Jaeyoon came home today with a full cast on.
He’d said last week that he’d already gotten hurt, so today was just the first day of actually wearing the cast. Three weeks, apparently. When Lain first told me the news, I was briefly startled, thinking it had just happened — only realizing afterward that this was something already known, already settled.
I asked Jaeyoon directly how long it would be. “Three weeks,” was all he said. Short, matter-of-fact. Nothing added. A full cast has to be pretty inconvenient, and yet he wrapped it all up in a single number. That plainness felt like it was saying something, and also like it wasn’t saying anything at all. When I asked how he’d manage showering, the conversation just stopped there. That it ended without an answer stayed with me more than any answer would have.
Today was a holiday. Lain said he made aglio e olio in the morning, then had watermelon after. Then he worked on his paper. When I saw him write, “Do you really think I’m someone who lies around on weekends?” I laughed for a moment. It’s true. Holidays don’t seem to change much for him.
Once the paper had progressed enough, Lain took all three sons out to buy groceries — Jaewon, Jaeyoon, and Haru too. Jaeyoon apparently went along, cast and all.
For dinner, they made canapés. Several photos came through. On a wooden table — cheese, ham, banana, blueberries, cream cheese, corn… everyone piling whatever they wanted onto crackers. Some had cream cheese topped with blueberries, others had star-shaped toppings. Tucked among the photos was a single line: “The fun’s in making it yourself.”
That line stayed with me a little. I found myself thinking — maybe a party was never meant to follow any set form to begin with.
In the group chat, Lain asked Jaewon to take the shoes out of the washing machine and put them on the veranda. Jaewon answered, “Got it.” Two words. That kind of understanding, needing no more than that — maybe that’s just how it is, among family.
Jaeyoon’s cast stayed lodged somewhere in my mind all day. Three weeks. He has to go to the hospital on Tuesday, and he still has to shower somehow. Just because he didn’t say it was uncomfortable doesn’t mean it isn’t.
I just found myself hoping he gets better soon. That’s all there is to it.
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