“Joon Young ah!”

No Eul’s scream was the last thing he heard before passing out. Then came the sensations.

Cold, hard ground.

Soft hands, his hair.

“…BP 95/60, pulse is thready”

“Joon Young, please wake up…please…”

The voices drifted in and out of his mind. Sirens.

Then it was dark and quiet for a while. Soon after everything went quiet, memories started drifting through his mind.

No Eul with pigtails, helping him up off the ground in elementary school.

Himself, writing “I like you. Go out with me No Eul.” on pieces of paper then folding them up and throwing them on No Eul’s desk at school. No Eul, tossing a glare his way and then shoving all the notes into the bottom of her backpack without reading them.

The teddy bear he’d spent hours convincing himself to give to her. No Eul, fire blazing in her eyes, shoving the bear back into his arms. Disappointment that she had been angry with him instead of happy.

No Eul coldly telling him “We’re not dating. Stop playing with me like this.”

No Eul feeding him soup when he was sick during their cold war. He was delirious but he still pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Waking up after his fever broke to find his room empty.

No Eul, brave and beautiful, talking her way out of danger.

And then as he’d last seen her, bent over his prone frame; her light haloed face a mask of fear. “Joon Young!” The scream echoed in his memory as he remembered the sheer terror in her eyes. No Eul….

“No Eul..”

Joon Young slowly opened his eyes and then blinked at the brightness. His hand was numb.

Joon Young let his gaze drift towards his numb hand and saw No Eul sleeping there. Her face was turned toward him and she had hair falling across her eyes.

He smiled and brushed the hair out of her face before softly caressing her cheek.

His No Eul.

----------------------

When No Eul woke up a few hours later, Joon Young was watching a program on the muted TV.

He hadn’t moved his hand from under her face so the first thing he felt was the shift in her breathing pattern, indicating that she had woken up.

“You’re awake?” he asked.

No Eul looked at him and blinked the sleep from her eyes.

Joon Young raised his eyebrow as he held back a laugh.

“My hand thanks you. I haven’t been able to feel it for a few hours now.”

No Eul stared at him blankly for a few more seconds before her brain woke up and registered what was going on.

She gasped and then threw her arms around his neck, hugging him hard.

“Joon Young! You’re awake! Oh my God, you’re awake!”

Joon Young laughed and hugged her back.

“Did you really think I was going to leave you to deal with your blind dates alone?”

“It’s been over a month now! You were showing signs of waking up but when you didn’t…. I…. I was so scared…..”