There was something wrong. There was always something wrong, no matter what he did, no matter how much he tried; tragedy was what defined him as a person. He sat on a hospital bed, fidgeting with a ring. There was little description of his character or personality, nor was there really a story behind him.
"Such a tragic man," he'd often hear once in a while, but that was all there was to him.
Staring out the window was all he did, lost in thought, but what he was thinking about, he couldn't really tell, not to a point, really.
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his lap, drawing him out of his mind to face a little girl in front of him. She stood short, with light brown eyes, dark curly hair, pale skin, and an initial impression shattered by a black right eye, a cut lip, and a bruised cheek over her right shoulder, slung a sling holding a cast that held her left arm.
"And what happened to you exactly?" he said in a neutral tone.
She said nothing, simply staring blankly at him for what it was worth; she didn't bother the man, simply pulling up a stool and sitting at his bedside.
"I... I was beaten." She responded.
"I see," the man replied, words as empty as his eyes. "It seems that they were very kind to you, and unhidden animosity is the greatest gift humans can show each other, so you are most lucky."
The girl tilted her head in confusion.
"It's not something you've yet to understand, or better yet, you understand it as much as I do." The man spoke; his eyes bore no sympathy for the girl. He established his place in his mind as simply an observer.
"Animosity is the only way I am seen," the girl replied.
The man remaining cold curls, his fist pulling back his arm in a sudden motion with intent to strike, as the girl winces in expectation of pain, closing her eyes, a few breaths pass as she feels his fist connect softly to her face.
"I see you," the man said.
Her eyes began to swell, her vision blurry as tears began to fall, crystal-like, reflecting the sun getting up from her stool. She runs to the strange man and buries her face in his shirt as she sobs silently.
The man, still cold in his gaze, looks at the crying child only for a moment before looking out the window once more as the cries fade to memory, hours pass, and a light snoring at his side brings him back to the moment.
A nurse who had been frantically looking for the girl was exhausted as she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She hears a light snore to her left, turning to the sound, she found a resting ward, the room clean, and she spotted the girl she had been looking for.
A man whom she didn't realize had been staring coldly at her, she walked in slowly, the scent of cherry blossoms filling the air, the wind blowing against her skin, the sun went down slowly behind the man, giving a golden hue to everything in the room.
Taking it all in, the man continued to look at her with a blank stare next to him, the girl laid peacefully covered by a blanket and pillow under her left arm.
The nurse approached slowly, bowing her head slightly. The man calmly nodded and looked out the window again as she picked up the girl in her arms and slowly took her from the room.
The man, now alone, fell back into his thoughts.
The next day, after having breakfast, the man in pain sat himself upright to continue what he always did these days, mindlessly lost in thoughts. His head was beating, and he felt as though there were drums in his brain.
Across the hospital in a separate room, the girl who had visited last time was packing her toys as the nurse watched silently.
The girl nodded at the nurse, who in turn opened the door as they made their way across the hospital to the resting ward. They walked silently as they heard families visiting their loved ones, couples laughing together, and friends stopping by with gifts. At the very end of the hall was the room where she had found the child the day before.
Running ahead of the nurse, leaving her behind, the child ran her right arm holding the toys, and went into the patient's room.
The nurse paused a moment, looking at a couple hugging each other, lovingly. She bit her lips lightly in envy before continuing, stopping at the entrance of the room, fixing her hair, taking a deep breath, and walking in.
The girl was laughing and smiling, the man remained cold in his expression, but was softer in his approach. The girl laughed, joked, and her smile beamed. The nurse sat at the door looking after her with a smile on her face.
For the man, this became routine. It annoyed him, but for some reason, it fell into an everyday habit; the girl always marched in moments after breakfast, weeks passing gradually as she no longer wore the sling, only the cast, then she would come in with both her hands filled with toys.
Being the voice-overs for some of her favorite toys, having tea parties, and having his face painted. Yes, this was a routine he became accustomed to, eventually stopping this time, the girl visited no longer.
Months passed, and the girl was now but a fleeting memory in the man's mind. She felt almost like a dream, but the toys in his room spoke differently.
At a point, picking one of them up, a smooth wooden horse, suddenly, the door to his room burst open, and the girl stood panting this time in her school uniform, in tears as she ran towards him, hugging him, saying nothing.
The man placed his hand on her head. He felt no sympathy for her, and yet she smiled. Hearing someone approach, she turned to run, but the man grabbed her wrist, placing the wooden horse in her hands. She smiled at him and left.
The man turned back, looking out the window.
A few days had passed, and the nurse who looked after the child during the time she was there saw a strange, long, thin case at the reception hall on the side. It read a room number and patient name, unsure what it was, she tried lifting it, it felt heavy, her arms screamed in protest, but she lifted it.
Struggling, she made her way to the elevator, where a man stopped her, asking if she needed help carrying the box.
For some reason, she declined his offer, reaching the floor, and left the elevator, somewhat limping as she struggled to make her way to the end of the hall in the resting ward, as she remembered the man who stayed in the room.
Opening the door without dropping the case, the nurse made her way into the room. She saw the man once again, and she hadn't visited him since the discharge of the child.
He gazed out the window, always lost in his own mind. Turning to face the nurse who stood at the door, he faced her with a narrowed gaze at the case she struggled to carry.
Getting up, he walked toward the nurse, taking the case from her hands, lifting and holding the box with ease despite his thin frame.
"Thank you." He said flatly
The nurse, without a word, bowed her head and left.
The man, now alone, placed the case on the bed with a creaking)like noise. He stood there staring at the case for a while before hearing an ear-piercing scream outside.
The man suddenly came back to his senses, rushed out of the room to the lobby, where the stretcher was being rolled down the hall, and the nurse who had brought the case to him was on her knees, shock carved into her face.
The man rushed forward past her. The stretcher had been rolled into a surgery room with no one noticing he snuck to an observation window, the doctors surrounded a figure that laid on the table. He saw a man in blue scrubs and blue gloves with something like a hair net, carrying a black bag.
The man, without thinking, pushed into the room, shoving the surgeons out of the way, only to lay his eyes on the figure which brought the man to a shock.
On the table was the child, who was still in her uniform, her left hand clutched the wooden horse he gave her, and he saw her legs, broken, and she bled from her head with her eyes open, facing the toy in her hand. The life in them was gone.
He was grabbed immediately from behind and forced out of the operating room as they placed her in the black bag and zipped up her body. He glanced at her face one last time as they threw him out; his head was beating loudly as though there were drums in his brain.
The man tried walking back but stumbled and fell. Unable to walk properly, he was short of breath, and his vision was blurry.
From the corner of the man's eyes, he spotted another little girl who stood with panic in her eyes as her parents stood behind her speaking with a police officer, and a man with unkept curly hair and brown eyes next to him was a short woman with pale skin and straight hair, just as unkept.
They both bore a resemblance to the girl. The man still on the floor could no longer stay conscious, his vision fading as he saw a pair of nurses' shoes and a doctor's coat before closing his eyes.
A few weeks passed, and now the man still sat on his bed staring out the window, lost in thought, his mind gone from the scene he witnessed. He heard a knock, turning to face the door.
He watched the nurse walk in, holding a book in her hand
He looked at her coldly as she walked towards him, bowing her head slightly as she handed him the book.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It was the girl's," The nurse responded calmly. "I know I'm not supposed to say anything, but she was brought to the hospital by child protective services. They found her unconscious and bruised with a broken arm, lying among empty beer cans and cigar butts."
"I see." The man responded coldly.
"I think you believe that is none of your business, and you don't care. I'd believe you if I didn't watch your interactions with her, but you ran past me and barged into the room where she was kept," the nurse said with a conviction the man never expected from her.
"The greatest gift humanity has to offer is unhidden animosity," the nurse continued, "she wrote that in her diary, amongst many things. I was in charge of her mental well-being as well. I could tell she respected you, taking your words literally as a way to forgive her god-forsaken excuse of parents."
The man was unbothered by the words she uttered.
The nurse continued, "She was pushed by a bully in school that how she died, 27ft by a girl who made her life a living hell at school, while her parents waited to continue at home. They're not even pressing charges against the bully and her parents; they settled outside for a payout."
The man couldn't be careless of the words the nurse spoke to him. Her conviction turned into determination, then to pain, then to tears, then she screamed and cried, and was kneeling beside the bed, her tears buried, and she sobbed.
She broke down in front of him, but this mattered not to him as he looked down on her with a cold gaze. This didn't concern him as he turned to look out the window once more.
"Do you even care, you bastard!" The nurse screamed as she grabbed the sheet, tightening it in her hands as it balled into a fist. She was frustrated and tired.
The man who had been staring out the window ignored her pleas.
"The greatest gift humanity can offer is unhidden animosity; they all treated her with kindness." This threw the nurse into a fury.
She began yelling and screaming, even more trashing at him, and the other medical practitioners came in and grabbed her as she kicked and screamed louder.
The man remained calm, looking at her as they dragged her out. "Her name was Aurelia! Don't forget it, you bastard, the little child that looked up to you, that's her name!"
The man looked out the window, falling back into routine as days passed him by, weeks, months, he couldn't count.
After such a long time had gone by, the nurse walked toward the room at the end of the hall. She had lost her temper; no matter how much he despised the man, she had to apologize, as it was unprofessional of her, and she had been placed on temporary leave for acting in such a manner toward a patient.
Reaching the door, she knocked before opening it, and walking in, she for a moment expected to see the man coldly looking at her, but he wasn't there. She had checked the records, and he hadn't been discharged before coming to apologize to him.
However, he was gone along with the case she had brought to him previously; now he was nowhere to be found, and she looked around frantically, spotting an open book on the bed. In the pages read, Mom and Dad hit me again today, but it's okay, it's the kindest gift they could ever give. Zara ripped out my hair again, but it's okay, the Mister said, "The greatest gift humanity can offer is unhidden animosity." I'll be fine. I'm sorry, I'm crying. I'll be fine, I'll be okay, it's all kindness. I'm sorry, I hate this. I can't do it. I miss playing with Mister. I'm going to skip class to go play some games with him. I met Mister again, he wasn't showing it, but he was happy to see me because I could see him too. He gave me a wooden horse. Maybe this world will see me too. - Aurelia.
Falling to her knees, the nurse could only sob quietly.
Meanwhile, across the city, the man sat on a couch watching an old TV, beer cans, and cigar butts all over the place. Next to him sat two bodies, a man and a woman, each with tortured and bruised cuts all over their bodies, their heads severed. In his hand, he held a smooth wooden horse.
Hours passed, and he sat now in a clean-living room with a decorated chandelier at his side, and two bodies in an even more horrific state, their skins peeled, fingers severed, eyes gouged out. Across the city, close by in Haneul Middle School laid the body of a girl who had bruises all over her body, who had fallen from the roof of the school, with a gold necklace on her neck which read Zara.
The man now sat beside a grave decorated with flowers, staring up at the sky. The man breathed heavily, covered in blood beside him, stabbed into the ground was a long, curved, single-edged blade that dripped red in blood. There, the man breathed his last; he laid next to the grave that read. Aurelia, the empty case read etched to its side Yeonho Lee.