Chapter 3

The Flower that Bloomed Last Winter

Double update! Don't forget to go back to the previous chapter~


Kihyun and Jinah were out longer than they had expected. After Jinah had opened up to Kihyun they had somehow gotten closer and Kihyun was able to reflect on her situation and his. He brought her back to her room around four in the afternoon when she told him that she wanted to rest and she was sorry he had to listen to all her problems but she was thankful to him because she felt that her burdens were somewhat lessened. After escorting her back, Kihyun went straight to his mom’s room and sat down near her holding her hand once again. He was more confident this time, he knew that he can hold her anytime he wants now. He was glad that he can finally do it.

 

“Ma, how are you? My day’s been great, I met the girl that I told you about before, again. She’s been in a really tight situation and I really don’t know how I can help her. I know I’m probably just a stranger to her but I really want to help her. I want to show her that life can also be fun even though we have our own problems, no matter how big it is. Honestly, she told me that if she would ever have another attack it could be the last she won’t survive it anymore. I want her to live her remaining days happily, at least she can leave our world having to know how happiness feels like once again,” Kihyun fell silent for a while. “You were my happiness ma. You showed me that rainbows can still show up even in the midst of a storm. Remember when dad left us? You were the one who cheered me up even though I know you were hurting. You were always smiling like you don’t have any problem. I want to be you to her. I want her to be happy once again.”

 

“You know what she told me that they also run into someone last year, and she kept blaming herself for it because she kept on thinking that it all happened because of her. I was just wondering what could have been the reason of the person who did this to you? Will we be able to forgive them?”

~

A couple of weeks after, Kihyun appeared in front of Jinah’s room with different kinds of coats in his hand. He also has a muffler and pair of gloves and boots inside a paper bag. He checked if Jinah’s auntie was inside the room before he knocked on the door. When Jinah saw him waving at her outside she left her bed immediately and run to the door. “Hi Kihyun, what brings you here?”

 

“Are you done with your check-ups?”

 

“Yeah, as you can see my aunt already ‘cause she doesn’t need to be here anymore,” Jinah said, stepping aside to let Kihyun see the empty room behind her. “That’s great,” Kihyun exclaimed. “Huh?”

 

“Bring whatever you want or whatever you need, we’re going out.”

 

“Wait what- Kihyun my doctor might catch us.”

 

“You’ve done it before, right? You weren’t caught until you got back, and we won’t take that long I’ll just take you to somewhere nice. We’ll be quick I promise, plus you have to enjoy once in a while too.”

 

Kihyun noticed that she hesitating whether to go or not. “I’ve brought these so you won’t get cold,” Kihyun raised the stuff in his hand and smiled at her cutely. “Alright, alright I’ll come with you.”

 

“Good!” Kihyun pushed her inside the room and placed all the things he was holding down the bed. “Here, wear this coat first,” Kihyun grabbed her arm and slipped her arms in the sleeves. “You should also wear this,” he grabbed another coat and made her wear it, assisting her carefully. “Okay, last one,” said Kihyun as he grabs the next coat. After that, he put the muffler to her ear and grabbed her hands to slip the gloves on her.

 

“Kihyun-”

 

“Oh, I forgot this one.”

 

“Kihyun-”

 

“Are we forgetting something?”

 

“No, we aren’t. I can hardly move,” Jinah complained as Kihyun take a look at her again. She was wearing five layers of thick coats and she could hardly lift her arms. “Oops, sorry I was too preoccupied to keep you warm,” Kihyun scratched the back of his neck before he helped Jinah remove a couple of jackets. “This should be fine. It’s a lot warmer than before,” Jinah smiled at Kihyun as she twists from side to side testing if she could move comfortably with it.

 

“Alright! Let’s go.”

~

Jinah noticed that Kihyun was a lot livelier than usual, she can’t help but wonder why the boy was acting weird suddenly. “Kihyun where are we going?” Kihyun turned to her and smiled, “To the arcade. We’re going to have some fun,” right after Kihyun spoke they stopped in front of a small arcade, a group of people can be heard outside as they laugh out loud while playing some games inside. Jinah’s eyes were glimmering in excitedly, “Come on, let’s go.”

 

 

 

“Hey, Kihyun! Kihyun! Look I got something!” Jinah exclaimed excitedly, as she jumped up and down in front of crane machine. The claws caught a penguin stuffed toy as it goes up, Kihyun turned to look at the machine and cheered with her. “Grea-,” but before Kihyun could finish his sentence the claws wiggled and dropped the toy. They both groaned at the sight, Jinah pouted before dropping another coin into the machine. Kihyun watched her as she murders the controllers of the machine, he noticed her eyebrows were creased because she was too focused on what she was doing. She really wants to have that doll, Kihyun thought when she pouts again after she failed to get the doll again. He went beside her and stole the joystick from her, “Let me try this one.”

 

Jinah stepped aside and let Kihyun take over the machine. She watched as he rolled up his sleeves before grabbing the controllers again. When the claws caught hooks around the toy penguin again, the time had seemed to slow down as the toy goes up and across towards the hole. Jinah closed her eyes and clasped her hands and chanted, Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. I really want that stuffed penguin, repeatedly.

 

After a couple of seconds, that seemed like hours for Jinah…

 

“YES!” Kihyun shouted as he bent down to get the stuffed toy that they won. He handed her the penguin and earned a hug from her, “Oh my gosh Kihyun! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!” Kihyun was taken aback with her actions and stood motionless.

~

After they left the arcade Kihyun asked her if she wanted to grab some snack, when Jinah agreed to eat something before going back they decided to go to the nearest convenience store at the hospital. Upon arriving at a convenience store, Kihyun led her to an aisle with readymade sandwiches on the shelves. “You should try this one,” Kihyun reached for a strawberry sandwich and handed it to Jinah. “Wait for Kihyun, I don’t have any money left.”

 

“No, it’s okay. My treat,” Kihyun smiled at her before grabbing his own flavored sandwich. “How about a drink? What do like?”

 

“I’m fine with anything,” Jinah followed him from behind as Kihyun walked to the vendo machine. Kihyun went to grab hot choco for the both of them because he wasn’t sure if coffee would be good for her. After paying for their foods they went out and walked around until they reached a children’s park behind the hospital. It was empty probably because it was too cold outside for children to stay out that time. They walked to the empty swing, sweeping off the snow before sitting down. When they had settled down Jinah began unwrapping her sandwich and started eating it cheerfully. They were silent until they were done eating their snacks, Kihyun gathered all their trash and threw it away in a nearby bin.

 

“Hey, Kihyun what was your surname again? I forgot, was it Yoon?” Jinah asked as she slowly swings herself.

 

Kihyun chuckled before he replied to her, “Yoo, it's Yoo Kihyun.

 

“Want me to swing you? You won’t throw up, right?” Jinah a nod as response and Kihyun started to push the swing slowly. The cool breeze was hitting Jinah’s face as she went up and back. She looked down when her eyes started to sting because of the cold wind. While looking down, she noticed something sticking out of the white snow, “Kihyun look what’s that?” The boy immediately stopped pushing the swing and walked beside her and bent down to look at the thing she was talking about.

 

“Huh, that’s weird,” he paused then looked up at her.

 

“It’s a flower.”

 

“Really?” Jinah dragged herself closer, still sitting on the swing. “Wow, it really is,” Kihyun swept the snow away from the flower and observed it carefully. He noticed the pale complexion of the bud, somehow it reminds him of something, of someone. He glanced up at her and then back at the flower, a smile forming on his lips. They both have the same beautiful pale complexion. Just like the light pinkish color on the white petals of the flower, Jinah’s cheeks also had the light pinkish shade which was caused by the cold temperature outside.

 

A flower blooming in the middle of winter was weird of course but it was also astounding. Who would have thought it was possible for something like this would bloom in the middle of winter, Kihyun thought.

 

“Hey Jinah, I was just wondering did you ever tried looking for the person your uncle bumped into? You told me that they said that she could probably still alive. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t hurt that bad.”

 

“You think so? Do you think it’s okay to face her? But my aunt would probably kill me if she finds out and I don’t have anything to give her for the damages we’ve done.” Kihyun hummed in response, he didn’t think about that one so he decided to just drop the subject.

 

“How about you did you try to find the person who did that to your mom?”

 

Kihyun didn’t expect her to ask him that question but he still answered her, “Honestly no. I was too worried to lose my mom all this time and I totally forgot about them, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t hate them.”

 

They fell silent, both of them were deep in thought. Jinah never thought about the possibility that the person could still be alive, all this time she thought that they killed a person. After a while Jinah caught Kihyun’s attention when she stood up from the swing, “Can we go back now?”

~

After Kihyun left her in her own room, Jinah ransacked her drawer where she was keeping her old diary. She used to write diaries everyday but after her last entry, she realized that constantly writing all the things that had happened to her is like letting the bad memories happen once again, whether they were the normal routine she does every day or an event that just happened. Nothing good happened ever since she started keeping a diary. She can still remember the day when she started her first diary entry, that same day she was diagnosed to have a chronic disease. After the first three months of having a diary came her parents’ death and as if the gods had planned everything, on the first year of having it in her possession she got an extreme episode of her attack and killed – well, almost killed someone. The diary brought nothing but disasters. Tears were falling down Jinah’s face when she brought it out of the drawer, she should have thrown it away a long time ago.

 

After scanning it for one last time, she walked towards the trash can that sat idly beside her bed and threw it in. Continuously sobbing, she crawled up her bed and pulled her blanket up to her head. She hugged the stuffed penguin that Kihyun won for her at the arcade earlier. She remained in that position and cried herself to sleep.

 

The next morning after her checkups was done, right after her auntie left her Jinah grabbed the diary that sat all night in the trash can beside her. She realized that throwing it away isn’t enough so she decided to burn it. She grabbed gray coat that she often used and went out.


A/N:

Double update! <3 Hope you guys are loving the fic ltmyjhjshcsy's idea is so great and i'm sure you'll love this fic so much! i love the plot, a perfect angst :'>

comment and upvote!

 

- iamladymidnight

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UKISSME_SaraHwa
#1
Chapter 5: Omg i love this story. Its so beautifullll. Good job, author-nim!! <3
oreocheezecake #2
Chapter 5: Thank you for the wonderful story
oreocheezecake #3
Chapter 5: Omg im crying
Yoo_kihyun_93 #4
Chapter 5: WOW!! BEAUTIFUL STORY!!!♡
Yoo_kihyun_93 #5
Chapter 1: I just started to read your fanfic & it is really intresting!!!<3 I like it really much!!! Nice way of writing!♡
Lttlemssme #6
Wow