At the bridge

Mount Halla

 

Kyuhyun did some more research on temporary memory lost and even emailed to his doctor friends on what was the probable caused for these memories losses.

Like what he has deduced, it was due to head injuries, such as concussions, and mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety. So during an episode of transient global amnesia, a person's recall of recent events simply vanishes, so the person couldn't remember where she was or how she got there.

Other then medications, the best treatment was to let the memories returned back naturally. Often, it would resurface after another fall or when the person encountered a similar incident. 

Kyuhyun leaned back on his seat at his study room "No wonder when she was in the water, she could recall the image of her being in the water" Kyuhyun started thinking on how to help Bunny. "Maybe I should drive through the bridge with her? Would she recalled more images? But I didn't want to cause her any pain..." 

Kyuhyun didn't understand why he cared so much and was so willing to help Bunny. Was it because he found her and it became his responsibility to help her? Or more than that... ? 

"Kyuhyun...?" suddenly Bunny was at his study door, looking confused.

Kyuhyun was surprised that she was there. He quickly got up and went to her "How are you feeling? Still dizzy?" 

"Did I faint?" 

"Yes, I guess you passed out because some memories got flashback and it was disjointed, so you got dizzy... I managed to catch you when you fainted, and carried you to the bed" 

"Ahhhh, yes, thank you! I remembered that I fell from the bridge and falling head-on towards the rocks but because of the water flow, I hit the rocks and was pushed forward into the water. But that's about all, I couldn't remember anything else before that" Sungmin said sadly. 

"It's okay, don't force it. I was thinking whether I should drive you to the bridge, maybe you might recall more things" 

"Ohh yes, why not?" 

"Hmm..., maybe when we go to the city supermarket this Saturday? I can drive through that bridge on the way back" 

"Okay, thank you, Kyu. Let me take a bath and then I will start cooking"

"Bunny if you still don't feel well, I can cook..." 

"No, no, I'm okay. I need to prepare for tomorrow's fish ball too" 

"Okay, I'll help you with cooking later. Go on, take your bath. I'll just finish up here" Kyuhyun pointed at his laptop. 

Sungmin smile and nodded. Though she was still in a daze, but she told herself that she must be strong and shouldn't kept forcing herself to remember what happened. 

The next two days, Sungmin's crispy fried fish ball was sold out by lunch time! Some of the tourist who bought earlier were disappointed and Sungmin kept saying sorry to them. Some of the local hikers asked her whether they could pre-oder and collect tomorrow, so Sungmin took down their names and contact numbers and told them she would prepare their orders for them. 

By end of the week, Sungmin not only sell crispy fried fish ball, but added crispy fried crabmeat ball! And all sold out by lunchtime. She was happy that all her effort pays off, and hope that the sale for the week after would be good too. Strangely, there were lots of crabs and fishes in Kyuhyun's net. Even Kyuhyun was baffled because he hardly had crabs last time. Lots of anchovies but hardly crabs! 

Sungmin would normally clean up everything and then wait for Kyuhyun. She started to write down what she wanted to buy tomorrow at the supermarket and also calculated how much she would roughly spend. She had put aside some money and paid Kyuhyun back but he kept on saying "It's okay, I'm already happy that I could help you" and refuse to take the money. So she would just put aside and would not use that money. 

"Bunny!" Kyuhyun called and waved from far. Sungmin waved back and smile happily. Seeing Kyuhyun came back safely would always bring out the joy in her. She would always say a little prayer before Kyuhyun started his trekking, and thank God when Kyuhyun came back safely. Kyuhyun is everything to her and she owed her life to him. She must have been praying for someone close last time, but till now, she have no recollection who that close person was. 

As usual, she would run and hugged Kyuhyun after he finished his debrief, taking photos with the trekkers, and signed-out his duty. They would then carry their packed items to Kyuhyun's land rover and headed home. 

On Saturday, they went for breakfast first and then walked to a nearby roadside market, before going to the supermarket. Sungmin went to the fruit sides while Kyuhyun told her he wanted to see the seafood stall. Sungmin bought bananas to make banana fritters, and while she was choosing some fruits, Kyuhyun came to her side. 

"Look what I got? Fresh crabs!! Big and fat!" he laughed. 

"Wow!! I can make more crispy crabmeat" Sungmin smile happily. 

"You wait here, I put all these in my car first?" he took the banana from Sungmin's hand. 

"I come with you.." 

"I thought you were choosing some fruits?" 

"Hmmm, I think no need, we still have some fruits at home" 

"Okay, let's go" 

While walking back to Kyuhyun's car, a motorbike speed passed them. Sungmin suddenly closed her face with both hands and shouted "Ahhhhh.." and turned towards Kyuhyun. 

"What happened?" Kyuhyun was surprised and pull Sungmin towards him. 

Sungmin became scared "Motorbike.... on that day, the motorbike..." 

Kyuhyun quickly led her back to his car and got her to sit. He opened his car boot and quickly kept the crabs in a styrofoam box, and put the banana at the side. 

"What did you recall?" Kyuhyun said, after he got in the car and passed a bottle of water to her. 

Slowly, Sungmin recalled "I was walking at the bridge, then a motorbike was approaching. I wanted to ask something, but I cannot remember what I wanted to ask, but he grabbed my backpack and I got dragged along...." and she closed her face again. 

Kyuhyun pulled her into a hug to comfort her. "I see, no wonder you have bruises all over. And all your identification and clothing must be in that backpack...  It must be very traumatic for you" he slowly let her go. 

"But how did I fall? I still have that piece missing..." 

"It's alright, later on the way back from the supermarket, we will drive through the bridge" and Kyuhyun asked gently "Are you okay?" 

Sungmin nodded and drank more water. After a few minutes, she felt better and they left the car to go to the supermarket. 

Though Sungmin said that she was okay, Kyuhyun was always on his guard and never left her side. There were still a lot of missing pieces in her puzzle, like how she fell down from the bridge, what was her name, why after 1 month, nobody looked for her, why did she ended up at the bridge..? 

Once they got everything that they wanted, they had a small fight at the payment counter because Sungmin wanted to pay but Kyuhyun beat her to it. 

"Kyu, let me pay, it's for the stall..." and she took his card away, and gave cash to the lady. 

"No, you keep the money, I can pay for these..." and he grabbed his card from Sungmin's hand and gave his card to the lady and took back the cash. 

"Kyu, no..." and she attempted to grab his card from the lady again. 

"Alright alright, miss, let your husband pay, his money is your money too. Of course he didn't want you to pay because he loves you.." the lady at the counter said. 

Both Kyuhyun and Sungmin looked at each other and laughed. "Yes, you are right, I love my wife, so I'll pay for it.." Kyuhyun said and he winked playfully at Sungmin. 

Sungmin became shy for being mistaken as Kyuhyun's wife. Smiling shyly, she kept her money and helped to put the groceries into their reusable carrier bags. Kyuhyun was still laughing while walking to his car. 

"Kyu, stop laughing..!" Sungmin playfully beat his arm. 

Kyuhyun laughed louder and said  "Okay wifey, sorry". 

"I should pay because most of the items are for the stall" 

"It's really okay wifey.." 

"Stop it..!" Sungmin playfully beat him again. 

Kyuhyun laughed and opened his car boot to keep all their groceries. Somehow, he like the idea of Bunny as his wife!

On the way home, Kyuhyun took another route so that he could pass through the bridge. The bridge should be ahead, once he saw the signboard Byeongmuncheon stream. 

He glanced at Sungmin and saw that she had become pale. Alarmed, he stopped and parked his car at the roadside. He turned to Sungmin. 

"Bunny, I know it's painful, but I know that you really wanted to regain your memories. If it's too painful, I think we should come back here another day?" 

Sungmin shook her head "I remembered I walked along this bridge when that motorbike came" and she unbuckled and opened the car door before Kyuhyun could stop her. Kyuhyun quickly rushed out too. 

"After I was dragged, my backpack came off from my arms, and I was left rolling on the road. I managed to get up and I remembered that I was feeling so disappointed and hopeless. I slowly walked back to the bridge...." and Sungmin did that, she walked back towards the bridge, with Kyuhyun striding closed besides her. 

Sungmin stopped in the middle of the bridge and looked down. And after a while, she started sobbing. 

Kyuhyun pulled her into his arms. He already guessed what happened. Bunny must have felt so hopeless and must have decided to end her life. 

Sungmin sobbed in his arms "Kyu, I jumped down!  Ohmygod, I jumped down! I wanted to end my life!" and she cried louder. 

Kyuhyun soothed her back and held her tighter. He was glad that she survived and that he found her. Such a precious person to him now, but he still wondered why did she felt so hopeless? There must be something tragic or something unpleasant happened before she came to Jeju. The thought of losing her bag and other belongings must have been the last straw, which led to her decision to end her life. 

"Bunny, God didn't want you to die, that's why you are still here. And God arranged for me to find you. Maybe he wanted you to start a new life here. So, just stay with me here okay?" Kyuhyun said, letting her go and passed his handkerchief to her. 

"I have troubled you enough" Sungmin said, wiping her tears. 

Kyuhyun leaned his elbows on the railings and looked out towards the river. "I'm not sure why I don't feel any burden, in fact I was happy to have you around. And I dreaded to think that you will leave me one day..." 

"I am a nobody here Kyu. One day if I remember everything, I might have to leave to settle what I had left behind" 

"If you leave to settle your old life, will you come back here again?" 

"I don't know really. But I feel so peaceful here, like I am meant to be here, and like what you said, God probably wants me to start a new life here" Sungmin her chain with the word Bunny. "This chain, it was a gift. Seemed like it's really my nickname. I remembered I was holding my chain and jumped". 

"Maybe the person was the one you stayed with, maybe your mum, grandmother or... a husband?" 

"No... I don't think I was married" Sungmin chuckled. Kyuhyun chuckled too. 

"Let's go back. You need to rest, at least now we know some parts of the puzzle" Kyuhyun smile and took her hand. They started walking back to the car. 

"Bunny, if you can recall the colour of the motorbike or details of your backpack, maybe I can make a police report, in case the thief threw your bagpack away and somebody might find it" 

She was thinking for while but shook her head "I can't recall..." she said slowly.

"It's alright. Let's go back then"

Kyuhyun started his car and soon after, Sungmin started to doze off. She saw an old lady smiling and waving happily at her. "Halmeoni?"

She woke up and jolted up at her seat, and said "Halmeoni... !!"

 

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LeeLenaMx #1
Chapter 19: Thanks for another sweet story! Finally read the last chapters and I really enjoyed reading them. Thank you for sharing your stories!
lindatan #2
Chapter 19: A happy ending ~~~ thanks authornim for the story
lavendertwice #3
Chapter 19: Thank u!!!
lindatan #4
Chapter 17: Tats ridiculous . How could Mrs Park request it again ? Don’t u dare take advantage of bunny again
lavendertwice #5
Chapter 17: Yeay bunny is safe! Let kyu handle mrs park!
lavendertwice #6
Chapter 16: Hope minnie is ok!!
lindatan #7
Chapter 16: Hope Min ok & Kyu be able to find her safely
lindatan #8
Chapter 15: A new life chapter wz Kyu for sure lol
lindatan #9
Chapter 14: Glad tat Bunny are recovering well
lindatan #10
Chapter 13: Recover soon Min , poor bunny