themedicalscholar: Hey guys, it's your author here. So I was really stuck, somehow in between this story (well, this happens quite often actually) but I'll try to write it in the most comfortable pace again since sometimes, I find myself trying hard to spoil you guys (lol). Alright, off to the comments, @spartace_suki, glad that you feel the same way as I do, and I have been in this kind of situation before so it was such a HARD chapter to write. And @MrsStar, you flatter me too much, I am glad that you really did enjoy this ff. Soon, when this story ends, I'll tell you guys with a special chapter why I wrote the way it happened, everything I write is for a reason and even the ending has it's own reason. @Feathertail1203, hah, you don't even know the half of it, jinja. And you can't really help yourself from being sad for them, right? And @shanaz, thank you for your feedback, seriously, I hope you would still read for updates. And sometimes it feels like that too, right? It feels like they are all facing a weight that they have to carry everyday, from the moment they wake up in the morning and rest when it folds to night time. Did you actually cry, haha, still I kind of pretty much understand it too. Thank you for giving me your two cents. 

I am sorry, sometimes if I am inconsistent but I do try my best to keep myself updating. When you think that it has been too long since I haven't been updating, that means I am back to the drawing board and trying to work how things play out. So, as usual, please, vote, subscribe and most of all, comment! And for the usual darlings who keeps my heart jumping from all the comments, ah, there's a special place in heaven for the likes of you. Much love xox

It's time to wake up now.

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. 

Song Ji Hyo woke up with the sun catching her eyes, and the door ringing vigorously. She didn't feel refreshed at all, instead she felt like going back to sleep. She thought, what a pain, as she lazily stretches out of bed and walks to her front door.

Who is it now?

She didn't even bother to check who it was and opened it. It was Dong Wook. She sighs. Of course she would sigh when the only thing she wanted is to escape from this world and bury herself in a hole. 

'Ji Hyo-ya.' He calls her, immediately he held her at the front door in a tight embrace. 

'Why are you here?' She merely asks when he lets go. 

'You haven't picked up my calls, anybody's calls. Your manager contacted me and told me that you weren't answer your door.' 

She sighs. 'It's accidental.' She says. 'Come in.' She closes the door behind her upon his entrace. Dong Wook looked nice, he still smelled the way he was, cologne musk filled the room. She smelled like , how could he have held her like that? 

'You're a mess.' Dong Wook said under his breath, but truly, enough for her to hear him. 

'Thanks. What day is it today, again?' She asked. 

'It's Thursday. Where have you been? Did you skip out on work?' He asks, and she went into the kitchen trying to brew herself some coffee. While she waited, she sat on the island counter, while Dong Wook was in front of her.'What on earth have you been doing in here?' He asks, finally, the right questions started to form. 

'I guess I did skip out on work. I was here. I was sleeping.' 

Dong Wook frowned, thin lines formed on his brow. 'What do you mean you've been sleeping?'

'I slept. I went back to sleep when I saw the ring you gave me on my dresser. So I merely shut my eyes, and went to sleep for three whole days. It happens.' She says, somehow it wasn't a big deal for her. She had hoped her manager made nice excuses, since she did warn him enough when he came to work for her. 'So I'm sorry for not picking up your calls, and I am sorry on the behalf of my manager for bothering you, Dong Wook-ah.' She says. 

'Wait - wait - what do you mean you slept for three days? Jesus.' 

She places her head down on the counter. She has a ringing headache and she seemed to not know how to get rid of it. Would a Xanax help? 'It's normal. Well for me it is. When things get a little bit too tough, I go to sleep. Three days, that's a new record, certainly, there has been some damage in me these days.' She says, quietly. 'But I'm okay now, and I have to keep on living.' She utters. 

'Ji Hyo-yah.' He utters slowly, since he didn't know that side of her. Why she sometimes would look so tired even though she has done nothing, why she would keep herself up at night almost sometimes twice a week or why she would keep herself so busy that she's burnt out. It was for this day, for her to shut her eyes and hibernate. Sometimes things are just a little bit tiring for others, and we all have our unbelievably profound weaknesses - flight or fight situations. And sometimes, the only thing that Song Ji Hyo could do is flight when she couldn't even face the mess she has created. We all have things that we want to change, and sometimes it's just a statusquo that could never been changed, since it's our nature. Peope do not actually break habits. 

They were only such few times that she found herself in a desperate mode to hibernate. In her teen years, everything would just be done prior. When she knows she has had enough, and she has had a tiring run, then she would tell her dongsaengs that she was alright and needed time to heal. 

'Ji Hyo-ya, I'm sorry.' Dong Wook says, approaching her. 

'Why would you be sorry for, Dong Wook-ah. It's mess I have created.' She utters slowly. 'And this is my burden to carry on my shoulders, not anybody elses.' She says. 

'I shouldn't have.. I'm not blaming you for anything, since your feelings are yours to keep and I shouldn't be pushing towards you like this. But I just do things, and sometimes I can't even explain it -' 

She immediately cuts him off. 'Can you pour me a cup of coffee, please?' 

He realizes that she needed it, she needed it desperately - the routine that she has skipped for a few days. Diligently, he took the black large mug from the dishwashing rack and poured heaps of it. He smiled thinly at her, and he passed her the mug. Slowly she drank, the roasted coffee beans engulfed her and she took slow sips so she could feel it all. And now, she felt like her again. 

'I am tired, Dong Wook-ah.' She says, slowly. 'I used to sleep for days, and when I woke up, I feel like moving forward again. But looking at you, thinking about him, I feel like I am stuck in a pin.' She says, circling her fingers on the mouth of the mug. 'I feel like moving away where people can't find me, but I can't do that. I have responsibilities, I have mouths to feed.' 

'What are you trying to say, Ji Hyo-ya?' 

She took the ring from her finger, the one that she kept ever since she started sleeping and ran her fingers through it. 'I am telling you to give me time. I am telling you to give me space. I am telling you to let me think first, and I will make my choice. I'm going to ask him for the same thing. I feel like I'm in a vacuum and there is no air to breathe. So please, let me think, let me just think slowly. Let me weigh my choices.' 

Dong Wook asked and kissed her head. 'If that's what you need, then, whatever you choose; is right, Ji Hyo-ya.' He smiles at her, the calmest smile you have ever seen, placed his large hand on her head, and left her apartment. 

And even to Kwang Soo, she did the same.