“Jongin-ah” Sohee calls. She didn’t know why she called after him, especially when Gaeul was right there. The last thing she wanted was to face Gaeul directly. But the urgency to catch onto Jongin forced her to do so.

Jongin looks up at Sohee with confusion. He didn’t understand why she was calling him when he was right next to Gaeul.

Sensing something strange, Gaeul slowly walks away from the two and heads into the MRI room alone.

As Gaeul disappears into the room, Sohee walks over to Jongin. She places her arm onto his shoulder and smiles. She just wanted to mark her territory. Kim Jongin was ultimately hers.

Acknowledging Jongin’s puzzled look, Sohee replies, “I just wanted to say hi.”

He nods and takes Sohee’s arm off his shoulder. “I don’t think I can keep the promise I made last night. I made a mistake.” Jongin tells Sohee with the greatest courage. It was possibly the first time Jongin ever refused to Sohee’s request.

“Mis…take?” Sohee’s eyes widen as she cannot believe Jongin just rejected her proposal.

However, Jongin wasn’t about to give in. He knew marriage was too far and there was no guarantee that Gaeul would even fall for him.

“I don’t think I can marry someone I don’t love. Besides, she would not want to marry me either.” Jongin tries explaining to Sohee who is staring at him with disbelief.

Sohee shakes her head. It didn’t matter that her proposal was infeasible, the fact that Jongin was refusing to help her brought major confusion and disbelief. She had never imagined that Jongin could ever refuse to her requests. He was supposed to be the one always by her side…he was her protector!

“No, don’t you dare say no to me! You’re the only one I trust!” Sohee screams devastated. She clenches her fists and glares at Jongin with tears filled in her eyes.

“Sohee-yah…” Jongin mumbles apologetically.

“Jongin-ah, I only have you. You don’t have to remain married to her…just get her out of my sight. Get her out of my life and Baekhyun-ssi’s life.” Sohee pleads. Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she looks into Jongin’s warm eyes.

The moment his looked away from her, Sohee could tell he was going to listen to her again. Jongin could not escape from her yet. No, Jongin would always stay by her side, and she would make sure he stayed right where he was.

Finally, just as she expected, Jongin nods regretfully.

Immediately Sohee throws her arms around his neck and gives him a tight hug.

Jongin walks into the MRI room. He grabs Gaeul’s medical chart on the wall and scans through the check-ups.

“Are there any signs of further damage to the brain or body?” Jongin asks the radiologist scanning through Gaeul’s MRI screen.

Gaeul on the other side of the room, snuggled beneath the white MRI machine, lies patiently. All her life, she was stuck between machines and locked in the hospital, simply hoping one day she could escape this place and live a normal life.

“Lack of blood circulation leaves her body fragile and less immune. Her brain is functioning fine now, but with consistent lack of oxygen, she might need an oxygen tank or else she will have brain damages too.” The radiologist explains to Jongin while pointing to the screen with Gaeul’s MRI scans.

Jongin looks at Gaeul’s weak body and wonders how she ended up in this state. Was there really no cure for her? Glancing at her chart in the morning, he noticed that she had been residing in this hospital her whole life. She probably never attended school, or walked beyond the walls of this concrete building.

“How long have you known her?” Jongin asks the radiologist.

“Longer than I’ve known my daughter.” The radiologist sighs. He had hoped Gaeul would leave this hospital once she was old enough for a heart transplant, but with numerous failures, Gaeul never got to leave. 

Jongin nods solemnly. Her medical chart showed that she had three surgeries, but two hearts malfunctioned and one heart was unfit in size, so now she was on the waiting list again.

“It’s so unfortunate. She’s such a sweet girl. A heart of gold.” The radiologist murmurs as he closes the MRI system down.

“Gaeul-ah, your screening is done. You can come down and change,” he speaks to her through the microphone. “Dr. Byun was great in helping Gaeul, but I heard you were better…I hope you can help that poor girl, Dr. Kim.” He tells Jongin with deep sincerity.

“Hey…so how was that MRI check up?” Jongin asks awkwardly. It was a struggle striking a new conversation with Gaeul. After all, they had a rough start to this relationship so everything right now was in the awkward phase.

Gaeul, confused at Jongin’s meaningless question, shrugs her shoulders. After the MRI check-up, Gaeul and Jongin were walking back to her room, but the way back seemed like a very long distance.

“So…uhm…what do you like about this hospital?” Jongin tries to strike up another conversation.

“hmm…I’m not sure…”

“But you’ve been here all your life. You’ve got to like something?”

“I did like somethings. But once you spend every second of your life in a place where people come because they are sick…you don’t have much to like.”

The conversation reached an end again. Jongin couldn’t think of anything to add to Gaeul’s comment. He couldn’t imagine spending a whole life time in this place.

“I guess if your heart wasn’t defunct, you would have-“

“What did you say?” Gaeul interrupts him sharply.

Jongin, confused as to why Gaeul was suddenly so upset, repeats his comment slowly. “I said, if your heart wasn’t defunct, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Wow…and for a moment I thought our relationship was reaching a turning point. But, you are simply just a rude person.” Gaeul tells him angrily.

Jongin frowns. He did not understand why Gaeul was suddenly angry. “What do you mean?” He asks her.

“Just like how people don’t call obese people fat to their face, I don’t appreciate it when people call my heart defunct. It may seem defunct to you, and in fact it probably is, but it helped me survive till today. So don’t talk about my heart as if you knew me all along.” Gaeul tells Jongin firmly.

Immediately Jongin feels awful and stupid.

“I’m sorry. Completely my mistake.” He apologizes sincerely.

Gaeul sighs and crosses her arms. “Apology accepted…but you’ll have to pay,” she adds with a smirk.

“Pay?” Jongin asks curiously. Was she expecting some cash? Did she need cash?

Gaeul nods. “I want you to promise that you’ll fix my defunct heart, so that I can leave this place and have a normal life.”

A promise…another promise. People seemed to be demanding many promises from him recently. But sure, as a doctor he felt obliged to help his patients. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s what my doctors said…but the best effort never translated into a fixed heart.” Gaeul mutters softly. She was sick of hearing ‘trying my best’ or ‘do my best’ from her doctors. All her life people have been trying their best on her, but she was still stuck in this place regardless of their efforts.

Jongin glances down at Gaeul who looks gloomy and unhopeful. He couldn’t even imagine living in a hospital for more than a year, so how did this girl grow up living caged in this place? What would her life, her days have been like?

He stops walking and pulls Gaeul with him to stop. He turns her around and looks straight into her eyes.

“I don’t make promises with my patients…but you’ll be my first promise. I’ll get you out of this place. I promise.” Jongin affirms confidently.

However, Gaeul still looks at him with doubt.

“Here, let’s do a pinky promise.” Jongin sticks his pinky finger out to Gaeul.

Gaeul smiles. “People still do pinky promises?”

“Of course! All my promises are pinky promises. Heck, even my job contract was sealed with a pinky promise.” Jongin tells her seriously.