You probably don’t remember what it had felt like when you first entered into the world. Was it cold? Was it hot? You don’t have an idea about your surroundings. You don’t remember your first embrace with your parent but you do know that they were going to help you grow up in this world.

I remembered. Being born into the world, feeling my mom’s embrace for the first time. It felt beautiful… so beautiful that it hurts. I don’t remember anything at all until now… when I’m probably breathing my last breath.

I’m thankful for my parents that had brought me into this world and I’m glad that my life had been filled with beautiful, delicate roses- but no roses can survive without their piercing thorns- just like the one that had stabbed through my heart… not pierce, but stabbed through.

I should have known. I should have left. If I did, the thorn would not have even touched me… and cost me to be in so much pain.

I remembered how I had met the thorn. I shouldn’t feel so happy jut mentioning about the thorn. But I don’t regret it…

⟼

Bang! Was all I heard. I don’t remember anything at all after that. I just know that before, I was happily rushing down towards the airport’s car park to be greeted by a sleek black Porsche that my father had brought for me as a gift when I had told him that I would want to come back to Korea from the United States.

“Good morning, Miss Jung,” someone approached me. I halted to find a man, wearing a ‘butler’ suit, bowing at me. The person got back up. “Welcome to Korean and…” he held up a car key in front of me. It was literally screaming for me to take it. “Here are your keys. Do you want me to dr-“ His eyes widen as he witness me, snatching the keys from his hand.

“Thank you Mr,” I half-skipped, half-ran to the black car. “And please call me Kyla. No need for the formalities.” I stopped in front of the car and slide into the opened driver’s door. I loved the new car smell with the newly placed leather seats.

“Ms-Ms Jung!” The man tried to run after me but I was already steering the car, zooming out of the car park.

Don’t mistake me for a rebellious girl. I am a very well mannered and patient girl but sometimes, a girl like me, has to be wild at times.

I had been driving for an hour before I found my eyelids dropping down. I lifted a hand from the steering wheel and reached over to rub my right eye.

“God…” I rolled my eyes and released a yawn. “I forgot about my jetlag.”

I was in trouble. I know that. I needed to stop the car but I couldn’t. I was driving blindly that I started to feel scared. I stepped on the pedal a little harder by accident and the car started to accelerate.

I finally got my eyes to open but the car was no longer moving.

Instead, glass shards from the car’s window greeted me. I remembered my heart started to triple in beating as I watched the glass shard pierce into my skin. My ears went silent-I only heard an eerie silence, and I remembered darkness overcoming me.

Don’t worry. This wasn’t the thorn that I was talking about… THIS is the thorn I meant.

The next time when I opened my eyes, bright white lights greeted me. I squirmed under it, trying to get my vision to adapt to this sudden change of light. My nose, on the other hand, caught a certain smell. I immediately winced against the smell.

My surroundings were silent- that was what I thought, before I heard a small beating sound on my right. I rolled over and realized that it was a heart-beating monitor.

“Where… where am I?” I asked myself in a whisper.

“You’re awake?” Another voice entered the room. I could hear a door sliding open as the person walked in. I was startled. I didn’t have any friends at all in Korea.

I slowly turned around to my front and found a boy, standing in front of me.

“Who…who are you?” I asked quietly. The boy gave me a gentle smile. My heart started to beat faster.

Everything about the boy right in front of me was breathtaking. His round, large sparkling eyes, his tinted full pink lips, his brown messy hair tugged into a cap… and even his pointy ears! Despite them looking a little like Yoda’s.

“Don’t worry. I was the one who got you here. You got into a car accident and I saw, so I quickly called for an ambulance,” he replied.

I realized that I was speaking in Korean, looking at how he understand me and replied me back in the native language of the country we were in right this moment.

“So… I’m in the hospital?” I asked quietly. The boy nodded in response. “Thank you… for getting me here, sir.”

He chuckled. “You can call me Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol,” he smiled.

I smiled in return. I opened my mouth to reply but the doors of my hospital room slid open again, revealing the ‘butler’ man that had greeted me at the airport. My mouth was left hanging. The boy, Chanyeol, noticed the man and gestured at me that he was going to go. I wanted to call him back but the ‘butler’ man interrupted me.

“Miss Jung! Are you o-“ He started, looking concerned.

“Kyla. Don’t call me Miss Jung. It’s annoying,” I replied. He kept quiet and produced a tablet from his sleeves. I was amazed that he could stuff a gigantic bulky machinery into his clothing.

“Your, your father is concern about you,” the man got back into his formal tone. I glanced at the screen to find my parents looking at me, concern was written all over their faces.

“Yes, I am okay, mom and dad,” I tried to smile at them, to assure them that I was really okay but I was too bothered to talk to them. The boy from before distracted me. Park Chanyeol. And I was interested to know who he was.

And this is the thorn I was talking about. The one who had broke my heart yet I still want more and more. Park Chanyeol. He’s the thorn that had pierced through my heart.

It took me a couple of weeks to recover from that minor injury-it was said by the doctors to be a serious one but nothing really bothered me.

I was allowed to walk around the hospital after spending three days lying on the uncomfortable hospital bed. On that first day when I was allowed to walk, I walked around my floor. It was boring but I knew that that was the way a hospital was.

After a few minutes of walking, I realized that I was getting hungry so I decided to head to the nearest vending machines which were at the opposite of the elevators.

I was shocked at first. Right in front of me was the charming boy that had rescued me from the car accident. I turned around to walk away but I was too slow. He saw me and called me.

“Girl that I rescued!” He called out. I halted and pressed my lips together- like a student getting caught by a teacher for a wrongdoing.

I quietly turned around and found him smiling at me. He waved his hand. I gave him a small smile and walked towards him.

“Hi, Chanyeol,” I breathed.

“Why are you walking around?” He asked before looking behind him.

“Oh, did you want to get a drink from the vending machine?” I gave a slight nod and he stood out of the way.

“So, how are you doing?” He asked me. I glanced from the vending machine to him.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “Thank you for asking…” I turned back to the machine, staring at it confusedly. I was having a difficulty; trying to understand the words written on the vending machine.

A hand gripped my shoulder gently. I turned around and found Chanyeol with a worried look.

“Are you okay, Kyla?” He asked. “I have been calling your name since just now but you didn’t react at all.”

“You-you know my name?” I asked surprisingly in my weird Korean accent that I was trying to learn. It happened all of a sudden, earning a laugh from Chanyeol.

“Of course,” he nodded. “It’s rude if you only know my name.”

This caused me to blush in embarrassment. “Oh no…” I whispered, and realized that I was still having trouble with the foreign machine in front of me. “Oh damn it,” I muttered under my breath in English.

Unfortunately, he heard me and laughed. “You don’t understand this?” He asked in another language: English. He pointed at the vending machine. My eyes widen.

“You-you know English?” I stammered. He gave me another laugh, revealing his pink, healthy gums.

“Of course,” he replied. “So, do you still need help with the machine or not?” He raised his eyebrow. I gave him a quick nod and he smiled, before walking towards the vending machine. Park Chanyeol… he’s definitely a man of surprises.

He made the rest of my stay at the hospital truly more interesting and fun. I’ve learnt so much more about him while he learnt about me. I too found out that he came to the hospital to deal and accompany his needy friend, Baekhyun. Apparently, Baekhyun had accidentally hurt his tailbone when he was running away from another friend when he was pulling his prank with Chanyeol.

Getting to know Chanyeol means learning so many things about the other person, for example: He was the same age as me and, he had been learning English through some online tuitions that were ‘needed’ for him.

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