"I'm starting to think you like coming here."   

A familiar, melodic voice rang in her ears, followed by a giggle, as soon as she opened her eyes – to the same white ceiling. There she was, at the hospital. Once again.  

Only this time she felt more relieved than frustrated for being at the hospital. Because she had woken up, when she'd thought her eyes would never open again. 

Slowly, she started taking in the environment. The familiar layout of the hospital room, including Luda's ever-smiling figure. The pain in her wrists, her tailbone, and her neck. The awkward feeling of two small tubes poking the insides her nostrils. The IV drip taped on her hand, under blueish-yellowish bruises along her forearm.  

With every new sensation she noticed, even if they were painful, a wave of gratitude washed over her. Because feeling pain could only mean she was very much alive. 

"Do you know what happened this time?" Luda asked, holding her hand. 

Cheng Xiao turned to the inside of her mind to recall the horrid, traumatic scene. "I remember everything until he lit up the match. I must have fainted right then." As she was reminded of the reason she'd been sent there, the questions started coming up all at once. "How am I even alive? How long ago was that? Where's Kim? Was the building damage? Did anyone else get hurt? Does Eunseo know---" 

"Hey!" Luda interrupted playfully. "I can't keep up with all those questions! I know you're confused and you need answers, but I have to beg you to stay as calm as you can. You inhaled quite a lot of smoke and we don't want your breathing to destabilize due to anxiety, okay? You have to give your lungs a rest." 

Cheng Xiao nodded, containing the tingling in her stomach. 

"It's almost midnight now. It happened at around 5:30 pm, so it hasn't been that long." Luda started explaining. "You would have woken up even earlier, but we put you on sedatives and painkillers since you have quite some physical injuries... but fortunately, the fire didn't get too close to you. Your burns aren't all that serious. The problem was the toxic smoke. You were unconscious, and if you'd stayed there for a few more minutes, you could have died of intoxication." Luda's expression brightened. "But don't worry, you're recovering just fine. You'll be alright in no time. In fact, why don't I let your friends in? They've been dying to see you!"  

Cheng Xiao gave her a faint smile, then nodded. There was nothing she wanted more than to see people she might have never seen again – especially her. 

Luda opened the door to let in Mei Qi, Yeoreum and Xuan Yi – none of them people she expected to see. Cheng Xiao's face turned into a frown as she saw nobody else was about to come in. 

"Where's Eunseo?" She inquired. The rest of the girls sighed and exchanged glances with each other, as if they'd expected her question. 

"Eunseo... isn't here." Yeoreum said, avoiding Cheng Xiao's gaze, biting on her lip. 

"Why? Couldn't she come? Does she know I'm here? Did... something happen?" Cheng Xiao's eyebrows furrowed and her gut gave her a bad feeling, as the atmosphere in the room was tense and shady. 

The three visiting girls lowered their heads. None of them spoke for a while, only to worsen Cheng Xiao's discomfort and suspicion. 

Luda nodded at Yeoreum, who nodded back and started talking. 

"Me, Eunseo and Mei Qi had just arrived at the company building when the evacuation started---" 

"Why?! What were you all doing there?" Cheng Xiao interrupted, becoming more agitated. 

"I know, it sounds weird, and I'll get to that later, but let me finish." Yeoreum interjected. "We were about to head outside with the rest of the people when we spotted the fire. The alarms were off and the firemen would take a while to arrive, so... Eunseo ran away from my side and broke all the way into the kitchen, convinced you were there." Yeoreum finally faced Cheng Xiao with a reluctant expression. "She jumped right into the fire to save you." 

"She what?!" Cheng Xiao sat up, ignoring the pain in her arms and lower back. Her eyes bulged out, her chest threatening to collapse as the machine next to her beeped faster. "What happened to her?!" She yelled, all of the dots connecting in her head. The girls' faces when they'd entered. Their somber expressions, their eyes that refused to meet hers, their reluctance in speaking.  

Time stopped for her, as she prepared herself to hear any of them reveal the worst possible answer. Her body transpired fear of hearing it, and at the same time, hope that she was only overreacting, as usual.  

"Cheng Xiao, it's fine!" Luda ran to her to gently push her body back into a laying position. "Thankfully, she caught the attention of an officer. He used a fire extinguisher nearby to contain the flames and managed to enter the kitchen. It seems like when he got to you, Eunseo was trying to carry you on her shoulders, but she was already losing her senses and she'd never be able to pull both of you out of there by herself... It was a miracle, really. Since the emergency team arrived very soon after officer Jeon removed you two from the kitchen, you both got immediate assistance. But since she was in direct contact with the flames, she suffered some burns aside from intoxication... So she is still undergoing treatment at the moment. She's just a few rooms away from you and out of danger, okay?!"  

Cheng Xiao heaved a long sigh of relief, accompanied by a dizzy spell. She rubbed her hands on her face and let out a few more deep breaths, a few nervous tears escaping along. 

"Why did she think she could go save me by herself? Just to think of what could have happened..."  

"I know it was a reckless thing for her to do, Xiao..." Mei Qi stepped in. "But on the other hand, with the fire alarms off and no police appointed to that area... If Eunseo hadn't broken in and called an officer's attention to herself, it might have been too late before anyone noticed you were in there. Only a few minutes later and it would have been enough... So if it hadn't been for her suicidal heroism, you might not have survived. I know it's hard at this time, but you should be thankful that she's that crazy and that lucky." Mei Qi gave her a sympathetic smile. 

Cheng Xiao quietly reflected on Mei Qi's words. Both her and Eunseo had turned out alive and well, all because of her foolish bravery. She couldn't help but feel the guilt, and at the same time the blessing that she was loved to a point Eunseo would risk her own life for her. Knowing that she was recovering well let her relax, but it didn't shrink the desire of seeing her. A desire she'd have to contain for the moment.   

"Did anybody else get hurt?" Cheng Xiao asked, accepting the tissue Luda offered her to wipe her tears. 

"Officer Jeon Jungkook is also undergoing treatment, but he's recovering just as well." Luda gave an assuring smile.  

"Looks like there wasn't any serious damage to the company either. They're already working on fixing it, too!" Yeoreum winked and showed a thumbs up.  

"Well... actually, someone else got hurt. Kim." Mei Qi had a hint of a smirk in the corner of her lip as she held her chin high. 

She was barely out of the daze of waking up. With having to take in so much information at once, then the scare over Eunseo, she'd forgotten all about him. Which had been a good thing, since at the very mention of his name, a shiver traveled through her spine.  

"What about him?" 

"Chu Sojung cornered him. Right when she knew he was about to pull the trigger on her, she shot his shoulder first and disarmed him. Killer reflexes, huh? He got arrested on the spot." Mei Qi let her satisfied smirk appear.  

"He's receiving surgery while handcuffed to his stretcher." Luda informed. "He'll stay under arrest while waiting for trial, too." 

"Really? They have enough on him to arrest him?" Cheng Xiao asked, a wave of relief and anticipation replacing fear and anger. 

"You bet. Justice is finally happening." Xuan Yi finally spoke, baring her gummy smile. She gently Chen Xiao's cheek, which made her notice the bandages on her hands and arms. 

"Xuan Yi, your...?" Cheng Xiao widened her eyes at her. 

"Yeah, I know. These things are bound to happen when you're knocked out and you wake up locked inside your own car at the very edge of a cliff. You have to break some glasses and whatnot to get out, then find your way with injuries on your arms, no phone, and no idea where you actually are." Xuan Yi shrugged and laughed while talking, as if it was the funniest, most trivial thing that had ever happened to her. "An interesting experience I managed to get out of using my stellar communication skills. Bastards only wanted to prank me real bad, but Wu Xuan Yi doesn't get messed with." She winked. 

"What?!" Cheng Xiao had her chin dropped at her. "Why would that happen? What bastards?" 

"Remember I tried to warn you? I might have been advised against that and completely ignored it." Xuan Yi sighed and looked at the other two, musing at Cheng Xiao's puzzled face. "We have a lot to catch up on, don't we?" 

Cheng Xiao could not react to most of what the girls told her, immobilized by shock, so the conversation flowed with little interruption. 

She was in sheer disbelief with everything that had been going on under her nose. The scale of what Kim had done surpassed by far what she ever thought possible... The lengths he'd gone through, the people he manipulated and used to get to her... When she trusted him like family the whole time. 

And Mei Qi... who was actually a world-class engineer and his step-daughter, ending up as a puppet because she had dirt on him. No way would such a story cross her mind. Even more unbelievable was the fact that, in the end, she was responsible for getting the security system back up in time for Kim to be caught on tape. On top of that, she'd nearly died for it, along with officer trainee Dayoung. He went as far as sending a squad to the control room to get them, but gladly, reinforcements arrived fast and well prepared. The gang got arrested or shot down on the spot.  

Another puppet of his was Bona, of all people. Like Mei Qi, she'd been forced to cooperate, under the threat of someone's life, which in her case was Cheng Xiao's. To think of the horrible things he'd forced her to do, making her believe she was only keeping her out of worse danger? That was beyond sick, and thinking of it almost made her forget how much she wanted to keep anger and resentment away. 

Bona had it the worst of everyone involved, yet how could she have hidden it so well from her? How could she take the blame for everything, let her hate her for something she hadn't done?  

"I'm so stupid. How didn't I see any of this happening?" Cheng Xiao buried her face in her hands. "I was so absorbed in my own life, as always, and so many people ended up suffering and getting hurt to protect me. I don't deserve what any of you went through, believing it was for my sake. If only I had noticed it, I could have done something." 

"Hey, Xiao." Mei Qi laid a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it. "Don't say that. He had us all in the palm of his hand. As we said, it only kept spinning out of our control. We had our hands completely tied. If you were to find out, not only you, but also me and Bona could have had it so much worse. If we went through everything, it's because it was the only thing we could have done, not only for you, but for us too. Got it? There's only one person to blame here, and you know who that is."  

Cheng Xiao lifted her teary eyes to find Mei Qi kneeling next to her bed, her face showing a comforting smile. She then turned her head to Xuan Yi, who was standing to her other side, and hugged her waist. 

"Xuan Yi, I'm so sorry. If I had at least listened to you this morning, we could have stopped today from happening. I'm sorry you paid the price for trying to warn me when I didn't even take the time to listen to you." She wailed into Xuan Yi's shirt, leaving wet spots on it.  

Xuan Yi gently the back of her head. 

"There's no use thinking of that anymore, Xiao. I know why you did it, and I know my approach wasn't exactly the most convincing." She chuckled. "We should all simply be grateful that everyone's safe now, don't you think?" 

Cheng Xiao nodded against Xuan Yi's stomach, then raised her eyes to meet hers, as the thought occurred to her. 

"Xuan Yi... you've... been close to Bona, right? I mean, you mentioned you'd been seeing her." 

Xuan Yi's slightly red cheekbones rose as she nodded. 

"How is..." Cheng Xiao reframed her question, realizing how absurd it was to ask how she was doing. "What's going to happen to her now?"  

"Officer Chu told us on the phone that all is set for her to be released tomorrow and await trial in freedom." Xuan Yi's eyes glistened with how proud she was to convey the good news. "I was going to pick her up, but... what do you think about doing that yourself?"  

"Do you think that's a good idea? And I mean... will I be okay to leave here by tomorrow?" Both girls turned to nurse Luda, who was likely to be listening as she ran her errands around the room. 

"We were planning to let you go tomorrow morning, if all is still well." She smiled at them. "Both Doctor Nam and Doctor Roseanne Park, who specializes in fire victims, have checked up on you already. They don't think there's any reason to keep you stuck in here much longer. You'll have to do some at-home treatments and come back here a few times more, and that's all! We're not so sure about Eunseo yet, but we're hoping to let her go either tomorrow or the day after as well."  

"Is that settled, then?" Xuan Yi winked, as Cheng Xiao confidently winked back. "Then I guess we all need some rest, don't you think girls?" 

"And food!" Yeoreum said as she patted her stomach. 

"And I can finally go back home. My mom... I wonder if she knows already." Mei Qi sighed. 

The three girls left as Cheng Xiao thanked them for the visit. She couldn't feel more appreciative that they'd taken their time to see her, when they'd all had such a long day. Plus, finally, she knew the truth. It felt like freedom from all the unjustified anger and resentment that had been consuming her thoughts.  

And as for the one at fault for all of it... The least he occupied her mind from now on, the better. Because in the end, he'd lost, and everyone was safe and sound.  

"Do you feel like you need to rest a bit more too?" Luda asked her. 

"I guess so, but before that--" Cheng Xiao started eagerly. 

"I knew it!" Luda interrupted with a laugh, then sighed. "Just for a little, okay?" 

When nurse Luda opened the door to that room for her, she was overwhelmed. Was it because her dearest, most precious person was in a hospital bed with several bandages and her nose tubed, just like herself? Was it because she was there, alive and awake, when for a few moments she thought she'd never see her again? Was it because of the way her face melted and her eyes widened when she saw her enter the room?  

Her next instinct was to run and launch herself at her, but with the oxygen machine she had to carry around, that would be unreasonable. So she walked towards the bed as fast as she could and rested her face on her chest, as her hands cupped her cheeks. Eunseo wrapped her in a steady embrace, though taking care not to squeeze too hard, as her forearms were covered in bandages. They stood there for who knows how long, until Luda said something none of them quite heard before leaving and closing the door behind herself.  

"Do you know how stupid what you did was?" Cheng Xiao finally spoke, the sound muffled against Eunseo's chest. 

"I'm perfectly aware. But it turned out alright." She answered calmly as she her partner's hair. 

"What were you thinking?!" Cheng Xiao gripped the pillow behind Eunseo's head, the tension activating the pain on her bruises. 

"That I'd rather die there with you than live with the guilt of having done nothing when I knew you were there." 

"What did I ever do to deserve that? To deserve you risking your own life over mine? For you to be willing to die for me? And what about me? What if I'd survived but you didn't? What would be of me then? And how can I ever repay you?" Cheng Xiao couldn't control her violent sobs against Eunseo's chest, which barely allowed her to speak clearly. "Why do you always end up having to play superhero when I can't even take care of myself for my own sake? Why is it always you that ends up suffering because of me?" 

Eunseo unwrapped her arms and placed her hands on either side of Cheng Xiao's head, so her eyes met hers. 

"You deserve that because I love you." Eunseo stated, her eyes also growing tears. "I did it because your life means more to me than my own, and my own means nothing without you. That's what love is. I don't expect anything in return but for you to be happy. And if you being happy means that you love me back, I'm the happiest woman in the world."  

Cheng Xiao was lost in the depth of Eunseo's eyes and words. Her heart palpitated in a familiar way, the same way as when they'd first told each other of their love. Then, Cheng Xiao realized that even though the right thing to do was scold Eunseo for her recklessness, it was thanks to it that they could be together at that very moment. So she threw away all reason, for it to be replaced with love and gratitude. 

"I really should be mad at you." Cheng Xiao pouted. 

"But you're not." Eunseo poked the tip of her nose. 

"Because I know I'd do the same for you, and like me, you'd hate it, but I'd still do it." 

"Why would you still do it, then?" Eunseo  her face. 

"Because I, too, am selfish enough to prefer not living at all than living without you. You said that's what love is, right? Then am I in love with you?" Cheng Xiao smirked. 

"Yes. I guess you are." Eunseo whispered, as she pulled Cheng Xiao closer by her chin until the distance between their lips closed. 

Cheng Xiao tapped her foot on the floor of the waiting room at the police station. She'd be coming through the door any moment now, and she had no idea what to do or say to her. What did she think of her now? Would their relationship ever be the same? 

"Cheng Xiao?" Exy exaggerated her Chinese pronunciation, as always. Cheng Xiao turned her head to the source of the sound. She stood by the door, leaning on the frame. "You here to rid me of this stubborn blonde blockhead?" 

Exy stepped back and made a gesture with her hand. With baby steps, she finally showed herself and stepped into the waiting room, eyes locked on Cheng Xiao. She looked different. Even skinnier than she was before, dark circles under her eyes, baggy clothes, and a vulnerable posture instead of her usual confidence. But she still recognized her as the gorgeous Bona, the best friend she knew and loved.  

After a few seconds of analyzing each other in silence, Cheng Xiao bolted towards her and almost choked her in a hug. At first, the blonde was stunned, but in a second, she was squeezing her back, breaking into wild sobs. 

Exy observed them with a smile on her face for a while, before clearing . 

"Come on now, don't flood my headquarters! Off you go, you've wasted enough of my time being here." She patted Bona's back. "Don't you scare me like that again. Here I was thinking I'd tolerated a thug throughout high school. Tsk." 

After taking care of the paperwork and finishing the small talk with Exy, the girls headed to the car. The driver closed the doors for them and raised the dividing glass between the front and the back seats. Then, Cheng Xiao surveyed Bona, who kept looking down, her fists clenched on her lap.  

"I thought... Xuan Yi would pick me up." She said. 

"Why?" Cheng Xiao chuckled and wiggled her eyebrows at her. "Would you have preferred Xuan Yi? I heard you two have really bonded lately." 

"No!" Bona flailed her arms in denial, blushing. "I just didn't expect you to do that for me... after everything. I was so scared of what you'd think, and that your opinion wouldn't change at all when you heard the truth... I know what you've been feeling these past few weeks. It's not like I expect you to forgive me but..." She looked back down, biting her lip. 

"Bona!" Cheng Xiao held her hand and made her face her. "I've been hurt since your arrest, yes, but I can't even imagine how that compares to what you've been going through since the beginning... They told me everything... How did you make it through, when you couldn't even tell me about it?" 

"I just thought of you... And how scared I was that something truly bad would happen." She sighed. "That was how things worked... you were moved by fear of the worse, so you did the bad. I did horrible things to you Xiao... I lied, I sold you out, I kept secrets from you... And I was never strong or smart enough to find a way out of it. I was such a coward. I ended up taking the easiest route. I'm so sorry." 

"Bona, I'm the one who's sorry I didn't see it happening. You were about to sacrifice years of your life locked up in jail, because you were convinced nothing would happen to me that way. I know you had no other way out."  

"But how is it that easy for you to forgive me knowing I played a part in endangering you... and everything you worked for?"  

Cheng Xiao laid her head on Bona's shoulder and grabbed her arm. 

"You and I both know we've done things in the past we're anything but proud of. But if there's one thing I've learned since I lost my memory, it's that it doesn't matter who you were. What matters is who you are today, and the person you choose to be every day that follows. You don't have to let the past tell you who you are today, okay?" 

Cheng Xiao felt a hint of a smile on Bona's face against her head, as she nodded in agreement and held her hand.  

After everything she'd went through, Cheng Xiao now felt safe. She was safe, as was everyone she loved. 

--

A/N: This chapter actually feels short compared to the lengths of the previous chapters... maybe less intense? It's time for things to finally settle down, right? So, here it is, the last chapter if you don't count the epilogue that will be coming soon! I feel more and more bittersweet as the story grows closer to ending. I hope I didn't scare you too much with the previous chapter, everyone was alright in the end, right? :)

As always, thank you so much for supporting this story, and please look forward to the epilogue/actual last chapter!