Chapter 18

Yonghwa drives his car early morning, buying food and some fruits. 

“Oh, Yonghwa-ssi..” Hyoyeon muttered when she opened the door, surprised to see Yonghwa at the apartment, early morning.

He held up the food he bought, “I bought fruits for Seohyun...” 

“Come in...” Hyoyeon welcomed him.

He puts the fruit basket on the table and immediately asked, “How is she?”

Hyoyeon smiled, “I checked her temperature and she seems okay now. She’s still sleeping in her room. I think she still needs more rest." She said. "You visited very early..."

Yonghwa shyly smiled, “I just want to make sure that she’s okay before I go to work... Can I see her?”

Without hesitation, Hyoyeon led Yonghwa to the room and opened the door. He saw Seohyun lying peacefully on her bed. She looks a little pale but still looks angelic. Hyoyeon stares at Yonghwa and realized how much he cares for their Maknae.

Then slowly, Yonghwa closes the door not to disturb Seohyun.

“Do you want to wait until she wakes up?” Hyoyeon asked when they were in the kitchen.

Yonghwa shook his head, “No. It’s okay... I don’t want to disturb her anyway. She needs rest..”

Then they were both silent.

Hyoyeon clears her throat, “Yonghwa-ssi...are you, are you upset that Seohyunnie can’t remember you?”

Yonghwa smiled sadly, “No...” He answered, “I will never be upset on her...”

“But...I know it pains you..” Hyoyeon said softly.

Yonghwa let out a deep sigh, then he looked at Hyoyeon, “What hurts me is not the fact that she forgets about me... What hurts me is she's afraid because of me. I don't want to scare her, Hyoyeon-ssi... You know what, I'll accept it if she can't remember me. I can just start from scratch and introduce myself again to her... What I can't take is the fear I am seeing when she looks at me."

“Yonghwa-ssi..” Hyoyeon muttered, wanting to comfort Yonghwa.

But he smirked sadly, “But... I don’t want her to live by that fear... I don’t want her to be uncomfortable. Maybe I really should avoid her like what she told me."

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“Omo! Yonghwa Hyung, you’re room is a mess!” Jungshin exclaimed when he visited Yonghwa in the mansion at night, seeing the room cluttered with all stuff.

Yonghwa ignored him and continued to pull out clothes on all the wardrobe and opened cabinets one by one.

“Hyung, what are you doing?” Jungshin asked while he gets the cluttered clothes on the floor.

“I can’t seem to find my key chain.” 

“Why do you need it? Just buy one.” Jungshin answered, while he checks Yonghwa’s new piles of DVDs. 

Yonghwa sighed. Where did I put it? He asked himself.

“Where did you put it?” Jungshin asked. “What does it look like?”

“I always bring it all the time. It’s silver, shaped like The Statue of Liberty.” Yonghwa explained. 

Yonghwa threw himself on the bed, tired of searching for it, while Jungshin continues to scan the DVDs.

“You must have left it somewhere.” Jungshin mumbled.

Then Yonghwa got up from the bed. “Right...” He whispered. Then he recalled that he took it out when he was sitting beside Seohyun last night, while taking care of her. I left it just when Hyoyeon-ssi told me to go home, he thought. I should have checked it when I visited this morning.

I wonder if Seohyun already sees the key chain in the room. Yonghwa thought. 

“Ready to go, Hyung?” Jungshin asked Yonghwa, but Yonghwa didn’t respond and lied on bed again, resting his arm on his forehead. 

“My flight is still three hours from now.” Yonghwa answered. “As much as I don’t want to go, I can’t cancel the convention. Besides, I think... it's better if I just get out of Seoul for a while."

Jungshin sighed. “Why? Is this because of what happened? Because she told you to avoid her because she feels uneasy when you’re there?"

Yonghwa didn’t respond but just stares at the ceiling, like thinking deeply, he sighed, “Do you know that I promised her that I’ll go to Macau with her again and treat her all the food she likes?" Yonghwa recalled with a sad smile.

Then they were silent. 

“Maybe Hyung...you really just have to let her be...” Jungshin said. “Maybe, the purpose why you saw her spirit before was really just..just help her live again. That's it."

Yonghwa just sighed. “At first, I was thinking...if she can’t remember me, then I’ll do everything to make her know me again..to start all over again. That I can start as a stranger and be friends with her...but when she looked so scared of me, it was just so painful... I didn't intend to make her feel that way."

“That’s why, Hyung..” Jungshin walks near Yonghwa, “Just let it go. Your mission to help her is done anyway.”

Yonghwa bit his lip, thinking that it’s probably needed to just let her be... That Seohyun should just go back to her usual life again and not force her to remember him or persuade to be in her life again.

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It’s 11:00 in the evening. Seohyun lied on her bed and turns to the side. She smiled when she saw the Keroro and Tamama dolls that she loves. When she wakes up, she informed Hyoyeon that she feels better already. Hyoyeon has to go to work anyway. And after a little chat with her Unnie, she went back to sleep again.

“You’re seriously crying over Keroro?” the man laughed.

They argued about the cans of beer on her table. “Clean this mess up!” Seohyun shouted.

She continues to hum a song. Then she hums it again. 

Flashes. Lights. Then a dark alley. “Don’t be afraid.” She heard a man’s voice, like a rushing wind that passes by so easily. 

Then she saw a key chain. A man’s hand holding the key chain. 

“OH!” Seohyun woke up and panted. She checks the clock, it’s 4:00 in the morning. “It’s just a dream...” She mumbled at her self. 

Seohyun got up from the bed and turned to look at the Keroro dolls again, she remembered a man laughing asking her about Keroro in her dream. She puts on her slippers and covers her body with a robe.

She turns on the lamp shade to give her a little light. On the table where the lamp shade is, she noticed something. There was a mark that stained the table. She furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the mark and traces it with her fingers.

Then images of beer cans run in her head. I've seen those cans here. She thought. 

Seohyun was getting more confused while looking at the stain on the table. Then she looked at her left palm, realizing that she fell asleep holding the key chain.

She stared at the key chain for a long time, closing her eyes, images in her dream went back. 

The night of her accident, then beer cans, Shinhye’s crumpled picture, gondola in Macau, then flashes of light... 

“When you wake up, I promise to treat you with all the food that you want...” 

“When I told you that it’s the best date I’ve had, I mean it...”

“See? You can feel me which means you’re still connected to your body..”

Then images of the Han river, a man in a bicycle... Then a guitar...a song she got familiar with... The key chain...

Seohyun abruptly opens her eyes and stares at the key chain on her palm again... “It wasn’t a dream...The images on my mind weren't just a dream.." She whispered to herself. Then after a moment... "Yonghwa..." She muttered... "Oh gosh.. Yong.." She remembered.

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Jaejin knocks on Yonghwa’s room and he just heard ‘Come in’ and slowly opens it. He saw his boss m