(Narrator’s POV)

The sunlight was almost blinding as it filled the dark room, bathing the bare skin of two bodies sleeping close to each other, so close that one would mistake them as one body. Their breathing was steady, in sync, and like a lullaby to each other’s ears. The warm, vibrant rays of sunlight poked Jihye’s eyes, making her to finally open them. She felt a strong arm wrapping around her waist and bringing her closer until her back met something hard as she slowly opened her eyes. It was a warm and comforting feeling. Gentle and soft breathing against Jihye’s neck sent goosebumps down her spine and she jerked a little at the sensation. She wanted to turn around and see who’s that breathing, arm, and rock hard chest belong to, so she did, only to meet that familiar, angelic face, which belonged to no other than Jungkook. Beautiful jet, black hair, in contrast to his pale white skin, messily decorating his forehead, plump lips slightly parted, just enough to show off those adorable bunny teeth. The sight in front of Jihye was simply stunning. Subcautiously, she lifted her hand to fix his silky, messy hair. A sweet smile made it’s way to her lips but soon to fade away as guilt washed over her and quickly, she pulled her hand away. She knew too well that what she did was wrong. So, very wrong. Luckily, she was ‘drunk’ so she had something to blame all of her actions on. Small movements that she made in that instant caused the boy next to her to slightly open his eyes

“you’re awake?” husky-voiced Jungkook nuzzled deeper into Jihye’s neck, breathing in her sweet scent as he placed a soft kiss on her neck, his arm around her waist tightened. Jihye tried to free herself from his strong grip but failed so she put both of her hands on his muscular chest and pushed him slightly. Jungkook moaned in complaint and his grip only got tighter

“don’t move so much, I’m still sleepy” the boy complained

“Jungkook, l-let go” she blushed as their bare bodies were pressing closer and closer to each other

“no! don’t want to!” he protested

“J-jungkook… I need to talk to you”

“what about?” his voice got muffled into Jihye’s neck, causing each strand of hair on her back to stand up

“a-about last n-night…” Jungkook didn’t say anything in reply, letting her continue her words “well..um-er… we were b-both drunk so...um-”

“I wasn’t drunk” Jungkook cut her off short, knowing what she was going about

“w-what?” he lifted his head up to look down at her in the eyes

“I said I wasn’t drunk” he repeated. Jihye looked at him with wide eyes before looking away

“Jungkook...we shouldn’t have...we...it was a mistake” she sighed worriedly

“look at me,” Jungkook gently put his thumb on her chin, making her face him “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but this time, I’m damn sure I didn’t… last night was the most beautiful night of my life, Jihye and I don’t regret a second of it. I want you to know that you’re the most special person to me. I call every second that I’m with you joy, bliss, happiness, and fulfillment, not a mistake.” he could see her eyes glistening with tears before a single drop falling on her flushed cheek. He kissed her tear away and brought his attention back to her eyes again “I love you, Jihye...I can never let go” the girl smiled sweetly at him, that’s when she realized she had lost to him. She had given up. Screw the world, what matters the most right now was Jungkook and herself. She reached her hands up to the back of his neck, pulling him down to a passionate, yet gentle kiss. The boy didn’t hesitate to kiss back as he hovered on top of her, bodies pressed against each other but Jungkook supported his weight on his forearms so the girl under him didn’t feel any pressure. Their kiss was getting heated up until a voice, rather unpleasant, disturbed them

“you !”

They both pulled away from each other from the sudden voice and quickly covered themselves up, looking up only to meet those angry, hateful eyes which belonged to no other than Minseo. She was under an oversized button-up shirt, which clearly was a man’s clothing, that covered her just above her knees. Her once neatly curled hair was now messily hung over her shoulders, her lipstick smeared all over her lips, and little love-bites evident on her neck and collar bones. Looking at her in that state only meant one thing: she had slept with someone. And that someone could be no one other than her boyfriend, Jimin. Apparently, she had no shame to walk up on Jihye and Jungkook, looking like that.

“w-wasn’t the door closed?” Jihye stuttered out, completely embarrassed

“it was, but I opened it! why? are you embarrassed? hah! I thought s had no shame!” Minseo choked

“cut it, Minseo!” Jungkook snapped, not believing the sight in front of him. Not recognizing the girl who stood before him, the girl whom he spent his childhood with, he couldn’t remember ever seeing Minseo like that. ‘is this really Minseo?’ he thought

“why? did I disturb you from your hot make-out session with this ?” Minseo pointed to Jihye, who was watching the scene in disbelief

“I said cut it out! she’s not a ! Stop being like that!” Jungkook raised his voice, hoping to put an end to this situation, but it only got worse

“amazing! now you’re raising your voice at me? well, thank you!” Minseo couldn’t see clearly anymore as her tears blurred out her vision. She looked at Jihye “it’s all thanks to you, you ! I ing hate you! I hate you with every cell of my body!” Minseo stopped her words, her tears soon to dry away, as she noticed something. She stepped closer to the shaking girl, hooking her fingers around Jihye’s necklace and tearing it from her neck. “I’ve always wondered who had the other part to Jimin’s necklace. It must’ve been someone really special to him since he always wore it, even last night when we had . So it was you,” she smirked as she brought the pendant to her face, examining it “it’s quite pretty, I must say! but I don’t think you’ll need it anymore” she brought her attention back to Jihye’s widened eyes, looking right at them, she hurled down the necklace. The pendant shattered across the floor, tiny pearl white pieces blinking sadly at Jihye, making her chest tighten at the sight.

“you see these pieces, Jungkook?” Minseo pointed at the shattered pieces. Jungkook only stared at her in disbelief, not believing her actions “this is my heart right now, you broke it into tiny pieces! you shattered my heart, Jungkook! you!” that was all she had to say before walking out and slamming the door shut behind her with a loud and angry bang.

The room was silent for a few moments until it was filled with quiet sniffling, which brought the boy’s attention back to the reality. He noticed that Jihye had knelt down on the floor, picking up the tiny little pieces of her once beautiful, pearl white yin yang necklace. He quickly moved next to her, also kneeling down to help her pick them up. He noticed teardrops silently falling onto the wooden floor underneath the girl and brought his hand up to gently place it on her back, drawing circles in a soothing way. He looked at her face, observing how wet it has become not only with her tears but also with little beads of cold sweat.

“Jihye? are you alright?” Jungkook asked in a low and comforting voice, putting the back of his hand on her forehead to check for any fevers but was shocked the moment his hand came to contact with her. She was ice cold!

She has become a lot paler than few minutes ago and her hands were shaking so much that she couldn’t hold the pieces anymore as they fell, one by one, on the floor. Breathing has become a great struggle to her as her right hand clutched the left side of her chest, the familiar pain striking her again.

Wincing in pain, she shut her eyes closed… The world seemed to spin around her head and before she knew it, she has fainted in the arms of a boy who was desperately calling her name, telling her to look at him, to stay with him but unfortunately, his pleading was to no avail.

-

The ticks of the clock were too loud to the ears of three young people waiting impatiently at the dead, quiet hallway. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity. The level of intensity was too high to be described, pressure too much to bare, air too thin to breathe...One was the most impatient of them all: Jungkook. It felt suffocating as anxiety wrapped itself around his throat, making him sick to the pit of his stomach. His heart beat so loud that for a moment he thought it was going to explode and to distract himself from those loud thumps echoing in his ears, he decided to walk back and forth in the silent hallway. Jimin on the other hand had no energy left in his body as he sat on the uncomfortable chair adjacent to the room his childhood friend, who he begged the nurses to just get a glimpse of, was sleeping in. His sweaty fingers playing with the pendant around his neck while murmuring prayers under his breath. Next to him sat the guilty Minseo. She has no idea as to why or how they got here, why was Jihye passed out, or why is Jungkook so worried as if he knows something she doesn’t, but she couldn’t hide the fact that she was a little worried herself.

Finally, the door opened, revealing the doctor holding his clipboard as he was going through every detail of his patient’s disease and when he looked up, his eyes met those three pairs that were begging him to say what was wrong with their loved one. He slightly shook his head as he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“your relation to the patient?” the doctor asked the three who were looking at him worriedly

“w-we are her friends...close friends” Jungkook spoke up for the other two. The doctor looked at him with an amused face

“I remember you, boy! you were the one who brought her here last time, weren’t you?”

“yes, sir. that was me” Jungkook replied politely

“wait, what do you mean ‘you brought her here last time’? what 'last' time? did this happen before? when-”

“slow down, kid. I can only answer one question at the time” the doctor cut the confused and upset Jimin off. Jimin didn’t know who to look at or who to expect the answers from, Jungkook? or the doctor? he was just too confused that it was too hard for his brain to comprehend the situation. He just stared dumbfoundedly at the doctor, searching for answers

“the reason she was brought here last time was syncope, however, this time, her condition has gotten a lot worse,” the doctor paused for a short while as he went through the details of Jihye’s disease on his clipboard before continuing “she is diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or HCM”

“w-what is that?” Minseo choked out the words that were lumping .

“HCM is a common genetic cardiovascular disease affecting 1 in 500 people. It occurs when the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick and affects the pumping action of the heart, which can result in heart failure, , and sudden death.” The three startled young adults felt as if a gallon of iced water was poured down on their backs as soon as the words left the doctor’s mouth

“do you know what caused it?” Jimin managed to ask without stuttering

“HCM usually is inherited. It’s caused by a change in some of the genes in heart muscle proteins. It also can develop over time because of some conditions such as high blood pressure, aging or even emotional stress, which in Jihye’s case, high blood pressure and emotional stress are more likely to be the cause.” Minseo felt her knees go numb as they failed to support her weight and she plopped down on one of the chairs, burying her face in her hands in frustration as guilt washed over her

“are there any treatments for this disease? is there anything that we could do to help?” Jungkook asked, desperately looking for a way to help Jihye. Jungkook watched the doctor as he removed his glasses,

“Actually, there are treatments for HCM but…” the doctor paused a little before continuing, shaking his head in disappointed “It seems that the symptoms of heart failure have developed excessively in her body and the best choice for survival would be a heart transplant within a month or else… the chances of sudden death would rise to 95%”

The three just stared at the doctor dumbfoundedly, not believing the words that just left his mouth. It was too much to take in… they couldn’t accept the fact that their friend only has a month to live. The pressure of this fact was too much that Jimin couldn’t hold himself back from punching the wall repeatedly, creating a large hole and causing the nurses to stop him and bringing him to another room to calm him down and treat his bleeding knuckles. Jungkook couldn’t stand on his feet anymore as he sank to his knees. He knew that Jihye had a heart disease but never did he know that it was this severe. Gripping his hair tightly, he let out small whimpers that would melt a rock by seeing it. His head spinning, his body shaking, his broken heart thumping weakly inside his chest…

Minseo, on the other hand, was staring at the scene in front of her in confusion as guilt washed over her entire being. She couldn’t help but to blame it all on herself. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream out all of her frustrations

but why is it so hard to do so?

why is she feeling nothing?

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Author's Note:

Hey there, lovelies! 

So I've decided to use third person's pov for this chapter (and maybe next chapter) for your better understanding. Jihye is too sick to be aware of her surroundings and doesn't know what is going on (and it's better if she doesn't) but I felt it's necessary for the reader to know. Hope you liked the change :) don't hesitate to ask questions about parts (if any) that seemed confusing to you!

Thanks for reading <3

-HoneyDast-