CHAPTER 20: AT THE HAPPIEST MOMENT

Asleep. Unconscious. Dead.

I wasn’t actually sure which one of these fit my current situation. I knew I was lying down peacefully on something soft. I was afraid to open my eyes. What if I was dead and woke up in heaven or something like that? I had never really believed in such stuff but after all I had experienced in year 2157, I could never know for sure. Slowly I opened my other eye, only slightly. The room was dim but at least I could tell it was a familiar room. The light colours and modern layout. It was the bedroom of Wonwoo’s parents’ apartment. Was I safe? Was I okay? What had happened? Slowly fear overpowered me and I flew up, sitting on the bed eyes wide open and looking around me in shock. For a second, everything was blurry and unclear. Then I remembered. We had gone to the hospital. We had almost died. Then Seungcheol had come into his senses and saved us. Dr. Choi was dead. I let out a sigh and buried my face into my hands. I realized my hand hurt a lot and winced as I looked at it. It was probably badly bruised but it was covered with a bandage. There was also a band-aid on my neck - where the cut was located.

I heard Wonwoo letting out a silent murmur and turned to my right to see him sleeping next to me. I looked at him softly, lying back down and gently brushed his face with my healthy hand. He woke up from the touch, his eyes opening slowly. He looked a bit confused for a second, like he didn’t remember anything either at first. Then his eyed widened and he sat up quickly, pulling me into a tight hug.

“You’re finally awake”, he whispered into my hair.

“How long did I sleep?” I asked, feeling slight aching in my head.

“For almost 20 hours”, Wonwoo said and backed away from the hug slowly. “You lost some blood and your hand was hurt so we got you to see a doctor. Seungcheol did that much for us. He let us go without any problems.”

I let out a sigh. 20 hours. That’s how it felt too. My head was aching and my stomach felt so empty I was almost dizzy. Then I thought about Seungcheol and let out another sigh. It was relieving to know he didn’t hold grudges and let us go, even helped me to get treated. But I still felt bad for the boy. Despite all the bad he had done - deep down there he was still the same boy I had thought of my best friend.

“I’m hungry”, I said quietly and blinked.

“I’m sure you are. I’ll make some breakfast”, Wonwoo stated and got up from the bed. “Also... I think we should meet with Seungcheol and sort things out. I don’t like the idea but I feel like we should do that.”

I nodded. “You’re right. I want to know what’s going to happen from now on.”

About 20 minutes later Wonwoo called me from the kitchen and I got up from the bed. As I walked out of the bedroom, I was welcomed by bright sunlight and hooraying boys. Wonwoo had probably informed the others that I had finally awoken. They were standing around the dining table with wide smiles. Even Soonyoung looked very happy, even though we hadn’t known each other for very long. I smiled back at the boys and walked to the table.

What I saw was the most non-traditional Korean breakfast ever. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast... For a moment I was confused but then realized Wonwoo was probably worrying because I hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning and this would really fill my stomach. I chuckled and sat down to eat with the boys.

“Are you feeling all right?” Mingyu asked as I stuffed my face.

I nodded. “I do feel weak and there’s some pain too... but I’m alright.”

“Good to know”, Vernon said as Mingyu was nodding. “Because now you three can listen to us whine. What in the world did you think, going by yourself? How could you leave us behind? We were part of the whole situation too!”

“Don’t shout at her, Vernon”, Wonwoo said with a serious tone but there was a hint of amusement on his face. “You were sleeping so soundly we thought it’d be bothersome to wake you up and wait for you.”

Vernon snorted and crossed his arms against his chest. I let out a chuckle and continued my meal. After a filling, delicious breakfast I went through my belongings to find my mobile phone that I hadn’t used in days. One plus about the modern day technology was that the battery life of these phones was amazing. The battery wasn’t even halfway dead and I could use it to send a message to Seungcheol. Something I hadn’t done in a while.

Seungcheol, I think we should meet. We have a lot to talk about.
- Dami

As I sent the message I glanced at Wonwoo who was sitting down in the living room, immersed in reading a book while Vernon was peaking from behind his shoulder. Mingyu and Soonyoung were conversing on the other sofa, clearly trying to do some bonding.

I walked to Wonwoo and patted him on his shoulder. “We should talk.”

The boy glanced at me shortly before putting the book away and taking off his reading glasses. He flashed me a little smile before getting up from the sofa and we closed ourselves into the bedroom. I sat onto the bed and looked as Wonwoo followed.

“I sent a message to Seungcheol”, I said and glanced at the boy carefully. “I think I should meet him alone.”

Wonwoo blinked once, twice. “Alone? You don’t want me to come with you?”

I let out a sigh and nodded. “You know he doesn’t really like you. Besides, I think it would be good for us to sit down and settle things.”

“Alright”, Wonwoo replied quietly, looking troubled. “Remember to take your phone with you. If something happens...”

“Wonwoo”, I said softly. “He killed his own father for us. Even if he realized it late, he is a good person.”

The boy let out a sigh and smiled at me. “Okay. I believe you. I trust you. Go and meet him.”

I smiled back at the boy and rested my head against his shoulder for a while. There was a lot on my mind. But at least I was safe now.

After an hour I had finally gotten an reply from Seungcheol. He had agreed to meet me up in a coffee shop in Apgujeong. So, I had changed into clean clothes and left the apartment building - in peace for the first time in a while. I walked through the busy streets in the bright afternoon sunlight. I couldn’t help but to get startled at every loud noise I heard. That’s when I started to understand how much I had gone through in the last couple of days. Imprisonment, threatening, I had been almost killed twice. Quite rough. And I had gotten through it all together with my friends. And Seungcheol was partially to thank.

As I arrived at the coffee shop, Seungcheol was already there. He had sat down and apparently ordered for both of us. Two steaming cups of green tea were waiting for us. I couldn’t hold back a melancholy smile as I approached the boy who was waiting for me. He had tidied up a little bit since our last encounter yesterday. He had styled his hair and put clean, tidy clothes on but he still looked exhausted and depressed. Understandable. And it kind of broke my heart.

“Hello”, I said as I sat down.

“Hi”, he replied and took a sip of his tea.

I hesitated a little bit. It was weird seeing the boy casually like this after a while of hating and fearing him. Who knew when I’d be able to fully forgive him for all the bad he had done to me. But one thing I knew for sure. He had changed and he was now weaker than ever.

“Are you alright?” I asked carefully as I took a sip of my tea.

The boy snorted. “I killed my dad yesterday. I’m brilliant.”

“I’m sorry”, I breathed out. “I didn’t mean that...”

“I know”, he sighed. “I just don’t know what to answer. The whole situation is so weird.”

I looked at Seungcheol as he drank his tea, not being able to think of anything wise to say. So we sat in silence for a good while, just drinking our teas and looking around us, out of the window, at the street.

“What is going to happen now?” I was finally able to ask.

“I’m going to inherit the hospital”, Seungcheol replied simply, shrugging his shoulders. “And I’m going to free the drifters my dad imprisoned. The hunters too.”

I listened as the boy explained the situation. He said it was the easiest way for everybody to cover his father’s death by staging it as a suicide. The pressure of the public, work, stress... many higher ups commit suicide because of them. He also said he’d be able to cover up the death of the hunter Soonyoung had killed. It all sounded so messed up I felt sick. But I knew it was the only way to get out of this mess. Otherwise we’d be all involved in a murder case and our true identities might be revealed. I let out a sigh.

“There is something I wanted to ask”, I said quietly. “How is Sunhwa doing?”

There was a short silence that helped me predict what was to come. Seungcheol sighed and blinked a couple of times before answering. “She’s dead. Dad killed her off the same day you were imprisoned.”

I felt myself getting teary-eyed. I gulped and took a deep breath. “Why was she killed?”

“I guess she was of no use anymore”, Seungcheol replied and looked down. “She was just a spy for my dad.”

I felt the tears falling down my cheeks. Sunhwa might have been a spy, she might have been there just to get information for me. But we had become friends. I was absolutely sure she had become to like me too. She was my adorable, sister-like friend. To know that she had been killed off... it really hurt me.

Seungcheol waited for me to stop crying and then finish my tea. Then he got up from his seat and glanced at me. “Now that we’re all settled... I’d appreciate it if we didn’t have to meet again.”

I had kind of expected his words. After the mess our co-existence had created... it would be hard to be friends again. But it calmed my mind to know that we really had settled our problems. We’d continue living as normally as we could. I watched as Seungcheol bowed at me and walked away. I noticed myself smiling despite a tear falling onto my cheek.

I turned around to look after the boy. “Thank you, Seungcheol!” I yelled after him. “And I’m sorry.”

Later when I returned to the apartment I found out we had been left by ourselves, me and Wonwoo. Mingyu and Vernon had returned home. Soonyoung had gotten a call from his mother who had been released so he had left right away to meet her. Wonwoo had stayed just to wait for me. He welcomed me with a smile at the door.

“Hey”, I greeted him with a smile.

“Hi”, he replied and pulled me into a gentle hug. He was careful not to hurt my neck nor my hand and I really appreciated that he knew I was hurting despite the smile.

“What have you been doing?” I asked.

“Hmm”, he hummed into my hair and smirked as he leaned back. “Well, the library is now all tidied up again. It’s inhabitable now.”

I smiled at the boy. “That sounds great. Should we go back right away?”

He chuckled and smiled at me. “You ask.”

It took just a few minutes for us to tidy up and clean at the apartment - now it looked pretty much the same it had looked a couple of days ago when we first came there. Now we could leave and return to the library, the place Wonwoo actually considered home. It was a special place for me too. The meadow at the back of the library was the place I loved the most on the Earth. As we took a train to the neighbourhood the Choi family’s house was located I felt a sudden, weird feeling deep down. I wasn’t sure if it was melancholy. In a way, I missed the times I spent as a maid in that house, having both Seungcheol and Sunhwa by my side.

I sighed. That chapter was now all in the past. I looked at Wonwoo and smiled at him. Now that the nightmare was over, we could concentrate on each other. Now that we finally had each other and all the time in the world to spend it. Of course there was the possibility of me travelling back to my time or Wonwoo’s powers awakening and him disappearing some day, but for now, we would just ignore that.

After walking past the familiar, cute, old-fashion neighbourhood with the always so lovely book store, we finally arrived at the library. We pushed the huge, dark, wooden French doors open together, smiling at each other. It was like we were entering our very own home together for the first time. In a way, it was exactly like that.

We spent the day resting, healing. We lied down on the living room’s sofa, cuddled up and listening to music, just talking, occasionally taking a little nap. We ordered food and after eating continued the same routine of resting. I was resting my head on Wonwoo’s chest, listening to his heartbeat and getting drunk of his scent. He had his other hand around me, other softly caressing my hair. This was perfect. This was how things were supposed to be. Nothing to worry about. We had each other and the present moment. That was enough.

After pretty much resting all day, as the sun went down and the stars became visible, we felt energetic. We decided to go down to the meadow to look at the starts and have some fresh air. We took blankets with us and placed them on the long grass.

“This is the first time we’re actually here”, Wonwoo pointed out as we sat down.

“Actually, it’s not”, I chuckled. The boy glanced at me, confused. “There was that time when you first kissed me. Before remembering me.”

Even in the dark I could notice Wonwoo blushing slightly. He looked so cute when he got embarrassed. I let out a small laughter and looked up at the stars.

We sat there for a good hour, talking about everything. And by everything I really mean everything. The events of the last few days, the time we spent together while he didn’t remember me, our dreams, our past and families... We didn’t leave even one thing out.

“It’s funny”, Wonwoo said at some point. “Even thought I’ve gone through a lot in the last couple of days, I feel like I’m the luckiest person alive.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I have you. The girl of my dreams, literally”, he said, smiling so wide his nose did the cute crunch that I loved. I wanted to smile back at him but the words he had said were so cheesy I couldn’t help but to visibly cringe at him and playfully punch him in the shoulder.

“When did you become so corny?” I asked, laughing.

“When I got you back”, he stated and leaned in for a kiss.

I chuckled and melted into the kiss. Sweet and romantic. In the beginning. Like always, our kisses started like that. But with time they got more and more passionate, deep and aggressive. By the time Wonwoo had pretty much pinned me down onto the blanket with his body and a moan escaped my mouth as his lips were on my neck, the level of passion was pretty high up there.

“Should we go to bed?” I asked, slightly panting.

“Definitely”, Wonwoo said and with a smile dove in for another kiss. Then he suddenly cut out the kiss and got up, lifting me up with his arms. “But only to sleep. I don’t mess with injured people.”

With a half-amused-half-frustrated snort I punched the boy in the shoulder while he placed the blanket on top of me and carried me all the way inside and to the top floor of the library. He placed me down on the bed and kissed me once more before laying me down and covering me with a blanket.

“You should sleep a lot”, he said. “I want you to be fully recovered. Both physically and mentally.”

I smiled at the boy as he talked to me with that deep but soft voice of his. “I love you, Jeon Wonwoo.”

He flashed me a warm smile as he lied down next to me, pulling the blanket over his body and switching off the lights.

As he wriggled close to me under the blankets and wrapped his arm around my body, he caressed my hair and with a kiss on my forehead, whispered; “Needless to say... but I love you too, Min Dami.”

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Hello! I'm kind of sad but still partly happy to tell you there is only one chapter left! I hope you liked the chapter and I'd appreciate a comment now that we're nearing the end ^^