Sunggyu entered the penthouse, both mentally and physically drained.

“Not you again!” he huffed in annoyance when he saw the man in the living room, Choi Jungwoo, one of his father’s friend.

“Sunggyu behave!” his father warned him when he saw his reaction.

“Give it a rest father. He’s a psychologist, he’s job is to read people. Don’t you think he’ll know when I’m pretending to like him?”

“You always have a point, don’t you?” their guest answered, amused by his clever response.

“Now, if you excuse me I had a very long day and I don’t want to make it longer by sitting with you.”

“If you need someone to talk with, you know you’re always welcomed in my office.” The man continued, totally enjoying Sunggyu’s comebacks.

“I burnt your card last time too! I’ll never go back to that hell hole you call office again!”

Sunggyu said, before slamming his bedroom’s door and throwing his tired body on the bed.

Another person in Sunggyu’s hate list. After Minggyu’s death, Sunggyu had a depression and his parents took him to Doctor Choi Jungwoo. The treatment didn’t surpass a month span, but made him worse. He just hated the man. Sunggyu magically got better after he went to the US. He just wished to never see the man again, but it turned out he was still friends with his father and always came to the penthouse with him.

But that wasn’t what Sunggyu had in mind now. He fished his phone from his pocket and kept staring at the pictures of the paper and the book he found earlier.

The paper was a doctor’s diagnosis with the name of Eunji in it and an old date, nine years earlier. As for the book's page, it had a definition and few symptoms of a certain illness.

It was the same illness the doctor diagnosed Eunji with.

Sunggyu tried searching for it on the internet, but all the articles he found were almost irrelevant, not explaining a thing.

And no matter how much he read and reread the content of those two pictures, he couldn’t comprehend them, more likely, he refused to comprehend them.

His eyes caught a little detail at the side of the paper, so he zoomed in and started squinting his eyes to make the three initials in the doctor’s signature.

“CGW?!! No way on earth.” Sunggyu fled to his nightstand and opened the first drawer, taking out the card he supposedly burnt. And to his major surprise, the same initials were graved on it.

“Guess I’m going back to his office after all.” He sighed.

“Well only yesterday you rejected my offer!” Doctor Choi said the moment he saw Sunggyu getting in his office.

“I will be straight to the point.” Sunggyu spoke in irritation as he took his seat.

“Well you always are.” The man smiled, curious about Sunggyu’s visit.

“I have a question about a certain psychological illness, a rare one, and I hope you’ve heard about it.”

“Try me."

"*Psychological Analgesia."

The doctor frowned. “That’s a very rare one. I wonder where you heard about it.”

“Just answer my question, what do you know about it?” Sunggyu looked very determined to get an answer.

“Well it’s a very complicated illness. It’s very close to con analgesia in its symptoms but the only differences are that con analgesia is incurable. But for psychological analgesia, it can happen to anyone after a certain chock or trauma. They lose the ability to feel physical pain, which is the dangerous part of the whole illness.”

“By phisical pain, what do you mean?” Sunggyu asked dreadfully.

“All in all, they can physically feel anything, but not pain. They could get wounded, sick, headaches but they won’t feel it. They don’t even feel the strong heat and sometimes it affect their tasting buds."

Sunggyu’s mind traveled to the time he had to heal Eunji's wound, the way she didn’t even flinch when he treated it. Everything finally started making sense.

“What about emotions?” he questioned afterwards.

“Well, it doesn’t affect emotions the least. But usually the patients grow emotionless, especially if they have it since they were little. They get used to the numbness to pain so they unconsciously lose the ability to have feelings, literally. Crying is out of question too. But again, there's exeptions.”

Suggyu hummed, drowning deeper in his thoughts.

“But seriously, why are you asking for this? It seems to be more than a curious question.” the man asked curiously.

“I know someone who has it. You said that it’s curable, how?”

“There’s no specific cure, not even medications could help. But few, and by few I mean like a dozen or few more, gradually went back to normal after regaining their ability to feel real emotions. It takes a lot of time, years sometimes, still, it’s possible.”

“You know an analgesic person? It's really rare to find one, like a one in a million.” the man questioned again. But Sunggyu ignored him.

“Did you ever had analgesia patient?”

“I did, once. But it was years ago."

“And of course you can’t tell me.”

“Well you know the morals of my job.” The man smiled.

“Did your patient receive treatement? I think you can answer this question, as long as the name won’t be mentioned.” Sunggyu said innocently.

“No, my patient was very young and refused the treatment. I don’t think it could’ve helped much in that case though.” He said apologetically.

“Well, her mother would’ve made it impossible for her to recover anyways, don’t you think?” Sunggyu asked.

“How did…” Dr Choi’s face changed colors, making Sunggyu smirk.

“What? You thought we were speaking about a different patient? You just said it yourself. It’s very rare to find someone with analgesia. Since I got most of my questions answered, I’ll take my leave then.” Sunggyu stood up and bowed lightly.

And like that, he left the man struck in his office.

“Eunji! Eunji!” Taeil waved for her to get her attention back on him.

“You’re really distracted today!” he noted.

“What were you saying?”

“Forget about it. What’s so important about my computer that just exploded?!” he questioned sarcastically.

“Sorry! My mind went somewhere else.” she apologized. It wasn’t her first time spacing out. It happened too many times since the time she fought with Sunggyu, she lost count.

“I have something that will catch your attention. Although, I don’t really want to tell you about it. But I’m afraid it will bring more pain and damage if I kept you in the dark about it.” Taeil was the cheerful style, so for him to get that serious, it means that he have something really important under his hand.

“As long as you know, now talk already.” She was impatient, having an extreme bad feeling about this.

“It’s about your friend Kim Sunggyu, I did more researches and…” and the words that followed didn’t make sense for her. She had a lot of doubts about that matter, to have them confirmed was one of her biggest fears.

How she wished he didn’t tell her anything.

Eunji was walking absentmindedly, Taeil’s words still replaying vividly in her mind. She was too lost in her thoughts she didn’t see Sunggyu standing by the side of the elevator.

“Do we have homework?” she asked once she realized his presence, having a great difficulty speaking.

“No, I just have something to tell you. But let’s gof up first.” He suggested.

It made him feel bad, how it became normal for them to only meet for assignments. He had a great part in that.

‘I never tried to understand you, I think.’ He blamed himself, observing the distressed state she was in.

“What is it?” she asked when they finally entered the apartment. She couldn’t even meet his eyes for once.

“Just a second.” Sunggyu flee to the library and came back with the book he discovered the last day.

Eunji’s eyes widened the moment she saw him holding it.
Her heart started quickening, especially when he got out the very familiar yellowish paper.

“This!” he shown her the paper.

“H-how did y-you… w-where did…. And w-when?” Eunji was unable to even form a coherent sentence.

“Is that important? Eunji-ah, tell me this is not yours!” he pleaded, his voice weakening when he saw a glint of fear in her expression.

“Isn't my name on it?” she mumbled, eyes fixed on the book.

He threw the book on the table and approached her, cupping her face.

“Since when?” he asked softly.

“After my mother tried to kill me.” Eunji calmed down by directly looking in his dark orbs.

Sunggyu couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t care if they had many conflicts. He missed her and it broke his heart to see her suffering that much so he hugged her.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for not trying to understand. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

His apology triggered something in her, making her back away from his hold, surprising him.

“Why are you apologizing?! You’re not the one who made me this away!” she growled at him.

‘I’m the who should be apologizing…’ she thought, her expression hardening.

“And there’s nothing for you to understand! I’ll say this again for you to comprehend. I don’t have any feelings for you and it has nothing to do with my condition!” she kept her cold demeanor.

'Again, she misunderstood my intentions.' It made Sunggyu angry, very angry.

“Let me say this for you to comprehend too. When I discovered about your illness, I got concerned because you’re someone precious for me, my best friend. I wasn’t hoping for more affection from you or a confession. The only thought that I had on my mind since I saw that paper is how much of a strong person you are and how hard it was for you all these years. I kept wishing for you to get better and to be happy whether you had me or not. But here you are, degrading and disrespecting my feelings for you, making me feel like a selfish ! Did you ever see me as a friend? Or was you just finishing the game you started?” he took a big breath after finishing, trying to calm himself.

“I think you got the answer already. I don’t know what good did you see in me.” She answered in her calmest tone.

“I was blinded, I think.” He said between gritted teeth, before walking to the door.

He stopped when his hand reached the door’s knob.

“You may fool yourself by that cold façade you’re putting, but not me. You’re only lying to yourself, not to me.” And then he left.

Dongwoo rushed to his apartment after receiving the call from Taeil. He found the place swimming in darkness. Even Eunji’s room was the same, but he knew it wasn’t vacant. He the lights to see her on her bed, hugging her legs to her chest, head down.

“Eunji-ah.” He said softly not to startle her, as he sat on the bed.

Eunji lifted her head, eyes extremely lost.

“Are you okay?” he asked, although he knew the answer.

“Oppa, isn’t fate cruel?” she smiled bitterly, her voice shaking.

“When I finally found someone that made me actually want to open up, it turns out to be this complicated. I think I was never meant to experience happiness.”

“No Eunji! Don’t you ever say that ever again! Out of all people I know, you’re the one who deserves to be happy the most. You’re an amazing person.” He said warmly but she just scoffed.

“Don’t let this get in your way. It’s from the past so you need to get over it and let your heart lead you actions.”

“It’s scary. After all this years, I’m afraid that after letting him in, I’ll get hurt. But I’m more afraid of hurting him.”

Dongwoo understood where her concerns were coming from.

“He won’t blame you for it. It wasn’t your fault after all. The three of you were victims. The only culprits are my mother and his father. Don’t you ever blame yourself for what happened that day, understand?!”

“I can’t! I’ll only hurt him. I can’t build my happiness on the expanse of his…” she buried her face in her palms.

“In times like this, how I wish I could cry! I feel like suffocating and I want to cry until I won’t feel a thing for real!” she desperately said.

Dongwoo hugged her, not bearing with seeing her that broken.

“You’ll get better one day. They say time heals everything.”

“I won’t call ten years a short time!” she mumbled against his shoulder.

“We’re almost there. Think of every passing day as a day closer to your goal.”

“I think that goal is the only reason that made me survive, so far.”

Dongwoo didn’t like what she was implying, but he wanted to get into that matter, sensing her getting more relaxed in his hold, drifting to sleep.

The cold shoulder, that was Sunggyu's last resolution. Well, he was already cold with Eunji, but he reduced the amount of their interactions in order to calm himself down.

Her words kept repeating in his mind like a broken record, angring him more. He couldn't take looking directly at her. He was afraid of losing control and snapping at her in front of the whole school. So when she started to avoid him as well, he felt relieved, but dissapointed as well.

“How's school going, little champ?”

“Like if you ask me. But don't tell mom.” he pleaded the guy on his phone screen.

“I thought you were good!”

“It's not about studying.” Sunggyu answered with a little sight.

“I smell a female scent involved. Little champ, you fell in love?” the guy asked wiggling his eyebrows.

“Henry, don't start please.”

“Sorry, i'm just happy seeing you growing up and experiencing this kind of stuff. You can ask me for advice you know.”

“You're the last person I would ask for dating advices. But thank you for the offer.”

“I feel offended!” Henry started acting hurt before a loud peeping echoed in the room he was in.

“Sorry Gyu, I need to go, it's an emergency! I'll tell Dr Lee to call you after her surgery, Bye Bye!!" and the screen went black.

“Bye Hyung...” Sunggyu mumbled.

Henry Lau, a young doctor. He used to be an intern working under his mother, and the latter always forced him to go fitch Sunggyu from his school, since he was unfamiliar with the area. The guy just hated doing that at first, but shortly grew fond of Sunggyu and the two became friends.

According to Sunggyu, Henry was the reason americans and the rest of the world in general have sereotypes against asians. The guy was half chinese half taiwanese while Sunggyu was purely korean, but people always mistaked them for being siblings, blame it on the uncanning resemblance between them.

'He looks like me more than my parents and Minggyu do!' that's what Sunggyu always thought.

“This is so ing stressful!! and I thought falling in love was going to be all smiles and roses!” Sunggyu threw his body on his bed, trashing around in annoyance.

'But will she be okay?' he stopped his useless movements, getting back to his deep thoughts.

“Sunggyu you must be really screwed up to still be thinking about her after all what happened.” he stayed motionless, still realizing how deep he has fallen.

“Each pair come forward and take a number!! come on move your asses!!” Mr. Kwon yelled, holding a box full of folded papers. Sunggyu picked a paper and went back to his seat. He unfolded it to reveal the number on it.

“Four.” he said, showing it to Eunji nonechalantly.

“Now that you all have your numbers, come forward to get the senario.” he ordered again.

Mr. Kwon, the acting teacher, started the day by announcing the date of their upcoming test. They had to act a certain scene and they were in the process of choosing one.

Sunggyu went gain to the teacher's desk and picked two folders with the number four on them, then gave one to Eunji.

He started reading the scene, cursing his luck with every line.
It was a romantic scene between two lovers. A lovers fight to be more specific, and it was extremily accurate with their situation.

Sunggyu reached a certain point in the senario and found himself unable to hold himself from cursing outloud.
He looked at Eunji, who was having a troubled look, just like him.

Their eyes met and he knew they were doomed for sure this time:
the female lead had to cry.

“Did you ever take us seriously? Our relationship, did it ever mean anything for you?” Sunggyu said in a desperate tone, looking accusatevly at Eunji.

“Sunggyu, you don't understand. You know how I feel about you. I'm sorry I made you think otherwise, but...” Eunji stopped.

“But what?” he waited for her response, but she didn't seem like talking.

“See!! that's the problem! You're always hiding things from me! I can't tell you this, I can't tell you that and it's a secret. Those are your only excuses! You didn't even admit that you had feelings for me! When you feel telling me everything you know where to find me.” he turned to leave.

She run after him and took his hand between hers.

“Sunggyu PLEASE!! DON'T LEAVE ME!” she screamed, her voice shaky. “ I love you and only you, I don't think I'll be able to live without you! You're the only sunshine in my life, I can't afford losing you! I'll die without you.” she said in a monotonious tone.

“That's not it...” Sunggyu sighed. “You're supposed to be more desperate in this part.” he gave her a dissaproving look. “Even your tone isn't that convincing.”

It's been two weeks, and it was pure torture for him. Eunji was making a slight improvement, but there was no sign of tears, and he doubts there will be any. He understood that it was almost impossible in her case, but it was the most important part of the scene.

Exchanging roles was out of question, changing the senario was also impossible and they could've used artificial tears if it wasn't for the big bold red warning at the end of the senario. The tears needed to be real.

Sunggyu thought of other alternatives but Eunji was the one who insisted on keeping it that way; she'd be the one failing the test anyways.

But Sunggyu was suffering because of other things. The first is that he had to meet her daily and for hours, which was insuportable for him. The second was their roles. He hated uttering those harsh words every practice, because he already did in reality and it hurt her for sure. And listening to her response was the hardest part. How he wished her words really true and directed to him...

“Listen, let's stop here. It's useless.” he stood up. “We only have a few days remaining and you're not showing any progress. Try practicing alone and when you get better tell me so we can resume our practice, okay?” he suggested, not waiting for an answer, as he started packing his things.

Eunji's phone started riging loudly and Sunggyu heard her answer it.

“Hi.... What's wrong?.... they failed again?... I'm coming.” and she hung up.

Sunggyu slang his backpack on his shoulder an started heading out, trying his hard not to get curious about the call, he just hoped it wasn't something bad.

He was only few meters away from the building when he saw Eunji running to the road and stopping a taxi.

'She looked in a rush, hope it's nothing bad.' he thought.

“What brought you here? I think I made myself clear last time!” Jinyoung said firmly when he saw his daughter rushing in his office.

“I can't stand still when I see your men failing another mission!” she said crossing her arms. “Don't you know how hard it is for me to get you those detailed information! At least make proper use of it!”

“They outmened us this time too, your secret messenger's information isn't as accurate as usual.”

“Just admit that your men are incompetent. There's another delivery this night, I'll go by myself this time!” she decided.

“You can't, it's dangerous!” he stood up in protest.

“well, it has never been safe for me. Plus Dongwoo is out of town for two days.” she smirked. “It's nothing I can't handle by myself. I can't let another delivery pass like that, not in my watch!” she said determinedly.

“At least take some of them with you, they're not completely useless you know!” he pleaded.

“Okay, Okay! Just two. I'll go get ready, tell them to meet me in the parking lot.” she said before exiting the office.

Sunggyu has been ringing the bell for minutes but no on responded yet.

'Maybe they're not home.' he guessed.

The previous day he left in a rush so he forgot his guitar in Eunji's apartement and no matter how much he called, Eunji didn't answer his calls. So the first thing he did in the morning, is to come and get it himself.

In fact, Sunggyu didn't need his guitar, but he's only using as an excue to check on Eunji. After the call she received, he felt that something happened. So when she didn't answer his phone calls, he knew it in his guts that something was wrong.

'I know this wrong, but I think I should do it...' Sunggyu hesitated, looking at the passcode's bar.

'What if someone saw me and thought that I was a thief? Who am I kidding, the next door house is vacant, I never saw anyone coming in or out of it anyways!' Sunngyu entered the passcode and the door clicked open.

Yes, he memorised the passcode since he saw it quiet of times.

It was quiet inside, but Sunggyu started calling their names, in case they were in one of the rooms. Still no one responded. So he just climbed the stairs to the home bibliotheque, where he left his guitar. He fished the instrument and was about to leave, until he heard a thud and a muffled noise.

He looked around, searching for the source of noise. It was coming from behind the book shelves. Sunggyu aproached the thick velvet curtain that supposingly hid the window, which was in the center of the wall.

But when he removed the curtain, there was no window, just a wooden door.
Sunggyu hesitantly turned the door's knob, and it opened.

He took few steps past the door, observing his surroundings. He was in another apartment, the next door apartment more prcisely.

The apartement was as luxerious as the other one, but behind that door, there was all kind of musical instruments. It was like a museum with the most beautiful and artistic instruments. Out of many guitars he recognised one, Eunji's guitar, the one he used countless time.

He reached the stairs that lead to the living room and was about to descend them when he heard the ruffling again.

His eyes traveled to the noises direction, to land on a sofa. He started walking in that direction, even though the ruffling stopped.

When he was only a few steps away, he saw something in the floor, and the metalic smell made him recognise its nature right away. 

Dread spread through his body as his eyes kept looking at the velvet pool of blood on the marbel floor. He could hear his heart thumb so badly in his chest and a loud buzzing deafning his ears.

Few steps closer and he started seeing the glimpse of a body hidden behind the sofa.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

And Sunggyu came face to face with the one bleeding.

At that moment, he didn't know what was more terrifining, Eunji's pale face and scared eyes or the crimson red hole in her shoulder.

*Psychological Analgesia: this illness is based on my imagination, but con analgesia does exist. 

Okay I don't know if you expected this or not, but I had this idea since the moment I started thinking about this story.

Tell me what you think about in the comment section, I'm always happy to read your comments  ( don't be silent readers) 

I'm so happy to have loyal readers and I want to thank you all for your support . I love you guys :****