Yoona’s eyes were open.

Yul was standing outside the hallway of Yoona’s room when Fany walked back up. She handed him a cup of coffee and he took it from her. Her eyes were shinning. “Did you see her?” she asked.

He nodded. “I left before she saw me,” he said. “I didn’t want to upset her. Were you with her when she woke up?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she told him.

“Does she remember anything?”

“Very little about the accident.”

Yul nodded.

They stood outside for about an hour, while people came and went, until finally the room was all clear again.

“I want to go in alone,” he told Fany.

Fany nodded in understanding. “OK,” she said, taking one of his hands and squeezing it. “I’m here. If you need me,” she reminded him.

He hugged her. “Thanks, Fany. You can call them now,” he said.

They’d of course, called Yoona’s parents immediately and told them that she was awake, but Fany had agreed to wait on calling Jesse, Sunny, and Taeng so that Yul could have just a little bit of time with her. Yul left Fany in the hallway with the doctor. She could fill him in later. Right now, he wanted to see his wife.

The sight that greeted Yul when he walked into the room was the most precious thing he’d seen since his son was born. Yoona was on her bed, and her eyes were open. The television was on, but she wasn’t watching it. Instead, she was looking through her purse, which one of the nurses must have brought in to her. She didn’t notice him right away, so he crossed his arms and stood in the doorway, just watching her. When she found what she was looking for, she sighed, and pulled it to her chest, her eyes filling with tears. Finally, she looked up, and that was when she saw him. He saw her swallow nervously and reach up to pat her hair. She used her arms to try and push herself up straighter, but they weren’t strong enough. He realized that she was worried about how she looked to him. He almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. She’d never been anything less than beautiful to him. Well, except in that crazy poncho, but that was another story. He grin thinking about it. He pushed himself away from the door and approached her cautiously. “Hello, Yoong,” he said softly.

She looked around nervously, as if she were wishing that someone, anyone else was in the room with them. She cleared so that she could speak. “What are you doing here?” she asked her voice scratchy from lack of use. She cleared again.

He strode to the bed and put a hand on her head, sweeping her hair away from her face. His need to touch her was overwhelming. He kissed her forehead and sat down beside her on the bed, looking into her eyes. “It’s good to see you awake,” he said, ignoring her question.

“What are you doing here?” she repeated.

“I need to see you,” he said, his voice full of emotion.

“Now you have,” she whispered.

Yul smiled weakly. “I forgot how beautiful you are,” he told her.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she looked away from him. He knew that she didn’t believe him. “You should go,” she said.

“I’m not leaving, Yoong, so save your strength.”

“Yul...”

“Are you thirsty?” he asked, reaching for the cup of water with the straw sticking out of it on her tray.

She shook her head. “I’m fine. I just want you to...”

“Yoong, please don’t ask me to leave,” he asked, and in that instant... she knew he was begging, “Because I can’t do that.”

For the first time since he’d walked into the room, Yoona studied Yul’s face. She noticed the dark circles underneath his eyes and how pale he looked. She wondered how long he’d been by her bedside.

Yoona sighed, obviously exhausted and unwilling to argue with him. “All right,” she said softly. “I won’t ask you to go, but please don’t mistake this as me wanting you to stay, Yul.”

He nodded slowly, relief filling his eyes. He leaned in and gently wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. “Yul, please,” Yoona said, trying to push him away. He only tightened his hold on her.

“You can fight me if you want to, Yoong, but I’m not letting you go.” She felt him shrug. “So you should just give in,” he told her.

She should have fought him. She knew she should have fought him, but she couldn’t be certain it wasn’t the last time she’d ever feel his arms hold her like this again, and she’d always loved the feel of his arms around her. So she gave in. She rested her head on his shoulder, rubbing her cheek against his t-shirt. She could feel his warmth through his clothes, just like always when he’d hugged her.

FLASHBACK

“I can’t believe we ran out of oil,” she said, half angry, half laughing, all of her teeth chattering. “How stupid are we?”

Yul looked at her, and her eyes were dancing. Thank GOD. Any other woman and she’d be yelling at him right now. But not Yoona, she found the humour in the situation.

“I just had to marry a man who knows nothing about fixing anything!” she continued, still laughing.

“Well, there should be directions on how to read the gauge on an oil tank!” he said mock indignation.

She only laughed harder. “Here are your directions, Baby. F means full, E means empty. Isn’t it uncanny how much it resembles the gas gauge in the car?” she mocked.

“You better run, Kwon Im Yoona!” he warned her.

She knew he was kidding, but she took off running anyway. She ran from the living room into the kitchen around one side of the island, and he ran around the other. He bent over, so when he made contact with her, his shoulder softly hit her midsection. He just kept running, throwing her up over his shoulder and heading in the direction of their bedroom. “Yul! What are you doing?” she screeched.

“I’m gonna warm you up,” he informed her, not breaking his stride. When he got to the bedroom, he threw her down on the bed and reached for the stuffed bear. He threw it to the floor. “Rilakkuma really shouldn’t see this,” he said.

Yoona laughed. “See what?” she asked. “It’s like an ice chest in here! I’m not letting you get my clothes off.”

He sighed dramatically. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to settle for cuddling,” he teased.

“Race you under the covers,” Yoona said.

Not anticipating Yul’s competitiveness, Yoona wasn’t prepared when he gave her what he thought was a light shove. She fell off the side of the bed and landed on her . “I win!” Yul said, from safely under the covers. He looked around. Where the hell did she go? “Yoong?”

She peeked up over the side of the bed.”Yes?” she answered.

Yul laughed. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked.

“You pushed me!” she told him.

“I didn’t push you!” he denied. “I was holding you firmly in place to gain the upper hand,” he clarified.

“Yeah, well, that ‘upper hand’ knocked me right off the bed and onto the floor,” she told him, standing up, her teeth chattering.

He opened the covers for her, and she jumped beneath them. He pulled her closer to him, put an arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. She wiggled her whole body, trying to get closer to his warmer one. “How can you be so warm when it is cold in here?” she asked him.

Yul grinned and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “That’s all you, Yoong,” he teased, winking at her. “See what you do to me?”

END OF FLASHBACK

Yoona blinked and pulled herself away from the memory and from Yul’s warm body at the same time. “Remember the time...” Yul started.

Yoona swallowed nervously and shook her head. “I don’t want to think about the past right now, Yul,” she told him.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Just then, they heard footsteps running down the hall, and Jesse ran into the room. He put his hands on his knees, and bent over, breathing heavily. “I was...in the...elevator...when Fany...called me,” he said between breaths.

Finally, Jesse’s breathing had evened out, and he looked up at Yoong. “You know, gorgeous, if you wanted to see me, you didn’t have to get into a car accident. All you had to do was call.”

Yoona looked at him, and started laughing. She kept laughing, until suddenly, her laughter turned to tears and she was crying hysterically. Jesse was across the room in less than a second, and had his arms wrapped around her. He lifted one of his hands, and her hair. “Sshh,” he said softly. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Neither one of them noticed when Yul quietly got up and exited the room.