!!! A/N: PLEASE READ !!!

RE-READ CHAPTER 11 first, before you start this one, because I changed and scrapped some parts and moved them here when I figured that this is how I want to end this story.

So, some parts of this chapter will feel familiar to you, but I rewrote most of them... I hope you still enjoy this last installment, anyway!

Happy reading!

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LISA’S POV

I drive to the nearest hospital to get Jisoo's hand checked. It's better to be sure that she broke no bones than to wait for a couple of days only for her hand to get worse. That's something we've learned the hard way.

The last time this happened was back in our first year in college (not for the lack of attempt on Jisoo's part. I've already lost count of the times I held her back.) I thought she's already way past this phase, but I'm obviously mistaken since I'm here seated beside her in a doctor's office. Again. For the same reason.

“Okay, there are no fractures, no broken bones. That’s good,” the doctor states, sliding the envelope with the x-ray result on the desk. “The ice pack helped with the swelling. It’s a mild injury, so there’s no need for a splint, but you need to rest your hand.”

“Rest? For how long?” Jisoo asks, perturbed. I thought that was already obvious because, again, this isn't her first rodeo. I'm guessing she forgot about that part.

“A week at most. Just until the swelling and bruises get better. It might get worse if you move it a lot, so I suggest you rest it for faster healing,” the doctor answers as she writes something down.

I watch Jisoo worry her lips. I can almost see how her mind is running full of the unfinished designs she has to push aside for later because of what happened and I know it’s not my fault, but I can’t help but feel guilty.

The doctor looks up, smiling politely. “Any more questions?”

Jisoo shakes her head. “No, that’s all.”

“Okay then,” the doctor says, proceeding to explain what she’s written on her prescription pad.

//

“This ,” Jisoo grumbles, reading the doctor’s instructions as we walk away from the hospital. “I have so many deadlines. I don’t have time to rest.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that first before punching him.” I sigh when she glares at me. “People can call me a dyke all they want. I really couldn't care less about what they think. It isn’t worth a broken hand, Jisoo.”

“We’ve already talked about this. I don’t regret what I did. Work be damned.” Jisoo looks away, murmuring under her breath, as she fastens her pace. And, I can only shake my head.

“Look, I— wait, can you stop walking?” I jog after her, grabbing her elbow and halting her steps.

Jisoo turns to face me, annoyed obviously. “What? I get it. You don’t like what I did, but I’d seriously do it again even if you damn well turn back time,” she says sternly.

It’s the stress making her react this way, I know. She‘s had a pretty ty day and the delay on her projects has probably finally pushed her over the edge.

“Hey, I’m not trying to pick a fight,” I heave a heavy sigh. The last thing I want to do is make her feel worse. “I think it’s sweet what you did, really. But, of course, I don’t like it,” I say this in the gentlest way possible, swiping my thumb softly on her elbow I didn’t let go of.

Jisoo just raises her perfect brow, folding her arms against her chest. She hasn’t yanked her elbow from my touch tho, so I guess that counts for something.

“I don’t like it when you hurt yourself. I don’t like you getting hurt because of me. And it really bums me out that I can only do so much to make you feel better. So, if you can help it, please, don’t do it again?” I pause to squirm at how whiny I sounded, but I might‘ve chosen the right words to say if how Jisoo’s stance has relaxed is something to go by, so I continue anyway, “You’re stressing out and I absolutely dislike that I can’t be of any help to you. I can’t do what you do for work, unlike when you knocked Haneul out back in high school. Graphic design isn’t as easy as doing your homework or writing your notes or, or—“

My eyebrows shoot up when Jisoo suddenly presses her injured knuckles on my lips. “There, you just helped.”

I see a tiny smirk playing on the corner of her lips before she begins to walk ahead again. And I blink in quick succession, gaping at her back. “What?”

Jisoo turns, stepping backward. She outstretches her bruised hand and carefully flexes her fingers. “See? You kissed it better,” she quips, grinning impishly and looking so delighted at herself like she just said the cleverest thing ever.

“You and your antics!” I grunt exasperatedly, but the truth is I’m reining a laugh at how adorable she looks, so full of mirth, so... ‘Jisoo-like’. “C’mon, I’m serious...”

“And who says I’m not? Maybe if you kiss it again, the bruises will magically disappear. I think we should give it a try.”

“Jisoo...” I drawl, sending her a heatless glare, ignoring the quickening thumps in my chest at her suggestion.

“Fine.” She pouts, rolling her eyes. She’s so adorable. Did I say that already? Well, she is. “I promise I won’t do it again. Only because you care about me so much. And, I think that’s sweet.”

“Yeah?” A huge sigh of relief.

“Mhmm,” Jisoo hums, biting her bottom lip to fight another smile. “Also because as much as I enjoyed your rambling, I don’t like upsetting you cos you’re cute and I kinda like you a lot.”

I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I can only blush so much to blame it on the cold, but this surely doesn’t cut it and Jisoo knows that if how the smile she‘s trying to tamp down finally breaks free, so big and so genuine and so, so breathtaking, is any indication.

And Jesus, she’s so beautiful.

She always has been, but somehow, this time, it’s different and I’m trying to find the hidden variable.

Jisoo looks heavenly, standing there under a tree, the moonlight passing through the tiny spaces between its branches and leaves bathing the lines of her face, the curves of her lips, and the circles of her irises.

Beautiful.

But it isn’t the gentle light illuminating her that makes her warmly radiant, no, I think... It’s how she is glowing with happiness, unbounded and tranquil as the serene, wintry heavens above.

Then I realize it isn’t hidden. It‘s right there and I can see it, feel it. Jisoo looks so... happy, like earnestly happy that it feeds my soul with warmth— squeezing at the muscles in my belly, in my lungs.

So beautiful.

I haven’t had the chance to really look at her, to study her, between the driving and the hospital, so I’m only just seeing her now.

Jisoo stops on her tracks, a few feet away. Her smile shrinks, but her glow from within is still as luminescent as all the stars combined and more. “You’re staring,” she points out, curious and amused.

“Yeah, I know. Happiness looks so good on you.”

“Oh.” Her head tilts a little to the side, regarding me with a twinkle in her eyes like I’m the only person that matters; like I’m the only one she sees; like I hold all the secrets of the universe. A gaze that‘s worth a thousand words and shoots straight to the heart. “Well, I am happy.”

Because of you. Because you’re here. Jisoo doesn’t say the words out loud, but I hear them, anyway.

And though, it’s like my heart has folded in on itself, I can’t bring myself to look away, because it’s been so long since the last time I’ve seen her like this— so blissful, without a care in the world.

And this time, it doesn’t hurt.

“You know you got that look the night you told me you and Suho got engaged.”

“I- what?” Jisoo takes full offense, then balks. “For what reason would you say that now, Lisa?”

“Sorry, I just...“ I hesitate, then sigh, just letting the thundering heart in my ribcage to take over. “You really do love me, don’t you?”

Jisoo softens at that, understanding then why I said what I said. I don’t need an answer because it wasn’t exactly a question, no, but more of a treacly sentiment— a bridge to what should’ve been a simple realization.

Jisoo answers, anyway, with so much certainty in her voice. “As much as I am capable of loving somebody, yes, I do.”

And, something inside me suddenly clicks into place so fiercely that it flips my stomach inside out.

Who was I kidding? I don’t need time.

Because if Jisoo has the courage to love me this much, what’s stopping me from loving her just as much? I was so scared at the thought of getting my heart broken. I am still afraid, but this woman who everyone else can’t even hold a candle to is worth every damn heartbreak.

And, I don’t want to waste any more time being afraid when I can love her now, because Jisoo deserves nothing less and I don’t want to make her wait. I don’t want to make myself wait.

God, I want... I want to love her now. To be selfish and selfless both at the time. To consume all the love she can give and let her consume all of mine. To give her the world and watch her steal the stars and the moon for me. To love and be loved in return.

I’ve put myself in a state of mind where I don’t love her as much as I did before, but the thing is it’s just that... a ‘state of mind’, because once I unshackled the chains I had wrapped around my heart, the love I have kept in check flows all at once freely, freeing.

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