Her blind eyes are on Minji’s face, memory muscle acting, and Siyeon shakily extends a hand to her face, touching it with fear and care.

“It’s permanent, isn’t it?” Siyeon asks, voice so quiet it might as well be a whisper of the wind; Minji took a deep breath. 

“The doctors say that it might come back, but that’s…” She doesn’t have the heart to finish the phrase, and allows it to fall away into silence. Siyeon let out a sob, the warm hand in Minji’s face leaving it to cover . 

Minji’s hand move for Siyeon’s face, touching it as if she’s going to break, bringing the girl closer to her. Tears touch Minji’s hands, warm, going between her fingers and reaching Siyeon’s cheeks anyway.

“Hey, hey. Don’t cry, it’s going to be alright.” She says, kissing Siyeon’s forehead, letting the girl nuzzle on the curve of Minji’s neck. Words are just sweet nothings; Siyeon will never see again, and nothing Minji can say will make up for it. 

When Siyeon stops crying, she takes a deep breath, untangles herself from Minji, and looks away, then she cringes. She’s on a corner of the hospital bed, like a wounded animal, trying to preserve its health from any predators it couldn’t defend itself from. Minji wanted to touch her, soothe Siyeon’s fears, but she feared that the girl wouldn’t react well to a hand coming out of nowhere to touch her.

“I’ll need help. It’s going to be hard, and it will not be pretty, and I’m going to need so much help, and…” A gulp, eyes still away. Minji stayed quiet, and Siyeon’s eyes wandered around the room. “And I’ll understand if you don’t want to deal with that. It’s… It’s fine. It’s going to be fine. I don’t mind.”

The last phrase didn’t seem directed at Minji, but more like Siyeon is talking to herself, trying to convince anyone who could hear.

Well, good thing Minji was hard to convince.

“And what makes you think I’m going anywhere?” Minji asked, reaching a hand, and then pausing. “Can I touch you?”

There’s surprise sketched in Siyeon’s face, before she gives a quick nod, and Minji’s hand find Siyeon’s, unfurling her fingers from the fist they’ve formed to entangle themselves together. Siyeon’s hand is familiar and warm, and that’s all Minji needs.

“I’ve loved you ever since we were just two brats on the park near home, Siyeon.” Minji started, slowly weaving her words into something comprehensible. “And I’ve loved you through middle school, high school, college, and I’ll keep loving you no matter what.”

Siyeon sobs again, throws herself against Minji, and Minji doesn’t fall to the hospital floor in a tangle with Siyeon for sheer luck, kissing her softly as she pets the girl’s hair. It’ll be okay , she murmurs to Siyeon, because Minji will make sure it will.