Sera opens her eyes slowly as she’s adjusting to the lighting in her room. She takes a deep breath and to her surprise, she’s able to breathe easier. Is the operation done? Was it successful? She choked on the breathing tube inserted into her wind pipe and this bring attention from her doctors.

“She’s awake, remove the breathing tube from , she can breathe on her own now.” That’s what she hears vaguely.

An intern come closer to her and pulls the tube that’s been choking her. “Han Sera-ssi, this is your intern doctor. I have called doctor Kim and doctor Song to check on you. The operation went very well. Congratulation.”

Sera blink once to thank him.

Not long after, two of her favorite doctors come to visit her and do regular check on her vitals and pulses.

“Sera-ssi, can you hear us?”

Sera blinks one more time, it’s too tiring for her to opens to speak.

“You’re a tough girl.” Doctor Song raise both of her thumbs in front of her face, “The surgery went very well, you’re supposed to feel better after you’re fully conscious.”

“Sera-ssi, the device has been implanted in you and we need to know if you can breathe better right now.” Doctor Kim attentively watch her heart rate monitor.

Sera blinks and force herself to form a smile. It was a weak smile but her doctors understand that their patient has succeeded her LVAD surgery.

“Well, the recovery progress won’t be too long until you’re able to do everyday activities now.” Doctor Kim smiles back at her. “we’ll get Kyuhyun-ssi, he’s been waiting anxiously outside for eight hours.”

Eight hours? Was she sedated that long? Did Kyuhyun really waited in front of the surgery department for her? He must have been so tired from worrying about her. Sera can imagine how anxious he must have been outside, not knowing whether the operation went well for her or not.

Sera sees Kyuhyun from the corner of her eyes, as he gets closer, Sera aware that he’s crying while cupping his mouth with his hand. This experience was too much for him to bear. He’s scared, he’s scared for her and he’s also scared if she didn’t make it through the procedure.

Kyuhyun cries for some more once he sees the condition Sera’s in. He can no longer counts how many tubes inserted inside and out of her body, she’s barely covered with hospital gowns and at this point Kyuhyun understands why Sera was about to give up about her life. The machine that supports her life in the last eight hours were so huge and noisy, it makes her look like some lab experiments to create another Frankenstein monster. He can’t imagine how much pain she has to endure at the moment and he’d like to switch place with her to avoid her being in massive pain.

Sera manages to lifts her whole palm and signals Kyuhyun to get closer. She’s completely aware of how minimum the hospital dress is covering her body, but she doesn’t care. She just wants to calm her friend that’s too overwhelmed with what he sees.

“Sera-ya, mian. I shouldn’t cry like this.” He presses his own nose in order to hold back his frantic breathing.

Sera flips her palm, asking him to hold her hand. He comes closer to obey her.

“Thank you for doing this Sera-ya. Thank you.” He continues sobbing. “I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

Sera tightens her grip on his hand and tries another attempt to smile.

The pain she feels at the moment is nothing like she ever experiences before. Although she’s given enough morphine to keep the pain away, some of the scars still stings in an uncomfortable way. But she never breathes easier than today since a long time, her breathing is not rapid and short anymore and the machine that’s beeping next to her is telling her about the regular heartbeat she hasn’t had for a long time.

***

“What do you think about this dress oppa?” Yoona breaks Taecyeon from his daydream.

Taecyeon turns his head towards her and give a quick stare half-heartedly, “You look good in everything, Yoona-ssi.”

The soon-to-be bride and groom are busy preparing for their wedding and now both of them are in the wedding house trying on dresses and tux for them to wear on the big day.

The closer they are to the wedding date, the less interested Taecyeon is with the very matter. His mind is filled with Han Sera and Han Sera only. He can’t work properly, he can’t sleep and he can’t even look at his future bride in the eyes.

Taecyeon has called his right-hand man and order him to track down Sera, but then again he also did it the last time and he couldn’t find her. Taecyeon told him to begin the search from her debit card—which she used apparently, but in a considerable amount and she takes it regularly, so nothing unusual from her activity.

When tracked further, Taecyeon learns that Han Sera is still in Seoul, but her whereabouts is still a huge question mark because the places where she takes her money are inconsistence, almost like she’s trying to hide her own track. But he’s a bit relieves when he knows she’s using her alimony well, at least he knows she’s not homeless and lives in hunger.

“Oppa, between the three dresses, which one you’d prefer?” Yoona asks him again.

He blinks several times to remember what she just wore and he blanked out. He doesn’t give a which dress is best, she can wear jeans and t-shirt and he couldn’t care less. However, Taecyeon obviously avoids having argument with her, because an argument with her could lead to more arguments with the parents and that’s the last thing he needs now.

“I like the last one best.” He forces a smile yet still avoids eye contact to her.

“Jeongmal? Okay, I’ll take that one then.” She signs the store clerk to wrap the wedding gown for her. “Oppa, should we go somewhere after this?”

Taecyeon pretends to look at his watch while finding an excuse, “I must go back to work, Yoona-ssi, there’s an important meeting with my client from overseas this afternoon. I’ll just drop you off the hospital, okay?”

Yoona pouts , it’s been weeks since his attitude changed towards her, is he having cold feet? Or he’s just really busy at the moment? Yoona’s not too sure, but she’s too delighted about her upcoming wedding so she’ll just shake it off.

“Arraseo, will you have time for dinne