Jonghyun POV

“Are you Mr Kim’s son?”

I immediately rise up from the seats and see a doctor approaching me down the empty corridor. He wears a stern expression.

I gulp. “Yes, I am – Doctor, is Dad – how’s my father?”

A flicker of hesitation appears over his firm expression, as if deliberating how to tell me, but it is gone as soon as it comes. My stomach drops.

“Mr Kim is still in a critical condition. Your father’s has damaged some of his nerve functions. He is currently in a comatose state. To be honest, we are not sure when he will wake up.”

A lump forms inside my throat and I start trembling. The doctor’s words echo in my head and I become dizzy. Critical. Damaged. Comatose. Not sure when he will wake up. “When- when-“ I start, but my words get choked.

“It could be tomorrow, or next week, or the next hour, the next five years, the next twenty years, or possibly never.”

Dread and shock washes over me like a tidal wave. I don’t know how, but I am suddenly sitting back on the seats again. The doctor is observing me as I crouch down low and hug myself, trembling violently as I let the sobs take over.

Jung Hye POV

“Yah! KFC man!” Jonghyun calls with a cocky quirk of the lips.

“I am not a KFC man!” I frown and cross my arms.

“Yes you are. Look at yourself. Hah!”

I look down at my hands and gasp in shock. What happened to my hands? No longer did I have two hands and ten fingers, I had chicken drumsticks in place of hands!

“Look in the mirror Jung Hye.”

I turn to the mirror which was miraculously next to me and I see an old man in the mirror. Not just any old man, this old man was – was –

“I AM THE KFC MAN?!”

I wake with a jolt on the dinner table, the nightmare still vivid and ringing loud in my ears. I wipe off the drool from the side of my mouth and I check my hands – OK, I got two hands and ten fingers. I sniff them – OK, it’s not chicken. Phew. What a horrible nightmare.

I notice the puddle of drool I had accumulated in my overnight camp at the dinner table waiting for Jonghyun to come back. The small dinner I had prepared last night was still left untouched – I didn’t want to eat before Jonghyun come back.

“Jonghyun?” I call out, ignoring how obscenely loud my stomach was growling for food.

I look in the bathroom. “Jonghyun?” OK, he’s not there.

I check under the table. “Jonghyun, are you there?” I check in the closets, in the kitchen drawers, under the bed.

I check my phone. Not one call from Jonghyun returned my 40 missed calls and wall of angry text messages. However, I did receive a wall of angry and empathetic texts from Key, sent at 2:10am, all that were variations of JUNG HYE? Y DID U CALL ME 12 TIMES? NO JONGHYUN THAT IDIOT IS NOT AT MY HOUSE. WHERE IS HE??? WAT AN IDIOT HOW DO U THNK ABT BASHING HIM UP AT SKOOL TMRW? HES STUPID ANYWAYS PROBABLY FELL ASLEEP AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WHEN HE WAS WALKING HOME DON’T WORRY! ALMIGHTY KEY IS GUNNA MAKE HIS CRACK BURN TMRW FOR MAKING U WORRY

Suddenly I see the time glaring brightly on the alarm clock.

11:47 AM.

“CRAP! I’M LATE FOR SCHOOL!”

I quickly pack all my stuff into my bag, cursing under my breath and cursing at Jonghyun. Damn Jonghyun. Why didn’t he pick up any of my calls? Why didn’t he come back? He could’ve at least told me, but no, I stayed at home like a loser worried sick. Boy, was I going to “MAKE HIS CRACK BURN” once he came back.

Just as I’m about to open the door after putting on my uniform and slipping on my school shoes, the door pulls open.

Jonghyun.

Jonghyun is there, Jonghyun is there, standing at the doorway with a dumbstruck expression. He has dark bags under his eyes and his hair is messy – his hair is always messy, but this time he looks wildly unkempt. Tired and stressed.

“Jung Hye.” He whispers. His usual passion and radiance is gone. Instead there is a quiet desperation in his voice.

“Jonghyun – I –“ suddenly my anger flares because Jonghyun is here, finally, “so where the hell have you been?!”

He purses his lips, an unsaid apology.

“Jonghyun! I was so worried sick! I know, I’m not your mum or anything but for god’s sake if you don’t reply to even one of my 40 missed calls to tell me you’re alright – you left school just like that yesterday – I was worried something had happened to you and now you come back and-“

Suddenly Jonghyun shuts me up by pressing his lips on mine. He slams the door behind him with his foot and pushes me against the wall.

I take hold of his sides and push him away because something about his kisses is wrong. He stumbles back and his shocked eyes meet mine.

“I’m so sorry – “ he starts, “I don’t know what I was thinking... are you okay?”

“I’m fine but, what’s wrong Jonghyun?”

With a defeated expression, Jonghyun tentatively hugs me, slowly wrapping his arms around me as he rested his head on my shoulder. I return the hug and his soft hair.

“What am I going to do?” he whispers so softly, muffled into my shoulder, that I almost don’t catch the words.

“What’s wrong?” I repeat.

“Come with me.” Jonghyun says.

“Where?”

“To this hospital. Can you come with me?” he says again, but this time loud and clear as my fingers continue raking through his soft hair.

My breath catches in my throat as his words register in my mind. Hospital? I unwrap my hands and place them on his shoulders, steadying him as I slowly step back and study his face. His face is pale, eyes downcast and the usual smirk he wears on his face is replaced with a perpetual frown. The usual energy he carries is completely gone.

“Jonghyun…” I whisper as I feel his shoulders drooping under my hands, “Look at me.”

He glances up and it’s only then do I realize how bloodshot his eyes are. “What happened? Who’s in hospital?”

He swallows, “My dad…he had a and he’s in a coma—I” he takes a deep breath, “I don’t know what to do JungHye, I don’t know if he’s going to live, I’ve told him so many times to stop smoking but he wouldn’t listen you know? I should’ve stopped him, I should’ve been there for him. He was alone when he had the you know, he suffered alone. I wasn’t there. If it wasn’t for the customers I would’ve been too late. God I just—“ he stops and presses his lips together as his eyes waters.

“What if he dies Jung Hye? I have so much I want to say, he maybe insufferable at times but he’s done so, so much for me, he raised me up alone and he works so hard for me and I wasn’t even there for him! I wasn’t there when he needed me the most.”

I chew my lips, I have no idea what else to say or do. I’ve always been bad with comforting people and the last thing I was to do is to say the wrong words and make it worse. So I settle for hugging him again, hoping my actions say more than words. 

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A/N: We're back!!! First of all we are so sorry for taking this long to update! We're so sorry that we kept this fanfic in limbo for 2 and a half years at a cliffhanger!! We have so much gratitude to everyone who has ever read our fic. Without you guys, we would've stopped writing at like... chapter 10 or something. Again, thank you guys so much and we are so sorry!!

This fanfic will definitely be finished. In fact, we've got all the chapters written already. We're going to update a new chapter once a day until the ending. So check back tomorrow for the next chapter! This is a promise :)