Missed
Broken Promises
Kikwang 16, Tiffany 14
“There you are oppa” tiffany panted as she ran across the open lawn at their favourite park to stand next to the solemn Kikwang that's looking out towards the setting sun.
“What are you doing here?” she said, looking up at him before trying to spot where his eyes were staring at so she could see too.
“Just thinking” Kikwang mumbled as his brow furrowed, eyes narrowing at something in the distance.
“About...” Tiffany prodded, being a little curious. Kikwang always has things on his mind and he never tells anyone about them except tiffany. Every time he has one of those deep thoughts, his brow would furrow and his jaw would slightly clench.
“Life” was all Kikwang said. Meaning life, tiffany knew Kikwang was talking about his family. How they always fight and how his dad would sometimes hit or slap him when things aren’t done his way. Things in his life had turned down hill when his mum died in a car accident that his dad blamed on him. Kikwang begged his parents to go to a party one night, he nagged and nagged, until finally his mum gave in. On her way back from dropping him off, she got into a collision when another car crashed into hers and send it flipping, causing her to die instantly. His dad never let him forget, never let him get over the guilt that ate him up inside every time the topic of his mum came up. Only tiffany was there to comfort him when he needed it most.
“how is it?...Life” Tiffany asked softly as she looked at the setting sun over the lake, wind picked up a little, blowing pieces of dead leaves and flower across lake. Bits of her hair came undone in the messy bun she made, falling across her face.
Kikwang smiled down at her, before turning his attention towards her. Looking straight into her eyes while he carefully, with one of his hand, clear away the hair on her face, locking the strays behind her ear, without breaking contact with her eyes.
“Life is great...” he said softly, pulling her closer to him. Wrapping his arms around her shoulder, Kikwang carefully placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
They looked on as the sun finally reached the lake and disappeared behind the trees. The sky was getting darker and the cool wind was starting to pick up.
“We should go” Tiffany said, shrugging her shoulder, causing his hand to drop. While it dropped, both their hands grazed each other slightly, causing electricity to shoot up his arm. Smiling to himself at the feeling, Kikwang gathered up the courage and took her hand in his. Tiffany looked up at him in surprised but didn’t pull away.
“Shall we?” Kikwang asked, squeezing her hand a little.
“We shall” tiffany replied as they both made their way towards home.
Back in the hospital, Kikwang could still feel the tingle of the day they held hands, and the feeling was exactly the same one he just experienced. But, it might not be he thought to himself as he continues to squeeze the stress ball with his hand, getting the blood circulating so more blood can be given.
Tilting his head a little, he could see Jiyong looking anxiously at him. Raising his eye brow, he caught Jiyong’s eyes; he was surprised at first but quickly evaded his eyes to a particular spot on the ceiling. Shaking his head a little, Kikwang ignored the oddly behaved Jiyong and relaxed back down on the hospital bed and closed his eyes, wanting the donation to be over so he could continue to look for Tiffany.
Not long after, Kikwang could feel one of the nurses taking out his needle. In a hurry to see who was behind the curtain, Kikwang sat up too quickly, causing everything around him to sway and blur.
“Omo, you have to take it easy. You gave a lot of blood today, please relax for a little longer” one of the nurse advised him. Not wanting to appear rude, Kikwang gave her a tight smile before reluctantly lay back down on the bed.
The nurses started to surround the other side of the curtain, to where the person he donated blood to was placed. There was some whispering before the bed started to move as they wheeled it away.
Kikwang found himself sitting on his elbow, heart beating so fast it seems unhealthy as he watched the bed being wheeled away; trying to catch any sign of the person but his hope was cut short when the nurse moved the green curtains along with the bed, blocking his view entirely.
Sighing in frustration, Kikwang flop back down the bed, only to flinch a little at the aching pain that's on his left arm, giving it a little rub, he turned his attention back to where Jiyong sat, only to see it was now empty. He turned his head quickly to the other direction, only to see the back of Jiyong’s head as he rounded the corner.
“Kikwang-shi, we would advise you now to rest in the waiting room, drink some orange juice and sit around for 30 minutes before we are sure that you are stable enough to drive home, since it is late and we took quite a big amount of blood from you.” The nurse told him while she helped him out of the bed and into a wheel chair.
“can I at least asked what's wrong with the patient?” Kikwang asked, trying to get as much information to see if it’s similar to anything Tiffany has, which as far as he know ...she has no diseases whatsoever.
“She has a blood disease and was in need of blood, that's all we can tell you” she looked at him pitifully.
“Its ok, at least I know now she's going to get better” he replied. She, the nurse said. So there's a higher chance now that tiffany could be the girl he gave blood to, and the girl who has a blood disease that he never know about.
“I bet, she's the luckiest girl alive to receive a blood donation from you, it’s very kind of you” the nursed told him, feeling touched. Kikwang just smiled at her while his brain was going crazy, thinking about the possibilities that the girl could be Tiffany. It can’t be. She's the healthiest girl alive, he kept repeating to himself.
************************
It was around 3 in the morning when Tiffany finally came into consciousness, but even with her eyes closed, she could still see the brightness of the place she’s in. Please don’t let this be heaven, don’t let me be dead, she prayed to herself.
Tiffany let out alittle groan of discomfort when she felt all the wires being attached to her. Her senses now started to become clearer, she could hear the beeping of her heart monitor and the sound of the oxygen mask that's giving her burst of air every 2 seconds. She could also now feel the pulse count of her middle finger and the sticky pads of her chest, the oxygen mask wrapped around her face securely and the squeeze on her right hand.
The hand squeeze brought back a memory of her and Kikwang. The small part of her wished that the hand squeezing hers was Kikwang, she really wanted it to be him but deep down, she knew he hated her so much he can’t even look at her, but ignoring the fact, she croaked out his name anyway.
“Kikwang...” the hand holding hers loosened a little as Jiyong moved it away.
“No, it’s not him, it’s me” he said a little hurt at the assumption. Tiffany automatically felt bad for calling out the wrong name.
“Sorry oppa” she said through her mask.
“Its ok, how are you feeling?” he asked as he studied her closely.
“I'm fine, but what's all this?” she asked in confusion at all the life support equipment that she doesn’t need.
“You were in a serious condition when I brought you in; you know how scared I was?” Jiyong asked her, moving his hand back into hers. Before she could say anything, he cut in.
“And why weren’t you taking your medicine?” he asked, totally serious.
“It ran out, I was about to buy it...” she managed to say while having a dry throat.
“You know what happened to you? Your blood had less than30% of oxygen in them, if I brought you to the hospital a little late, I wouldn’t be sitting in the same room with you, instead I’ll be calling your uncle telling him his only niece died” jiyong said, telling her the hard truth.
“Then...did I get a blood transfusion?” Tiffany asked, looking at the red line going into her arm before travelling up the line to the blood bag hanging on the pole.
“Yeah, someone donated –” Jiyong slipped out. He didn’t wanted Tiffany to know Kikwang donated her his blood, she’ll feel more indebt to him and he’ll keep making her life hell, Jiyong just couldn’t handle seeing her sad and he couldn’t risk Kikwang developing old feeling for Tiffany again.
“Who? Oppa Who?” tiffany asked, at that moment, she remembered something. She remembered feeling the electricity current running up her arm, even when she was unconscious; she could still feel it and it only belonged to one person.
Jiyong looked at her uneasily, avoiding her glares and she could see him swallowing.
“Is it Kikwang oppa?” Tiffany asked him, her heart rate increasing a little bit, causing the machine to beep a tiny bit faster.
When jiyong refuse to answer, tiffany looked at the blood bag. There’s been a scribble of something of the blank spaces on the sticker. Squinting her eyes, she could see the rough spelling of Kikwang’s name. She felt like her heart skipped a beat and stopped altogether when realisation hit her, but the beeping of her heart beat on the monitor brought her back to reality.
“He donated blood for me?” she asked, feeling all this emotions bubbling up in her.
“But he doesn’t know he donated it to you” Jiyong blurted out, sounding a little too panicky.
“He doesn't?” Tiffany asked in a small voice as she looked at the blood tube, dripping his blood into her system.
“No, no he doesn't. I really don’t want to know what he would feel if he found out he donated blood to the girl he never want to see again” Jiyong said, a little too harshly.
“Yeah, he’ll be disgusted with me even more now that I have his blood in me” Tiffany said, defeated, looking down at her bed sheets, missing the relief showing on Jiyong’s face.
“Best not let him know” she heard him say as she felt her eyes getting blurry and a lump raising from .
“Yeah, best not” she said in a small voice, trying to steady her voice so jiyong doesn't know she's upset.
“You should go sleep, get some rest” Jiyong suggested. Tiffany nodded once, before turning the other direction, not looking at jiyong. Curling up her knees, she looked out the open window into the sky without stars. The lump in was getting bigger and bigger, causing her to let out a small sob, before she covered it with a cough, but as her body shook from it, the tears slip out from the corner of eyes and onto the pillow.
Is one year enough to reduce the hate you have for me, oppa?Tiffany thought to herself as she cried herself silently to sleep.
******************
Jiyong could hear the quiet sobbing coming from Tiffany, but he couldn’t see her face because she has her back to him. Sitting silently on the couch with a thin blanket around his legs, he tilted his head and rested it against the wall, for he couldn’t lay straight on the small sofa. Jiyong tried his best to zone out the soft sobbing of Tiffany by focusing his listening to the beeping of machines and his own breathing.
Mianhe if I hurt you Tiffany, but I simply can’t let you know that he truly cares for you
========================================================================================================================
Comments