Word Count: 2,820 Words.

 

Even before waking, just as he was slowly starting to gain consciousness, the strong smell of antiseptics harassed his senses. His mind slowly drew him out of the morphine-induced sleep, telling him that what he wanted had been achieved. Forcing his heavy lids open, he lazily let his gaze wander the room before closing his eyes again.    Finally, his mind whispered.   When the doctor came in to check up on him, he went through the usual protocol, but when he was done, he took a seat beside Sehun, "Sir, do you have anyone we can call for you? A guardian? Someone to inform of your whereabouts?"   "Jeon Yoojin," Sehun whispered, "Please call Yoojin."   . . .   Hurriedly stopping at the front desk, the long brown-haired woman tried to ask for a certain patient, not even having enough to time to catch her breath, "S-Sehun, Oh Sehun. What room is he?"   "Room 306. Third floor on the–"   "Thank you," Yoojin quickly left. She didn't have time to wait for directions.   "Hello, is this Miss Jeon Yoojin?"   "Yes, I'm Jeon Yoojin. Who's this?"   "Hello, I'm Doctor Han Seungjae from Donghwa University Hospital. We have a patient here who was recently involved in a car accident by the name of Oh Sehun. He broke his leg and has a minor concussion, but his condition is stable–"   "A car accident? Sehun doesn't know how to drive–"   "Specific details of the accident aren't known yet, but witnesses say that the young man suddenly walked out into the street, not yielding to traffic or traffic signals."   Both infuriated and worried, Yoojin had rushed over after the call. Even as she headed towards his room, she was still seething with anger, but more than that, the anger stemmed from guilt and concern. And that heavy pressure on her chest forced her to slow down as she approached the door that separated her from him and his broken condition. As she reached for the door, her hand trembled. Forcing herself to calm down, she twisted the knob and slowly pushed it open.   Light spilled into the dark room, illuminating it partially, but the main source of light came from the waning moonlight that flooded through the window beside the bed. Sitting up in bed, the younger man was staring blankly at his open hands in his lap. His face was void of emotions, assuming the new presence was just a nurse, but when she didn't speak, he slowly looked up. Almost immediately, his face brightened and he lifted his hand to reach for hers and intertwine their fingers, but as if he suddenly remembered something, he sheepishly looked away with a small, bitter smile and dropped his hand, "I-I forgot. I'm sorry."   Silently, she watched him. Her chest ached unbearably and she yearned to see him as bright and energetic as the person he was months ago, but the person he had become and that person from months ago seemed so different–almost as if they were two completely different people.   Stepping closer to his bed, Yoojin softly asked, trying with much difficulty to keep herself calm, "What happened, Oh Sehun?"   Hearing her voice, despite how cold and sharp it was, he looked up at her with happiness in his eyes, "I-I wasn't paying attention to where I was going–"   "The doctor told me that you purposely walked out without yielding to cars or traffic signs," Yoojin stiffly spoke.   Sehun shook his head, "No, I didn't see it. I wasn't paying attention. I–"   "Sehun, why're you doing this?" she softly whispered. She knew he was lying. He wasn't that careless of a person. Sehun was intelligent for his young age and he wasn't careless or thoughtless enough to do something like not looking out for red lights and green lights. Even when they dated, she had never seen him trip over a crack or twig. How could he suddenly not see whether the pedestrian sign permitting people to walk was on or not? It didn't make sense.   Chuckling at his pitiful self, Sehun moved his gaze from her to his hands, "I-I needed a reason to see you, noona." He looked up at her, his eyes overflowing with a pent-up heaviness that threatened to spill, "I-I can't see you because I love you anymore, so I needed another reason."   The weight against her chest and on her shoulders seemed to grow heavier the longer his gaze lingered on her.   He smiled brightly–his eyes forming the crescents that she had missed so much–and shrugged as if it were the most natural thing to do, "It doesn't matter, Yoojin. I-I can do whatever it takes, as long as I get to see you. The amount of happiness and light brought into my life from just one look at you is enough for me. I can get hurt. I can break a leg, an arm." He shook his head, "It doesn't matter–I can die, too–as long as I get to see you. I-If me getting hurt means I'll get to see you here in front of me worrying about me, I'll break my bones a hundred times and–"   Silence rang in the air after her hand swung across his face. She glared at him, wetness b her eyes and guilt flooding her body. Her voice trembled and her hand shook as she gripped it into a tight fist, "Sehun, don't you dare ever do something stupid like this again, or else I will be the one to personally break your bones."   Smiling, he looked up at her–a tear falling when he blinked, "That means I'll get to see you more, right, Yoojin?"   "Oh Sehun!" she hissed.   Emptily chuckling, Sehun gazed at his closed hands and opened them under the moonlight. He smiled and held the ring up so she could see it, "You knew, didn't you? That's why you left?"   In his hand was a delicate gold ring with a pretty, elegant diamond on it. He looked up at her and forced a smile despite his lips trembling and his voice thickening with sadness, "Y-You made my birthday the happiest day of my life for two years and on the third one, you made it the day that I wanted to die the most, noona."   Shaking his head, he chuckled and wiped his eyes, "You somehow turned the one day I looked forward to the most into one that I hated the most. I-I thought that that day, I would finally be able to propose to the woman I loved and she'd say yes and we'd spend the rest of our lives together."   Looking