001

There was me and Myungsoo, peacefully and happily seated at the passenger’s seat of his moving van. My arms were comfortably hugging one of his and my head resting perfectly onto his shoulder. I went in and out of sleep, in the end I just decided to stay awake.

We were on our way home from our engagement party. It’s already very late that snowy night so our parents agreed to send us home while they continue drinking their wines in celebration for the future union of their families. Well, we can’t blame them… they’ve waited for this day since we’re toddlers.

I held my hand, with my engagement ring, in front of me. “I still can’t believe I’m wearing this,” I uttered to myself.

I thought Myungsoo was asleep but I felt his smile, “You still got two months to back off, beautiful lady."

I immediately lifted my head from his shoulder and stared at him, “No way. It’d be unpleasant to see you throwing a tantrum at your parents for not convincing me to marry you, handsome man.”

He smirked. “Of course I’d throw a tantrum at them,” he jokingly pinched my nose, “to have you is to have the world. I can’t imagine otherwise, really.”

I blushed and just smiled at him. “Me too, Myung.”

He held my hand above his heart and started kissing me.

All we can see is each other’s faces when we suddenly heard fast, loud noises accompanied by the violent overturning of the van we were in. Myungsoo immediately embraced me and tried to protect my head with his tuxedo.

We had our seatbelts on, so even though the van kept on turning we were fastened onto our seats. I screamed in fear while Myungsoo tightened his embrace on me.

“Myungsoo!”

“I got you, baby. I’ll never let go of you!” He tried to stay calm and firm.

The force on us became more violent and our heads severely collided against the car’s ceiling, which knocked the both of us unconscious. I was still able to hear the vehicle windows’ glass break until everything went blank and silent.

Headache and severe body pain was what I felt when I regain my consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on the road. The van, severely damaged on all sides, was toppled over a few dozen yards away from me. Shards of glass lying around me like garden grass. When I’m able to regain half of my senses, I realized that Myungsoo is lying… on me. His face – resting on my abdomen – showed that he is still unconscious.

I moved my arm – painfully wounded by small pieces of broken glass – to his nape. To my horror, I felt a broken glass stuck on it. Shaking, I held out my hand for me to see.

“Blood,” tears fell from my eyes. “Myungsoo, wake up!” I used my remaining strength to move him aside and off me. I painfully tried to stand up but failed. I focused on him, only to see more of the nightmare: more pieces of broken glass stuck on Myungsoo’s blood-soaked back. I sobbed as I reached and checked his pulse. He’s not breathing. “Please Myung, breath. BREATH! For me, please.” I sobbed. I wanted to carry him, to wake him up but the pain and shock I feel was overwhelming.

“Not like this, Myung. Why did you take all the glass?!” I wanted to slap him to wake but I can’t. He lay there on his front, unconscious and horrying-ly full of blood while I lay beside him paralyzed.

Just as I thought that no one would help us, I hear the wailing sound of an ambulance coming. The medical team immediately put neck and limb braces onto both of us and first carried Myungsoo onto one of the rescue beds. “Please save him! Save Myungsoo!” I cried. My vision started to blur again and I saw blood flowing from the top of my head, blinding my eyes until I lost consciousness again. The last vision I remember is that of my fiancé getting carried into the ambulance vehicle.

“Myungsoo!” I woke up with a horrible scream. I worriedly looked around and felt an awful feeling in my stomach when I saw the familiar pastel blue curtains of the room I was in. I looked further and the feeling worsened: my shoe closet is on the right. The LCD TV which Myungsoo and I used to watch together is mounted nicely on the wall in front of my bed. My yellow sofa is on the left which holds the dress and tuxedo worn by Myungsoo and me from our engagement party.

I was shocked to see the clothes unstained and cleaned from blood.

“Ugh… Something’s wrong, baby?” I looked to the opposite side of the bed and saw my fiancé—clean, unwounded, and perfectly fine—sleepily turned to face me on the bed. “You were screaming as we sleep last night. Bad dream?”

I removed the blanket and examined his shirt. I felt no wounds and he didn’t react to the pain he’s supposed to feel. “What happened last night?”

He embraced my waist and pulled me closer, “You fell asleep in the van and I carried you until here. And just so you know I had no choice but to change your clothes myself.”

I cried and hit him hard on the chest. It seems everything is just a dream. The damaged van, the road, me paralyzed and him dead –everything didn’t really happen.

“Why? What is it? I swear I was blindfolded while I was changing you into your night gown!” he worriedly explained.

I shook my head, “I dreamed something horrible.” Myungsoo wiped my tears with our blanket. “Just don’t leave me like that, again.”

He embraced me, “I don’t know what you dreamed about but I’ll never leave you… like that. Not when I finally have you.” He shoved the hair out of my face and kissed my forehead. “But, you sure you’re not upset about the ‘changing your clothes’ part?”

I giggled and answered him with a tight embrace.

-END OF CHAPTER 1-