CHAPTER TWO

The morning sun made Yeon Joo stir from her deep slumber, she reached out a hand on the left side of the bed only to came up with, nothing. 
 
“Yeobo?” she called out with her eyes closed. She kept silent for a while waiting for a reply but none came. Maybe Kang Chul was taking a bath. 

With a sigh, she rose herself from the bed and stretched. “ Chul-ah?” she called out, slipping her feet on her slippers. “Kang Chul?” she called out once again but no reply came. 

“He might have gone to work already.” She tried to convince herself but then, they always go to work together. With a head hung low, she decided to get ready for work, deciding that she should take a shower

She was so distracted of thinking about her husband that she did not notice the note on top of the bedside table. With a frown, she picked it up and began to read,

Nae sarang,
I wanted to wake you up but seeing you sleep like a baby makes it hard for me to do so. I’ve gone early because I need to do something. I’ll meet you up at 8 am at the bus stop.

Love you

Her eyes widen at the time indicated in the letter. She look at the clock on the wall and jumped. It was quarter to eight already. With her hair still wet from her bathe, she managed to dress up within five minutes, comb her hair and put on a very light make up. Within ten minutes, she was already jogging towards the direction of the bus stop, her face flushed and her hands shaking a bit from all the rushing.

She sat there for a while, watching the transition of seven to eight. 

She stared around, wondering why her husband isn’t there yet. Kang Chul was never late. He was always punctual specially when he tell her the time they would meet. She stood from her seat and was surprised when all of a sudden Kang Chul appeared across the street. 

It can’t be!

“Kang Chul?!” she yelled out to the man who is currently standing across the street, carrying a brief case on his hand and a smile on his lips. 

He began walking towards her, not caring about the honks thrown on his way like he was still in the W world, acting all cocky and high. His confidence of crossing the street petrified Oh Yeon Joo. It took her all her might not to rush over to him and yank his body towards the safety of the bus stop. 

He was halfway through crossing the street and her anxiousness was slowly leaving her, a smile blossoming on her own lips as she see her husband. 

Though all of it change so suddenly. 

Kang Chul disappeared from her sight in a blink of an eye. Like a smoke, like the wind. 

Though it wasn’t only that. 

She could feel the familiar pull in her stomach, the pull of the W world. The surroundings changed from a bright sunny morning into a gloomy one. She was back in the W world, staring at his husband who was still standing across the street. Her eyes met his and for a moment they stared at each other. 

He seems to be as surprised as she was. 

He look at her for a moment and made a move towards her even the cars are now frantically rushing around him.  Oh Yeon Joo’s heart beat faster than ever as he made his way towards her. He smiled at her, trying to ease her frantic heart but at that moment, before he even smile to her fully the blaring honk of the car reached her ears. 

Her eyes widen as she realise that it was rushing on his direction. 

It was just a moment but it seems to have played in a very slow motion. 

Oh Yeon Joo’s face was frozen halfway—torn between shock and angst—her eyes wide open and dry without the effort of her screaming. 

It took a second or two for the accident to happen. A second or two for Kang Chul to shield himself pathetically as the car collide unto him. 

The dull thud of his body as it hit the pavement seems to activate the switch button for the volume. Suddenly, it was very noisy everywhere. The people rushed over to the body lying on the pavement and Oh Yeon Joo, who thinks that her mind was playing tricks on her, stared at them. 

Oh Yeon Joo’s cries was drowned by the sound of the ambulance rushing at the site of the accident. She bit back a cry as she slowly walk towards Kang Chul. 

“Yeobo?” She weakly called out to her husband, her hands grabbing his limp ones. “Yeobo? Chul-ah?”

She couldn’t find it in herself to utter anything besides his name and at that moment, there is nothing more that matters to her. Everything is muted and has stopped in motion. She brushed his hair with her trembling fingers, unable to process nor practice what she have learned in the medical field. Why can’t she find the courage to save him now?

 “jeogiyo” the voice made her looked up only to see a man wearing a rescuer uniform. 

“Are you related to him?” Yeon Joo just look at the man which is now currently checking Kang Chul’s pulse. The rescuer perform a basic first aid before he asked Yeon Joo to let go of Kang Chul's hand so they could move him.
 
She was dumbfounded. Her eyes leaking with tears as she watched them, carrying an unconscious Kang Chul and settling him inside the ambulance. The rescuer asked for her to come but before she even make a move, the words she dreaded the most, appeared behind the man

계 속

And then she was back.