Lee Hi woke up with the smell of strong medicine and cold gloomy air. She found herself lying in a bed. She slowly blinked her eyes to adjust her blurry sight and when everything was clear, she knew that she was in a hospital with a lot of tubes attached to her.

She saw her mother sleeping beside her bed. She tried to move her hand to touch her but it was too painful because of the dextrose attached to it. She moaned with the pain all over her body which woke her mother up.

“Hayi dear? Are you alright? Is anything hurting?” her mother worriedly asked as she examined her weak and frail body.

“Eomma, what happened?” she confusingly asked.

Tears fell from Mrs. Lee’s eyes as she lightly hugged her daughter.

“Eomma, wae? You’re scaring me” she weakly said.

“Hayi-ah, this is the reason why you weren’t allowed to go out, why you had to be home schooled and why you can’t be in any sport that you wanted” she sadly answered. At that time, Mr. Lee arrived.

“Hayi-ah? Princess? How are you feeling?”  he asked.

“Appa, you’re back from your business trip? I thought it’s for one week?” she asked.

Her mother cried even more. His dad asked her to calm herself outside so as not to scare Hayi more and she complied.

Mr. Lee sat beside her bed and held her hand. “Hayi-ah, it was for one week. One week had already passed so I’m here now. I won’t be going away for a while.”

“What? But you left at Valentine’s Day? You have to be back in the 21st?”  she asked.

“Nae Hayi-ah. It is the 21st today” he carefully answered.

“What? So I was out for a week? Wae? Appa? What’s wrong with me?” She was becoming scared.

“Hayi, when your mom was 7 months pregnant with you she got in an accident. She was crossing the street when a reckless motorcyclist hit her and left her on the streets. She was brought in the hospital and after one week her tummy ached so much. They had to prematurely get you out or else you’re going to die. The doctor said that either we wait for the 9th month and risk losing you or we get you out that time and risk losing your mom. Your mom didn’t want to let you go so she convinced me to let her have the surgery. It was the most painful decision for me. I was glad that both of you survived. But the accident was so severe that you were affected at the impact, so you were born with a weak heart and lungs. When you were 1 year old you fainted and was brought to the hospital. You were diagnosed with a rare heart disease and it was so severe and you were still so young that it would be risky for a surgery. We were advised not to let you engage in tiring activities, avoid too much exposure to hot or cold temperature and prevent you from having too much excitement or depression because it might push you ti the limit” he narrated.

“Eomma had to go through a lot just to save me?” she said between her sobs.

Her father nodded. “Your mother told me that you shouted at each other and I think that took a toll on you which is why you’re here now” he sadly said.

“Appa, what’s my condition now?” she nervously asked.

“We still don’t know. We were advised to have you checked up once you woke up so that we’d know what condition you are in” he blankly answered.

“Appa, did you know why mom and I were shouting at each other?” she worriedly asked.

Her dad nodded but his calm expression didn’t change.

“Appa, mianhe. I was such a disappointment” she uttered and then cried again. “But appa, I really love him. You know how it felt like to fall in love and not wanting to lose that person.”

He gently brushed her hair as he spoke, “Of course Hayi. I do. Your mom and I understand that, that day would come for you.”

“Appa, let me call him. Please? I know he is very worried. I said I’d be waiting for his calls but I wasn’t able to answer any of it” she alarmingly said.

“Okay Hayi. Here’s your phone, I’ll leave you to talk to him” he replied.

“Thank you appa.”

Hayi quickly dialed Sehun’s number and in just a few rings, he was able to answer the other line.

“Hayi-ah?” he said in a serious tone.

“Oppa? Were you calling for the past few days?” she asked.

“Aniyo. I was busy with preparations for our concert in China” he answered.

“China? When?” she asked in surprise.

“Tomorrow. We’ll stay there for 6 months for the follow-up promotions” he replied.

“6 months? Oppa, you’re finally debuting in China? That was EXO oppas’ dream! Congratulations!” she happily stated.

“Yes, thanks” he briefly stated.

“Oppa, I’ll wait for you to come back. I’ll see you after 6 months. Who knows, I might be able to visit you there” she brightly replied.

“Yes who knows” he boringly responded. “Hayi, a-are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, I am. I was just busy studying for the past week” she sloppily lied.

“Oh, really? I guess we were both busy for the past week” he uninterestedly said.

“Oppa, do you want me to see you off tomorrow?” she hopefully asked.

“No. Just stay at home and study. I’ll just send you an IM you when I get there” he replied.

“Okay” she sadly answered.

“Hayi-ah, I have to go” he said.

“Okay. Bye oppa. Take care of yourself. Saranghaeyo” she tried her best to sound enthusiastic but Sehun didn’t reply until she heard the beeping on the other line which meant that he hung up. She sadly put the phone down. Little did she know that Sehun was having a hard time too.

Sehun pressed the end call button and put his phone down. “Hayi-ah, saranghaeyo” he muttered. Tears suddenly fell continuously from his bloodshot eyes. He cried painfully as he thought about how Hayi was really doing after knowing from Mr. Lee that she was in the hospital and was passed out for a week.

Flashback

The morning after Valentine’s Day, Sehun tried to call Hayi early but she wasn’t answering. He thought that she was still sleeping so he decided not to bother her for a while.

When night c