Hearing the news, Sehun quickly turned to look at Misun and they briefly exchanged knowing glances. With a slight nod of his head, Sehun motioned Misun to go first and followed her closely behind. Jongin’s room was completely isolated and was eerily silent, except for the steady beep beep of the heart monitor.

Misun in a wavery breath as her eyes landed on the figure lying limply on the bed. Jongin it seemed had broken almost all his bones; he was completely bandaged from head to toe and only his face could be seen. His eyes were open and were rimmed with red and a single tear fell from his left eye and it trickled all the way to his cheeks and down, finally soaking the gauze that was surrounding his chin. Sehun quickly put an arm around Misun and gently squeezed her shoulders and braced himself to hold her weight if she were to break down there, but Misun looked more composed this time around as she released herself from Sehun’s grip and took small but sure steps towards Jongin.

“How are you feeling?” Misun heard herself ask.

“After going through that emergency surgery? Yeah, I feel really great.” Jongin whispered, barely masking the sarcasm dripping heavily on his tone.

That single sentence was enough to trigger a tumble of tears from Misun’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Jongin, for leaving you out there after we talked …..and for everything else.” She kneeled beside his bed and gently clasped one of his hands in both of hers.

Hearing what she said, Jongin closed his eyes and a few more tears slipped from between his eyes. Sensing that the moment was too private for Misun and Jongin, Sehun wordlessly backed away from the duo and slipped through the door out to the corridor, where he came face to face with Kris.

“Heard that he is awake.” Kris said briskly.

“Yeah, but Misun is talking with him. Why don’t we wait here?” Sehun suggested. Kris raised one of his eyebrows and wordlessly observed Sehun for a couple of seconds.

“What?” Sehun retorted.

“You left her with him?” Kris asked sceptically.

“Yeah. Any problem?”

“What if he tries to change her mind? This would a perfect chance for him to make her feel guilty and change her mind into breaking up with you.”

Kris expected Sehun to snap back angrily for spouting nonsense which was why he became surprised to hear the latter’s tinkling laugh instead. Sehun shook his head and patted Kris’s shoulder patronizingly and walked away.

“I will be down at the cafeteria. Want me to get you something when I come back?” He asked as he walked away from a bewildered looking Kris.

Sun had already set by the time Misun finally came out of Jongin’s room. By then, both Kris and Sehun had went ahead and had dinner and had brought a food hamper back with them for Misun who didn’t get a chance to have lunch because of all the talking she had been doing with Jongin.

“He wants to see you, Kris.” Misun said with a small smile as she walked towards Sehun who had by then, settled himself on a waiting chair.

Kris nodded, squared his shoulders as though he was preparing for a fight and went inside, closing the door behind him.

“Hi Kris.” Jongin said nervously as his eyes fell on the tall figure walking towards him.

“You are shameless.” Kris stated bluntly. Jongin had been expecting exactly something like this and hung his head as Kris’s sharp words cut him like knives.

“I’m sorry for leaving all of a sudden without any notice and for making Misun go through hell.” Jongin whispered. He kept his eyes on his entwined fingers. He found it hard to look at Kris and talk.

“Do you think you have the right to say sorry? Well, actually you did a couple of months ago but now you don’t. I’m disappointed in you, Jongin. You let me and Misun down. You made us realize that you are not worth our love.” Kris said in a gentle voice and that made everything a hundred times worse. Jongin would have gladly faced an angry, out of control Kris. But the person standing before him was calm and composed. He seemed like he was saying things out of his heart. Guilt and shame bubbled inside Jongin making the physical pain double in intensity.

“Is it so bad for a person to chase their dreams?” He asked in a broken voice.

“No it’s not. We were never against you chasing your dreams,Jongin. You haven’t realized that yet, have you? Nothing would have made Misun happier than seeing you do the job you loved. She would have gladly let you go because she respects your decisions.” Kris retorted calmly. “You should have likewise respected her decision of staying back in Seoul because she also loves her job. You became a tad bit selfish by forcing her to give up her job and make her go with you. You even dared to make her choose between you and me. You should never have done that. That’s where everything went wrong.”

Jongin could only listen to what Kris was saying. He had no response to any of those statements because they were nothing but simple and plain truth. Misun had been kind enough not to point them out and hurt him. But Kris had no reason not to do so. He simply stated what he felt about the whole situation. In that moment, while lying immobile on that hospital bed, Jongin realized how selfish he had been and how much pain he had inflicted on Kris and Misun. He felt like a wreck. He just wanted to die and end all the pain.

“So with that being said, I don’t want to hear your apology, because you don’t deserve to give one. I’m letting you off the hook this time because you are gravely injured and I had to fight tooth and nail to save you and I’m not going to let my efforts go to waste by punching and killing you.” Kris said. “Sleep well.”

“W-what? You saved me?” Jongin asked with an astonished look on his face. It seemed like he had no idea that it was Kris who had operated on him.

“Yup, but I agreed to do it after Misun persuaded me to do so. You also had lost too much blood and would have died surely if not for Sehun.”

“What did that guy do?” Jongin asked and for the first time since their conversation had started, Kris noticed an angry edge in Jongin’s voice.

“He donated his blood to save your sorry .” Kris said, raising an eyebrow.

“I need to talk to Sehun.” Jongin stated emotionlessly.

“I will send him in.” Kris said and walked away.

“Cunning b**tard.” Jongin spat as soon as Sehun came in and closed the door behind him. Sehun simply smiled as he put his hands inside his pockets.

“A simple thank you for saving your life would have sufficed, Mr.Kim.” Sehun’s smile became more wide as he pulled a chair so that he could sit beside Jongin.

“I never imagined you would sink that low to win her to your side. Donating blood to save her ex-boyfriend ?my . ” Jongin growled but winced when a pain flashed though his chest.

“Take it easy. You had five broken ribs and one of them punctured your lungs.” Sehun informed matter-of-factly. But Jongin couldn’t care less. He felt angry and humiliated for landing himself in such a pathetic situation and placing himself under the mercy of Sehun. He glared at Sehun with as much hatred as he could muster, daring him to retort to his previous statement.

Realizing that Jongin won’t be dropping the subject anytime soon, Sehun sighed. “You should have known by now that all is fair in love and war.”

Both of them were silent for sometime as they silently glared at eachother. Jongin could still see a small scar on Sehun’s forehead which he had tried to hide with his fringe. The result of the brawl they had in public. Jongin felt slightly satisfied all of a sudden and smirked.

“What gives you the impression that I’m going to give up on her?” Jongin challenged. “Just because she likes you now doesn’t mean that she might not reciprocate my feelings in future. She has always been the one for me and forever will be. She still likes me but she doesn’t realize it because your presence is confusing her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have bothered saving me and would have gladly left me to die.”

“Well, whether she will like you back or not is something we have yet to see. Right now, she has me and that’s all that matters. ” Sehun shrugged his shoulders casually to emphasize his point. “And you should have known by now that Misun is a poor liar. If she actually has feelings for you, she would have come clean about it with both you and me. She still likes you of course, but not in the same way she used to.”

Jongin realized that Sehun was playing along with Jongin on whatever game they were involved in. “What would you do if she decides to come back to me?” Jongin asked with another smirk. He was slightly enjoying the act of taunting Sehun and had no plans to back down anytime soon.

Sehun was silent for awhile, observing the latter with unblinking eyes and Jongin smiled triumphantly. The playful smile Sehun had on his face till then had vanished and was replaced by a level of seriousness that made him look a couple years older than he actually is.

“I love her, Jongin. For me, her happiness is number one priority. If being with you makes her happy, I would gladly let her go. That’s the point of falling in love after all, sacrificing  yourself for your other half. Nothing would make me happier than seeing her lead a happy life.” Sehun sighed.

“What about you then?” Jongin asked incredulously. He had expected Sehun to turn red with anger; he badly wanted the over confident jerk sitting beside him to feel insecure for once, but instead felt himself being slapped in the face by Sehun’s statement.

“Well, I will patiently wait for time to heal my wounds, but I cannot guarantee that my feelings for her would go away.” Sehun looked Jongin square in the eye. “Now, let me ask you a question, Jongin. Would you be willing to sacrifice your happiness for her?”

Now it was Jongin’s turn to remain silent. He let Sehun’s words sink slowly in. will he be able to sacrifice himself for Misun? Of course he would, after all he loves her doesn’t he?

Is that the case Kim Jongin? A voice echoed inside his head. In that brief period of time you dated her, did you really put her needs before yours? No ofcourse not. You always put your job first. You never called her frequently. You visited her only when you had a break where as she met up with you irrespective how tight her schedule was. If what Kris said was true, she had been even willing to give up her job and even her brother so that she could stay with you. She was willing to sacrifice but you didn’t even give her a chance to do so. You just left her. you are selfish, money oriented above all so full of yourself that you didn’t even think of the possibility that she would give up on you after everything you did to her. You simply thought that she would take you back no what how much you hurt her because you thought she was a helpless pathetic girl who was hopelessly depending on you for her survival.

Jongin clenched his eyes shut as his inner conscience tore him to pieces. His hands shook and he wanted to bury his face in his hands but he couldn’t raise them up.

Karma is a b**ch after all. You are here because you decided to hurt her more by coming back to her life.

“You don’t have to answer the question if you don’t want to.” Sehun said, watching Jongin’s turmoil. Jongin was secretly glad to hear Sehun’s voice because it at least tuned out his conscience which by then had started suggesting ways by which he can beg forgiveness from Misun and Kris and ways to let go of her once and for all.

“Visiting hours will be over soon and Misun is waiting for me because I promised her I would give her company during dinner. So goodnight and sleep well, Jongin. Get well soon.” Sehun stood up and placed the chair back in its initial place and walked towards the door. Just when he was about to go through it, he turned back and faced Jongin again.

“I would have done the same thing even if it w