[Chapter 11]

If My heart was a House

 

 

 

Circle me and the needle moves gracefully back and forth

 

If my heart was a compass, you'd be north

 

 

--

 

 

 

Jiyong wished he could fly, or he had some sort of magic portal he could use to teleport. Of course he didn’t, instead he found himself driving in an insane speed to the Hospital. It almost felt like he was flying.

 

 

 

He hadn’t called Dara to inform her that he had found Chaerin because really, he hadn’t yet. It will only make her worried to know that Chaerin only managed to call his name, not a complete one and there was chaos, a guy mentioning that Chaerin was unconscious and bleeding and that he needed to fly as fast as possible to her.

 

 

 

Everything happened too quickly Jiyong couldn’t even think straight to sort the problems. The guy could be lying, Chaerin could only be playing prank on him, or worse, it could be just a prank call, it could be it wasn’t Chaerin who called him.

 

 

 

But no, he knew all too well that it was her voice.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Jiyong hated hospital, but then again who loved it? Ah, Chaerin does. She told him one day that she spent her day in the hospital when she was feeling stressed, she once volunteered to be a caretaker of the children. She taught them how to draw and coloring, how to make them not forget about the beauty of colors despite being in such gloomy place.

 

 

 

Chaerin was an orphan; she never got to know who her parents were, neither she had time to care about them. She had accepted that they didn’t want her, for whatever reason. So the least she could do was to make sure no other children suffered like she was.

 

 

 

She wasn’t really suffering, though. She grew up quite brilliantly with her talent in art. One day when she was a teenager, she fell sick, the sickest she could get that she had to be taken care of in the hospital. There she saw the children, sick and forgotten. Their parents seemed to get used to them being in the hospital that they forgot the children actually need more care than any other children, there and then she started being the caretaker.

 

 

 

She only quitted when she was being too busy, but he knew she still visited the hospital once in a while.

 

 

 

He accompanied her few times when she visited her little friends, seeing a whole different Chaerin. She had this certain ability to deal with children, he was not. The children love her, but then again, who wouldn’t love her?

 

 

 

He was there when she cried her heart out because one of the children finally gave up to his illness. He hugged her all night and fed her because she refused to move, she stayed on the bed two days straight, zoning out. It took Jiyong almost two buckets of mango ice cream to finally take her to bath.

 

 

 

She still cried secretly in the middle of the night until the week after.

 

 

 

“Mr. Kwon Jiyong?” A voice brought him back from his reverie. How long had he been spacing out?

 

 

 

The guy in front of him smiled and took a seat beside him. “Lee Seunghyun,” he introduced himself.

 

 

 

“Thank you Mr. Lee to take her, I don’t know what I would do without you…”

 

 

 

Seunghyun smiled a bit, “That sounds a little bit too cheesy, you know, and just call me Seungri is alright,” he finished, offering Jiyong a cup of coffee he held in his hand.

 

 

 

“She… She’s going to be okay, right?” Jiyong asked in a little voice, the possibility of something happen to Chaerin scared him. She hardly catches cold in winter, despite her frail little body. But he knew too that lately she had been working too hard preparing for the exhibition.

 

 

 

“Honestly, I don’t know. But if you ask me I sure hope so,” Seungri answered. Just as he finished off the sentence the doctor came out of the ICU.

 

 

 

“How is she?” Jiyong dashed in no time, Seunghyun didn’t even realize when he stood up.

 

 

 

“Are you a family?” The doctor questioned, and Jiyong nodded his head feverishly.

 

 

 

“She’s okay for now, but her current state is still weak, tell her not to overwork, and to eat properly, she should not be too stressed.” The doctor told Jiyong and who was listening intently, tears were forming at the corner of his eyes.

 

 

 

“Ah, and the baby is safe but really, she almost had a miscarriage. You have to be extra careful knowing her current condition---” Jiyong couldn’t hear what the doctor said after; he would have to ask him to repeat later. But for now his mind was filled with only one word.

 

 

 

Baby?

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“Hey,” he whispered to her. She had her eyes closed, but he knew she had woken up a few minutes ago.

 

 

 

She smiled at him, struggling to open her eyes, “hey,” her voice hoarse. “water, please?” she asked in a tiny voice, he complied.

 

 

 

Handing the glass of water to her and helped her to drink, he stared at her keenly, her face was paler than usual, and he could swear she must’ve lost a bit of her weight.

 

 

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He questioned, brushing her bangs aside and resting his palm on her cheek, her face was cold.

 

 

 

She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth his hand gave to her cheek, “I thought it would be a nice Christmas gift,” she answered, her voice drifted off, seemed like the effect of the medicine still took place.

 

 

 

He smiled, leaning closer to her, still rubbing her face with his hand. His other hand held hers; his thumb caressed her cold hand. “It is, indeed it is. Well, minus the drama craze that is,” he whispered. “But I guess Dara enjoy the drama the most,” he chuckled.

 

 

 

“I know right…” She smiled, slowly drifting off.

 

 

 

At last, she felt safe and warm.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“She’s sleeping?” Seungri questioned as Jiyong closed the door behind him.

 

 

 

“Yeah, she’s still tired I guess…”

 

 

 

“So you’re a papa to be?” He smiled and Jiyong smiled wider.

 

 

 

“I guess I am?”

 

 

 

“Congratulations man! This is so cool! It makes me feel like I just saved two people today,” Seungri hugged him in a manly manner. “Well I have to go now, you have to take a good care of her, okay?” He grinned.

 

 

 

“Sure thing,” Jiyong smiled, “and thank you once again, really.”

 

 

 

“Don’t mention it,”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

When she woke up for the second time, Jiyong was playing with her hair. His face was full of adoration.

 

 

 

“How’s our mama to be?” He asked in a happy voice.

 

 

 

She smiled, her little boyfriend needed to stop being so adorable, “hungry…” she answered, and in no time Jiyong had a bowl of fruits on his hand.

 

 

 

“Banana?”

 

 

 

She nodded, her head still felt light. But it was better than before, no pounding headache whatsoever.

 

 

 

“I’m soooo happy you know,” Jiyong grinned, offering the banana to her.

 

 

 

She nodded softly, “I know…”

 

 

 

“But what if I can’t be a good Papa?” he frowned, “I was never good with kid anyway…”

 

 

 

She chuckled, “this is not just any kid, Papa, this one is yours,” she smiled at him.

 

 

 

Somehow it felt magical when she said it, there was some revelations came to him that this one was different. He knew without a doubt that she would be a good mother, he always knew. She could talk to children easily, but he wasn’t; he found them annoying and demanding. But this one, this unborn one would be different, it was his and hers, theirs. Something they created together and he knew he wouldn’t mind this one being annoying or demanding.

 

 

 

“I think I will spoil this one,” he concluded.

 

 

 

“I think you will,” she chuckled, “no worries, you have me,”

 

 

 

That sounded much like a mantra for him, yes, why worry? He has her, Lee Chaerin of all girls.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“Is she alright? Oh dear, could it be because of me?” The guy in front of him was teary and Jiyong knew he should be thankful for such care the guy gave, it just irked him seeing such big guy crying—in another big guy’s arms.

 

 

 

Jiyong nodded, “She’s okay, the baby is okay too, so no worries,” he smiled, saying the word ‘baby’ still sounded awkward to him, it all felt too surreal and sudden.

 

 

 

The manlier guy—Junsu patted his shoulder, “I believe she hadn’t tell you yet about the baby? She was quite ecstatic with the surprise plan,” he said in a low voice, “this shouldn’t happened if I took her home myself.” He regretted.

 

 

 

“Hey hey, it’s alright…” Jiyong smiled, he couldn’t believe he was jealous over this guy in front of him, the one  who held another guy so passionately.

 

 

 

“I told her to be healthy, didn’t she hear me?” The guy in Junsu’s arms whined, throwing off the tissue he used earlier.

 

 

 

“She’s really okay now, I know she’d love it to meet you two but she’s still resting… so…” Jiyong wandered off.

 

 

 

“That’s okay, take a good care of the baby, okay? We’ll be back later,” Junsu smiled at him.

 

 

 

“I’m sure the baby would be good looking, you both are!” Changmin exclaimed with a smile on his face, “oh now, if only I was still single…” Changmin continued, Jiyong couldn't help but cringe unconsciously upon hearing that.

 

 

 

“Yah yah! You scared him!” Junsu warned him, Changmin only giggled.

 

 

 

‘I was seriously jealous for nothing…’ Jiyong thought.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“Are you serious?” Dara tried her best not to scream in the hospital hallway, she had rushed there from work when Jiyong informed her that he found Chaerin. Jiyong answered her with a nod and wide grin on his face.

 

 

 

“Oh my God! This is so cool!” Dara clapped her hands, her eyes brightened. “Can I visit her?” She asked again.

 

 

 

“Well you can, but she’s still resting so maybe later?”

 

 

 

“Ah…” She pouted, moments later her eyes twinkled, “Does that makes me a godmother? I’ll be the godmother, right? Right? Pleaseeee?” She asked giddily.

 

 

 

Jiyong laughed at that, “I thought you wanted to be my wife?”

 

 

 

“Yah!” Dara hit his arm playfully, “Chaerin had marked her territory since day one, now she adds this, it’s like there’s a ‘Chaerin’s Line: DO NOT CROSS!’ sign around you!”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Risk it all 'cause I'll catch you if you fall

 

Wherever you go, if my heart was a house, you'd be home

 

(Owl City – If My Heart was a House)

 

Author's note

Since you've all been a good readers and leave me comments (although I know some of you are only lurking around without leaving a trace), here is the newest chapter, congratulations to whoever guessed right (I'm not really good on making suspense anyway, lol)

aaand... don't forget to leave a comment again, it will take a little more time for me to update the next chapter because I haven't written anything yet o.o /flails/

for the time being, enjoy!

p.s. At least it's not a cliffhanger, so you won't torture me heheheheheheh ;p

p.p.s. I demand a comment because yes, I am a demanding writer. Leave me at least a comment each one of you! Hey you! Come back here and write something!!! YAAAHHH!!!