of soap operas. Hehe.’  

Amused by Hajin’s behavior, Sejin grinned mischievously before returning his focus to the drama.  

About 20 minutes later, when the episode ended, Hajin realized how deeply he had been absorbed and awkwardly laughed.  

“Haha… This is surprisingly entertaining.”  

“Right? Uncle Hajin, isn’t it fun? This is super popular among the ladies these days. Everyone keeps asking if you’ve seen it!”  

“Wow, it must be really popular.”  

“Yeah, the storyline is pretty cliché, but the writer is really good. Even though it’s predictable, you can’t stop watching!”  

“Haha, I know what you mean. I watched it without even realizing it.”  

“Uncle, is it fun?”  

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. It’s fun, haha…”  

“Then let’s watch it tomorrow, too.”  

“What? Sejin, you want to watch it again tomorrow? This isn’t really suitable for you, though.”  

Sejin couldn’t believe what Hajin was saying.  

‘What do you mean I can’t watch it tomorrow when we already watched it today?’  

“It’s fine!”  

“No, I don’t think it’s fine.”  

“Yes, it is! It’s fine!”  

“Uh… alright. I give up.”  

With Sejin’s firm insistence, Hajin backed down.  

A little while later, the members of B-One arrived, bursting into the room with energy.  

“Ta-da~~!! We’re here!”  

“Sejin! Didn’t you miss your uncles?”  

Hwan and Roy shouted cheerfully as they approached Sejin.  

“Hello, ma’am. I’m sorry if these guys are a bit noisy,” 

Jaewon, the leader, politely greeted the caregiver.  

“Oh, not at all! It’s lively and fun. Go ahead and enjoy yourselves. I’ll be in the other room, so call me if you need anything.”  

“Ah, thank you very much!”  

Joomin handed a bag of snacks to Hajin.  

“Here, we brought some milk and snacks that Sejin wanted.”  

“Oh, thanks, hyung. But why did you buy so much?”  

Hajin opened the bag to find the strawberry milk, chocolate milk, and banana milk Sejin had requested, along with colorful children’s drinks, snacks, bread, and sausages.  

“Well, it’s not just for Sejin; we’ll all be snacking, so I bought plenty.”  

“But don’t you think it’s too much? Especially all these drinks for Sejin.”  

“When I asked the convenience store staff, they recommended these as tasty options. Just keep them in the fridge and give her one at a time; they’ll be gone in no time.”  

“Ugh, if Sejin ends up with cavities, it’ll be your fault, guys,” 

Hajin muttered as he started putting the drinks in the fridge.  

Sejin shouted as he watched him, 

“Uncle! I want strawberry milk!”  

“Huh? You want strawberry milk now? I’ll get it for you right away.”  

Hwan quickly grabbed the strawberry milk and a straw from Hajin and handed it to Sejin, who began drinking it happily.  

‘Ah~~ How long has it been since I last tasted something this sweet? A person needs sugar to survive.’  

Seeing Sejin enjoy his drink, everyone smiled warmly. Meanwhile, Hajin finished tidying up and sat on the sofa.  

“But doesn’t coming here so early make you guys tired?”  

“Nope, not at all! How could we be tired when we’re here to see our Sejin?”  

"That's right. How come you're saying something correct for once?"  

"What are you talking about? I always say the right things!"

Hwan and Roy started bickering again.  

“Seriously, they’re not even the youngest, yet they act so immature,” 

Joomin muttered, shaking his head.  

Laughing at the scene, Hajin suddenly remembered something and spoke up.  

“Oh, guys. I’m planning to move out of the dorm soon and find a place of my own.”  

“What??”  

“What are you talking about?”  

“Are you upset with us about something?”  

“No! How could I be upset with you guys? You’re amazing!”  

“Then why are you moving out?”  

“Well, Sejin’s recovery is going well, so he might be discharged earlier than expected. Once he’s out, I’ll need to take care of him, and it doesn’t feel right to do that while staying at the dorm. That’s why I’m thinking of finding a place for the two of us.”  

The group fell silent for a moment.  

“It’s great news that Sejin is recovering so quickly.”  

“Yeah, that’s really good to hear.”  

After some thought, Jaewon spoke up.  

“Hajin, if the others are okay with it, why don’t we just have Sejin stay with us at the dorm? Taking care of him on your own will be tough, but if we’re all together, we can take turns helping out.”  

“Yeah! That’s a great idea! I’m totally on board,”

Roy said, raising his hand in agreement.  

“Jaewon’s right. Let’s live together. The dorm is spacious, and we can turn the guest room on the first floor into Sejin’s room,” 

Joomin added, agreeing as well.  

“That’s a brilliant idea! Our leader is such a genius,” 

Hwan chimed in enthusiastically.  

“How can we have Sejin stay at the dorm? Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable for you guys?”

“No way! Not uncomfortable at all,”

“Exactly. When you have a busy schedule, we can take turns looking after him. It’ll be great!”  

“Yeah, everyone’s okay with it, so think about staying with us. Besides, you’re terrible at cooking. How are you going to feed Sejin? Even if you hire help, you’ll still need to handle the basics,” 

Jaewon pointed out, Hajin found himself suddenly lost in thought, contemplating the idea.  

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