It was silent.

      The heartbeat monitor beat constantly, steadily, and loudly, but the hours Tiffany had spent in this room drowned out this monotonous tune that it could even lull her to sleep. Her head bobbed up and down trying to stay awake and her back has been acute for about an hour now. Although her body complained to her about how uncomfortable things were getting, she didn’t say a thing. She willingly wanted to suffer like this, to sacrifice her comfort just to be with the one she loved.

      A soft grunt erupted in the silence. Its volume was low, but it sounded like trumpets to Tiffany’s ears. Her weary eyes shot open and gravitated towards the cold body in front of her. She expected some kind of change or progress, but he was still lying there without a care in the world. Nothing happened just like any other day she visited. Maybe tiredness was just taking its toll on her.

      She couldn’t even form thoughts at this point. The little growing seed in her stomach drained her battery faster than normal. She felt nauseous every day, making every little thing worse than it should be. Her endurance ran thinner and her emotions got a better control of her. Her hopeful soul grew to become doubtful. Crippling thoughts overcome her, giving her a strong desire to feel as numb as the one in front of her.

      However, she has trained herself enough to believe that all these dangerous thoughts were telling her she needed to rest. So before she accidentally spends another unhealthy night in this stale hospital room, she stretched her stiff arms and prepared to leave. It was already 8:34 PM anyway. The family who cared for her would certainly be worried by now.         

      Before she stood up, she stared one more time at the body in front of her.

      “He’s not waking up,” she sighed. If only she had all the time in the world, she would watch him and his chest rise up and down, indicating that there was still life left in him—that there was still hope of him waking up some day. If only fairytales were true, she would’ve kissed his chapped lips to bring him back to life a long time ago—but even a tale of a princess waking up a cursed prince has never been told. And so she prayed, or rather murmured, “Please wake up soon.”

      Like magic, her words came true and the boy’s eyes slowly flickered open. A sharp static exploded in his ears when his body tried to adjust to his sudden awakening. His head pounded but the pain quickly subsided. The first things he noticed were whitewashed ceilings above him and an annoying beep entering his left ear. He couldn’t move his body and his mouth had gone dry.

      “Where am I?” TaeYeon thought. His vision constantly blurred and he couldn’t decipher what was happening. Everything he saw seemed foreign to him, and he couldn’t describe anything that his eyes landed on. But then it met Tiffany’s brown, blood-shot eyes. Something about those brown, glistening eyes felt like home.

   Tiffany lost her breath seeing him stare back at her. dropped from shock. It felt like a dream seeing him finally awake—finally looking at her with those calm eyes.

      “T-TaeYeon?” Tiffany stuttered with a smile. However, he did not respond and Tiffany immediately assumed the worst. “Do you... remember me?”

      Although unaware of his current situation, TaeYeon was still able to understand her words. He stared at her trying to find an answer. Who was she? Her voice sounded familiar like a popular song of the past. Her face, although swollen and abused with tears, looked absolutely beautiful. She must have been someone in his life for his heart felt comfortable just staring at her, but not a memory or even a name came to mind. He tried to reply in any way he could but his sore throat did allow him to speak. His nerves were too stiff that he helplessly could not move any part of him. All he could do was faintly squinted his eyes for a second with his eyebrows struggling to furrow along as an answer. Then his eyes suddenly felt sore from being exposed to light, so he closed it.

      Tiffany held his hand tightly trying to get her soul closer to him. As she desperately searched for a way to find assurance that he knew what she was saying, ragged breath escaped her lips. TaeYeon opened his eyes, startled that her tears began to show. Though clueless as to what these emotions exactly meant, TaeYeon felt the desperation starting in her voice. “It’s me,” her lips quivered, “Tiffany.”

      Not a reply came for he could only do nothing but blankly stare. When she could not take seeing his lifeless eyes on her, bloated tears fell. One fell warm on TaeYeon’s arm, and then came another. For a minute, this hot rain poured endlessly on his skin. His heart violently reacted to every drop, and the heartbeat monitor amplified it all. He wanted to reach out for her cheeks and catch her tears, but his weak muscles forbid him.

      “Can you hear me?” she cried. TaeYeon blinked slowly and slightly nodded his head. Tiffany felt a little glimpse of joy and relief, but it just didn’t seem enough.
      “Can’t you remember anything?”

      TaeYeon opened his mouth but only his breath made a faint sound. He closed it immediately knowing nothing would come out. The thought was at the tip of his head, but he could not bring himself to answer. What was he even supposed to say?

      “I’m Tiffany… your girlfriend.”

      Understanding the words she said, TaeYeon’s head spun. It was at that moment that he realized something was horribly wrong. “If you are my girlfriend, who am I, then?” TaeYeon wondered.

      “You do know me, right?” she said, with the last bit of energy that kept her emotions from breaking down.

      With a grunt, TaeYeon was able to give her an answer before wincing in pain, “No…” His sore body closed his throat again for too much energy was drained trying to force himself to talk.

      Tiffany clearly heard him, but in disbelief she just sat there unable to let it sink in. TaeYeon had been in a coma for a month from a deadly accident. Memory loss was extremely unavoidable according to the doctor’s diagnosis, and she heard this almost every day. So what, really, was she expecting?

      She fixed her gaze on his eyes to find another answer other than the truth, but Taeyeon just stared at her like she was transparent. Tears pushed out of her eyes like a rally trying to break down a gate. She couldn’t hold them back no matter how much she convinced herself things would be alright. She covered and left the hospital room. It was unbearable to look at him, the boy whom she had fallen for, who had fallen on a terrible fate.

CHARACTERS:

TaeYeon | Tiffany | Eunji | Key