Five weeks of going to therapy really helped Wheein a lot. I think it’s not just the therapy, but her willingness to really get better. She still has nightmares but unlike before where I would wake up to see her sweating a lot, crying in her sleep, and screaming my name, I would be stirred awake in my sleep by her soft grunts and some uncomfortable shifting. Her eyebrows would still dipped lower but her breathing wouldn’t be audible and her face would be calmer than before.

I also didn’t need to wake her up in order to get her out of her nightmares. I would just have to pull her closer to me. When she felt my presence, she would instantly relax and sigh in relief in my arms.

Wheein is totally calmer and lighter than how she was before. I know there would also be times that she would feel guilty and would blame herself; those things don’t heal in a short span of time. She would need a long time and constant support for her to completely heal from the accident that happened to us, and I'm willing to give those things to her and be really patient with her.

“Headaches?” I heard Wheein asked below me as I ed her pajama top.

I started from the bottom then slowly went up. When I reached the last button on the top, I leaned in and kissed her lips before I whispered, “No”

She sat up to take off her top as I climbed down and planted my hands on the bed on either side of her abdomen. She laid back on the bed, half , while I leaned in and kissed all her stars on the left side of her abdomen.

“Dizziness?” I heard her whisper just as I planted a kiss on her stab wound.

I climbed up and hovered above her while she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “No” I whispered to her before I leaned down to kiss her lips again. I pulled away from her lips and went to kiss the stars on her left arm. I showered her arm with kisses, making sure that I’ve kissed every mark in there.

“Good morning” I heard her say in a cheerful voice just as I pulled away from her arm.

I laid on top of her, snaking my arms around her shoulders while she wrapped hers around my waist.

“Good morning” I whispered to her, feeling her hand gently rubbed my back.

We were smiling and giggling at each other. Wheein closed her eyes and sighed below me while I showered her dimpled cheek with kisses. When I looked at her face again, her eyes were unfocused and she had a faraway look that suddenly made me worried.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her, my eyebrows furrowed as I scanned her face.

She pulled my head down, making me snuggle on her neck, then she tightened her arms around me while she ran her fingers on my hair.

“Wheein?” I asked her once again.

“Yong?” I heard her whisper.

“Hmm…”

“Will you help me with something?”

I kissed her neck and said, “Of course. What is it?”

She released a heavy breath before she whispered, “I wanted to ride cars again…”

Wheein has been doing well with dealing with her guilt. Her nightmares were also reducing. But her fear of riding cars was something we had not dealt with yet. It would be really inconvenient to both of us, especially now that we have Nabi, but I didn't want to force her to do something for the sake of our convenience. Her fear might sound petty to other people’s perspective but no matter how petty a fear sounded like to others, it should never be underestimated.

“I don’t want to drive yet,” she whispered. “I don’t know if I could ever drive again but I wanted to overcome at least my fear in staying inside cars. I wanted to at least stay calm inside it, stationary or moving”

“Hmm…” I hummed as I pulled back to look at her. “Are you sure, Whee? I don’t want to force you into overcoming everything right away. We could take things slowly”

“I am. I really wanted to, Yong” she said sincerely. “I just need your help. I don’t think I could do this one by myself”

I gave her lips a soft peck and whispered, “You’re not alone. You have me and Nabi, Whee. I just wanted you to make sure. We’ll do things slowly, okay?”

“Okay” she nodded her head.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. If it felt too much already, I’m pulling you out of the car. If you pushed yourself too much, we’re stopping” I reminded her as I looked at her seriously.

“I know. I won’t. I promise” she said, nodding her head at me. She cradled my head and slowly pulled me towards her as she whispered, “I love you”

“I love you too” I managed to whisper back before our lips touched.

I was pacing in front of my car while Wheein watched me by the doorframe. Between the two of us, it looked like I’m the one who’s trying to overcome my fear right now because Wheein looked unbelievably relaxed while I looked and felt so tense and nervous inside the garage.

“Yong, stop pacing. You’re making me nervous” Wheein whined from the doorframe.

“You don’t look nervous. Why aren’t you nervous?” I muttered anxiously but never stopped my pacing while I tried to think of ways in approaching Wheein’s fear of riding cars.

“I am” I heard her whine again. “But you looked more nervous between the two of us that’s why it seemed like I’m not nervous. Why are you nervous though?”

I stopped pacing and stood in front of my car, leaning on the wall across from it, and said, “Last time we did this, you were hyperventilating inside my car. I’m trying to find a more comfortable approach”

She walked beside me and leaned on the wall as well, looking at my car just like what I’m currently doing. “You have no idea at that time. Also, I think there is no more comfortable approach to this one”

I groaned and sighed before I turned my head. “What are we supposed to do then?” I asked her because I have no idea how to help her. I have no experience in overcoming fear in my life.

She looked at me and shrugged. “I don’t know as well,” she whispered.

“Should we just try this tomorrow?” I suggested to her.

“And when tomorrow comes, we still have no idea what to do so we’ll just say tomorrow again until we never get to actually do it?” she countered, a slow smirk forming on her lips.

I chuckled at her and shook my head. “Fine” I said, rolling my eyes at her as the mood started to feel lighter around us. “We’ll start slowly today” I said to her while she nodded at me. “We should probably start with opening all the doors and rolling down all windows so that it wouldn’t feel like you’re confined in there. How’s that?” I suggested to her.

She smiled and nodded her head. “I think that’s a good start”

“Okay. Let’s do this” I said to her before kissing her temple. “Stay here. Let me open the doors for you. Try to calm yourself down”

I pushed off the wall and walked to the driver side of my car. I opened the door and started the car. I pressed the buttons by the door to lower down all the windows of my car. When all windows were down, I turned it off and climbed out of my car, leaving the door wide open. I opened the rest of the doors of my car; backseat doors, passenger’s side door, and even the backdoor of my car. I made sure to open them all widely before I walked back to Wheein.

I grabbed both of her hands and asked, “Are you ready?”

“No” she said, shaking her head. “But I really want to do this”

“I know” I whispered to her before giving her a peck. “You want me inside with you or you wanted to stay inside by yourself first?”

“Can you go with me first?”

I nodded my head and said, “Sure”

I walked to the backseat and climbed inside first. I offered a hand to her and said, “We don’t have to stay too long. Just a couple of minutes first maybe, okay?”

She heaved out a breath and nodded her head as she whispered, “Okay”

She grabbed my hand and slowly climbed in the backseat and sat beside me. Her hand instantly tightened its hold on my hand as she closed her eyes. She was sitting uncomfortably, just like before, as her breathing became heavier the longer we stayed inside the car.

I moved closer to her, pulled her towards me, and rubbed my hand on her back to comfort her as I said, “Wheein, look at me. I’m right here beside you”

I started to feel really nervous when I saw her tears falling out of her closed eyes in just a short span of time. I cupped her cheeks, turned her head to face me, and said, “Wheein! Open your eyes and look at me!”,