Chapter 8

“I lied”

She lightly pushed him and with a puzzled stare, asked. “What?”

He looked down “I said I lied.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is not the first time I’m seeing you after 7 years.” He looked up and waited for her to say something, but instead was met by a confused frown.

“It took me awhile to process everything that happened, the accident, me not being able to walk, you leaving, my anger, my resentment, my loneliness and my realization of how I really feel about you.”

Joohyun blinked a couple of times, hearing but not really understanding. Yonghwa was spewing words she can’t grasp.

“I’m sorry what? What are you saying Yonghwassi? You’re saying things I can’t seem to take in”

He looked around not really knowing what he wants to say next, he didn’t mean to confess to her tonight.

“Can we go somewhere not cramped like here?”

Joohyun opened her door and walked towards their garden where a big gazebo seems to be waiting to witness whatever it is these two new comers has to offer. Yonghwa followed berating himself for that sudden burst of emotions. He was happy that for that day, he and Joohyun seemed to rekindle whatever small connection they had before.

When she reached the gazebo, she set her bag down and sat, Yonghwa followed and sat across her.

“Okay, again, what were you saying? I find the words earlier hard to believe reason why I would rather think I am slow in comprehension than actually think you mean what you said.”

Yonghwa rubbed his face with both his and ran it through his hair, disheveling it more in the process. There they sat across each other, illuminated by the bright garden lights of which Joohyun’s mom is amazingly proud of. The place is ethereal yet at that moment, for those two, the surrounding seems bleak.

He leaned forward and placed his arms on the table, interlacing his fingers together while looking at it “I was angry,” Yonghwa started. “When I woke up from the accident, I was very angry at everything, angry at my family, you, myself, my situation. I can’t feel my legs; I barely can feel my body from my waist down. Then I found out that you were still in a coma, then I thought, good for you.”

He chanced a glance at Joohyun and saw that she too was looking down and was slightly nodding in understanding. “I was furious Joohyun, I really am but as I count the days to my recovery and still you were a living dead on your hospital bed, I thought, maybe this is no longer right. I was already doing my therapy for my legs when I heard that you woke up. I sincerely was happy when I heard that. I’m not a bad person Joohyun, we may have had our misunderstandings but I never wished for anything bad to happen to you.”

Joohyun was still looking down as she shuffles her feet, she smiled a little hearing that.

“When I heard you were home, I even sent you a message of which I never got a reply. The next thing I know, I was reading a letter from you saying you’re breaking off our engagement, saying goodbye and leaving. It all happened to fast and I was confused myself. Mom said that you will only stay in the US for a few months or until you recover. So I waited. But you never came back”

Yonghwa continued, “I heard from mom that samchon and immo are calling you nonstop to come home but you wouldn’t budge, so they will be going to you instead and I thought, what if I do the same?”

Joohyun’s head jerked up and looked at Yonghwa straight in the eye.

“Yes. I went to see you. I asked mom to asked immo your address, I got it in no time. It was less than a year after our accident, you were still staying at your immo’s place. I went there but Yoona found out and she warned me not to let you see me. She said that you were still healing. And I thought okay, why not? I was like, yeah maybe it’s too soon for you and for me, for the both of us, so I left without really seeing you. I kept on waiting but as I wait, I found out that your family is also waiting and it got me more curious. I thought that you were being a pain again and that you’re being your stubborn self.”

“That’s unfair you know.” Joohyun injected.

“Can you blame me?” he asked.

“Point taken,” she relented.

“Two years to you leaving, with little to no updates I decided to see you again. I of course told Yoona because I need to know where you are and that’s when she said that you were studying and has no plans to come home yet. I can’t believe that, I had to see it for myself. And I did. She warned me again to not let you see me, as to what they have been doing. I thought, you are such a primadona for requesting that. I didn’t understand then. All I wanted was to get answers from you an explanation. For the longest time you were bothering me and then all of a sudden it all stopped. I wanted to know why or if you’re planning on something.”

“I guess I did make quite an impression huh?” she chuckled.

“You sure had. I only saw you from a far, you had your patients outside for some sun. You were smiling and laughing and I thought, you were so pretentious, that you were just making them believe that that is the real you. That was wrong of me, I admit it. I was too consumed of you, you left, everything around you was new and there I was left w