Truth

♫ Comfort Song ♪

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompRjDmWZ5w

Shinhye’s whole body ached as the unconsciousness slowly faded away. Her eyebrows slightly furrowed. Her eyelids were still heavy from tiredness when she finally opened them.

“Shinnie” Yonghwa whispered breathless. His face showed worry as he leaned forward to gently her right cheek. He looked terrible. There were bandages on his arm and even a plaster on his pale face. She could tell that he had cried too by the look of his reddened eyes.

“You woke up.” He said more to himself than to her, his voice heavy with a strange mixture of guilt and relief.

What happened?

Shinhye tried to regain her orientation. The room they were in was unfamiliar and sterile. Her bed was surrounded by machines which every now and then made a strange beeping sound. A humidifier was working on her bedside table.

She had been in a room like that before.

The accident.

Upon realization, fear suddenly rushed through her whole body, causing her to quickly jolt up into a sitting position. She completely ignored the stinging pain and the dizziness in her head as her arms started to hug her lower stomach.

Oh god!

Shinhye wanted to breathe but tightened. Her heart was beating rapidly at the thought of perhaps having lost what was most precious to her now.

Yonghwa’s arms immediately stabilised her weak body from behind, before she could fall back. Shinhye tried to struggle against him. She needed to go see a doctor as fast as possible, without him. Perhaps it wasn’t too late…

But she literally had no strength left. The whole room was shaking in front of her eyes when Yonghwa made her head dropped against his muscular chest.

“You are fine. You both are.” He softly said, gently cupping the back of her head with one hand while his other arm was tightly wrapped around her waist.

Relief.

Followed by fear.

She almost choked on her breath.

He knows I‘m pregnant.

“Don’t move. Just rest for now.” Yonghwa ordered, placing his chin on the top of her head. She could feel his chest moving up and down heavily. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was barely holding himself together right now, too.

She grabbed his shirt, burying her face in the crook of his neck as she silently began sobbing in relief. She didn’t want to break down in front of him like that but her emotions were just too overwhelming.

It felt so good to be lying in Yonghwa’s arms again. It was as if his scent was already enough to slowly calm her down.

I feel save.

But how long was this feeling going to last? Wouldn’t he storm out on her as soon as he knew the whole truth?

He doesn’t remember. He probably has no idea who the father is.

Shinhye’s heart beat heavily against her rips as she tried to figure out how to handle the situation from here. What should she tell him now?

Where to start?

She just couldn’t see a way out of this mess anymore. If she could have just stopped time, she would have wanted to stay in this embrace forever.

His presence was the only thing that kept her from going insane right now.

*****

Yonghwa felt Shinhye’s body collapse in his arms. Her shoulders started to shake severely as she wept against his chest. He figured that all of the past events must have come crushing down on her now and a part of him was glad she finally showed her true emotions. She obviously had no strength left to put up a strong front. She was mentally and physically exhausted.

He hated it to see her like that.

I hate myself for causing her to be like that.

He wanted to say something, but he had a hard time controlling his own tears so he just held her closer, her back carefully, breathing soft kisses at the top of her head.

And so they sat in silence for a very long moment, doing nothing more than to hold onto each other as if it was the only thing that could save them from drowning in misery.

However, Yonghwa knew they had to talk about everything as soon as possible. So when Shinhye’s crying eventually toned down, he decided that it was time.

He needed confirmation. Also he needed to clear up all the misunderstandings that had been adding up between them lately. They had to set things straight now.

They needed a fresh start.

So he slowly disentangled himself from her and made her lean against the big cushions of the angled headrest before sitting down in front of her again.

Shinhye looked like she was still caught in her own world, not daring to even look at him. Her front teeth were biting her lower lip as if it could stop it from trembling. Yonghwa could barely bear to watch her like this.

He sighed quietly, holding her hand while, with his other, gently brushing over her lower lip.

“Please stop this. Don’t hurt yourself.” He softly said and Shinhye paused, causing her chin to tremble heavily.

Silence filled the room again.

Yonghwa held onto Shinhye’s hand even more firm and cleared his throat before he carefully picked his words.

“Shin-ah, I know it is uncomfortable right now. But we need to talk about us. We cannot go on like this.” He eventually said, his voice thick with emotion. “I almost lost you today. I seriously felt like dying.”

Shinhye winced when she heard him. For a split second she stared at him before lowering her eyes onto the bedsheets again. He looked like he had been through hell.

She felt too guilty and ashamed to face him which caused him to sigh again.

Shinhye looked deadly tired and a part of him just wanted to let her go back to sleep. But he needed to set her at peace so she could recover as best as possible without any worries from now on. Hence there was no other way but to talk things out first.

“Shin, please, tell me what happened. I promise I will stay right here and listen to it all. I won’t be mad. All I need to know now is the truth.” He asked, almost begging her.

Shinhye had begun weeping again and it broke his heart to see her like this.