"When will she be here" Hyungjin's mother muttered in the kitchen.
The aroma of garlic, ginger, and star anise drifted through the small kitchen, a delicate dance of warmth and nostalgia. Lee Hyungjin 's mother stirred the pot carefully, humming an old folk tune from her youth as steam rose and clung to her skin. On the counter lay a perfectly arranged tray of dumplings handmade, pinched just the way Jenny liked them.
"Hyungjin!" she called, flicking water off her hands. "Is she almost here? I've made all her favorites."
Lee Hyungjin , shirt half-tucked and nerves raw, stood near the mirror adjusting his collar for the third time. He had already spritzed too much cologne, brushed his teeth again, and debated changing outfits twice.
"She said she's on the way," he muttered, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"You two are always fighting lately," his mother added casually, slicing green onions. "Make sure to speak calmly tonight. Don't scare her off again."
Hyungjin gave a tight nod, lips pressed together. If only she knew. If only she'd seen how Jenny had started pulling away how her texts had turned dry, how her smile now seemed... distant.
"I'll go wait by the gate," Hyungjin said suddenly, grabbing his jacket.
"Take an umbrella!" she called after him. But the door had already closed.
It wasn't raining when he reached the corner. The street was damp, though, as if it had cried earlier and run out of tears. He waited by the lamppost, heart fluttering with that stupid little hope. The hope that Jenny was just going through something. That she'd walk up, flash her girlish grin, take his hand, and say, "Sorry I've been distant. Let's fix this."
But Jenny showed up with another man.
Tall. Sculpted. Designer shoes that cost more than Hyungjin 's rent.
Hyungjin 's heart dropped into his stomach.
"Who the hell is this?" he asked, blinking fast.
Jenny didn't even flinch. "My boyfriend," she said flatly. "I thought I told you not to come."
"Your what?" Hyungjin 's voice cracked, disoriented. "You're joking."
"I'm not," Jenny said, clearly bored already. "You were suffocating me, Hyungjin . Your appearance has changed a lot but you never changed. You just cling. You're stingy and don't take care of yourself. Can't even get me a decent meal "
That word. Cling. It cut deeper than anything.
"And you didn't have the balls to say it before?" Hyungjin whispered, fists clenching.
The other man stepped forward. "Back off, pathetic boy."
"I'm talking to her," Hyungjin hissed.
Suddenly the boyfriend lunged fist slamming into Hyungjin 's cheek. He staggered back, but before he could react, a second blow landed in his gut. Hyungjin crumpled to the ground, gasping, the wind knocked from his lungs.
"Enough," Jenny said casually. "We're done, Hyungjin . Don't contact me again."
Their footsteps faded, leaving Hyungjin in a pool of cold sidewalk water and shame.
Hyungjin got up on the hospital bed and kept asking for Jenny. The Doctor said a lady left him there but went her way immediately. "Why would someone do this to you?" the doctor kept asking. "
But Hyungjin didn't answer. He just thought he may have had a second chance since she deposited him at the hospital entrance and signed the forms for treatment.
He lay in the ER alone. Face swollen, ribs bruised, dignity shattered.
And that's when the doctor arrived again.
Dr. Taeyang was in his late twenties, tall and composed, with a tired elegance that came from years of late-night shifts and saving people who didn't want to be saved. He checked the chart briefly, then looked at Hyungjin .
"You look like you lost a fight with a concrete wall," he said flatly.
Hyungjin didn't laugh. His eyes were hollow.
Taeyang sighed and gently began checking his vitals. "You're not the first boy I've seen dumped and beaten in the same hour," he added. "But I will say you're one of the more dramatic ones."
Still no response.
"Want to tell me what happened?" the doctor asked.
"No," Hyungjin muttered.
But something about the quiet in that room paired with the doctor's calm opened a floodgate he didn't expect.
"My girlfriend, " Hyungjin began, "brought a new lover because I'm poor. But no worries." He smiled as he continued, "she still loves me for sure."
Taeyang nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Sound like a narcissist."
"I love her ," Hyungjin whispered, voice breaking. "I thought... I thought we were going to get married. My mom was making dumplings..."
That part made him choke up, surprising even himself.
Taeyang didn't say anything for a moment. Then, in a quiet voice, he asked, "Do you want to keep crying about her, or get her back."
Hyungjin looked up sharply.
"I'm not offering you a gun or anything illegal," the doctor said quickly. "But I've seen what heartbreak does to people. If you want to heal, you'll need something stronger than time."
"Like what?"
"Reinvention," Taeyang said. "You need to look at the reasons she broke up with you and become better at that."
Hyungjin blinked. "Why are you telling me this?"
The doctor shrugged. "Because I see myself in you. A few years ago, I was lying in that same bed after my ex left me. I got up, cleaned my wounds, and built a life he couldn't afford to dream of."
He slipped a card into Hyungjin 's hand.
Dr. Seo Taeyang was on it. "You fix faces and broken hearts?" Hyungjin asked dryly.
"Sometimes both," the doctor replied. "Call me when you're done being pathetic."
Then he turned and walked away.
Later That Night
Hyungjin sat by the hospital window, the city lights blurry through his swollen eyes. His phone buzzed with a message from his mother: "You didn't come home. Are you okay? The dumplings are cold."
He didn't reply.
Instead, he pulled out Seo Taeyang 's card again, turning it over in his hand.
A bitter smirk formed on his lips.
"I'll show you, Jenny," he muttered
. "You want someone driven?"
His fingers hovered over the call button.
Then he dialed.