Where was I? It was cold, yet at the same time it was hot. I couldn’t feel anything.

What happened? I heard beeping sounds around me. Then, voices. Accusations.

“It’s your fault!”

“Why? It’s not my fault okay?!”

“Yes it is! If it wasn’t for you… she wouldn’t have lunged forward and saved you!”

“What makes you think that she treats me differently? I’m human like all of you!”

“She loves you okay?! She loves you, and there’s nothing I can do about it!”

Silence. Soft breathing. The sound of a door opening and closing. Someone sighing.

What just happened? Who were the people shouting? Fog took over my mind, and I slipped into unconsciousness again.

Kibum’s POV

I couldn’t stand it! She sacrificed herself to save Xander! Why would she do that? Did she love him that much? ‘Cause if she did…

…there would be no hope for me at all.

I stormed out the room, unable to stand the stifling silence. I went to the vending machine and bought soda for myself. I sat down and gulped the soda down as if I was dehydrated.

Beside me, I heard the shuffling of feet. It was the 7 men, bringing dinner for me and Xander. I shook my head.

“We’ll leave it beside you okay?” Kevin said softly and headed into the room.

For the next few hours, I sat there, unmoving. I didn’t care anymore. The girl I loved threw herself in front of a car for my best friend whom she loved.

Why did this have to happen…?

Before I knew it, tears started falling from my eyes. I choked and bit on my lip, trying to hold them back. I left the hospital, got into my car, and sped home.

And I meant it when I said home. My home. Not the house that we were staying in.

Sobs were ripped from my throat and I let out a strangled cry. I felt vulnerable, so vulnerable.

My body trembled as I collapsed after closing the front door. Tears streamed down my cheeks like there was no tomorrow.

I had shouted at Xander, blamed him for her accident, walked out on him. Surely he wouldn’t forgive me. Despite knowing that, I wanted his forgiveness. I wanted, needed him as my friend. Without him, I would a broken human. Without him, there would be no one to cheer me up. Yet I let a girl spoil our friendship. Why did I do that? Why?

I ran dry of tears after long hours of crying. I washed my face, grabbed my car keys, and headed back to the hospital to see her.

Alexander’s POV

“She loves you okay?! She loves you, and there’s nothing I can do about it!”

Kibum’s words pierced me, leaving me speechless and unable to find any words to say.

My best friend’s crush likes me? How?

Kibum exited, and who knows when he would return? I sighed.

After 10 minutes, the 7 men came to visit. They handed me the dinner they bought for me and sat around the room, not knowing what to do.

I was thinking. Thinking about what to do. She sacrificed herself for me, pushing me out of the car’s path. And because of her actions, Kibum was angry with me. How could I gain his forgiveness? There seemed to be no way to make the wounded girl on the bed whole again.

Then there was the problem of her feelings towards me. I didn’t love her in THAT way, so I shouldn’t accept her feelings right? But what if I hurt her?

After 2 hours of sitting around, the 7 men left. I think they mentioned something about heading home first.

Sighing, I went to the tiny library in the hospital and looked for a book. A book caught my eye. I loaned it and returned to the room.

I settled myself comfortably and started reading.

A long time ago, there lived a peasant girl. She was kind and beautiful, yet no one loved her.

She came from a broken family, one of abuse and divorce. Her mother ran from her drunken father, leaving her behind, very much alone with him. He brought home another woman, a stunning beauty she was, and let her move in.

Now, the peasant girl didn’t like her stepmother much, and the stepmother didn’t like her much either. The stepmother hired a hunter and told him to bring her to her mother, for she never wanted to see the peasant girl’s beautiful features. She was jealous of the young girl’s beauty.

The hunter came and took the peasant girl away. Trying to take a shortcut, they cut through the most dangerous parts of the woods. They met with 7 young men, who took them in kindly, for the peasant girl was injured.

Time passed, and a handsome prince appeared. The peasant girl fell in love with the prince. Never did she expect that the hunter was in love with her.

The girl then got into an accident when she was out in the woods. She fell into a deep sleep, a sleep that seemed to never end. The hunter was heartbroken and believed that it was the prince’s presence that brought on this accident.

The hunter, unable to stand the presence of the prince and the sight of his injured love, left the prince alone. The 7 young men took care of the 2 of them while nursing the hunter’s broken heart. The prince, however, was not brokenhearted but was, in fact, merely saddened. He harbored no romantic feelings towards the peasant girl, although he did not state so.

One day, when the prince was alone with the sleeping peasant girl, he gazed at her face and discovered how beautiful she truly was. Unable to control himself, he leaned towards her and kissed her. She woke up, and kissed him back, happiness flooding her as her love was returned.

When the brokenhearted hunter found out, he set out to kill the prince. However, in reverse, he was killed by the prince.

The prince brought the peasant girl to her mother, where he proposed to her. The peasant girl, who had in fact become a princess at that point of time, agreed to him, and they lived happily ever after.

Closing the book, I sighed. Did happily ever after’s even exist in the first place? I doubt so. Slowly, slowly, I drifted off to sleep…

I woke up with a start. I had dreamt of her, she had woken up from her coma when I kissed her. Kibum came into the room at that time, and furiously tried killing me. Just as he was about to drive a knife through my heart, I woke up.

How was it possible to dream of something like that?

I rubbed my eyes. It was dawn, and the sun outside was starting to rise. I went over to her to check on her condition.

In the glow of the morning sun, she was really pretty. Beautiful, even. I her cold cheeks. How did I not fall for her? My heart thumped loudly, seeming to amplify throughout the room.

Unconsciously, I leant down, and closed the distance between our lips. After awhile, I broke our kiss, almost expecting for her to awake from her coma.  

But nothing. There was nothing. The machines continued with their steady beeping, and she continued with her steady slumber.