[Saturday December 28 – 4 Days]

          Miyoung’s parents were sitting in the dining room eating breakfast.  The T.V. was on and her father was watching the news for any political updates.

“Late last night, there was an accident in Jung-gu.  Namsan Sunhwan Shuttle Bus No. 05went off the road last night around 9:47pm due to icy roads and the snowy weather.  The accident caused one death and 7 of the 16 passengers on the bus last night are now in the hospital.  Police are still going around identifying and calling…”

          “That’s horrible, yeobo.” Mrs. Park stated as she grabbed an apple from the center plate, “Miyoung needs to stay inside until the weather is clear again…when the snow stops at least.  I don’t want her out when the weather is this bad.” She stated as she peeled the skin of the apple.  “Minhee~” She sung, “Would you mind waking-”

          “Don’t.” Mr. Park gave his wife a stern look, “just let her sleep in today.  We have no plans and she’s probably tired from hanging out with Taeyoung the whole day yesterday…just let her rest.” He stated before continuing to watch the news.

          “Minhee, would you mind checking on Miyoung now…she’s usually up by now.  If she’s awake, tell her to come down, I want to tell her something.” Mrs. Park stated as walked into the living room.  The maid returned moments later, “Ma’am, Miss Miyoung is not in her room.” She said quietly before Miyoung’s mother straightened, “Excuse me? Did she go somewhere?” She asked but the maid shook her head, “I haven’t seen her this entire day, ma’am.”

          With that, Mrs. Park walked into her husband’s study, “Yeobo, did you tell Miyoung she could stay with Taeyoung for tonight—last night?” She corrected.  Her husband raised a brow before shaking his head, “No, she told me Taeyoung would be taking her out and dropping her back off.  What seems to be the matter?” He asked his wife as he put some papers down.

          Mrs. Park turned around, “Miyoung’s not in her room.” She stated as she left the room.  She called Taeyoung first asking if Miyoung was staying there but he replied with a no.  “I took her out yesterday and we met Sehun on the way.  They talked and I left them…Sehun said he would bring her back home.” He stated, “Where’s Miyoung?” Taeyoung asked before his mother rubbed her temples, “that’s what I’m trying to figure out.” She stated before hanging up and calling Sehun next.

          “Sehun…this is Miyoung’s mother.” She said quickly, “you were supposed to drop Miyoung off yesterday. Though I don’t like the fact that she might be over at your place right now, please tell me she is to calm my nerves.” She said quickly but Sehun gave her a disappointing answer.  “We had a little argument yesterday…I left her at the café but remembered I was supposed to drop her off at home.  By the time I returned, she was gone.  I tried looking for her—I did…for while then it got dark.  I figured she would have gone hom—”

          Mrs. Park shook her head and hung up, frustrated, angry and scared.  She swallowed before calling Eunae, hoping and praying her daughter was over.

          “Hello? Mrs. Park?” Eunae answered happily.  “Eunae, dear, is Miyoung over?” She asked.  Her heart sunk as she heard the same 2 letter word that suddenly pierced through her heart.  “I called her last night and she said she was at the Namsan tower and she was on her way home.” Eunae replied, “Is—is she not home…?” She asked quietly.  Eunae could Mrs. Park breathing heavily, “…she’s not home…” her voice cracked before she hung up.  Her body became week and she fell to the ground. Namsan tower…?

          “Omo—Ma’am!” The maids ran towards her as her husband came out of his study room.  “…I just got a call—”

          The doorbell suddenly rang at the same time.  Miyoung’s father quickly walked over.  He opened it, smiling, hoping it was his daughter, but it soon fell when the police looked at him with a woeful expression, “Chief Yoo…” he greeted solemnly.

          “Park Jeong Suk.” The chief sighed before Miyoung’s father nodded.  The maid helped support her mother over to the door.  The police man breathed slowly, “Jeong Suk, there was an accident last night involving a bus…your daughter was one of the passengers and—”

          “No, no, no, no—” Miyoung’s mother cried as she fell to the ground. The maid consoled her as the policeman talked to Mr. Park.  “She’s in the hospital, and you guys need to go to her fast.” He stated, “my car’s ready to lead your chauffeur to the hospital.” He bowed and said his apologies before jogging to his car.

          “Minhee, grab our jackets.” Mr. Park stated as he supported his wife, “We’re going to the hospital.”

          Sehun paced around his bedroom waiting for Eunae to pick up her phone.

          He heard sniffing on the other line before hearing Eunae’s voice crack, “hello…?”

          “Eunae—thank goodness, have you heard from Miyoung.  I’ve been trying to contact her because her parents are-”

          “Sehun…” Eunae’s voice squeaked again as she spoke, “she’s in the hospital…we’re all in the hospital waiting…she was in a bus accident last night.” Eunae sniffed, “Come…I’ll explain everything.”

          Sehun ran into the hospital and up to the front desk.  “I’m looking for a Park Miyoung; female…she was in a bus accident last night.” He said breathless.  His heart was beating out of his chest; he was scared, worried and angry with himself.

          “She just got out of surgery a while ago and is currently being held in the intensive care unit room 412.” The nurse behind the counter stated before Sehun darted towards the elevator.

          He walked through the corridors, looking for the room when he found Eunae in a family waiting room, crying.  “Eunae…” he whispered as she walked inside.  He swallowed the burning lump that suddenly appeared when he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks.  Without much thought, he walked over and hugged her.  He let her cry until she calmed herself down so she could tell him what he needed to hear.

          Moments passed and Eunae’s tears gradually came to a stop.  She sat on the couch, hugging her knees and slowly rocked back and forth.

          “You remember that plane accident they were in…?” Eunae finally spoke.  Sehun looked at her, still clueless.  He nodded, “yeah, it was all over the news…they said she came out fine with scratches and bruises…” he stated.

          Eunae silently scoffed, “Yeah-well, that’s what we all thought too…then a couple months later she suddenly collapsed while we were shopping.  We thought she was just exhausted, but the doctor did some tests on her and they found a balloon-like berry of blood hanging off a stem in her brain.  It erupted when she fell to the ground because she was exhausted.” Eunae nearly whispered.

          Sehun was quiet throughout the talk.  Everything she stated circled around his mind repeatedly.

          “Because the blood had passed through two of the membranes, the doctors diagnosed her with subarachnoid hemorrhage which comes with a lot of symptoms.  If you couldn’t tell…she was always tired and that was mostly because of the headaches.  She acts strong, but she’s not…she just doesn’t like being a burden to others.  The headaches became a daily thing and then her eyelids started drooping; she stayed in her room a lot, wanting to be by herself. She was confused a lot; her speech started to slur, and then she started forgetting…even the smallest things.”  Eunae stopped to take a breather.  She told herself she wasn’t going to cry again because Sehun needed to hear this, all of it.

          Eunae wiped her eyes with the back of her hand then began speaking again. “The only way to treat it was going into surgery.  Because the blood leaked into her brain and through her membrane, she would have to relearn some motor skills…and take speech therapy to relearn everything again…she would have to start over.” Eunae sniffed and looked at Sehun who still showed no expression.  “She decided to have the surgery on her birthday…on New Year’s Eve so that she would wake up in the new year having…being a basically new person.” Eunae hiccupped, “Because of that, I came up with an idea.

          She wanted to experience a relationship before she forgot everything…so I stated that the first guy to walk through the cafeteria doors would be the person she had to pursue…and she agreed because he wouldn’t her back and she’d just call it off with him before the date…

          You weren’t supposed to like her…and the idiot was never supposed to like you back, and that’s why she was having such a hard time.  She was ready to call it off the other night but she probably forgot…” Eunae whispered.

          “Last night I called her and I told her to tell you everything—everything because I knew that you actually cared for her.  Aft-after I hung up—” Eunae swallowed the lump in , but it kept burning.  “She called you—”  Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about what happened next.

          Sehun didn’t need her to finish knowing what happened afterwards.  He pulled Eunae in for another long hug.

          Eunae brought her knees down and wiped her cheeks.  Sehun kept a blank face, but inside he was hurting, he just didn’t want anyone to see how much everything pained him.  This entire time, Miyoung was hiding something from him, something big, something painful.  “Is she—”

          “I’ll take you to her…” Eunae whispered as she got up and walked out.

          Miyoung has to be fine. Sehun told himself, not wanting to face the truth.  “She’s fine…right?” he finally asked before Eunae opened the door.  “See for yourself.” She breathed softly and walked into the room, lit from the light coming through the window.

          Sehun saw Miyoung’s father holding his crying wife in his arms, whispering encouraging words to her.  Taeyoung held tightly onto her hand, his head was resting in his arms on the bed.  Sehun’s eyes flicked up and saw Miyoung.

          Her hair hung over her shoulders, her skin was still pale except for the small red that appeared on her cheeks.  The monitor beeped according to her breathing.  Sehun swallowed, “She’s just sleeping, right?”

          Taeyoung looked up at the sound of his voice.  His eyes were puffy, red and swollen which only made Sehun’s heart sink more than it had already gone. 

          The door behind them opened and Eunae’s parents appeared, along with the doctor.  Eunae’s mother consoled Miyoung’s as the parents left the room to consult the doctor.

          Taeyoung stood up; he looked at his sister then back at Sehun.  His eyes began to water as he swallowed and opened his mouth, “she’s brain dead…meaning…she’s gone.”

          “But—But she’s right here.” Sehun’s voice cracked slightly as his eyes fell upon Miyoung’s sleeping face.

          “Her body is…but not her, Sehun.” A tear slipped from Taeyoung’s eye and he quickly looked up to prevent more from falling as he sniffed and repeated in a pained whisper, “She’s gone.”

So now you know what happened to her after the plane accident and what was supposed to happen before the bus accident took place.

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--miyoung:))