~ Winter, Two Years Ago ~

Wheein’s POV

Yong and I moved to the backseat because she wanted to take a picture with the ring and show it off to her friends.

She ing loves it! Good job self.

We took a couple of pictures using my phone because we left hers back in the penthouse when I dragged her out here. Then we also took some pictures with the camera I brought with me that I hid in the glove box.

I raised my eyebrows at her when she suddenly covered my mouth and leaned her face closer to mine. She lifted the camera in front of us and whispered, “Look at the camera, baby”

When I turned my head to look at the camera, she captured the photo right away, with my eyebrows raising so high and my eyes wide open. Yong still hadn’t removed her hand on my mouth so I teasingly kissed and it, making her yelp beside me and instantly retrieved her hand from my lips, surprised by my sudden action.

I giggled at her and pulled her to sit on my lap once again. She placed the camera on the passenger seat before she turned her attention back to me. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders while we smiled at each other. I closed my eyes and sighed when she showered my face with gentle kisses, not the hurried ones that she did earlier when she found out about Nabi becoming officially our daughter.

“I love you” I heard her whisper in between her non-stop kisses.

“Say that again” I whispered to her, pulling her closer to me while I remained closing my eyes.

“I love you, Jung Wheein. I love you so much” she whispered, her kisses lingering on my skin as she continued to shower my face with kisses.

I felt her tender and soft lips pressed on mine, making me automatically move mine on hers to kiss her back. Yong’s kisses were always passionate and slow. Like she wanted to take all the time in the world and pour all her emotions and feelings in just her simple kiss. Even when her kisses would just be brief, I could still feel my skin buzzing on where she kissed me because her kisses weren’t just a simple act of affection, but it’s all her love expressed in that simple gesture.

We continued to slowly kiss each other for a few moments before she released my lips and went down to my neck, gently on my pulse. A small moan came out of me when she continued to kiss my neck, knowing full well how I’m so sensitive in there.

“Should we continue this in bed?” I teasingly asked her, anticipating her adorable face when she always gets flustered every time I with that while I chuckled softly at her.

She pulled back from my neck and met my teasing eyes with her serious ones. “Shall we?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

I sat frozen while looking up at her. My eyebrows reached so high up while my eyes went so wide. For the first time in the five years that Yong and I were in a relationship, she retorted back at me with so much ease and without getting flustered in front of my confident teasing eyes.

“You don’t want to?” she asked in a very serious voice that got me more flustered while I started to get nervous.

“I…” I said, opening my mouth before closing them. I attempted to say something again and opened my mouth but I ended up closing them once again. My eyebrows dipped lower. My eyes narrowed slightly, questioning her, before I gulped and asked, “What?”, my voice airy from the breath that I released due to nervousness.

I saw her lips slowly lifted up in a smile, her dimples making their appearance on the corners of her lips, before she bursted out laughing. She pulled her head back while her arms were losing their grip on my shoulders because of laughing so hard that I had to wrap my arms tightly around her and pull her back in order for her not to fall back.

I laughed softly at her as I watched her wipe the corners of her eyes from the tears that formed because of laughing too much. I smiled at her while she slowly recovered from laughing a lot.

She cupped my cheeks, pinched them so hard that made me pout my lips in front of her, as she said, “So this is the reason why you teased me a lot about doing something very intimate in bed”, then she winked at me teasingly.

“You’re going to tease me about it now? Is this a competition of who gets flustered first?” I asked, challenging her.

“Probably” she whispered, chuckling softly.

“Come here” I whispered before pulling her to me.

She buried her face on my neck while I did the same on her too. I closed my eyes and revelled in having her close to me, feeling her warmth and familiar scent.

“Wheein…” she whispered, breaking the silence in the car.

“Hmm…” I hummed my response.

“I wanted to carry your family name once we got married”

My heart skipped a beat and I opened my eyes as I held in my breath before I asked her, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah” she declared, snuggling closer on my neck. “Jung Yongsun. It sounded perfect, don’t you think?”

I pulled back, wanting to look at her eyes, and asked, “Are you really serious about that?”

“Yeah” she said, smiling wide at me.

“Jung Yongsun” I whispered, testing my family name on her name.

“And Nabi would be carrying your family name too” she added. “So the three of us will be all Jung”

“We’re really going to do that?” I asked her once again, still couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“Of course!” she said excitedly.

I closed my eyes and buried my face on her neck to subtly stop myself from crying again. “I’d love that” I whispered on her neck while she ran her fingers on my hair. “Thank you”

I felt her kiss the top of my head before I felt her soft cheek on top of my head. “I’d love that too” she whispered back.

“Oh, wait. I wanted to show you something!” I said excitedly, almost forgetting another thing that I wanted to show her tonight.

We pulled back a little while she asked me, “What is it?”

I removed my arms around her waist while I removed the coat I wore first. Then I removed the blazer I had on, leaving me with just my thin white long-sleeve button down shirt.

“Why are you stripping?” she asked curiously.

I laughed softly at her before I lifted my right arm in front of us. I struggled to my cufflink so she grabbed my hand and did it for me. I whispered my thanks before slowly pulled down my right sleeve. My palm was facing me so that she could see the back of my arm.

I smiled when I saw her eyes went wide as she held my arm and ran a finger on the small butterfly tattoo I got a few days ago.

“That one’s for Nabi” I said to her while she continued to inspect the tattoo. “All three of us are on my right arm now”

“We all are,” she said, still amazed by the tattoo. She kissed the small butterfly first, then moved to the big butterfly tattoo that I got years ago. She pulled my arm down and rolled my sleeves up to look at my right bicep where her face that I drew was tattooed there. “It’s kind of weird kissing this one” she whispered as she rubbed her thumb on it. But she leaned down and kissed it nonetheless.

She pulled back, snaking her arms back around my shoulders, and whispered, “I love you”, slowly leaning down towards me.

“I love you” I whispered back before our lips touched once again.

Yong snuggled back on my neck and muttered, “I just wanted to stay here. Can we do that?”

“We can't,” I said regrettably. “We’ll have to go back home before it started snowing”

“Fine, fiancée” she grumbled as she pulled away from me while I just chuckled at her.

Yong and I went back in front, struggling to go back in front, as we squished ourselves between the front seats and laughed from all the groaning and muttering. I decided to leave my coat and blazer on the backseat since it’s not as cold as it was earlier. We both fastened our seatbelts before I slowly moved the car to the downhill cliff-side road.

The climb up was difficult and I have to be careful not to overspeed or not to be too slow. The ride downhill wasn’t that difficult but I was still very careful because the roads could get really slippery on our way down, especially now that it’s winter.

I made sure that my fog lights are and honked on every blind curve that I turn to. My left leg was tense from the constant pressure I put on the brake pedal while my right leg was so relaxed on the gas pedal because I was just letting gravity do its work to make the car move forward.

Yong was silent beside me, constantly inspecting the ring on her finger, while she remained seated on her side. I think she could tell by how hard I was gripping the steering wheel, how I bit my lip, and how my eyes never left the road, other than glancing on the rear view and side mirrors, that I’m concentrating really hard on getting us back to the penthouse as soon as I can but safely.

I honked once again when I saw another blind curve before slowly turning the car on the curve. When my truck was about 90 degrees the curve we heard a really loud honk from somewhere behind us. My left peripheral view was suddenly blinded by a strong light.

The things that happened next were very fast. After the blinding lights, I heard a loud crash right next to me and another crash all around me before I felt my body and the car pushed sideways by a very strong force. I unconsciously lifted both of my arms to cover my face when the world in my eyes seemed to turn sideways as well. Half of my was lifted off from my seat because of that strong force and made me lean to the left really hard. Then suddenly, just as how fast things happened, my body was pushed back sideways again, but in the opposite direction this time, just as I heard another crash on my right side.

I groaned from a sudden ache and stinging in my body, and closed my eyes for a short while in order to settle my vision back again before opening them again. My body felt sticky and there’s a painful stinging that I felt from my side but I ignored all of that when I saw Yong hanging her head low in front of her as her body leaned forward, her seatbelt keeping her from falling forward.

“Yong” I whispered, calling out to her while my eyes did a quick scan on her body. “Yong…” I whispered once again when she didn’t answer me.

I removed my seatbelt with my shaking hands as I started to get nervous and worried about her. “” I cursed under my breath when my hands seemed to lose its strength from whatever happened to us. “Get off! Come on!” I hissed as I concentrated a lot of my energy on pressing my seatbelt.

When it came off, I immediately moved forward biting the inside of my cheek so hard from the intense stinging that I felt. But I kept on ignoring it because I need to get to Yong as fast as I can. I removed her seatbelt, pushing it with all my might to free her from it. I held her right away to prevent her body from falling forward on the dashboard and making her lean back on the seat.

I blew hard on my index and middle finger, trying to unfreeze it, before I located her pulse. When I felt her pulse beating, I released a sigh of relief. I pulled her closer to me as I whispered again, “Yong? Yong, can you hear me?”

I softly touched my palms on her shoulders, arms and all over her body, trying to locate if she had injuries. When there was none on her body, I moved to her head, noticing how the glass on her side was completely shattered. I slowly pulled my palms as my hands shook harder than earlier when I confirmed with my eyes what the sticky feeling I touched on her head was.

“Yong” I called out to her when I saw blood on my palm. “No, no no. No, this is not happening. No! Yong!” I muttered, my voice gradually increasing when I felt my heart intensify its beating and I started to panic.

“Yong, stay with me. Please, stay with me” I grumbled, my eyes slowly stinging from my impending tears as I wrapped my arms on her waist, totally not caring at all on whatever was stinging on my body.

“Come on! Ahhh!” I screamed as I pulled her body towards me, leaning her head on my shoulders as I tried to pull her closer to me. When I thought she was secure in my arms, I turned around and opened the door.

That’s when I saw the cause of our crash earlier. A car hit the middle of my truck, bending it inwards, and pushed us to the guard rails and post that ran on the cliffside of the road.

Yong was lifeless in my arms and I started to worry really hard because I could feel her blood running down from her head. I don’t know how I was able to maneuver myself, with her in my arms, but I was able to pull us out.

I channelled all my energy into getting us out of the car. When my feet hit the ground, they instantly lost all their strength and I fell on the ground in a sitting position while Yong stayed lifeless in my arms.

There was a person on my side but I ignored him, as well as the stinging on my side, and just focused my eyes on Yong’s face.

“Yong…” I called to her once again, my vision turning blurrier when all I could feel was the sudden nervousness of the idea that I might’ve lost her. I placed two of my fingers on her pulse once again but my hands were shaking and I couldn’t distinguish whether it was my own heart beating all over me or Yong’s pulse that I feel.

I cupped her cheek and rubbed my thumb on it as I said, “Yong, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. I don’t know what to do without you. Please…”, my voice breaking as a sob escaped out of my throat.

I pulled her closer to me, careful not to hit the injured part on her head, as I cried and sobbed and just wailed out her name, hoping that she could hear me and that she’ll wake up now so that I could see her eyes again.

“Yong… Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me” I said in between my tears while I kissed her unresponsive lips and her closed eyes.

Suddenly, paramedics grabbed my attention away from Yong’s unconscious body and told me that they’re there to assist me. They pulled Yong away from my arms. I wanted to resist but I knew they would help me, so I focused my eyes on them to make sure that they were handling her very well.

“Mind her head. Her head is injured” I said in between clenched teeth to them as I groggily stood up and felt the stinging on my body intensified from all my movements.

“Mam, you need to come with me. We need to tend to your injuries too” someone said to me.

“No” I said to him as I staggered to the ambulance where they took Yong, breathing hard against the pain that constricted my lungs to function properly.

I was about to climb up on the ambulance but they stopped me and said that I am not allowed to come inside and that I have to go to a separate ambulance.

I just exploded after that.

“That’s my fiancée and there is no way I’m going on a different ambulance!” I said to him with my tear-stained face and pushed myself up on the ambulance. “Take us to Seoul Medical Center. I’m a doctor there” I informed all of them while I settled beside Yong and held her hand.

When they still wanted to protest I shouted, “Now! If we don’t take her to the hospital right now, if I’m going to lose my fiancée, I’m going to make sure you’ll be losing all of your jobs!”

I heard the doors closed and felt the car move but all my eyes were on Yong. I ignored the paramedic who wanted to tend to my injuries and everyone around me and just made sure that I could feel Yong’s pulse on my fingers.

“Don’t leave me, Yong. Please don’t leave me” I said in between sobs while I held her hand in mine. “I love you so much, Yong. Don’t leave me. I don’t know what to do if you leave me”

I whispered those things repeatedly, not knowing what to do anymore. The longer the drive to the hospital was, the more I started to regret my decisions of bringing her to our usual stargazing spot.

“I should’ve just brought you to your parents, Yong. Or we should’ve just stayed in the house. I’m sorry I brought you there. I’m really sorry, Yong” I whispered again, my tears never stopping. “You could scold me all you want just please stay with me. Don’t leave me. I don’t know what to do…”, my voice fading when my mind slowly turned blank the longer I stared at her lifeless face.

I held her hand as firmly as I could while I repeatedly wished she wouldn’t leave me, repeatedly apologized to her and repeatedly called out her name.

Why did I have to take her there?! Why did I insist we should go up there?! I could do a lot of other things or we could go somewhere else, but why did I do that?! Why did I have to do that?!

We’re not stargazing anymore, Yong. We’re not going anywhere dangerous anymore just stay with me, please…

When we reached the hospital, I staggered out and stayed beside Yong while we rolled her stretcher to the emergency operating room. I was stopped by Dr. Song when I was so near to the emergency room.

I looked at him and said furiously, “What are you doing?!”

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked me back, holding onto my shoulders.

I shook against his hold but he seemed way stronger than me. “Get out of my way!”

“No”

“What the are you doing?! I need to go to Yong! She needs me right now!” I wanted to clenched my fists but the stinging made me incapable of doing it.

“You need to tend to your own injuries right now”

“NO! I don’t ing care about my self right now! I did that to her! I did this to her and I needed to save her! So stay out of my way because I have to save her right now!” I shouted at his face, my spit landed all over his face but he didn’t flinch. Nor did I.

“Can’t you see yourself right now, Wheein?!” he shouted at me. That’s the first time he shouted at me. He held my right wrist and held my hand up. “Look at that!” he said, pointing at my hand. “Look at yourself! Your hands are shaking so much. You’ve been losing blood and tainting the floor with it. How could you possibly save her when you can’t even save yourself right now?! Mind your own injuries first!”

My hand was indeed shaking so much. I tried to calm myself but I frustratingly couldn’t stop it. I glared at my hand and focused all my willpower to steady my fingers. I growled loudly when I couldn’t stop my hand from shaking. “!” I hissed, dropping and letting it hang on my side.

I went back to looking at Dr. Song’s worried eyes and glared at him. “What do you want me to do?! Stay here?! Wait until she wakes up?! I can’t possibly do that! Do you want me to just stand there when I could’ve just gotten in there and save my fiancée!” I shouted at him, blaming him for trapping me in here when I could’ve started saving Yong a few