“No, he hasn’t said anything yet.” She let go of her chest out of relief.

   “Ah,” Yuri simply blurted out with a disappointed tone when she really felt overly joyful. Nichkhun got up and leaned forward over her. Their faces were inches apart and Yuri’s heartbeat grew faster. She shut her eyes tight and drew somewhat backwards to avoid contact. His face past hers as he grabbed a glass of water on the other side of the bed. Khun moved slightly further with the glass in his hand.

   He remained in an awkward position over her for a while.

   “Why are you closing your eyes?” he asked jokingly. Her eyes reopened, meeting his with embarrassment and shame.

   “I… I… There is no reason!”

   “You sure?” Yuri lost her words.

   “Think whatever you want! I'm not having bad thoughts.” Her eyebrows were frowning in frustration, but Khun wasn’t scared to draw closer.

   “By any chance, were you expecting me to kiss you?” She pushed back but the prince wouldn’t budge. His body was stuck near her’s.

   “Aniyo! Of course not!” There was a tone in her voice that Khun knew well. It was that tone used when Yuri was lying; desperately trying to lie.

   “Yuri-ah, I think that…” In the middle of his sentence, someone entered the room abruptly.

   They both glanced up while jolting apart in surprise. The nurse’s eyes grew at this sight. Nichkhun couldn’t believe what he was seeing himself.

   “Yoona,” called Nichkhun a tad astonished. But Yuri wasn’t taken aback.

   “Nichkhun-sshi! What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Thailand? You’ve been all over the news lately.”

   “Don’t get me started, it’s a long story that I’ll save for later.” They both retreated and exchanged awkward glimpses. “Getting back to the point, why are you here exactly?”

   “I’m Yuri-ssi’s regular nurse here at the hospital. Well, I'm only an assistant since I'm still in training.”

   “Regular nurse? Why would you be regular? Yuri comes here often?” he repeated worriedly. Yuri glared at Yoona with an expression saying to not reveal anymore and cover up her torrid mess. “Since when have you regularly come to the hospital?” he asked Yuri but still looked at Yoona for an answer.

   “She receives treatment because…” Yoona searched for the best possible excuse. Yuri pointed at her forehead & her stomach and held it demonstrating pain. Her nurse quickly understood.

   “…Because she’s had a case of Hepatitis A for a few weeks already.”

   Nichkhun suspiciously fixed both of them and glared.

   “So it is normal that she resents pain close to the rib area and vomits out blood. Am I right?”

   “Somewhat. It depends on the person.”

   “Then how do you explain these bruises.” He folded up Yuri’s sleeves and exposed them to prove her point. Yoona didn’t know what to answer, so Yuri took over.

   “I bumped my arm when fainting a few days ago. I fell down pretty hard.” He swallowed and his lips in nuisance.

   “So you knew about this Hepatitis all along and you didn’t even inform me? Why didn’t you tell me you were sick to begin with?”

   “I didn’t want you to be bothered. And besides, it’ll be all cleared up in a few weeks.”

   The room turned quiet and nobody utter a word until Yuri began again. “Khun oppa, mianhe. I worried you a lot didn’t I?” He nodded.

   “From now on, you have to tell me everything. Don’t leave out a single detail or I’ll constantly be obsessing over you.” They smiled mischievously at each other.

    Yoona watched this scene closely and felt jealous. Although she tried throwing away her feelings for Nichkhun over the years, it just didn’t work. It won’t work… until there was an official closure. Until the moment she would get over Khun, Yoona would still refuse to officially be-friend Yuri. Their relationship was all business between nurse and patient.

   Suddenly, the sound of a door broke the silence. TaecYeon barged in restlessly, almost in complete panic. He scanned the room and managed to run towards his sister. His long arms wrapped themselves around her, not even noticing the others around.

   “Yuri-ah! You got me entirely worried. Never do that again, got it?” He hugged her again before jumping back to reality.

   "Oppa, how can I stop myself from passing out. I don't control this stuff, you know," mumbled Yuri with a variety of feelings at that moment. Yoona snuck into their funny moment with comforting words.

   “She’s fine Taec oppa. Her blood cells… I mean her soreness has calmed down. However, there are other treatments that have to be followed to assure her… health.” Yoona chose her words wisely.

   “Soreness? What does that have to do with…” asked Taec slightly confused. Then, he noticed Khun’s presence in the room and hastily remembered his discussion with Yuri and him. “Oh yeah soreness, of course. So how long will she stay here this time?”

   “It all depends on what the doctor may recommend. Remain patient and he’ll be with you shortly to give further instruction.” Yoona addressed herself to Yuri professionally. “Yuri-ssi, I just came to drop your meal over. I hope that you won’t mind if I leave early, it’s my break.”

   “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. As a matter and fact, why don’t you go outside and get some fresh air with Khun oppa. Taec will take care of me here.”

   “Me?” questioned Khun with infuriation.

   “Of course!” shouted Yuri. Yoona and Khun nervously nodded to decline the request. “What do you say Khun, why don’t you go on ahead? Yoona needs this break.”

   “Than what does this have to do with me?” asked Nichkhun not really enjoying the idea. He knew exactly what she was up to by doing this: bringing them back together.

   “You sir, you are obligated to accompany her.” He rolled his eyes.

   “Why?”

   “Will you quit asking questions and just go already. To start off, you have to get outdoors as well; you’ve been in here watching me since this morning. You must feel stuffy.” Nichkhun didn’t have an argument to refuse. Yuri took both Yoona and Nichkhun and pushed them out the door. “Go!” she ordered while winking at her dear friend. The door shut behind them. Yoona and Khun exchanged uneasy glances.

   “I guess that we don’t have a choice eh?” said Yoona.

   “Please don’t misunderstand. I’m only doing this because Yuri asked me to get fresh air,” he confirmed coldly.

   “I know,” whispered Yoona loud enough for him to hear. They walked down the hospital hallways and out the exit door just like Yuri had said they should. Yoona followed Khun to a bench at the west side of the grounds where the sun was setting beautifully. They admired it in amazement.

  “The air is nice,” she stated confidently.

   “I guess,” he agreed with not much of an interest. Yoona tried to stir up their conversation a little.

   “Khun-ssi, remember when we use to take walks regularly when we were dating? They were fun weren’t they? They always felt so good and carefree.”

   “Can we please not get into that subject? I want to forget whatever happened to us years ago and look forward to other things.” The nurse was a bit upset.

   “Well, what if I said that I still had feelings for you?” He gazed at her with a bit of compassion, but resented absolutely nothing special.

   “Yoona, don’t…” Before he could say anything, she was already kissing him.

   Yuri glanced out the window of her room and ironically saw Nichkhun and Yoona not very far away on a bench below them. Despite being on the second floor, it was still fairly easy to see the grounds especially because her window was so big. Her arms folded, observing the scene. Nothing in particular was happening, but Yuri felt the need to spy on them just in case.

   Yoona suddenly grasped Khun’s shoulders. Yuri leaned forward to get a better view. She couldn’t exactly make up their facial expression because they were a bit too far. But her eyes were strong enough to see their lips overlap. Their kiss made Yuri edgy. It brought a sick feeling to her stomach.

   “What have I done?” she thought while biting her lips. No matter how much she convinced herself that this was suppose to make her feel good, it wasn’t possible to lie to herself any longer. She was in love with Khun and she felt it boil intensely within her. There weren’t any more mixed emotions; it was definately the feeling she feared of having again. There was no hiding it.

   Taec snuck behind her and poked the side of the check. Yuri didn’t turn around.

   “I talked to the doctor. He said that you’ll be resuming chemotherapy soon. But first, you’ll have to go through a bone marrow test again. Prepare yourself mentally. It’s a hard treatment according to most of the workers here. I don’t know how you’ll hide this from Khun, especially once your hair starts to fall off.” Her answer was mumbled and her concentration was shared between her brother and the outside.  

   “What are you looking at?” He pushed her over a bit and gazed down the window. As soon as Taec saw Yoona and Khun, he understood the expression she wore on her face. He looked back at his sister with disappointment.

   “You still like him, don’t you?” The air she had changed into a grin.

   “It doesn’t matter whether I do or not. It’s great that they reconciled. Don’t you think? It was my fault that they split up to begin with.”

   “Yah! Yuri-ah, won’t you ever think of yourself. You’ve liked him for years now. Are you just going to ignore yourself?”

   “Taec oppa, in any case, I’ll probably end up dying. There’s no use in dating him when I’ll just end up leaving him.”

   “Don’t say that! Yuri-ah, you’ll get better. I know you will! You can’t give up.” Her gentle eyes glanced back down at the couple.

   “At least he’ll have Yoona once I leave. That’ll spare him a lot of tears.”