Marked Hearts

The first time Nayeon came to was when she was being moved from the helicopter to a hospital with a doctor asking her questions she was too tired to answer. The second time she was glumly greeted by her family who she hadn't been on good terms with since she didn't listen to her mother and cut ties with the prince. Saerom and her dad were at least kind enough to offer her smiles before they left to let her sleep, while her mother and Baekhyun remained mostly quiet, her brother wishing her well. As for the third time, which was only hours later, she opened her eyes to see Jongdae sitting at the foot of her hospital bed and a suited guard in the room by the door.

“Hey Sleeping Beauty,” Jongdae greeted when he saw her stir.

Nayeon snorted at his jest. “You're a dork Jongdae.”

The guy was quiet while the guard snickered from his post. His voice sounded familiar, but Nayeon's mind couldn't focus long enough to figure out who it belonged to.

“Wow morphine really does mess with people,” Jongdae muttered after a moment.

“Morphine? Sounds gross,” she commented scrunching up her nose. “I like coffee cake.”

Now both guys laughed. Jongdae slapping his bent knee as he cackled.

“I'll inform the prince she's awake,” the guard said.

As he moved to exit the room his name came to Nayeon who lulled her head to the side on her pillow to see him better. “Mr. Luhan, you're here!” she smiled at him.

Luhan stopped his leave to look over his shoulder at the girl, a faint grin on his young face. “Yes Miss,” he nodded.

“And you're not fighting with Master Jongdae? Why?” she questioned confused. The security guard and the actor didn't exactly get along since day one and were constantly butting heads whenever they were in the same room.

Luhan turned slightly more to shoot a look at Jongdae who fidgeted at the end of her bed. “You thought I was a creep, but you have her calling you master. Who's the real Mr. Kim?” he retorted.

“It's an inside joke! Shut up creeper,” Jongdae shot back.

Luhan just rolled his large eyes and left with a polite smile towards Nayeon who was giggling at the exchange. That was more like the friends she knew.

Once the guard was out of the room Jongdae huffed and stared at Nayeon with crossed arms. “That was insanely stupid what you did,” he chastised.

Nayeon pouted. “Sorry, I didn't know master was a secret.”

Jongdae gave a breathy laugh as he shook his head. “No you drugged up dope, getting stabbed,” he clarified.

Nayeon's eyes widened. “I got stabbed?” Her hands patted at her abdomen and she quickly found the wound as a small pinch of pain formed under her hands. Then what happened at the beach came back to her in blurry chunks; a flash of silver, Sehun's frantic manner, something being wrong. “Oh right,” she murmured. “I was stabbed. I'm going to be okay, right?”

Her friend nodded his head as he released a tired sigh. “Yes, you're going to be fine. Doctor even said it shouldn't leave too big of a scar when the stitches come out. I still can't believe you threw yourself in front of a blade. What if that crazy had been aiming higher, or the paramedics hadn't arrived in time, huh? Seriously Nayeon, why'd you do that?” His voice got weaker at the end as something glistened along his lower lashes.

“Because,” she shrugged unsure. It made sense in the moment, her body was certain about her actions then, but the cloud over her mind now was hiding the reason why from her. Struggling to remember she clamped her eyes closed and picture the hectic scene of the beach again. “Because Sehun was. . .”

“Sehun? Since when do you address the prince so formally?' Jongdae blurted out.

Popping her eyes open Nayeon felt a flush creeping up her neck as she diverted her gaze to her hands that were still lying on her stomach, her left one had an IV connected to it. “Ah, s-since he asked m-me out,” she answered, embarrassed.

“He did? When?” Jongdae exclaimed excitedly. His earlier scolding completely forgotten for much bigger news.

“The night before,” she said shyly. As she recalled the beautiful sunset over the lake the memory of the stabbing on the beach came back along with what was missing. Turning her right arm over slowly, nervous to see what was, or was not there. She could hear her heart rate climb on the beating machine next to her as she only saw the pale expansion of skin on her forearm, no interruptions, no crimson mark.

“Nayeon? What's –”

Tears were already trailing down her face as the door to the room was thrown open and in marched two men. Jongdae's words were cut off at their entrance as he and Nayeon stared over at them, the tallest coming to a halt in the middle of the room with wide eyes that stared back at Nayeon, who's gaze flickered down to the prince's bare arm to see no hint of the mark on him either. The tears fell faster and heavier as her hazy mind started to clear more, the morphine wearing off.

“It's gone,” she cried.

Then the prince closed the space between him and her, scooping up Nayeon's right hand in his as he leaned over the edge of her bed so his face was close to hers. “No, no, no,” he shushed softly. He squeezed Nayeon's hand tightly in his as she continued to cry. The room tensely silent as the two of them stared at one another, Sehun's face blurry from her tears.

“I-It's g-gon-ne,” she stammered.

“No,” the prince shook his head. “No, it's not.”

“What's gone?” Jongdae muttered.

“The mark,” Nayeon sobbed. “It was a lie!”

The prince released her hand while Luhan urged Jongdae to leave the room with the promise to explain what was going on. Nayeon clenched at the blanket that laid over her as her sobs grew louder and shook her whole body, a dull tugging pain in her core.

“Nayeon, listen to me,” the prince said as gently as he could while sounding firm and commanding. The girl took a while to control her crying, sniffling almost nonstop as she looked up at him. “It's not gone. We both still have the mark, it just moved,” he explained calmly.

“M-Moved? Where? How?” she asked desperately confused.

All Sehun did in response was pull down the collar of his gray v-neck to show the space below his collarbone over where his heart was that was marked with the familiar crimson swirling circle. Nayeon's tears slowed as she blinked the ones in her eyes away so she could see better. Without thinking she lifted her right hand, the blanket falling out of her now loose grip, and reached up to run her fingers over the prince's smooth skin. It wasn't raised like a fresh tattoo would be, nor did it rub off like marker. It was real.

Moving to pull the collar of her hospital gown aside she murmured, “Do I have it?” Her gown wouldn't stretch to reveal her chest which only frustrated her.

The prince stopped her hand with one of his own while the other cupped her chin and made her look back up at him. “Calm down. The doctor checked, you do. They're still in the same spots,” he assured her.