Waking up, you sigh in disappointment as you notice your inability to feel your legs once again and the familiar heaviness when you try to lift your hand.  You glance at the watch and see it ticking once again. 

Luhan.  The pretty Grim Reaper.  If he can’t really persuade you to leave with him, will you be scratched out from his to-take list?

It isn’t that simple, isn’t it?

“Jagiya,” Lay calls you and you press the button by the side of your bed, pushing yourself up using the top half of your bed as it inclines forward, propping your torso into a sitting position.

“Hm?” You smile and close your eyes as he leans in to kiss your forehead.  You notice that he has his bag with him.  He has school to go to.  “Going to school?”

“Yeah,” He sighs, swiping his hair out of his eyes.  “I hate to leave you here, I really do.  I don’t wanna go—“

“But you have to,” You grin, slipping your hand into his and gripping it tightly before letting go.  “Go be your charming, kingka self,”

He chuckles at that and walks away towards the door, glancing at you and waving with a soft smile before closing the door behind me as he exits your room.  God, how you miss school.  How you miss going into lockers, meeting friends, having lunches with Lay and Kai in the cafeteria, getting glares from queenkas but having no care for it.  “Bah,” You scoff, grabbing your phone.

You scroll through your contacts, looking for someone to ask to visit you. 

And there it is; Junghoon-oppa.

He’s a part time teacher at school and he’s pretty much flexible with his time.  He’s only about 3 years older than you, and when he first taught your class, there were no problems whatsoever in closing the .

You: Oppa, where are you?

Before you could even set your phone down, it buzzes and you grin at the fast reply that came in.

Junghoon: Out for a walk.  Why?

You: Can you pay a visit to the hospital by the famous patbingsoo place?

Junghoon: Hospital? Omo.  Don’t tell me you’re there?

You: Yeah, I am.  Room 236~

Junghoon: I’m on my way!

Chuckling, you set your phone on the bedside table, and fiddle with your blanket, giddily waiting for him to come.  You hope he has his guitar with him, he usually does, though.  He carries it with him everywhere he—

“Excuse me,” The door to your room opens and the nurse that’s assigned as your caretaker peeks in with a smile.  “You have a visitor,”

“Yes, I was expecting him, thank you,” You smile back and put up a grin as you watch your teacher come into the room, both an excited and worried expression plastered on his face.

“Thank you,” He dips his head in a thank you bow towards the nurse and you swear you saw her blush as she exits the room.

“Stop throwing your pheromones all over the place, oppa,” You swat your hand in front of your face and make a face.

“Not my fault that I’m born with these looks,” Junghoon smirks, placing his guitar down by the sofa and coming to sit by your bed.  “So tell me what stupid thing you did, that caused you to be sprawled on this bed?”

“Eh, nothing much.  Fell from my crutch and hit my head on a cupboard,” You shrug, your eyes on his guitar already.

“Really now,” He sighs.  “My favorite student, is she really that stupid that she would knock her head on a cupboard?”

The two of you laugh and you point at his guitar.  “Oppa, can you play something for me?”

“I knew it.  You only have eyes for my guitar,” He stands to take it out of its casing, placing his guitar under his arm.  “And Lay,”

You lift your hand to slap his arm playfully as he mentioned Lay.  “Just play,” You sigh and shake your head as a smile tugs at your lips.

His hands expertly pluck the strings, letting out a familiar melody to your ears.  Timing it right, you begin to sing.

Neomu banjjak banjjak nuni busho
No no no no no
Neomu kkamjjak kkamjjak nollan naneun
Oh oh oh oh oh

Not long after, he changes the melody to something that puts a grin on your face.  Together, you sing;

Geubi dalla nam dalla
Tae tae tae taega dalla
I like it, I like it

The song suddenly slows down, casting a mellow feel.  That’s how he caught your attention when he taught your class.  His music manages to bring everyone into it, very smoothly. 

Pyeonhaetni ne mamsoge
Ije nan deo isang eobneun geoni
Nan neol neol saenggakhamyeon
Neomu apa, apa apa

Quietly, he switches the song he’s playing again.

Joha boyeo ni balgeun moseubgwa
Juwie deullyeo oneun sosig kkaji da

The last song, he sang alone, not stopping as you let the meanings of the words sink into your mind. 

He’s cheering you up.

From telling you that you shine, that you’re different, he then lets you express your feelings, that it hurt, although it wasn’t the exact context but the words were absolutely true.  And finally, he tells you again, that he likes the brightness you have around you.

“Don’t lose it,” He smiles as his music stops, as if he’s reading your mind.  “That brightness and all that good news,”

You laugh.  “Oppa, your girlfriend is lucky to have you.  I hope I can come to your wedding when you get married and sing for you,”

As he laughs along with you, his phone rings.  “Speak of the devil,” His face brightens up and he picks it up.  It’s from his girlfriend, you can tell.

“Got to go?” You smirk mischeviously, making him blush.

“Shut up, kid,” Contradicting his words, he quickly slips his bag onto his shoulder.  “You’re okay, alone?”

You roll your eyes.  “Just go before you jump out the window, oppa,”

Grinning, he makes an awkward heart sign with his arms before practically leaping out the room to meet up with his girlfriend.  He had left his guitar for you, setting it beside your bed, just within an arm’s reach for you.

You reach for it and pluck the strings, smiling at the harmonious melody that flows into your ears.  You’re glad your hands can still play well.  You hum a quiet tune to yourself as your fingers pluck the strings and move along the guitar. 

But the gladness doesn’t last long.

Your pickings start to slip, bit by bit at first, but gradually, the melody of the song you’re trying to play doesn’t even come out.  As you drop your hand, an ugly tune rings out the guitar’s strings, the ones your hand grazed as it fell heavily upon your blanket.

“Damn it,” You grit your teeth, setting the guitar aside carefully, and laying back down, doing nothing but stare at the ceiling.

That’s what you do for the rest of the day.  Stare at the ceiling, smile at the nurses that come to fulfill your needs, feeding you lunch, and other things you supposedly can do by yourself but insisted not to.

You keep track of time oftenly whenever you’re in the hospital.  It’s all you can do.  Time passes and you notice that it’s 4. 

“I’m back,”

A familiar voice that lifts up your heart and lets that fluttery feeling fill your voice comes into your ears, tugging at your lips.

“I’m here too,”

“Aww, guys, you don’t know how much I miss you two,” You stretch out your arms and hide your need to wince at the heaviness, glad that Lay and Kai grab it in time.  You clench their fingers tightly before letting go, smiling at the two.

“Guitar?” Kai points.

“Ah, it’s Junghoon oppa’s,” You refuse to look at it and remember your disappearing joy.  “Can you give it back to him tomorrow, Lay?”

“Sure,” He nods, noticing your eyes as you avert them away from the guitar. 

“Unnie!”

Yumi comes into the room with a wide grin, a paper in her hand.  “I got 100s on these!”

You take the papers in your hand and gasp in surprise.  Both her physics and biology exams are 100.  “Holy— Yumi, you’re so smart,” You wail playfully, making her laugh. 

“You’re smart too, unnie,” She grins.  “I’m taking after you.  Not Kyungwoo oppa,”

Hearing someone sneeze by the door, all heads swivel towards it, and laugh as Kyungwoo comes into the room.

“You must’ve been talking about me,” He sniffs, running his sleeve under his nose. 

“You don’t have part time, Kyungwoo?” You ask him.

“No, the store’s giving me a week off, the owner’s off to his hometown,” He sits down beside Kai on the sofa.  “We can hang out, hyung,”

“Hell yeah,” Kai grins excitedly.

“When you do, bring me candies,” You jump into their conversation.  “They give me tasteless things here,”

“Aren’t I sweet enough for you?” Lay joins in, laughing as you playfully choke in front of him.

“Just kidding,” You run your thumb over his knuckles, keeping your hands intertwined. 

“Omo, omo,” Yumi steps away from the bed, playfully closing your eyes at the display of affection.

Everybody laughs and the happy conversation continues, until a nurse announces that visiting hours are over.  Kai, Kyungwoo and Yumi leaves the room, and Lay stays with you like how he did yesterday. 

Quietly, he grabs the guitar and plucks the strings, and you tenderly stare at him, his music reminding you of why you loved him in the first place.  You see his lips part and close your eyes as you focus on his voice, and his voice only.

Geuriwo geuriwoseo, geudaega geuriwoseo
Maeil nan honjaeoman geudaereul bureugo bulleobwayo
Bogopa bogopaseo, geudaega bogopaseo
Ije nan seupgwancheoreom geudae ireumman bureuneyo
Oneuldo

Unconsciously, your tears stream down your cheeks.  The words he sang, it’s exactly what you feel.  Every single second of the day.  You miss him, you want to see him, you want to call out to him.  As you meet his eyes when he looks up from the guitar, the tears continue to flow.  His eyes were as sad, as lonely as how yours would be if you looked in the mirror. 

“Don’t cry,” He wipes the tears from your cheeks and leans in to kiss your eyes.  “I’m always here,”

“Mm,” You sob, hoping that a headache won’t attack you at a time like this.

The two of you let go of each other and Lay goes over to the sofa to sleep like the night before.

Still having your tears stream down your face, you’re reminded of yesterday.

With that, you fall asleep.

can you guess what the songs are? ^^