Narrator POV

“You’re going somewhere?” Hyungwon appeared somewhat surprised the next morning when he came downstairs. He was still in his pajamas with his bird nest hair while Ara was already fully groomed dressed in a light coat with a beanie that covered her silver hair.

Her hair… he was the one who took her to the salon. His own roots were showing through his bleached hair so he planned on refreshing them before the wedding. He wasn’t sure if Ara had been serious when she said she wanted to dye her hair so he had asked her again. To his surprise, she actually said yes.

It was the day after the storm. He watched as the stylist coated her shiny black hair with bleach and he still recalled clearly the genuine smile she wore after seeing the results. Call Hyungwon a creeper but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her after her transformation. The silvery hair that framed her face sharply, supposedly made her look icy to others but in Hyungwon’s eyes, he saw beauty and strength. Not everybody have the guts to pick such a bold color. It took courage to purse such a drastic change, courage that can only be derived from a survivor with a story.

Hyungwon couldn’t help but wonder how much of that story he actually knew. How much the silver haired girl had to endure just to be standing in front of him right now with a trail of milk dribbling down her chin as she hurriedly chugged the glass.

“Slow down,” he pulled out a napkin to wipe off the residue and teased, “My three year old nephew doesn’t even make a mess when he drinks.”

Ara glared at him but still mumbled thanks before taking the tissue from the male.

“Need to be somewhere?” he asked.

“Yes,” she was about to put her plate in the sink but a maid quickly hurried over and took her cutlery leaving Ara in a frown.

“I’ll tell the driver,” Hyungwon was about to call over a servant but Ara stopped him.

“No need,” She glanced at the clock. It was too inhumanely early and it’d be just cruel to drag someone out of bed right now.

“I’ll drive you,” Hyungwon offered, “Just give me a few minutes…”

Ara shook her head, “It’s fine, I called a cab already.”

“Are you going to the station?” Hyungwon assumed that she was off to see Shownu this early in the morning.

“Yeah,” Ara grabbed her bag without meeting his eye, “By the way, I left some breakfast in the pan. Don’t wake up the cook. He’s been over working himself lately with all the wedding preparations.”

Nodding, Hyungwon waved and watched as she walked out of the door.

*                      *                      *

“Thank you,” Ara tipped the cab driver generously for picking her up at such an early time.

Turning around, she walked up the steps to Seoul Hospital.

“Hi, how may we assist you?” a nurse approached her in the mostly empty lobby.

“Oh I’m just waiting for someone,” Ara gave a polite smile and went to sit on a bench.

Although her body remained still, her eyes were travelling all over the place. The light drumming of her fingers revealed her anxiety. She was stuck. She needed to find him but it wasn’t like she could just go up to the front desk and be like, “I’m here to visit… I don’t know his name but he was sent here yesterday at noon after getting hit by a car.”

They would ask her for her relation with the patient and here’s the awkward part, “I was in car that hit him.”

Obviously she couldn’t do that which left her with really only one other option: sneak in.

It wasn’t as easy as it seemed. From the moment Ara stepped out of the cab, she already counted seven security cameras, and those were the ones she could see. The hospital probably had hidden ones too.

Chewing on her lower lip, she adjusted her beanie and continued to observe. A pair of workers passed in front of her. From bits of their conversation, she understood that they were getting off their night shift. The two entered a room on the left side that needed a key card. After about fifteen minutes, they came out except this time they were dressed in their normal clothes.

That must be the change room, Ara needed to get there and “borrow” a work uniform. The problem was, well actually the problems were #1: she didn’t have a key card and #2: the room was on the other side which meant she had to somehow cross the entire lobby without being noticed. Both problems were a challenge. What she needed now was a distraction. Part of her was starting to regret coming this early. It would have