18

Death Sentence

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Seohyun entered the hospital, through the emergency doors, asking politely for direction to the nearest stairs.  She ran as fast as her heels would allow and darted past the lobby.

She wouldn’t have wanted to, but the elevators were all stuck on the 6th floor. Running up eight flights of stairs, where the Intensive Care unit was found, seemed like the fastest option. 

She regretted her decision only after she reached the hallways of the 8th floor, bent over her knees and leaning against the sharp edge of the corridor, heaving for fresh air. She wouldn’t find any here in this hospital where everything smelled of old. When she finally got rid of the small sweat that was formulating on her forehead and when she thought she could breathe a bit more clearly she noticed a body sitting too quietly at the end of the wall.
 
She walked slowly towards the bench, gasping as she took in the sight of a decomposed looking man.

“Kai.” Seohyun placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, startling him up and away from his palms. His eyes were watered and the sclera of his eyes were bright red. His cheeks looked pasty where she was sure endless amount of tears had dried up. 

Her lips frowned at an attempt to look sympathetic, but anyone could see that the effort was made only out of mere curiosity. “Kai, what happened?” Seohyun forced him to face her.

His fists clenched on his thighs, infuriated. “It’s his entire fault. If he hadn’t left; if he had at least called her; she wouldn’t have been so worried for him, she wouldn’t have left early. She would be safe.”

“Who? Whose fault? Kai, please,” Seohyun shook his shoulders for more answers. “Baekhyun called me and told me to get here immediately. He said he needed my help, but I don’t understand what’s going on?”

“Kris,” he growled his name bitterly. “It’s his fault. If she dies… I’ll make sure he never has a moment’s peace for the rest of his miserable life.”

Seohyun watched him, astonished. She found his threat a bit harsh and unnecessary as she sat awkwardly still with a shaky fist drawn over his back. She wasn‘t sure what to do, but she found herself instinctively comforting him with her hand relaxed, patting up and down his spine. 

 “Seohyun,” Baekhyun called out making her jump in her seat.

“Baekhyun, what in the world is going on?”

“It’s Hyoyeon,” Baekhyun grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. “The doctors don’t give her much time. They told Kris that there’s really no hope.”

Seohyun gasped, “What happened?”

“I’m not exactly sure. There was a collision on the highway; it was an organized robbery of some sort. They forced many women and children out of their cars. She tried to stop one of them and...” Baekhyun looked around for another bench and took a seat, urging Seohyun to follow. “Two bullets on her right shoulder were extracted as soon as she arrived. But there was a witness who said she fell and hit her head on the divider. She just came out of the operation room, but the doctors said it helped very little. It bought her a couple hours extra at most.” 

“How is Kris?” Seohyun questioned, eager to know his state and health.

“That’s why I asked you to come.” Baekhyun helped her up and they walked over to Hyoyeon’s room.

The room was  large, it had a door and two windows. One was overlooking the red skies of the city and the one thick window in between the room and the hospital’s hallway had its curtain semi-open. 

They both stood from outside the room. Baekhyun leaned facing the window with his arms limp at his sides. He’d seen enough, he couldn’t bear looking through it again. 

Seohyun however, walked forward, slowly and crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself for comfort. The Kris that was sitting inside was unrecognizable. He looked completely destroyed. 

“It’s been three days and he hasn’t moved from that spot. He hasn’t showered. He hasn’t slept. He hasn’t eaten. I’ve tried to convince him to get a room and sleep, but he won’t listen to me.” Baekhyun turned to Seohyun. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I was hoping you could try something.” He added.

“What can I do? Last time I tried talking to him, he was so angry he didn’t even want to see me.”

“I don’t know, but you have to try something or he’s going to get sick. We need to at least get him to eat something.” Baekhyun insisted.

“Does Hyoyeon know what is going on?” Seohyun asked mildly concerned for her well-being.
She and Hyoyeon had had their fair share of unfriendly moments, but she wouldn’t have wished this on anybody. 

“No. She lost consciousness before they removed the bullets. She flinches in her sleep every once in a while since then. That’s about it.” Baekhyun informed her.

* * *

“Kris,” Seohyun whispered softly, entering the room with wary steps.

“Go away,” Kris warned silently through gritted teeth.

“Kris, talk to me.” 

“Please just leave.” He let out, trying to control an anger that was growing rapidly.
 
“Kris, you’re going to get sick if you—,”

That was it. Kris couldn’t stand her one more second. Her fastidious determination had broken past his last strand of patience and he wasn’t going to let her interrupt what could possibly the last moments with the love of his life.

“GET OUT!” He growled furiously in an outraged resolution to make her leave. Seohyun froze, but was brought back to reality as he clenched a hand around her arm, dragging her out of the room violently.

She cried from outside the room, plagued by the look he had given her, something she’d never seen in anybody‘s eyes. His eyes were strikingly black; the remaining of a spirit, completely broken.

2 years, he reminded himself. ‘2 years’ he uttered for emphasis. 2 years he repeated just to torture himself; so he couldn’t forget that disgraceful time period that had consisted not of days, not of weeks nor months, but of years in which he had forsaken his wife. He had neglected her entirely, sure that nothing else would come of it. But the unexpected happened, and he had fallen in love with her. His love for her was crazy, madly, intensifying, forever-growing.  

Even if his brain was inexplicably removed and wiped out clean; the one memory that could not be tampered with, that could not be erased was Hyoyeon.

Her scent, her touch, and everything about her was etched in every part of his body; their love carved in every inch of his bones. There was no undoing that.

2 years, that Hyoyeon had been left in a house with no one but her lonesome soul and yet she had matured with a personality that blossomed. 

And yet, it had been only 3 days that Hyoyeon had been unconscious and already he didn’t know what to do with himself.

He had lost the ability to sleep, to think, his appetite had vanished. The only thing he could feel was terror. He was scared to lose her.

The doctors had clearly told him she would not last a day; that a surgery, although a risky option, would be useless and that she would most likely die on the operation table. But the risky had gone through deaf ears because he persisted that they didn’t know Hyoyeon like he did and he argued she wouldn‘t just give up. 

When the surgery had been completed, after arduous hours of intricate procedures and careful incisions, the doctors sat him down, placed a hand on his shoulder and told him that as they had predicted, the surgery had been useless.

There had been no significant change in her health and to make matters worse they continued to insist that she wouldn’t even last the night, less a miracle be bound. But Kris was unreasonably optimistic. Each day that she remained alive was like the proverbial glass of water, half-full, getting just a little fuller as time went by.
 
From no eating and sleeping or maybe because he was slowly going mad, a sad combination of anger and delusion; he started to think of possible ways to bring her back to life.

True Love‘s Kiss.

He crossed his hands under his forehead atop his knees, furrowing his eyebrows, thinking. 

He remembered his drunk step-mother, when she used to pretend to be the caring mother that he was supposed to have. She’d go into his room and tell him a weird variation of bed time stories. Something about a Cinderella, a Sleeping Beauty, and a Snow White. 

Mostly they had caused him nightmares, because they were her own sick twisted versions of the stories that she knew, but in most of them a prince would kiss the princess to spring her back from an enchanted sleep. It seemed a bit farfetched, but what else did he have to lose; it happened in fairytales why not in real life?!

So, he tried kissing her awake. 

He hovered above her, slowly inching his face to . He pressed his lips to hers with an almighty need and let his heart and soul pour through the kiss that he implored would stir her awake. 

Nothing happened though, so he tried many more times, each kiss more fervent and hopeful than the last. But still nothing. He was at the 5th then at the 7th, before he knew it he had tried the 30th. There was no limit to his persistence, he would try forever, but it was devastatingly exhausting that it wasn’t working. Did his lips really have no power?

He sank his face into the palms of his hands and cried relentlessly, hopeless but not entirely defeated. A couple of minutes later of more thinking he burst up from his chair with a sudden surge of newfound energy.

“I’m so stupid” he thought to himself, shaking his head vigorously, pacing to and fro in the room. “Fairytales!” he shouted, “Only in fairytales are princesses awakened by true loves kiss.”

He laughed with a chilling edge, deprived of sleep and depleted of sanity. “And you’re not a princess, you’re a queen. And our love story, it’s not found in fairytales; it’s written in the stars.” 

His Kim Hyoyeon was ambitious, a silly kiss wasn’t going to spring her back to life, so he turned to the next best thing.

Negotiation.

“I’ll give you a piggyback ride everyday to that burger place you like so much.” He said snapping his fingers once, but that didn’t work.

“I’ll do all the chores in the house forever. You won’t ever have to lift a finger, I promise.” He said with closed eyes. He took a peak and no, that hadn’t worked either.

“We can get married off the coast of Hawaii. By the pyramids of Tenochtitlan. No, how about Prague then. You did say you’d like to visit the Czech Republic. I hear they have the most beautiful cathedrals.” He sighed and clenched his teeth. Nothing seemed to move her.

“I know,” he said his hands in the air excitedly, “I’ll sneak into my father’s room, take a picture of him half and we’ll post it all over the Wu Textile’s building. He’ll love that.” Kris stood in front of her laughing maniacally. 

His suggestions had become more than ludicrous the longer he went on and not a sound nor a rustle from the sleeping beauty. He would have to change his strategy yet again. 

Seduction.

“You told me you wanted five children; 3 boys, 2 girls. I don’t think I can make them by myself. I’ll need your help.” Kris sat back down and left a trail of kisses up her arm.

Not afraid or embarrassed to be heard by the nurses and the doctors, he spoke of the many dreams he had had of her since his return. Fascinated by his own details, his eyes glimmered in hope that she could wake up so that they could make all those -crazed fantasies of his come true. 

He told an unconscious Hyoyeon of the many positions to which they had expressed their undying love and the muttering of indecent words that had been yelled over the course of said positions. He dedicated an hour and a half just to the many places he had bent her over and another two hours for the many locations he had pinned her to. He also explained the recent things he had thought of that they could do in the comfort of their own bedroom and in their shower. 

They wouldn’t leave a single place untouched. 

“But you have to wake up though,” he whispered tantalizingly, nibbling on her ear. “Maybe you think I’m a coward. TEST ME! Come on. Just wake up. WE‘LL DO IT RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.“  He yelled determined, pulling his shirt off overly excited, letting it flutter behind him.

Sadly, that didn’t work either. However, he did garner appraisal from a 70 year old lady passing by the window, blowing him kisses and winking repeatedly. He quickly picked up his shirt and pulled it back down over his body, embarrassed. 

After he had exhausted all  his brainless ideas and had just about lost all hope, he found himself strangely comforted by whispering to her nonstop. He spoke of everything and anything that came to mind. It was his way of keeping her tied to this world, his way of staying connected to her; it was either that or going crazy with despair.

“Do you remember how we first met,” he said leaning forward, placing a gentle hand over the gauze in her head. “I know you probably wouldn‘t think so, but I remember it clearly. I had just arrived from school, exhausted, a little irritated because I hadn’t done well on my chemistry test. Well not the way I had hoped to do.” He laughed wiping away a stray tear.

The memory cut through his words like a knife on flesh as he unsuccessfully attempted to silence the overwhelming need to cry. His mind faded and blended with the scenery of the memory.
 

-flashback-

He saw the figure of a girl bent over the bushes in his father’s backyard and she was plucking dead leaves, gently one by one. He found himself walking closer and closer until he could reach out a hand and then tapped her on the shoulder. 

She jumped around startled, placing a hand flat on her chest as if her breath had been dry. “Oh my god. You scared me.” she said heaving for air and smiled.

He returned her amiable attempt with a stern grimace and the rolling of his eyes, just quick enough for her not to see. ‘So this is the girl I have to marry? The gardener’s daughter? Why does my father even owe these people,‘ he asked lowly to himself. 

Curiosity-stricken, he gave her a thorough examination that went up and down, from head to toe; all in one detached glare. ‘Cute,’ he thought, ‘but also quite ordinary. Many of these back at school.’ 

He scoffed and continued to stare at her with his eyes firmly fixed on the brown around her pupils. She bit her lip and turned the brightest shade of pink, surprising him just a little; it wasn’t the expression he was expecting. 

He was giving her the same look that he had given to countless others, a glacial expression that made the people who got close enough to see, feel like they didn’t exist. It made them feel low and inferior. It had been proudly acquired; the ability to make people feel unnecessarily angry. 

But Kim Hyoyeon had never met anyone like him, she didn’t know of the inevitable hypocrisy that came hand in hand with his upper social position. Hyoyeon had foolishly mistaken his arrogance for a moment of brief flirtation. How she came about that conclusion is anyone’s guess. The point is that she had not trembled, she had blushed; she had not fought him back, she had smiled. She was either incredibly clueless or she had actually seen through him and had decided to play the cutesy, innocent type of girl that he had encountered so many times before. And he wasn’t sure which one she was.

Hyoyeon was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. “So… I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Kim Hyo--”

Kris brushed her off, cutting her abruptly as he turned around and ignored her stretched out hand. He walked slowly away from her. “I already know who you are.” He said within audible distance, with his hands arrogantly shoved in his pockets. 

“YOU DO?!” She yelled surprised and incredibly pleased from meters behind.

“You’re my death sentence,” he uttered under his breath.

-end flashback-

“You need to get up. Even if it’s to tell me that you hate me. But please wake up!”

Only now did he realize the true gravity of his mistakes. The first one was having dismissed her so quickly. The second was having wasted two extra years that he could have spent getting to know her. But without a touch of heart had abandoned her. 

‘And for what?’ he insisted angry with himself. Because he had made it his very mission to make her hate him. 

It had become like second nature for Kris to obey his father, he knew he’d eventually end up marrying Hyoyeon.  He hated his father for making him do yet another thing he did not want, and in turn hated her. With malicious intent he left her a day after their courtroom wedding. He knew it was the biggest insult he could have given her. 

And that mistake was going to cost him greatly.  Because not only was the opposite of what he wanted going to happen, but he would inevitably end up falling in love with her so deeply that it would put an ocean’s frighteningly abnormal depth to shame. 

“Baby, you have to wake up. If you leave, you’re going to have to take me with you because I’m not going to know how to live without you” Kris implored with a voice so coarse it cracked in mid-sentence. “You said you didn’t break easily. Why won’t you wake up?” he growled, with an overpowering desperation. But now, his eyes weren’t crying they were rain storming a dampened mess into Hyoyeon’s hospital gown. 

Her face was pale and her lips were dry. She had lost so much blood that the beautiful radiant girl couldn’t even resemble a smidge of what she once was. Her soul had left her and now the only thing Kris could do was pray for a miracle.

He nestled his head inches below her chest and held her tight.  He was falling asleep when he felt her hand twitch slightly around his head. 

He looked up at her and gulped anticipating for her eyes to flutter open, or at least for another sign of movement. But within the blink of an eye her whole body began convulsing. He tried to hold her down and yelled for help. 

Before anybody came, her body went hauntingly still and the monitor’s unstable up and down peaks had transformed into a flat line. He stood and backed away from her body; his eyes penetrating the monitor screen. The code for Cardiac Arrest was called across the 8th floor’s halls as the daunting, continuous noise of the flat lining decibel froze him in place. 

He could see her body transforming just a small shade of pale before his eyes, and ran to her body, clutching for dear life, before the doctors tried to pull him away. 

“No!” He yelled. “Let me be with her. I want to stay.”

One nurse tried to be as understanding as possible and gently tugged on his arm. “Mr. Wu, the doctors are going to try their best to save her. You need to exit this room.”

“No. I don’t want to. You can’t make me leave her.”

Another nurse, clearly not as patient as the first, yanked him off, but in vain because he plunged back into her body. “Hyoyeon!”

“Get him out!” A doctor raised his voice at the nurses and the other doctors. 

“PLEASE! I want to be with her.” Kris yelled through crass wailing. But his pleas went unheard and Baekhyun had to intervene, dragging his friend out the door. Seohyun aided him, gasping at the point of tears as he heard Kris’s thunderous voice calling out for Hyoyeon.

He kept his eyes glued on Hyoyeon’s lifeless body as the doctors took turns doing short interval chest compressions. A cart, with a large tray carrying tubes and small sealed bottles was wheeled immediately into Hyoyeon’s room. Kris decided to look away, he had to; his heart couldn’t take it anymore. 

“THIS ISN’T HAPPENING. THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!” His voice boomed through the length of the infinite halls, alarming everybody within range.

He leaned against the glass for support and slid down the bare window pulling on his matted hair, gasping; desperately trying to stay sane. He quickly broke into a cold sweat and found it difficult to breathe. 

The likeliness that the doctor’s attempts could save her were slim, but he couldn’t lose hope, he did however, lose consciousness when Kai picked him up by his wrinkled shirt and lanced him a fist straight to the face. 

Author's Note: Sad chapter? A little. I like the idea of duality, you need sad moments to balance the happy ones. No? Don’t worry too much, Hyoyeon is the main character. What could I possibly do to her? I hope I managed to make you feel Kris’s desperation, if not hopefully I’ve intrigued you enough to continue reading the story.  Also I hope you enjoyed this chapter.