Dil arrived at pre school eager to begin his school experiance. He looked around the classroom not seeing his best friend anywhere.
Dil sat down at one of the tables ad began coloring a picture of Goober in his coloring book that he had gotten for pre school.
Each time anybody new came through the door Dil looked up in anticipation only to be disappointed. He hoped Ji Yeon would arrive soon.
Ji Yeon was the last to arrive. She clung to her mother's hand, not wanting her to leave.
Dil ran over and tugged on her free hand."Come on. I'll show you where to put your backpack."
Ji Yeon looked up at her mother unsure of what to do.
"I'll pick you up on my lunch break just like at daycare." Mi Sun said giving Ji Yeon a hug.
"Don't worry. We're going to have a lot of fun." Dil said as he pulled her over to the cubbies.
Ji Yeon watched her mother leave with tears in her eyes. She was used to this at daycare, but pre school was a whole new experiance.
She took off her backpack and was about to hang it up when Dil snatched it from her and hung it below his Goober one.
"I can do it myself you know." Ji Yeon snapped.
"It looked a little high. I was just helping." Dil told her.
Ji Yeon followed Dil over to the table where he had been sitting at earlier. Dil sat in his chair while Ji Yeon took the one next to him leaving an empty seat at their table.
The bell rang and a short woman with light brown hair called the class to attention.
"I want each of you to stand up one at a time and tell us your name and something you like." The teacher instructed the kids.
Dil stood up when it was his turn." My name is Dil and I like aliems."
Ji Yeon was about to stanf up when Dil spoke for her."And this is my best friend Ji Yeon. She likes baby shark and she's not a baby. She's just small for being three."
"I can talk for myself." Ji Yeon whispered as Dil sat back down.
They spent the next thirty minutes coloring pictures and getting to know each other.
Dil stopped coloring when he noticed Ji Yeon sitting on her knees and reaching across the table for the yellow crayon. She almost had it when Dil grabbed it for her and handed it to her.
"I was getting it myself." She said taking the crayon and finishing her picture.
"You looked like you needed some help. The crayons almost fell over." Dil pointed out.
"Well they didn't." Ji Yeon said handing the crayon back to Dil and getting up and going to the reading erea.
Dil was called on to pass out the snack. Once he was done passing out the cheese and crackers he sat down ready to eat. He looked over to the reading erea to find Ji Yeon still sitting there looking at a baby shark book.
"Don't you want your snack?" Dil asked sitting down next to her.
"I'm not hungry and cheese makes my tummy feel funny if I eat to much of it." Ji Yeon told him.
"But you gotta eat if you want to play outside later." Dil said.
"I said I'm not hungry and I don't care if I get to play outside." Ji Yeon told him turning her attention back to her book.
After their snack the kids were allowed to play outside on the small playground.
"Don't you want to play?" Dil asked Ji Yeon from the swings.
Ji Yeon shook her head as she played with the sand she was sitting in.
"Why not?" Dil asked coming over and sitting down.
"Cuz I'm tired and hurting." Ji Yeon explained.
"Come on. Playing will wake you up." Dil said pulling Ji Yeon to her feet.
"I said I don't want to." Ji Yeon yelled pulling away from Dil and walking away to sit in the shade of a tree.
A few minutes later the teacher called the kids inside to get ready to go home.
Ji Yeon grabbed her yellow baby shark backpack from the cubby erea and was relieved to see her mother waiting for her when she came out.
"I can buckle myself." Ji Yeon said as Mi Sun put her in the car. She stepped back and let Ji Yeon attempt to buckle herself into her car seat.
"Need some help?" Mi Sun asked noticing Ji Yeon was having trouble pushing the buckle into the holder.
Ji Yeon started crying frustrated that she couldn't do it herself. MI Sun buckled her in and they made their way to the hospital.
Ji Yeon was placed in a bed and blood was drawn to check and see if the treatment was still working.
"Try and take a nap." Mi Sun told her as she hooked her up to the machine to begin the treatment while she took the blood sample to the lab.
"I'm not hungry." Ji Yeon stated later that night at dinner when her favorite pasta was placed in front of her.
"You have to eat something." Mi Sun told her."You barely ate any breakfast and your teacher told me you didn't eat at snack time either."
"I just want to sleep." Ji Yeon said pushing her plate away and laying her head down.
"Take a few bites and then you can go to bed." Mi Sun told her.
Ji Yeon sighed and did as she was told. She left the table and ran to the bathroom.
"That's not a good sign." Mi Sun said as she helped Ji Yeon get cleaned up after throwing up.
"What do you think is wrong with her?" Jin asked watching from the doorway.
"I'll tell you later." Mi Sun replied running a bath for Ji Yeon.
"The kids are in bed." Jin said coming into the room and sitting on the bed.
"I won't know for sure until we get the blood work back but I think Ji Yeon will need a kidney transplant soon." Mi Sun expplained.
The next day was dark and rainy. Dil walked in to find Ji Yeon already sitting in her seat.
"Are we still friends?" Dil asked taking his seat after putting his backpack away.
"Yeah. Why would you ask?" Ji Yeon asked looking up from coloring.
"Cuz you was really mean to me yesterday." Dil told her.
"Just let me do things for myself. If I need help I'll ask you." Ji Yeon told him.
"Ok." Dil said as class began for the day.
Later on in the morning the class was doing an experiment to see what things would float and what would sink. They each picked out two items from a box.
Dil grabbed a sponge and a rubber duck and threw them in the water. Ji Yeon grabbed a rock and a rubber ball. She was about to throw them in when Dil grabbed them from her and threw them in
"What did you do that for?" Ji Yeon asked.
"The tank is kind of high for you.I was helping." Dil answered.
"I can reach by myself." Ji Yeon said standing on her tip toes and touching the surface of the water."I can reach good enough to throw the stuff in myself."
After the experiment it was snack time. Since it was Friday the kids were allowed to bring a snack from home.
Dil sat down with his Goober grahm crackers and began eating.
"Want one?' He offered holding one out to Ji Yeon.
"No." Ji Yeon shook her head."I don't feel good."
"Just try one. They're good." Dil said as Ji Yeon's stomach growled. She shook her head so Dil shoved the cracker in her mouth.
Ji Yeon swallowed and a few seconds later threw up on the table. She ran off to the cubby room as the whole class began to laught and cry ew.
Dil ran after her and found her crying in the corner.
"Go away Dil." JI Yeon said through her tears.
"But I just wanted you to eat something to make you feel better." Dil said sitting down.
"I just want you to go away and leave me alone." Ji Yeon cried.
Dil got up and was about to leave the room. He turned around to glance at Ji Yeon one last time but when he did he found her eyes were closed and she was no longer crying.
"I know you don't want my help but I really think you need it now." Dil said aloud and ran to get the teacher.
He found her cleaning up Ji Yeon's throw up.
"I think something is wrong with Ji Yeon." He panted.
The teacher went to the cubby room and found Ji Yeon unconsious and burning up.
Dil watched from the doorway as the teacher pulled out her phone to call an ambulance. He turned around when he heard Ji Yeon's mother's voice.
"What happened?" Mi Sun asked moving passed Dil and kneeling next to her daughter.
"I just found her like this." The teacher explained.
JI Yeon began to stir as Mi Sun picked her up.
"She's dehydrated and running a fever." Dr. Robbins said as she finished her examination.
JI Yeon was put on an IV drip and woke up a few hours later feeling better then before.
"We'll schedule the surgery for the end of the week. That should give us enough time to find a match." Dr. Robbins said as she signed the discharge papers and Ji Yeon was allowed to go home.
"I don't want too have a surgery." Ji Yeon whined a few days later as they were packing a bag for the hospital.
"You'll be fine. You'll be asleep and you won't feel a thing. I promise." Mi Sun assured her as she zipped the bag closed.
"How do you know?" Ji Yeon asked.
"Because I've had surgery before." Mi Sun told her as Cleo came into the room.
Seeing that her mom was fine made Ji Yeon relax a little and she cuddled with Cleo and was soon asleep.
"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Min Jun asked as Mi Sun tucked him into bed.
"Yes. I've had surgery before and I'm fine." Mi Sun assured him.
"But Ji Yeon hasn't had surgery before." Min Jun said sitting up.
"She'll be fine." Mi Sun said gently pushing Min Jun back down.
"But what if she's not?" He asked quietly.
"Why are you so worried of the sudden?" Mi Sun asked.
"Because a kid in my class had a sister who had to have a lung transplant and she died in the surgery." Min Jun explained.
"I don't want you or Ji Yeon to de." He whispered trying his best not to cry.
Mi Sun sighed."Sometimes surgeries go wrong, but the kind that Ji Yeon and I are having has a very high survival rate. Everybody that I've taken care of after this surgery has been just fine. We will be too."
"Can I come to the hospital too?" Min Jun asked as hi family got ready for the day.
"No. School will be a nice distraction for you." Mi Sun told him.
"I'll come get you when they're done." Jin said as the bus pulled up to the house.
"I don't want to have a surgery." Ji Yeon told her auntie as they waited for her turn to go to the OR.
"You'll be asleep the whole time. You won't even know what happened." Miju told her.
"No." Ji Yeon screamed and flinched away as a nurse tried to put an IV in her arm to administer medicine to make her sleep.
"Come on." Miju said picking Ji Yeon up.
She took her to a small room that had a window where other surgeons could watch surgeries.
"See. Your mom is asleep, not feeling a thing." Miju pointed to Mi Sun laying on the table and being cut open.
Seeing her mother not reacting as they cut into made her a little uneasy but seeing her not react her made her relax a little. They went back to the room where Ji Yeon sat on Miju's lap and allowed the nurse to place the IV in her arm.
"You're ok." Min Jun cried running into the room where his mother and sister were laying in beds.
"I told you we would be." Mi Sun said.
"Are you up for one more visitor?" Jin asked looking at Ji Yeon.
She nodded and Dil and Didi walked in. Dil came over to Ji Yeon's bed with a baby shark balloon and a box of panda cookies.
"Min Jun told me these are your favorite." Dil said handing her the box and balloon.
"Thanks." Ji Yeon said taking the items from Dil.
"Do you feel better?" Dil asked sitting on the bed.
"Yeah." JI Yeon told him opening the blue box and pulling out a small cookie shaped like a panda."I can eat now without getting sick."
The End