A/N - Part II of G.O's past is about to be revealed! 

@HanSang - Haha, glad it was exciting! Answering your comment: yup, yup and you'll find out nxt chapter. As for my boring teachers, one of them quit halfway through the year so from then on we had free period. Lol. 

@wookielove - Mianhe for the cliffhanger, but we all know we love those kinds the best ^^ Here's the conclusion to G.O's story~ (and actually, this chapter might be another cliffhanger :p)

@thunbii - glad you enjoyed the chapter, this one is hopefully just as explosive! And as for doongie's injury, it is sort of self-inflicted, but at the same time not entirely on purpose~

Chapter 23 – With tears, he runs from the truth

One year ago…

A girl sat in her chair, uncaring of the way sobs wracked her body or the way people stared at her, unsure of whether to comfort her or leave her alone. She couldn’t stand the way his footsteps crunched coldly on the gravel or the way his eyes were so sorrow-stricken that she couldn’t find it in her heart to blame everything on him.

Then her phone vibrated, interrupting her tears. She pulled it out and flipped it open. ‘I’m coming to pick you up. Stay where you are.’ Cheolyong. Her baby brother - always on the lookout.

Byunghee must have texted him. Damn the guy; he still thought of her even when he was angry. She slammed her fist down on the metal table again, ignoring the white hot flames of pain that jolted through her nerves.

Hyo Jin stood up and slung her bag over her arm. She looked blindly for a waiter, for the bill. She just wanted out.

“Bill.” She croaked at the front desk.

The server looked incredibly nervous. He had, no doubt, seen the entire chaos. “Ummm it’s already been paid, ma’am.” He coughed. “By the…umm…guy who was with you.”

Hyo Jin stared at him open-mouthed. Damn Byunghee again, damn him! The man had even paid the bill. He was always, always thinking of her. So much that Hyo Jin had thought about telling him of her illness many times, but each time she opened the words faltered and failed.

It was the trauma from her first boyfriend who had stared at her like she was contagious and ran away as if hell was on his heels. “How do you expect me to marry you…a cripple!” he spat before leaving her.

And though Byunghee had been a completely different guy, a caring, kind, gentleman, Hyo Jin couldn’t help seeing the other man in Byunghee every time she wanted to explain. She couldn’t help hiding the secrets, but now she was regretting them.

Hyo Jin stumbled out and made her way towards the taxi-rank, hoping to spot Cheolyong in a taxi quickly. Or maybe she would just get a taxi herself. She didn’t want to see the pity in his eyes but she wanted so desperately the warm arms that could encircle her and the soft murmurs that would reassure her. She sat down on the cold stone bench and stared into the night sky.

She wanted him back him. Goddam it, she wanted Byunghee right next to her, sharing his warmth and his jokes and-

She doubled over as a wave of pain ran through her body.

No! she thought desperately and she gripped her hands tightly and felt sweat run down her cheek. Not twice in one night?!

Impossible. She had never had two consecutively in one night. Usually they were spaced out by about a week. But the ripples of pain and the constricting sensation told her this was definitely a .

Hyo Jin crumpled to her knees. She felt her handbag slide from her arm and fall to the floor with a dull clunk! And then she felt the world tilt and sway as black spots glittered.

“Byung…hee…” she whispered, reaching out to him even though she knew he was probably miles away by now.

There were the sounds of a woman calling out to her, the bright color of red boots running over to her. But why were those boots swaying, why were they upside-down? Colors of brown, black and red swarmed, swallowing her entirely.

And then just as the world began to turn black and the pain seep away into nothingness, there was a large screeching sound and the overpowering waves of heat that seemed to burn Hyo Jin’s body. She felt as if she was being incinerated and the world around her crumbling to pieces. There were faint screams and the sounds of crashing and crunching in the distant background, but all Hyo Jin could concentrate on was the dull dripping sound - like a water tap not turned off properly.

She tried to lift her body, but it wasn’t responding. She lifted heavy eyelids to search for that annoying, insistent sound. But there was nothing but bright flames and the dark night sky and the irritating drip, drip sound. She reached out with one hand, slowly, and stared at the bright red color that saturated it.

Red? Why was it red? Shouldn’t everything be black?

Then her hand faltered and flopped to the floor. She heard more noise, a buzzing sound this time, and scrunched her eyes close as if trying to ward of the pain that ripped through her body. 

Her last thoughts as the blackness claimed her were that this was certainly at fault. That it was seriously playing around with her and that she wished it would all just go away. She wished she never had this condition or that she had never met her first boyfriend.

Most of all, she wished Byunghee was with her.

Cheondoong POV

Silence filled the room as Mir finished the story. The story that sounded awfully familiar to my ears.

“Hyung, G.O-hyung, never forgave himself.” Mir said softly. “He regretted leaving her behind that night and blamed himself for getting so angry. He says he abandoned her when she needed him the most, but…but we never blamed him.”

I sat there, mouth dry as a desert, and tried to imagine how G.O-hyung was feeling. He had left the girl he loved, thinking it was for the best. Only to find out she had suffered another and been hit by a car moments later. The guilt must be terrible.

“After that,” the nurse distracted me from my thoughts, “Hyo Jin-ssi was admitted to this hospital and over the course of one month, she recovered slowly and steadily. It was touch and go for a while, but she’s stable now.”

“Then?” Seungho asked the unspoken question that lingered in all our minds. “Why is she still in hospital?”

“Because of her memories.” A sudden voice said hollowly from the doorway. It was G.O. Seungho stood up, wanting to go over to his friend and give him a hug but the desire warring with worry made him sit slowly back down. G.O shuffled into the room, looking old and aged, and sat down on the bed next to me.

“Because of the accident and her second , she suffered oxygen deprivation and intense stress.” He explained in a hollow voice. “Her memories got jumbled and she developed a phobia of leaving the hospital room. She associates that room with safety now.” His eyes closed. “That night, she didn’t just get injured…she...broke.” He said simply with a bitter tinged tone.

“I broke her.” He laughed bitterly. “It was my entire fault.”

“No hyung!” Mir stepped forwards and hugged one shoulder. “It’s not your fault. None of us blame you, you couldn’t have known.”

“But I should’ve known better!” G.O cried. “I should’ve stayed beside her and seen her home rather than leave her standing in the cold. I was a terrible person, I-I…”

Then he lifted his head and looked at me straight in the eyes, mine glittering with horror and his shiny with unshed tears. “Do you see now?” He croaked. “Do you see why hiding secrets never work!”

I gulped and tried to ignore the stifling weight of guilt. “Hyung-“ I tried to speak. The words stuck in my mouth. But he turned away. A suffocating silence filled the air.

“Do you want to see her?” He said unexpectedly. “I suppose meeting new people would be nice change for her.”

The nurse smiled at the thought. “Good idea Byunghee,” she patted his shoulder comfortingly. “I’m sure Hyo Jin-ssi would be glad to meet your friends.”

So we all stumbled out of my room and up into the lift. We walked along the silent corridor which was tinted with the soft rays of morning light and then the nurse opened the door. G.O walked in without any hesitation, his eyes softening as they spotted the sleeping girl.

However, the nurse spoke to us in a soft, hurried voice. “She doesn’t remember Byunghee properly.” She said quickly, her sharps eyes assessing our reactions. “So don’t tell her anything. She remembers the accident and her family, but in her mind everything about Byunghee is shuffled.”

I stared, horrified. What was it like seeing your girlfriend who you had indirectly landed in hospital and yet didn’t remember you? It was like wanting to apologize but finding out you couldn’t. The guilt would lie in your belly like cold lead and there was no way of getting rid of it. A guilt I had similarly felt so long ago.

The nurse’s sad smile told me she knew all of this.

“Come in.” G.O said softly, inviting us into the room. It was spacious even though it held only one woman. It was furnished white and a large vase of colorful flowers decorated her bedside. G.O sat down next to her, holding her hand and shaking her gently awake. The rest of us stood awkwardly against the wall.

Hyo Jin rubbed her eyes and G.O helped her sit up. “Byunghee?” she said sleepily. “Who are these people?”

“My friends.” G.O said in the gentlest tone I have ever heard him use. It was full of love and regret and everything his relationship with Hyo Jin embodied.

“Cheolyang.” Hyo Jin smiled at her little brother. She held out one hand and Mir stepped forwards smoothly to give her a gentle hug. “How are you doing?”

“Fine, noona.” He smiled back. “Meet mine and Byunghee’s friends.” He introduced us one by one and we all smiled hesitantly. Hyo Jin’s smiles were like rays of the sun. I could see why G.O had fallen in love with her. She was so heart-warming that it felt like the room had gone cold the minute she moved her smile away from you and aimed it at someone else. Somehow, that face was incredibly familiar. I scrunched my eyes closed and tried to remember where I had seen it before. 

“This is Dara,” Mir pointed to my sister who stood next to me. Hyo Jin looked pleased at seeing another female in the room. The Mir pointed to me, the last in the line and I opened my eyes. “And this is Cheondoong-hyung, or otherwise known as Park Sanghyun.”

She turned her face to look at me. And froze.

“You.” She said suddenly. Then I remembered. Crap. 

Everyone in the room stiffened at the sudden change in her tone and expression. Byunghee leaned in looking increasingly worried as her eyes started flickering and her hands went to her head. She muttered something under her breath and started trembling.

“Hyo Jin?” Byunghee placed one hand on her shoulder. “Are you-“

But her eyes zeroed in on me again. “You.” She whispered. “It was your fault wasn’t it.”

I backed away, bumping into the wall. It couldn’t be. She didn’t remember the accident, right?

But Hyo Jin’s eyes tracked me, like a hunter following a deer. “You were in the car that day, weren’t you? You were holding the steering wheel. You, it’s all your fault.” She raised one finger in an accusatory gesture.

And I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I slammed the glass door open and bolted, feeling all the while the insistent eyes of Bang Hyo Jin drilling into the back of my head and her cold tone saying, It’s all your fault.

A/N - So Cheondoong was involved in the car accident! Another suprise? Long chapter I know, but hopefully it's revealed a lot of information!

Oh, and just a question but how are you finding the chapters? Are they too long, too dense? I have a tendency of writing really long, so I want to know if you'd prefer me to split chapters into smaller, more manageable chunks. Idk, let me know~