Jiyoung/Kai

876 words

"There’s so many traces of you still here, now I’m becoming like you"

She calls him for the 17^th time that evening, yet the same response still irritates her – “Hey, it’s Jong In. I can’t answer your call now but leave a message after the beep!”

Annoyed, she throws the phone onto the couch and paces back and forth across the living room restlessly. She has left him countless of messages and she’s not going to embarrass herself further.

She starts to chew on her fingernail – a habit she does whenever she’s anxious about something.

“Where can he be?” she wonders, eyeing the wall-clock which shows her that it’s already thirty minutes past six and he would’ve usually called her by now.

Knowing that she cannot just stand there and do nothing, she grabs a coat from the hanger by the door and steps outside into the gentle, evening autumn breeze.

She thinks she sees him at the other side of the street when she’s about to cross the road. Without waiting for the lights to turn red, she jostles her way through the crowd, desperate to get to him before she totally loses sight of him.

“Jong In!” she shouts above the noise, ignoring the dirty looks from the other pedestrians. “Jong In!” she yells again when it seems like he isn’t slowing down. “Wait for me!”

There’s a sudden flash of headlights, and a second later – a deafening thud follows soon after.

“I want it in black.”

Sue Ji stared at her in disbelief.

“You have never liked black.”

“What are you talking about?” she frowned and took the dress off the hanger. “Black is my favourite colour.”

“You rented this?”

She sighed and took the DVD back from her friend. Sue Ji was still staring at her in bewilderment, as though she couldn’t believe that Jiyoung was really going to make them watch Pirates in Caribbean. Back then, even when she just merely suggested it, Jiyoung would strongly discourage it and they picked out other movies instead.

 “I’ve always wanted to watch this,” she shrugged and popped the DVD into the player. “Jong In said it’s a really good movie. It’s his favourite.”

“Jong In said he’s not working today,” she murmured while her eyes narrowed at the direction opposite of them. “What is he doing here?”

Sue Ji’s heart stopped beating for a moment.

“Jiyoung...” she said slowly, almost afraid of turning around. “What are you talking about?”

“There,” her friend replied pointedly. “Jong In’s over there, happily talking to his colleague. He lied to me.”

“She has a 50-50 chance of surviving. She’s suffered major blood loss and it seems like she has given up on fighting. We can’t help her if she’s not willing to help herself.”

Her two brown orbs stares into the mirror, but it is his dark, sharp gaze that is looking back at her. Jiyoung moves her right hand but the reflection in the mirror isn’t copying her movement.

“Jong In...what are you doing here?” she asks in a dazed voice. “H-how did you get in there?”

“Wake up, Jiyoung,” he says seriously, ignoring her question. “You have to wake up.”

“Where have you been?” she fires back. “I’ve called you, I’ve searched for you everywhere...where have you been?”

“Wake up from this fiction world you’ve created,” he urges her on urgently. “You have to open your eyes, your mind, your heart – and accept the fact that I’m not with you anymore.”

“No!” she punches the mirror out of rage, causing it to crack a little. “What are you talking about?”

“Jiyoung...” he says gently, yet his voice is filled with sorrow and desperation. “You have to let me go.”

“I’m not going to let you go!” she screams out loud. “Stop saying that! Stop it!”

Sue Ji watches as the doctor and nurses rush into the room her friend had been warded in. She clasps her two hands together tightly and hopes with all her might that somehow, miraculously, Jiyoung will survive this.

She’s been through a lot these past few months, with Jong In’s death especially taking a toll on her and Sue Ji vows that if Jiyoung were to somehow survive this, she will get her the help she very much needed.

“I love you.”

“I know you do.”

“I want to come with you.”

“You can’t.”

“Why? Don’t you want me to be with you always? Don’t you love me?”

“I love you, Jiyoung. It’s because I love you so much that I’m not allowing you to come with me. It’s not your time yet, Jing. When it is, I promise you we will meet again.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Jong In smiles.

“What do I do now?”

“Now you have to open your eyes.”

“But you will disappear.”

“I won’t. I’m always in your heart. I will never disappear.”

“Please don’t leave me.”

“Open your eyes, Jiyoung. You’re ready.”

“Jong In...”

“On the count of three. 1 – “

“Wait for me.”

“I will. 2 – “’

“Promise me, Jong In.”

“I promise you, Jiyoung. Now.”

“She’s woken up.”

She sees all these people, she sees her best friend but he is nowhere in sight.

It doesn’t matter though.

Because now, she can feel him in her heart.

Just like how he told her he would be.