It was very quiet, and the only thing that could be heard was the beeping sound that came from the electrocardiograph machine next to ByulHee’s bed. The said girl was on her bed, eyes closed, but her chest rose and fell at a slow and moderate pace.

Beside her sat Chen, who had his eyes fixed on his daughter as he ever so gently fondled her hair, a heartfelt sigh escaped his lips as silent tears lined his cheeks. Grief clawed at his throat and there was nothing more hurtful than not being able to scream his pain and agony aloud.

Chen’s heart jackhammered at his ribs, as he took in the sight of his little girl sound asleep before him, looking so fragile and small. Having raised her for 12 years, Chen cannot believe just how different ByulHee had looked in the short period of time that they were separated.

He had always known her as someone whose smile was infectious and could light up a dark room. Her eyes were often saturated with happiness and glittered with joy, but all of that seemed to have disappeared in just a blink of an eye and how he dreaded to see that happiness in her eyes once more.

Chen sighed again as he his daughter’s hair. “Please wake up, honey.” He told her. “You’ve been asleep for far too long. Please wake up now. I miss you so much.”

No reply was forthcoming, of course, but Chen knew that she could hear him. She may be in a comatose state but Chen was aware that his voice reached her. He believed that she would come to sooner if he talked to her more, and he wanted his voice to bring her back.

“Wake up so that you can tell me what happened, love.” Chen continued. “I know that something must’ve gone wrong. I raised you long enough to know you inside and out. You are not one to cross the road without looking at your left and right, as you’re never this careless. JongIn also told me that he saw you running and you looked extremely distressed. What were you running from, ByulHee? What happened?”

He’d asked both MinYoung and MinSeok a couple of times about what had happened, but neither of them was willing to offer him an explanation. Especially MinYoung, who kept a tight upper lip about the episode. MinSeok wasn’t there when the whole thing happened, but Chen knew that his wife must’ve told him everything.

The both of them just chose not to tell Chen no matter how many times he claimed a clarification from them. He didn’t know why they denied saying a word, but he presumed that they must’ve felt very remorseful that the words couldn’t slip out of their mouths.

He would’ve argued about it, but ByulHee’s recovery was the top thing on his list so he gave his full attention to his daughter. He would confront the both of them about what happened later, as the main important thing was to make sure that ByulHee will finally come to and Chen would ask ByulHee himself.

He’d perceived that ByulHee kept a number of things from him lately, and it was a surprising thing for Chen, as ByulHee would tell him everything. As their contacts were starting to lessen by the day, Chen didn’t hear much from her, and it seemed that ByulHee had chosen what to tell him during their phone contacts. 

 Personally, Chen rather had an idea about what ByulHee kept from him, and her parents’ silence over what happened validated his suspicions. Regret started to take a permanent place in his heart as he shook his head and said, “I shouldn’t have let them take you back then. Had I known, I would’ve just kept you. I had no idea that you would be this unhappy if you followed them. But I also knew that even if I had insisted you to stay with me, I have no right to tell them that.”

It was a fact, and Chen understood it very well. He wasn’t ByulHee’s biological parent, so he had to return her to them if they asked for her, whether he liked it or not. It was a painful truth, that no matter how much Chen and ByulHee thought of each other as a family, to other people Chen was just someone who raised ByulHee in her parent’s stead, and that MinYoung and MinSeok had full rights on her.

Chen, however, had never thought that bringing ByulHee up was a request from MinSeok and MinYoung, nor was it a duty to be fulfilled. In fact, since the first day ByulHee had come into his and SuBin’s lives, it had automatically set in their hearts that they would love the child as if she was theirs, the one that they could never have.

It pained him to see ByulHee in that state at present, and blamed himself for it was also his fault that he persuaded ByulHee to go with her parents. He probably shouldn’t have done that, but he wasn’t given any choice back then either.

Now, what was done is done, and the only thing that he could hope for was that ByulHee would come around soon and he would make it up to her.

The silence in the room was broken when Chen heard footsteps approaching ByulHee’s bed and he turned to see JongIn, walking quietly towards them as if he would wake her. “How is she doing?” He asked the same question he’d queried for almost two weeks.

“Still sleeping, hasn’t come to yet.” Chen answered, also the same answer he gave JongIn every single day.

JongIn nodded and settled himself on the chair on the other side of ByulHee’s bed, as usual. He was around every day, keeping Chen company while waiting for ByulHee to come to. Each day after school, JongIn would drop by for about three hours and gave Chen the chance to take a breather and freshen up. Sometimes, he would finish his homework there.

“Hi, ByulHee.” JongIn greeted with a smile on his face. “How are you today? Are you having a nice dream right now? If you do, I hope you will wake up to tell me about it. You’re asleep for so long, you know, we’ve all missed you terribly.”

Chen smiled while hearing JongIn talked to ByulHee. He might be telling her the same things every day before giving her his report about the day, but Chen was still pleased that JongIn came to visit every single day, without fail.

He even told his friends that he wouldn’t be able to hang out much as he wanted to accompany Chen looking after ByulHee, and much to Chen’s surprise, none of them minded. In fact, the other five boys even urged JongIn to go to the hospital instead of hanging out with them so that he could give them updates about ByulHee.

Chen often told JongIn that he didn’t have to stay for long, as he was sure that JongIn would’ve wanted to spend time with his friends as well, but JongIn always replied with a chuckle, “Even if I am with them, it isn’t as if we’re having fun. Most of them are in their own worlds and worrying about ByulHee. Two of my friends, BaekHyun and ChanYeol, are curre