Kris’s words kept repeating in my head since that day. Logically, I knew that he said it out of vulnerability and that he didn’t mean it. However, emotionally he had hit all the places that I tried to keep safe from him. My lack of people in my life, the fact that although I talk about my family, I haven’t ever really told anyone about what happened the night of the Split. The night where I couldn’t find anyone. But the strange thing was that he mentioned that we had met prior to the ER incident.

“Dr. Uhm…. Dr Uhm!” a voice said frustrated.

I turned to find the source, it was a Nurse Lee, she held out a tablet to me indicating that I should sign. I looked down to read, a discharge summary. I smiled, some good news at least. I thanked Nurse Lee and continued my way to do ward rounds.

As I continued to walk, thoughts of Kris found their way into my head. I shook my head determinedly, I would forget about him. Or at the very least I had to stop letting him dominate my emotions.

Out of nowhere, a pair of hands covered my hands and stopped me from walking, “Guess who?”

I let my hands feel the hands on my face, gently feeling the dips and grazing the top of the bones. “Hmmm… I wonder who it is? Is it you Professor?” I teased. “We shouldn’t be doing this at work, what if we’re seen?”

“Nari! No!” Jongin protested as I continued with my act.

“Yes, Jongin? What can I do for you?” Although his words were strange and his offer to take me away was equally suspicious, he had done nothing else. In fact, it was like that interaction was a dream or something that I had made up because he acted just as he had before. With all that had happened, I had pushed the entire episode out of my mind.

“Soooo, I was thinking we should go out again. I haven’t seen you smile in a while. Did something happen?”

It was my half day and the sun was still shining as I walked out the hospital. I stopped for a moment to enjoy the gentle warmth caress me. I smiled gently with my eyes closed, I felt at peace.

A voice suddenly called out, “You’re Uhm Nari right? Kris’s girl?” I opened my eyes to find a giant man speaking to me.

“Yes I am Uhm Nari.” Thinking back to everything and the promise that I made myself, “I don’t know a Kris.”

“Don’t lie. He came and visited you for over 7 months. You definitely know him. I’m Chanyeol,” he said as he stuck his hand out.

I shook his hand and asked, “What do you want?”

“Just to check that you’re okay. Kris wanted me to,” he replied happily. “Let’s go for a milkshake!” he said excitedly before I could say anything else. Seeing this stranger so happy, I didn’t have the heart to tell him no.

“They did something to him because a few days later, he was completely different. He didn’t talk about you. Or mention you at all.” I blushed when I heard Chanyeol talking about how Kris spoke of me and how often I came up in conversation. Perhaps I had misjudged Kris, he did care but he made a mistake and didn’t know how to fix it. Then he couldn’t fix it because of whatever happened. There was a silence as I continued to think about Kris.

“Kris told you about my family and how we studied space. My family knew about the meteor showers before they were going to happen. That’s probably why we survived so well after the Split. There was a pact I believe between powerful or rich families to help each other,” he divulged. “There was one family, who actually discovered that the meteorites were coming, that wanted to share this with the rest of the world. They believed that we could survive better if we were prepared,” Chanyeol disclosed.

“What happened to that family?” I asked rather nervous of the answer.

“The Wu family would not have it. So, the couple was killed before the shower, they left a daughter behind.”

I felt like I had stopped breathing.

“Anyways, my point is the Wu family is dangerous. Are you sure you want to try and get Kris back? He only told me to make sure you are safe if anything happened to him. He didn’t leave instructions for if he was like this, not that he could have known.”

“Er… yes… I want to try and get Kris back,” I said trying to stop myself from being so distracted.

A week later Chanyeol came to visit.

“So, I found out that they definitely used to new technology to mess with Kris’s mind. Not sure what they changed exactly but hopefully there’s some kind of reverse button or something.” He unwrapped a lollipop and offered it to me.

I shook my head, I didn’t want anything but for Kris to be Kris again even if we weren’t together anymore, it was wrong for him to have his brain messed with. I convinced myself that it wasn’t that the bigger reason why I wanted to help Kris was that I hoped that he still cared for me because I still cared for him.

“I also found that he was likely kidnapped the last time you saw him. Probably by Kai,” he added. “Who’s that?” I asked, the name was completely unfamiliar. “You know him, he works at your clinic, he’s kind of undercover I guess. Finds out if rebels, sorry umm… your side, has any plots to work against us.” Chanyeol continued to his lollipop, and then he stuck it in the side of his mouth. He looked at something on his phone and said, “You know him as Kim Jongin.” It was like someone had chucked me into the ocean. I knew that Jongin was maybe from the Other side but that he was the one who took Kris, hit me hard.