PROLOGUE.

MARCH 2014

YOONA'S POV.

Stars of various sizes littered across the midnight sky as though they were diamonds artistically strewed across an endless black canvass, the sheer sight of the night sky a complementing balance between beauty and magnificence. I laid alone on the slope of the small hill found in the meadow where my father used to bring to when I was still a kid, my fingers fondling with the strands of grass closest to me while I stared in awe at the sky above me; the night sky was simply a sight to behold. Letting out a blissful sigh, I pulled my cardigan closer to me as another particular chilly wind blew. Between the breathtaking view of the starry sky and the serenity of the meadow, I couldn’t pick another place I would rather be at this very moment. “Perfect.” I breathed out. “This place is absolutely perfect… I can stay here forever…”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“What’s that annoying sound?” a frown etched on my face as I registered the noise that was upsetting the tranquility of the place. I bolted upright as the beeping noise continued, peering my head at every direction in bid of finding the culprit behind the disturbance, my annoyance skyrocketing with every beep of the offending noise. Bit by bit, my dream started to fade away, the scene of the meadow and starry night giving away to complete and utter darkness as I stir awake, regaining conscious.

Noises. I hear noises as I grew increasingly aware of my surroundings, my sense of hearing compensating for my current lack of sight. Concentrating, I tried to differentiate the noises from one another; the soft rumbling of an air purifier machine, the sound curtains being drawn, the clicking sound of a pair of heels walking across a smooth marble surface... that unmistakable beeping noise I heard whilst I was at the ‘meadow’… and voices. Yes, voices. Someone was speaking somewhere close to me, though the voices sound muffled, the kind where the radio wasn’t turn on loud enough and the sound emitted pretty much sound like soft rumblings.

Straining my ears, I attempted to listen in to their conversation, to make out what they were saying…

“How is she today?” a high pitched aegyo voice asked.

“Same old, same old. Though, there seemed to have more colour in her cheeks.” replied a nasal-like voice.

I felt a dip on the left side of the bed, a pair of smooth comforting hands gently held onto mine as a feminine voice entered my ears, “She’s lost so much weight but she still looks beautiful… so beautiful, a Korean version of Disney’s sleeping beauty.”

“She’s still beautiful alright. Her beauty is different from others, it’s ethereal. I mean, hello, this is Yoong we are talking about, duh.” commented a different voice. The owner of the voice was a man but had an unusual pitch and a lazy drawl towards it.

The prideful witty comment earned a couple of chuckles before the feminine voice spoke once more, “True, Yoona always have been beautiful… it’s just… I wish that she’ll wake up soon. I miss her… so much.” Her voice overflowing with longing and anguish.

“Don’t we all…” whispered the voice with the lazy drawl, the wistfulness of his tone a stark contrast his previous jovial tone.

At that, silence fell over the room, save for the occasional sniffling now and then. “I’m actually surprised to see you girls here today Sunny. Didn’t you girls just arrived in Incheon airport from Osaka an hour ago? Considering that Soshi just wrapped up a concert last night?” asked the nasal-like voice, effectively breaking the depressing atmosphere.

“What would you have done instead Teuk oppa? We were free and we missed her. The rest of Soshi wanted to visit her as well but they had schedules to attend, Yuri has the flu bug so we told her to stay in the dorms lest she spread it to Yoona. Our manager is here with us, but he’s currently ordering food for us at the café just across the street.” replied the aegyo voice I heard earlier.

“Pretty free aren’t you Sica? Don’t you have dates to attend?” questioned the voice with the lazy drawl. I couldn’t see him but, for some odd reason, I was certain that he was wearing a smirk on his face, teasing his victim to his heart’s content.

The pair of hands holding onto mine squeezed mine in response before snapping back, “Oh shut up Heechul oppa.”

Their harmless banter continued, drawing amused laughs from their audience while I decided to zone out from their conversation now, doubting that I could obtain any more useful information.

As I attempted to open my eyes, it came a huge shock that I couldn’t do so according to my will. My eyelids felt heavy and would droop down every single time I tried to open them. It was only after several exhausting attempts that I’ve finally succeeded in forcing my eyes open, albeit it was no more than a fraction of an inch. Like a blind man seeing light in the longest time, I squinted against the blinding white light. Disorientated, I tried to figure out where I was; the walls around me seem to spin on its own accord, sending a whirl of various colour images into my head. Despite my blurry vision, I was vaguely able to make out the four figures chatting animatedly, though, none of them seem to have realized that I was now awake.

My brows furrowed as I tried to maneuver my arms that felt like lead to me; heavy, stiff and unmoving. Unyielding, I attempted to move my arms once more, only to find myself to be able to twitch my fingers this time round. In response, the brunette frowned a little before she drew her attention from her friends to my palm, mumbling silently to herself, “Strange, I could swear that I felt something moving earlier on.”

Her gaze lingered on my palm a second more before she turned her attention on me, letting out an audible gasp as she saw me staring at her with wide curious eyes.

“Now now Sica, what did we say about being dramatic ag—OMO.” The man with the lazy drawl voice wasn’t able to finish his sentence as he stared at where the brunette was gaping at. I could faintly hear a Styrofoam cup hitting the ground, its content sloshing onto the marble floor. The two other occupants, confused by the sudden behavior of the other two, followed their gazes before they too let out their own surprised gasp respectively as they stared at me.

Time seem to have standstill as the four of them stared at me unblinking, their eyes watering as though they were having trouble believing what they were seeing. While the other three remain in their frozen state of shock, the petite girl on the couch seemed to have come to her senses first as she jumped from the couch with swift reflexes, sprinting out of the room and down the hospital hallway, screaming for the doctor.

The action of the girl seemed to have snapped the trio back into reality as the pretty looking man whom was on the couch as well, took hurried steps towards me, his trembling hands covering his mouth in shock, “Omo, is this real? Are you really awake Yoong? This is not a dream right? God, if this is a dream, I’m going to punch whoever it is that wakes me up later.”

“I-I’m going to find your manager… I-I’ve to call SM as well! They’ll be so happy! You’ve woken up, you’ve finally woken up!!” Looking like he was about to combust into tears any minute, the man who stood by the window gave me one last watery smile before leaving the room, fishing his phone out of his pocket as he left.

I was still staring at the open door in confusion before a tight squeeze on my hand diverted my attention back to the brunette whom, by now, had two steady stream of tears flowing down her porcelain face. “This is true right? This isn’t a dream, is it? Oh God, you’re really awake aren’t you? Do you remember me Yoona-ah? It’s me Sica unnie. You know who I am don’t you.”

“Wha—“my raspy voice breathed out silently. Distressed, I attempted to pull my hands away but the brunette had my hand in a deathlike grip.

My distress must have been shown on my face as well as the monitor since the beeping sound grew louder and faster. With panic written all over his face, the pretty looking man flew over to my side in an instant to hold onto my other free hand anxiously, “What’s wrong Yoong? Does it hurt? Not to worry, the doctor will be right here any minute now. DOCTOR!!!!”

On cue, the doctor arrived with a nurse flanking each of his side, along with the petite girl that ran out of the room earlier. The two remaining occupants were ushered out of the room before one of the nurses closed the door, leaving my visitors to pace anxiously right outside my ward.  

The silence in the room was comforting, a stark contrast to the commotion in my room a minute before. Aided by the nurses to sit up, I stared at the middle aged man donned in the doctor robe.

“Annyeonghaseyo. I'm your doctor-in-charge, Dr Kim Hae Joon. Do you know where you are?"

Inhaling a deep breath, the unmistakable sterile antiseptic smell of the hospital invaded my nose. “The hospital.” I answered with my raspy voice.

The doctor gave an approving nod, “That’s right. What about your name? Your parent? How many siblings do you have?”

"Yoona. My name is Im Yoona. My father's name is Im Dae Jung and I have a sister." I answered once more, my right hand clutching my throat that felt parched dry, akin to the throat of a man in a hot desert that hasn't had a drink in months.  [A.N: Sorry, I made up the name of Yoona's dad since I've no idea what his name is in reality.]

Noticing my discomfort, the doctor motioned one of the nurses to bring a cup of water over. “Feels dry doesn’t it? You’ve been asleep for quite a while now, drink up. You can take water and soft food now, BUT in minute quantities only so that your body can adapt to consuming food again.”

A cup of water was brought to me by a nurse shortly after and with a barely audible thanks, I greedily drank the cup of water, rejoicing in the sensation of water flowing down my exceedingly dry throat.

“Do you know what happened to you for you to be brought in here?”

I froze in response to the doctor’s question before shaking my head to indicate that I’ve absolutely no idea. My eyes must have given away the panic that I felt for the doctor laid a comforting hand on my shoulder, “It’s alright, no need to worry. It’s perfectly normal for patients to forget the traumatic memories of their accident.”

Accident? I was in an accident?

I was contentedly sipping on my second glass of water when the door creaked open, revealing a sea of faces that were beaming at me, their eyes filled with unshed tears, with some of them giving friendly waves as they saw me staring at them.  I saw the four whom were with me previously but it was the five tall handsome men whom stood in the front that caught my attention. Locking eyes with a particular pair of expressive eyes, I felt a tug on my heartstrings, an ache in my heart.

I darted my eyes away nervously, breaking my eye contact in bid to soothe the uneasy tension bubbling within, nearly choking as I took a closer look at the crowd. “Where on earth am I exactly, gahhh. Why is everyone standing by the door some sort of belle or handsome guy?”

Just when I thought the worst is over, the tall guy with a small yet charming face started to approach me with his arms outstretched, coupled with a wide grin that threatened to split his tiny face into half, “Yoong-ah!! I can’t believe when Teuk hyung called me, I—“

I reacted instinctively, clutching the cup closer to my chest as I scooter to the edge of the bed, the railings pressing uncomfortably against my lower back as I stared at the smiling stranger in fear.

The smile on his face fell as a look of sheer confusion washed upon his face, “Yoona?” he called out uncertainly, side-glancing to the crowd as if he was silently asking for an explanation for my current behavior.

I watch as their smiles morph into frowns as they tried to decipher my reaction, murmuring with one another in hopes of coming up with a justifiable explanation for what they had just witnessed.

"It can’t be…” whispered aloud the most angelic looking man amongst the five as he stared at me, desperation and fear swirling within his beautfiul brown orbs.

“What?” questioned the man with the small face before a knowing look was shared between them.

“No…” he whispered, as he too stared at me with the same desperation as the angelic figure did.

Clearing my throat, I mustered my courage to ask that one question I oh-so-desperately wanted to ask when I first saw the four unfamiliar faces in my room, flinching slightly when I realized that everyone's eyes were on me as they gave me their undivided attention.

Swallowing an imaginary ball of saliva, I asked in the loudest possible voice that I could project at the moment,

“Who-Who are you? Who are you people?”