You were sleeping for a week.

Mr. Park, your teacher, Coach Lee, and Principal Kim all visited you, and couldn’t help but feel pity towards you.

Your three best friends were there every single day, talking to you as if you were awake and fully responding. They didn’t want you to feel like a burden when you woke up, and they knew that you would appreciate it when you were awake.

Sungyeol visited when no one was there. He visited in secret, partly because he didn’t want to make a big deal out of visiting you, and because no one ever thought that he would have any reason to.

He visited your sleeping body everyday and memorized all the time that people came and left.

He watched as you slept in no peace.

He left, not wanting to leave your side.

He took care of you.

Your parents came to visit you, to find you sleeping. They found Sungyeol there, and they were surprised that the best friend of your ex was willing to take care of you. They were surprised when they asked the nurse how much time he spent there.

He was embarrassed to have been caught by your parents, but your parents were eternally grateful.

They wanted you to be protected and they felt that if Sungyeol was with you, you would be.

“Take care of her.” You father shook Sungyeol’s hand, and that comment made him the happiest.

“Don’t you dare let anyone lay a finger on our daughter. We’ll be back soon. Thank you so much Sungyeol-goon. My husband and I appreciate it.” You mother hugged him and he was beaming.

He would follow their instructions and be the best guardian for you until your parents were back.

Sungyeol left the next day to get a change of clothes, and while he was gone, he didn’t expect anything to happen.

Your fingers twitch and slowly, you feel yourself waking up.

Your body adjusts itself a bit and you want to stretch your body.

You slowly open your eyes and you see someone you would never expect to be at your side.

“…Myungsoo?” You whisper. He looks up at your face and his eyes widen in surprise.

“T-They told me that you haven’t woken up in a week…I didn’t realize…”

You shook your head at him and he shut up.

“I don’t want you here,” you look the other way. “You…shouldn’t have come.”

“I came here…I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“You should have said that a long time ago.” You just wanted him to leave.

“I know. I know that…but believe me. I wanted to apologize to you a long time ago…I just didn’t know how. I didn’t know if you could forgive me.” He looked down at his hands and you wanted to hug him. He looked so…sad.

“There was no point in coming here.” You turned away from him and you heard him sigh.

“I…I really am. If it counts, I wish that you could be your old self. It hurts me to see you so…cold.”

“You created me and killed her,” you whisper through clenched teeth.

He got up and left and you felt tears leaking out of your eyes.  You wipe them away, frustrated. You had no idea why he would show his face in front of you like that and how he had the guts to even apologize.

You didn’t expect to see him, and after all this time, you thought that you would be even happier when you heard an apology from him. In reality, it made you feel worse.

You didn’t know how you felt about seeing him. Was it sadness that was heaving over you, or was it relief that washed through your body? Sighing, you turned and your body screamed in protest. Everything felt stiff. Your muscles were sore and you had bruises that were just starting to fade. It was still in the stages where it hurt to be touched.

You close your eyes for a second and you hear the door creek. Light footsteps made their way to your side and you crack open your eyes to get a glimpse at who it was. Curiosity twitching, you open your eyes and find another unexpected person.

“HyunA…?” She looked at you and you saw the guilt in her eyes.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What are you doing here?” Utter surprise filled your voice and you could see that she felt bad…terrible, even.

“Look…I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what came over me that day…and I want to apologize for everything that I’ve done to you. That day…I was so jealous. I’ve been jealous of you ever since the day I saw you.” She took a seat next to your hospital bed, and you look at her curiously.

“Since the day you stepped foot into the school…you’ve had so many friends and guys…I was always the one who got the most attention. You’re number one in the school, you’re MVP in swimming, you’re the daughter of one of the biggest companies in Korea…and compared to me, you are one of the best people.

“You were so confident and nice and I felt like I wanted to destroy you just because you are everything that I’m not. You are the one who is supposed to be with Myungsoo, but I snatched him away from you to prove that I could be better.

“I got so obsessed with…you. Not in that way…but obsessed trying to compete with you even though you never even saw me. That’s how I got Myungsoo. I wanted to get something that you loved and that person that you had…he was becoming popular because of you. He became who he was because of the arrogance of having you.

“I wanted…I don’t know. I wanted something you had, so I told Jiyeon and Suzy to play along with me. They took him first, and then it was me. I planned it all out. I was going to humiliate you in public with him, but I didn’t realize that it would slip into his dreams.

“A year later…you grew cold, but you still had everything. You had everything, still, and you never tried for any of it. I hated it so much. I hated knowing that Myungsoo fell for you and that was why he didn’t bother with me anymore…and then one day…I was with my friends when I found you all alone in a class.

“My emotions…they exploded when I saw that you were sitting alone. That was the tip of the iceberg for me. You were defenseless and I wanted to break you. I snapped and I got my friends to do it with me. And we landed you in here.” HyunA had tears coming out her eyes and you could feel the emotion behind the apology.

You stare at her…in disbelief.

“Look, I don’t know if you will ever forgive me for any of the drama that I created for you, but I am going to turn myself in.” She stood up and started to the door.

You didn’t know what to do. Should you accept it? Should you let her get in trouble?

You grab her wrist and you stop her.

“I may be all of that, but I’m not evil. You may have ruined me, but I am not going to let you ruin yourself,” you breathe out.

She looked at you in…awe and you give her a small smile.

“I’m not going to let you turn yourself in. From today onwards…let’s start a new page.”

You see curve into a smile and you know that things will be different from today onwards.