Chapter 37 - Jihye Trouble

Another sigh escapes Himchan’s lips as his eyes follow the figure in front of him pace back and forth. It has been nearly half an hour since they got here and it pains his heart to see his girl so troubled like this. Just by looking at her expression, he knows that the girl is blaming herself for something beyond her control, or anyone’s control for that matter. But no matter how hard he tried to convince her otherwise, the result remains the same. The only possible way for her to calm down is when the doctor walks out those white doors, with good news in his hands.

“This is all my fault,” Eunmi mutters to herself.

“Babe,” Himchan tries to get her attention but the girl simply ignores him so he has no choice but to grab her arm gently, halting her to a stop, “Baby! Please, just stop! You need to relax a bit, okay?”

“How could I possibly relax when Jihye is probably dying in there! This is all my fault, oppa. I shouldn’t have left her alone!” for the third time tonight, Eunmi breaks into a panic attack.

“No, no, look at me. None of this is all your fault, alright? Calm down, I don’t wanna see you faint or anything like that. Let’s just wait for the doctor. I’m sure everything’s gonna be all right.”

“I shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“Shh, come here you,” Himchan wraps his arms around her waist, rubbing comforting circles on her back as he hugs her tightly.

He can practically hear his heart breaking into many pieces when a tear slips down her pretty face. He has never seen her break down like this before. The Eunmi that he knows is strong and witty. She never shows her weaker side, let alone cries in front of people, not even her family. This is all, no doubt, quite shocking to Himchan but he is somehow rather thankful as well.

If this had not happened in the first place, he would not have witnessed this side of hers. In a way, this helps open up his eyes, reminding him that as tough as his girlfriend usually portrays herself, she is still a girl inside after all. A human being with feelings and emotions.

Tightening his hold around her, Himchan lets the girl cry into his shoulder. It does not even matter that his favourite shirt is getting wet in the process. All that matters now is Eunmi. He would do anything to make her feel better. If crying helps calm her down then so be it. She can cry in his arms for as long as she wants. Everyone has their breaking point, no matter how tough that person may be.

“Eunmi!”

The couple immediately pulls away from each other upon hearing that familiar deep voice. As they have expected, there Yongguk is, running towards their direction with Minzy following closely behind. “What happened?” the man asks once he reaches them, panic is evident in his voice.

Before either Eunmi or Himchan could reply, however, the doors to the operating theatre slid open, revealing a doctor and two nurses. The former’s heart suddenly starts pounding, nervous. She can only pray that nothing bad happened to Jihye, or she will never forgive herself. Sensing her distressed state, Himchan grabs her hand and intertwines their fingers together, rubbing small circles on the back of her palm to help calm her down.

“Are you all Miss Park’s family?” the doctor asks as he flips through a blue folder.

“Yes, we are!” Eunmi answers almost immediately.

“Well, I have both good news and bad news,” the doctor starts with a deep breath, “Good news, both Miss Park and the baby are fine. The impact of the fall wasn’t too severe so we managed to save the baby.”

A relieved sigh escapes everybody’s lips upon hearing that both the mother and child are okay. But the worse has yet to come. “However, Miss Park seems to be in a very weak state. She is diabetic so that would cause a problem both to her and her baby if she isn’t taken care of well enough,” the doctor continues with a more serious tone.

While the others are focused on listening to the doctor, Yongguk is lost in his own thoughts. Jihye is diabetic? Since when? They were together for quite some time, how could he have not known about this? Well, maybe he was not that perfect of a boyfriend that he thought he was, afterall.

Now that he thinks about it, why would her parents even kick her out in the first place? Sure, being knocked up before marriage might still be a disgrace, especially to people who still possess a very traditional mindset. Even so, kicking your daughter – your own flesh and blood – coldly is just too much, no? As far as he was concerned, Jihye’s parents were nice people. They loved their daughter like she was their light.

Or so he thought. Little by little, he begins to understand why the woman decided to see another man behind his back.

Everyone gathers inside the room after the doctor has finished his explanation. Eunmi sits beside Jihye’s bed, holding on to her hand tightly. Every few seconds, her eyelids would droop and her head falls forward before regaining her consciousness again. She is tired but refuses to go anywhere. She wants to stay by Jihye’s side until she wakes up.

There is nothing Himchan or Yongguk can do to get her to go home, or to at least take a nap for a couple of hours. That girl can be too stubborn for her own good sometimes. Usually, her cousin would be envious of her determination but not tonight. If he could, he would really drag her out and ask one of the nurses to inject her to sleep or something. He really does not want to see her fainting or falling sick just because of lack of rest.

Minzy, who has been quiet this whole time, is also having her own inner battle. She cannot help but blame herself for everything. If it were not for her insisting on taking the pregnant woman in, none of this would ever happen. Jihye would have not fallen from the kitchen stool while trying to reach the top cabinet, Eunmi would have not have felt guilty and responsible for the accident and Yongguk would have not been this worried. She can feel that the man is also blaming himself for this when it is clearly not his fault.

It is hers.

“Himchan,” Yongguk calls out; his voice low and serious causing the said guy to look at him with nervous eyes, “Can we talk outside for a while?”

Himchan’s heart stops beating for a millisecond there. For some reason, he can already predict what his best friend has got to say. It is most probably about him and Eunmi. It must be it. Heaving a deep sigh, he just nods and gives Yongguk a small smile before heading for the door.

“Please look after Eunmi for me?” Yongguk says softly to his girlfriend who is standing by the door, his face rather solemn.

“Of course. Don’t worry too much, okay? Everything’s going to be fine,” Minzy replies, squeezing his hand as she smiles lovingly at him.

“Thank you. I love you, my Mulan.”

“Love you too, stinky.”

Yongguk’s eyes widen at the nickname. Oh no, not his girlfriend too! Ugh, Bang freaking Yejin! He will surely get his revenge one of these days. Minzy, on the other hand, cannot help but chuckle at his baffled expression. “Go, stinky! Chanie oppa is waiting for you outside,” she chuckles again, pushing her boyfriend away with a slap on the .

He really, really wants to pinch her nose so badly as a revenge but the girl has already shut the door before he could even turn back around. Nobody slaps Bang Yongguk’s ! A grunt leaves his lips as he comes up with different ways on how to murder his sister inside his mind. Stinky? Who are they calling stinky?! Pfft!

Inside, Minzy is trying so hard to contain her laughter. This is not the right time or place to laugh, anyway. Jihye is still lying on the bed, unconscious, and Eunmi is struggling to stay awake as she continuously mumbles an apology. This is all her fault. She should not have been so stubborn back then. Minzy cannot help but sigh at the thought.

After several minutes, the girl just cannot take it anymore. It is way past midnight! Eunmi has been busy with a new project for the past weeks and she has not been able to get a proper sleep ever since. So, slowly, Minzy approaches the older female and places a hand on her shoulder. “Eonnie, why don’t you take a nap on the sofa for a while?” she suggests politely.

“But-”

“Don’t worry about Jihye, I’ll look after her. I promise that I would wake you up once she wakes up, alright? Now come on, you look like a freaking zombie on crack, you need rest!”

Eunmi sighs and looks at Jihye’s sleeping figure. Even though she knows that it was not entirely her fault, she still could not help but blame herself. Sure, she hates the girl with all her might for breaking her cousin’s heart but she is still her guest, afterall. For as long as she stays with her, Jihye is part of her responsibility.

She really wants to stay awake and wait for her to wake up but Minzy was right, she needs to rest. If she planned on taking better care of the lady from now on, she really needs all the energy she has. So, reluctantly, she agrees to Minzy’s suggestion and lies down on the sofa to take a short nap. And instantly, she falls into a deep slumber.

“Stubborn, as always,” Minzy shakes her head, heaving a sigh, as she covers the sleeping girl with her jacket.

She then proceeds to take Eunmi’s spot beside the bed and stares at Jihye’s face. The latter really seems so calm in her sleep but she knows that the girl is probably suffering inside as well. Minzy may not have been pregnant before but she surely knows how it feels like being alone. She could only imagine how much tougher it is for Jihye, with an extra life to think about inside her body.

Minzy gently grabs her hand, careful not to touch the needle connected to her. It is only then that she realises how small and fragile the girl is. “I’m sorry,” Minzy whispers softly, “this is all my fault.”

She then shuts her eyes for a bit and takes a deep breath before speaking again, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, “If I weren’t in the picture, you would’ve got back with Yongguk by now and he would’ve taken care of you.”

Little does she know, a figure has been listening to everything she said from the door.

***

She is not quite sure what happened but Minzy finds herself lying on the sofa the next morning. She must have fallen asleep last night. Yawning, she rubs her eyes gently to get rid of the sleepiness and slowly, her pupils dilate to the rays of light coming through the small gap between the curtains. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” a familiar voice suddenly mutters, startling her.

The girl snaps her head around in panic, only to be welcomed by a grinning Yongguk. “Gukkie, you scared me!” the girl huffs with a pout.

“Is my lap that comfortable? Cos you surely slept so soundly,” Yongguk stifles a chuckle at her shocked expression.

It is only then Minzy realises that she has been lying on her boyfriend’s lap all along. Well, she would be lying if she said his lap was not comfortable because it is. More comfortable than her pillows at home for that matter. She would really stay like this for a while longer but she is just too embarrassed to do so.

“Where’s Eunmi eonnie?” the girl asks, trying to change the subject.

Yongguk’s expression falls a little but he still keeps a small smile on his face. He does not want his girlfriend to be worried more than she already has. He has heard her talking last night and to be quite honest, he was rather disappointed. How could she ever think about not being his girlfriend? Feeling guilty or not, she should have never had that kind of thoughts in the first place. It somehow hurt him a little. But a part of him also understands where she came from.

Of all people, he knows that his girlfriend is the very person who would understand how Jihye feels. It is like a natural instinct for her to feel guilty, or to feel like she was the one to blame. So instead of entertaining that negative feeling inside him, he chose to be the understanding boyfriend that he is.

“She went home for a bit to grab some of Jihye’s things. The doctor was here an hour ago and said that Jihye would need to stay here for a few more days,” he begins explaining slowly, her hair gently as he hugs her tightly by the side.

Automatically, Minzy nuzzles her face into his chest, breathing in his musky scent that always seems to give her a sense of comfort. “Do you think Jihye and the baby will be okay?” she asks with a small sigh.

“Didn’t you hear the doctor last night? They’ll both be fine as long as Jihye stays healthy. Don’t worry too much okay, baby girl? I don’t want to get a call telling me that you’re in the hospital for depression or something.”

“I’ll try.”

With his fingers, Yongguk gently lifts her chin and stares into those mesmerising pair of eyes. Instead of the sparkles of confidence that they usually glow, he sees a more vulnerable and fragile glint instead. Instinctively, he places a chaste kiss on her lips so as to wash her worries away. It actually works, but only for a few seconds.

Caressing the smooth skin of her face, he mutters, “I love you, with all my heart. Even if I didn’t meet you when we did, I’m pretty sure I’ll meet you eventually and fall in love with you. So don’t ever think that I’d love someone else other than you because you, Gong Minji, is the one for me.”

“Y- Yongguk,” Minzy is slightly taken aback by his sudden confession but nonetheless, her heart flutters as a warm feeling spreads throughout her body.

“I heard you last night,” he continues, with a more solemn expression on his face this time.

Her heart suddenly drops upon hearing the pain in his voice. Minzy really did not expect him – or anyone else, for that matter – to hear her last night, and she definitely did not mean to hurt his feelings. But before Yongguk can continue with his explanation or Minzy can utter her words of apology, the door suddenly slammed open with a loud bang, causing the couple to jolt up in surprise.

“Jihye!” a blonde male suddenly shouts; his face, panic stricken.

Minzy loses her balance and stumbles backwards upon realising who the intruder really is. Memories from the past start to return and haunt her being, memories that she never wants to remember. No, this cannot be.

“Yi- Yixing?”

TO BE CONTINUED.

Author's Note: Uh-oh! Yixing's here and Minzy does not seem to like his presence. Can someone guess why? Haha! Anyhoo... Wow! I've got like 141 subscribers, 28 votes and 8000 plus views for this story. That's the highest record I've ever achieved! I'm so grateful to each and everyone of you. I'll try to be a better writer and updare more frequently for you! Once again, thank you so, so much. Hugs!

ps: To those who haven't, subscribe, upvote and comment! ^^

Story by: afagyel | Poster and background by: Tomoe Graphic Shop