From being lifted up in the air, she soon found herself lying down on her bed, Mir hovering right above her. Tugging some strands of her hair behind her ear, he leaned in closer and softly kissed her lips once before pulling back to look at her, trying to see if she still wanted this.

He leaned back to kiss her again, his hands trailing up and down the sides of her body with hunger boiling inside of him. She was left caged in his embrace with her arms held up against his chest until they went around his neck as he nuzzled in her neck, his lips leaving red marks.

From the sensation, she gripped onto the back of his hair and gasped quietly as she felt his teeth softly nibbling against her skin. She closed her eyes and let the warmth spread through her body from the glimpse of pleasure that was lingering in the pit of her stomach, suddenly making her moan lightly in his ear the moment she felt his fingers slid up from inside her blouse as he wanted to feel her skin against his fingertips.

From one side of her neck, he switched to the other as he started to her shirt, making her hold out her breath at every single button he opened.

She didn’t know why, but she was starting to panic over what was going to happen and quickly stopped the boy from going any further, startling him at the sudden jump.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“N-no. I just- I just don’t think I can do this…”

She was looking at him with apologetic eyes that also showed a glimpse of fear and uncertainty. He kissed her on her forehead and pulled away to lie down next to her, his arms around her shoulders to pull her next to him.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize. I should’ve known better.”

“You’re not mad at me?” She lifted her head up, biting her bottom lip. He looked back down at her and swiftly turned to lay on his side so he could properly face her. Lightly caressing her cheek, he smiled at her to reassure her that he was fine.

“But, I can still kiss you, right?”

She giggled at his words and scooted herself closer to him, giving him the chance to kiss her with his arms hugging her close. Still glued to each other, she felt his hands trail down until they went past her shirt and straight to her bum before she felt a sudden squeeze making her squeal in surprise, quickly pushing him away. He innocently looked at her as if he didn’t know what he was doing before turning that pout into a sly grin and caught her lips with a deep caress, stopping her breathing.

One hand further down to her thighs, he lifted her leg to have her wrapped around his waist, resulting in having their legs entangled with each other, with her bad knee comfortably resting on him.

“I needed to make sure you were comfortable~”

“Mhmm, I see~”

He chuckled against her lips as he embraced her tighter against his chest. Once the laughter died down, he gazed at her and pecked her softly once again. “I’m going to do everything that I can to see that smile on your face. I’ve missed seeing it so much, I was starting to get afraid of forgetting how breathtaking it made you look.”

She was speechless and could only smile at his compliment, leaving her heart to flutter from happiness. Now that she knew he was the reason she was feeling this way, that she has been smiling every time he would be around, she loved the way it made her feel. The constant pain that has been living inside her heart was the only thing she knew and could remember and he was giving her the chance to feel something else, something that made her heart beat the way it was right at this moment.

“Cheolyong… Is that proposal still up?”

“What proposal?”

“Of you… wanting me to come and live with you?”

He couldn’t erase the surprise painted across his face. He propped himself on his elbow and looked back at her, trying to be sure that he heard her right. “You want to come with me?”

“I’m not really sure yet but… I’m counting it as a possibility…”

“I’ll be patiently waiting for your answer then. No matter how long it will take.”

A couple of days passed since they had finally opened up their feelings about each other and now Lina was sitting at the booth, by the judge’s side as the trial was taking place.

Mir was there, sitting on the bench by her side while some of the villagers, including his father, were on the opposite benches with their lawyer taking a stand as he stood in the middle of the courtroom. She could feel the beating of her heart rising from the stress that was affecting every nerve in her body, also not knowing that it was affecting her health at the moment. She tried to calm herself down with steady breaths but the moment she heard her name, she looked back at the lawyer with her breath stuck in .

“The majority of the villagers have all signed a petition regarding the house in which Miss Choi is currently residing. The house in question is built above a lake, separating it from the rest of the land.

“I don’t see where the problem is.” The judge eyed the lawyer with his eyebrows arched, not understanding what the fuss was all about.

“Your Honor, according to the law in Jang Seong, Mr. Choi had no business building a private estate over a public place-”

“It’s not public when he bought the land where the house was built on.” The sudden interruption on her part got her to have a slight glare from the lawyer while the judge looked down at her, wanting to know more about it. “And how did he do that?”

“I don’t know…”

“Then how is it that he bought the land?”

“I have papers proving it. They-they came from the mayor him-himself.”

Slowly, her breathing was getting heavier, her palms starting to sweat and a slight itch could be felt on the inside of her leg. She was becoming uncomfortable in her seat and discreetly shifted her position.

The attention went back to her while she was starting to lose her focus, her vision slowly becoming blurry with a hint of dizziness.

“Miss Choi? Are you alright?”

“I-I need s-some air…”

Seeing her state, the judge decided best to stop the trial into recess, the time she feels better. The moment the hammer hit the wooden plank, Mir rushed towards Lina while she was gripping onto the booth, holding herself up as she lazily stepped out. She barely had any strength left in her body, with the color of her skin becoming pale.

He held onto her by her waist, her pain growing deeper, strong enough for a painful moan escaping her lips. He felt how weak she has become and swiftly lifted her up in his arms with her head resting against his shoulder. He noticed a faint smile appearing across her lips, making him frown.

“Sweeping me off my feet again?” Her voice had become just a mere whisper, her breathing taking control of .

He was about to answer her when he saw her drop her head against his chest. He started to panic while frantically calling her out but wasn’t able to get her to wake up. “Damn it! Lina! Wake up!”

He turned around and spotted his father coming towards him. He didn’t care about their differences at the moment, he needed help and didn’t have anybody else to turn to. “She needs a doctor. Now.”

“I’ll take you. Come on.”

Rushing towards to the nearest hospital, Lina’s state was getting worse with a high fever suddenly hitting her along with beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. Panic, fear and anxiety were all hitting him at the same time and was only left to pray that she would be just fine.

His father stopped in front of the entrance, giving the chance to Mir to jump out of the car as he carried Lina in his arms, running inside the building through the emergency entrance.

His sudden outburst alarmed the present staff as he called out for help. From there, everything was so rushed it took him time to realize that she was heading towards the ER as he was left standing, completely lost and feeling helpless.

He walked around in circles waiting for that red light above the doors to turn off; instead, he saw a doctor coming out looking for the boy. Hours were passing by and he didn’t have any news about her, almost driving him crazy at the silent treatment he was getting.

His father was sitting next to him in the waiting area and watching his son being so agitated was breaking his heart.

Mir could barely stand still or even sit down, always with a sigh out of his mouth or his fingers running through his hair, or rubbing his eyes out of the stress of waiting.

“If I have to wait any longer, I’m going to explode, damn it!”

He kicked his foot right against the trash can that was next to him, startling the nurses that were passing by as well as his father. The old man got up from his seat and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, catching his attention. He saw the tears in his eyes and quickly hugged his son for comfort and support.

Mir let himself go and cried in his father’s embrace as he tightly held onto him with his arms around the older man. “I can’t lose her. Not when we were about to start.”

“Excuse me? Are you the ones that brought Choi Lina into the ER?”

Mir quickly pulled away from his father’s hug and wiped his eyes from the tears that were left as he looked back at the doctor. “Y-yes. Is she going to be alright? Did she make it?”

“We almost lost her but now she’s fine. She’s resting-”

“Wh-what happened to her? She was perfectly fine this morning!” The stress level inside of him just kept rising, afraid but still curious to know why there was a sudden change in her state. “How much do you know about Lina’s knee injury?”

“Are you her doctor?” Answering with another question, Mir had forgotten about her knee problem until the doctor had just mentioned it. He didn’t think that it might have been the source of what happened today. “Only recently. Since she came in after that little car accident she had-”

“What accident?!”

“Don’t be too alarmed, she didn’t have any major damage.”

“Then why did she faint? And what’s with the fever?”

“That bullet that was stuck in her knee caused her to have lead poisoning over the years. The metal of the bullet started to rust, which started to affect the bone that it was lodged into and it also affected her bloodstream. Luckily, because of that small accident last year, it seemed as if that bullet slid from where it was stuck, which gave us the chance to remove it.”

“So it’s out of her? She doesn’t have it anymore? Can she walk now?”

“It depends on the response. We’ll have to wait until she wakes up to see. If she can feel her leg then I’ll assign her to physical therapy to regain her ability to walk, if not, then I’m afraid she’ll stay the way she is.”

“But her health, how is she?”

“We were able to fight the fever and regulate her blood by giving her an antidote. She’s cured from the poisoning, so for now she’ll be fine.”

“Can I go see her? Pl-please…”

“Follow me.”

He looked back at his father who gave him the green light. Mir turned back and followed the doctor towards Lina’s room, his heart pounding against his chest. He was relieved to know that she was going to be fine, but he still couldn’t shake off the anxiety out of him. Once they stood in front of the door, he quickly went in only to hear the beeping of the machines that were connected to her.

His heart dropped seeing her like this.

He walked his way up to her and took a chair as he pulled it and sat next to her, grabbing her hand tightly between his. “L-Lina… Don’t let go, please…” He sweetly kissed the back of her hand and squeezed it tightly as he shut his eyes closed, trying to stop himself from crying again.

“When you’ll wake u-up, we can finally start that new chapter, o-okay? I’ll get you out of here. All you have to do is wake up and we’ll go.”

He spent the rest of the night by her bedside and only woke up when he heard her croaked voice call his name. He shot his head up and saw her slowly opening her eyes, a low groan escaping her sore throat.

“Ch-Cheoly-ong.”

“I’m right here.” He got up from his seat and stood closely by her side as he pushed some strands of her hair out of her face. The moment she looked at him, she had this urge to cry and couldn’t help but let her emotions show as her eyes welled up in tears. She started to mumble broken apologies to him as she tugged onto his hand, pulling him closer to her. Gently cupping his cheeks, she left innocent butterflies kisses on his lips before letting their lips lock and linger into a deeper kiss.

As he pulled away, he pecked her on her forehead and reassured her that everything was fine. He went to get the doctor before coming back and took a seat on the edge of the bed, taking hold of her hand and placed a soft kiss on it. He wiped her tears away and showed her a small smile before they got interrupted by her doctor.

“Miss Choi?”

She turned her head and greeted the doctor as he came over to stand at the other end of her bed, her charts in his hands. “How are you feeling? Do you feel numb around your knee?”

“A little b-bit… What happened?”

Just like he explained to Mir, the doctor gave away the reason of her sudden sick state. She felt a squeeze from Mir at the mention of her accident when she was in Seoul and simply ignored it even though she knew he would want to know.

“So the bullet is gone?”

“Yes.”

“O-oh…”

“You don’t seem happy about it.”

“No, I-I am. It’s just… I’ve been living with it for almost ten years. I kind of got used to it…”

“Give yourself a little bit of time and you’ll get used to walking properly on two legs.”

“Thank you doctor.”

“Of course.”

Once he left and the couple was back being on their own, Lina turned to look at Mir before inviting him to lay down with her. Accepting her request, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and comfortably laid down as the back of her head was resting against his chest. He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head while using his free hand to hold onto her.

“You scared me for a moment.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”

“What happened after I passed out? How about the trial?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t leave the room since you got in yesterday. I don’t even know if my father is still here…”

“Cheolyong?”

“Hmm?”

“What did you dream about with my grandma?” 

A/N: The next chapter is the last chapter~

Did you guys like the story? Was it good or boring? :/

Let me know your thoughts & comments pwease >.<

xoxo