"Come home right now."

It feels like Jiyong was living the same dreadful day over again. Once he woke up, he saw Dara smiling at him and disappearing in his arms. It was happening again. His fists clenched. It was happening again but somehow it was different. 

"She's awake."

It seemed like the only thing he stepped on was the accelerator throughout the whole ride. He sped through every stop light and broke every traffic law possible. It was only beginning to be dawn but there were already a few cars parading down the streets. He would curse every time whenever he had to stop just because the car in front of him was a 'law-abiding citizen'. He would call them wads and impatiently tap his fingers on the steering wheel. He sighed irritably and rubbed the exhaustion out of his face. He had to get there and he had to get there fast. 

"Seunghyun's girlfriend, Bom... her sister... Oh Jiyong... Seunghyun gave me a call a few minutes ago" 

Jiyong could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He would wipe his clammy hands on his jeans and his breath would hike knowing that he was getting nearer and nearer. 

"!" he hissed. 

Another decided to stop in front of him just when he could already see the building that he was aiming for. He clawed his steering wheel in anger and let out a strangled scream from inside his car. 

"Dara's awake."

He slammed his car door shut, not minding the fact that he parked recklessly. Jiyong walked—​no, he strode, he ran towards the front desk, panting and sweating despite being cold. He eyed the girl in the front desk almost deperately. 

"Give me the room number of..."

"Sandara Park... Dara... She's awake, Jiyong." 

He didn't even let her finish. He ran to the elevators as soon as he heard the set of digits. Jiyong couldn't stop muttering curses under his breath. Why was everything so goddamn slow?! He pushed the elevator button incessantly while a nurse who was waiting with him was throwing him judgmental looks. When the doors finally opened, he zoomed in and didn't give the nurse a chance to go inside. He immediately pushed the button to go up and the nurse scoffed at him as the door closed on her face. 

Jiyong was breathing raggedly, it was as if he had just gotten out from staying in the water for too long. He could feel his nerves pulsating. He could hear his heart beat loudly through his ears. He was nervous. He was scared. 

"I can't believe she's awake."

He was relieved. 

His loud footsteps echoed through the seemingly empty halls. His eyes searched frantically for her room number. God, he almost teared up when he couldn't find it. The beating of his heart sounded louder to him. He took cautious steps towards a door that looked just like the others. His lips were dry and chapped from having to breathe loudly to calm himself down. He stared at the room number for a time and then his eyes darted down to the name written below it. The lump in his throat just got harder to swallow. 

He found himself holding on to the doorknob, his whole body slightly shaking with anxiousness. The knob turned and the door slowly creaked open. 

"Dara is alive, Jiyong! She's alive!"

A trembling sound came from his lips as he felt his knees give out, sending him to the floor. Dami quickly went up to him, followed by Seunghyun and Jay. He could see his hands shaking tremendously and soon he let out a choked breath. Dami was rubbing his back and silently crying beside him. 

"Dara's alive." he managed to croak out. "She's here." 

His sister quickly wrapped him in a comforting hug. She could feel how his body shook from crying, how his voice cracked, how his body turned cold, and how his heart felt right now. Jay stood by the two siblings and comforted them while Seunghyun went back to Bom who was watching them silently beside Dara's bed. He went up to her and she flinched when they made contact. When Bom met his eyes, tears started to pool all of the sudden and she eventually broke down too. 

Jiyong looked at the sleeping figure one last time before finally breaking out into a smile, tears still streaming down his cheeks. He staggered getting up but the smile on his face still couldn't be erased. With tentative steps, he moved closer to her and as soon as he knew it, he was inches off her bed, staring at her and all her entirety. Jiyong burst out in sobs once again as he went nearer. He held her thin and fragile hand as he descended down to softly kiss her lips. He rested her forehead on hers, sending the droplets down to her pale and hollow cheeks. 

The rest couldn't help but pity him. He looked broken both in the mind and heart. They saw how he looked at her with mixed of fright, hopelessness, and happiness. Jiyong was a hot mess and the dazed and longing look he was giving her definitely proved that. 

"She's just sleeping now." Bom said as she wiped off her tears. They weren't that close but judging from his actions, it looked like Dara and him were. She felt obligated to fill him in even though she had a lot of questions in her mind. "They injected her with some sleeping medication because she woke up in panic and couldn't calm down. They said she would wake up in a couple of hours." 

Jiyong nodded absently, kissing Dara's slightly warm palm. She was so thin... thinner than what she looked like when she was with him. He could almost make out every thin crease her skin made in contact with her bones. Her hair was longer than what she used to have it. The life in them seemed to have died down just as her body slowly did. She still retained that same pale glow. It was just... it felt completely surreal. Her face was still the same and he could've sworn he fell in love the 2nd time despite the grave situation she was in right now. 

All that mattered was that she was right in front of him. He could hold her without any borders in his way. It gave him the reassurance that she was indeed alive and it gave him hope that everything will be okay. 

Jiyong kissed her head again and brushed the hair away from her sleeping face. The sight of her in deep slumber somehow brought a smile on his face. He finally got the chance to see it. He locked their hands together as he continued to stare at her with an overwhelming feeling inside of him. 

"Welcome back." 

____________________________

Everything felt so foreign in her eyes. It was like she didn't belong in the room but she sure as hell knew that she was the only one who really fit in the confined yet comfortable space.

The guy who was sleeping beside her and not letting go of her hand was definitely foreign to her. He was laying his head on the bed, facing away from her. He had a tight grip on her hand and she didn't have the energy to pry it off. 

She could also see how her unnie slept on her other side while her boyfriend slept on the couch along with 2 other people that looked vaguely familiar to her. The sun was already high up in the sky from what her window was showing her. She wonders if people sleeping until the afternoon was a norm now. She just sighed.

Her eyes darted back to her hand that was locked with his. She noticed how her hand looked incredibly small and fragile compared to his. She brought her spare hand up to the light that was passing through the window. Bones and veins were all she observed. The skin above it looked aged. It was as if she was looking at the hand of her grandma. Her arms were no different either. They were alarmingly bony, there wasn't even a shred of fat or muscle in them. 

Her fingers unconsciously traced a strand of her hair. She started from the root and then it reached to her shoulder but it didn't stop then. Her fingers kept going and so did her hair. Sooner or later, she finally reached an end and she could've sworn by the end of it that it reached almost reached past her waist. The woman pouted. How was she going to be able to manage this wild mane? 

Her attention suddenly went towards the foot of the bed, specifically her neatly covered legs. She was willing her feet to move. When that didn't work, she tried with her toes but it still didn't work. A great sense of fear washed over her. She put her hand over her legs and felt for it but could feel little to none. She lightly punched it and then smacked it with all her strength. All she ends up feeling are slight jolts but nothing more. She grew pale, her hands trembling waking up the guy beside her. 

"Dara...?"

The woman ignored the voice and just continued to look at her legs with distraught in her eyes. Jiyong quickly stood up to envelop her in a tight hug while repeatedly muttering her name. Dara on the other hand. started panicking. Her breath was going ragged and tears started to overflow down her cheeks. Her arms were squeezed between his chest and hers and she was trying to pry them out but Jiyong wouldn't let her. The others started to wake up once they heard some faint whimpering and rustling. 

"Hey, are you okay Dara?" Bom quickly asked, noticing her anxiousness. 

Dara was able to get off of Jiyong's hold while the latter looked at her confusedly. She looked frantic as she uncovered the blanket from her body only to see them showing an array of bruises and scars. They were the tokens that her father left for her to remember. They were the tokens that always made her feel miserable. She shook her leg but they just hanged almost lifelessly in her hands. All of them watched how she tried desperately to move most of her lower body. She was bawling in front of them, distressed and afraid. 

Jiyong couldn't take it anymore. He cupped her face to make her look at him and looked at her earnestly. Dara was struggling and flailing against him but after a few minutes, she began to calm down. She closed her eyes tight and let the warm and salty liquid drop down to her chin. He slowly descended down to meet her lips and there he tasted the sorrow that was mixed in with her sweetness. She didn't know what was going on with her but she just found herself weakly responding to his kiss. His hands were trailing back to cup the underside of her ears and her sobbing gradually subsided. 

He was the first one to pull away but before she was able to see his face, he hugged her again and buried his face on the crook of her neck. She felt her neck getting wet and it took her a while to notice that he was crying. His shoulders shook and his muffled cried seemed loud and clear in her ears. She unconsciously reached for his back and pulled him closer. 

Dami and Jay walked up behind Jiyong while Seunghyun was beside Bom. She saw how they all looked at the guy she was hugging with sympathetic eyes. 

"Dara... Oh my god... Dara... you're ing alive." she heard him say and again she didn't know why that brought a smile to her lips. Was she ever this overly familiar to strangers? He even kissed her and she just allowed it. That didn't sound so much like her. 

Although there was something about him... something about him that made her feel comfortable and at ease. 

"That's enough, Jiyong, you might hurt her. She's still weak." the woman behind him said. "Sandara needs to rest."

Wait, Jiyong? Where did she hear that name before? 

Dara felt him hesitantly let go of her and there she saw his face in full view. It was him! It was the guy in his dreams. It was...

"Kwon Jiyong." she mumbled. 

Jiyong started to tear up ag