Chapter 17

“Don’t worry Changmin, Yunho will be fine. His lost of sight & memory is just temporary & will heal in time. If you help him remember the past then it will help him remember faster, that’s all we can do for now.” Mr. Shim told his son, “Oh, & there’s one more thing. I thought you should know since it’s about Yuri.” Mr. Shim said, looking at his son. His expression was now full of concern & sadness, “What about Yuri?” Changmin asked his father. He was starting to get worry, seeing the concern expression on his father’s face, “Yuri came to see me this morning. Her condition has taken a bad turn. She has experience another attack & we did some test & it isn’t good, son. She has only three months left, maybe not even up to three month. I’m hoping it will be but with her condition, it doesn’t look that way.” Mr. Shim said, shutting his eyes. He was tired & stress out since he had been at the hospital over thirteen hours & Yuri’s news hadn’t been easy for him to deal with, too. He was a doctor & was use to dealing with bad news but Yuri was like a daughter to him & she was his best friends daughter. He didn’t know if he was doing the right thing by keeping this information from his friend but it was Yuri’s wish & the patient had the right to keep quiet about her illness & he would do what the patient wanted when it was the rule after all.

Changmin sat speechless on his seat. What his father had just told him drain the blood from his face. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard, didn’t want to. Changmin had known about her attack & thought that everything would be alright since she seem alright. No, he did suspect but didn’t want to believe it. It wasn’t fair. Why Yuri? She, of all people, deserve to live. She had never done anything bad, had always help people, gave to people, always put people first before herself. Changmin clench his hand into a fists. He wanted to scream up to god so much & ask him why but he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. The news of Yuri’s short time was so hard to accept as he started to cry. Changmin felt his father's hand on his shoulder & then his father pulled him up to embrace him while both, father & son hug each other & cried. They were going to lose someone precious to them & it was too painful to deal with.

Changmin walked slowly back to Yunho’s room. His tears had already dried up as he tried to fake a smile when he open the door & entered the room. Yuri was standing near the window while Taeyeon sat on the chair next to Yunho’s bed. Both girls were watching Yunho who was now asleep. Changmin indicated for them to follow him outside. When the three stood outside, Changmin closed the door & inform them that Yunho would be alright. Yuri & Taeyeon were so happy to hear the news they hug each other with relief. Changmin saw Yuri’s eyes lightening up. She was happy, then when Taeyeon hug her, there was a hint of sadness & Changmin knew why. Yuri didn’t have much time left. Now that Yunho had lost his memory, who knows when he would remember & will he remember before Yuri’s time was up or will all be lost?

After carrying her back to her bed the other night, Changmin had made Yuri tell him everything of how she met Yunho & how she knew he was here & Yuri had filled him in on everything, except for the passionate love Yunho & she had shared together. So, Yunho had been the stranger that had cause her to sprain her ankle & the one to carry her back to the cabin. No wonder they had found her there with a sprain ankle. If Changmin hadn’t been so concern about Yuri’s condition at that time, he would have laugh. He would never believe that Yunho of all people would know how to love but then again, Yuri had that special effect on people. She was a loving & caring person & he love her too, but never realize it until now but he would never let her know because Changmin knew that Yuri loved Yunho. Changmin had seen the love in her eyes as she talked about Yunho & when he had carried her to see Yunho, he saw the way she touch him because there was so much love in her eyes. Changmin had no doubt that Yunho loved her too, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have stayed back in Korea. Yunho had never let any women get in the way of his work so for him to not return to work was because he had finally found love.

He was actually happy for them both & wasn’t even jealous. He believe that loving a person didn’t necessarily mean you had to be with that person. What was important was knowing the person you love was happy & that was enough & he would never allow himself to come in between Yuri & Yunho. Besides, he knew Yuri didn’t love him & that fact did pain him but Yuri wasn’t meant for him as she belong to Yunho & there was no room for him in her heart because Yunho had taken up all the space. He wanted to see them together so much, to see them both happy but he didn’t think that that would ever happen when Yuri didn’t have much time left & now that Yunho had lost his memory, who knows when he would remember. Would his memory return before its too late? Changmin prayed that Yunho would remember soon. Changmin wanted Yuri’s last few months to be filled with joy & happiness & he believe that only Yunho could do that, even for a short period of time, at least her last few months was spent with the person she love. Changmin made a silent prayer & hope that god would hear it, ‘Give her the chance to love before you take her away, please, I beg of you.’ Yuri quietly tiptoe back inside Yunho’s room. He was asleep & had kicked the blanket that she had covered him with earlier aside. Yuri softly pulled the blanket back up to cover him, making him stirred a bit but didn’t wake up. Yuri watched him sleep. She wanted to run her fingers along his cheeks so much but didn’t, afraid that she would wake him up. Yuri went over & took the chair near the window. How many times had she done this? Sit on this chair & watch him while he slept. It seems like a million time but actually, had only been five weeks.

Yunho had been release from the hospital five weeks ago & was now staying at Changmin’s place. For over five weeks, Yuri had came to watch Yunho sleep but without his knowledge.

Yuri closed her eyes. She was really tired. She didn’t realize that pretending would be such hard work. The last five weeks had taken its toll on her & the new medication Dr. Shim had prescribe for her wasn’t helping control the pain that her heart was causing. Doctor Shim had wanted her to come & stay in the hospital but she had refuse too, as she didn’t want to let her parents know about her condition & she couldn’t stand being bound to a bed so she had made Dr. Shim prescribe her with some medication instead & promise to come in for a daily checkup. She tried her best not to let her parents know about her condition so she put on an act at home, smiling all the time but at the same time, it was hard because sometimes, she had to run upstairs to her room to hide her pain.

Yuri didn’t know how much longer she could keep up with this act. Last night, she had collapse on her bed. She had to fight to breath properly but luckily, Changmin had been there to help her. Yuri had to beg Changmin not to tell her parents when he was about to go & call them but she had manage to stop him in time. She knew that he was worried about her but this was her life & she didn’t want to spend the last of her life bound to a bed. She wanted to enjoy her last moment in life with her family & to see Yunho as much as possible but she made sure that he didn’t know that it was her who had been looking after him, even though he couldn’t remember who she was, she didn’t want to take the chance. Yunho thought she was Anna, a nurse that Changmin had hired to look after him. No one knew about her quitting her job so she kept up the pretense of going to work, only she would end up at Changmin’s place. Taeyeon wasn’t aware of Yuri looking after Yunho, it was only Changmin & herself & she wanted to keep it that way.

“Yuri, don’t fight your feelings. You love him so go to him. Don’t be cruel & leave him in the dark. He has the right to know, he has the right to know about you so don’t keep that piece of memory from him.” Changmin’s words rang inside Yuri’s head, “Changmin Oppa, I can’t tell him. I don’t want to make him remember. Don’t you see? My time is running out. I don’t want him to remember me & have to lose me. I...I don’t want to causes him the pain. I’m trying to save him from the heartache.” Yuri had cried back at Changmin, “Yuri, what makes you think that he isn’t suffering right now? Can’t you see he’s suffering because he can’t remember. If you love him, you would help him remember & I believe that only your love can heal him. He needs you & it is only you who can help him. How can you think of breaking his heart when you are doing it right now from keeping his memories away from him?” Changmin had replied, shaking her, trying to bring her to her senses. Yuri wipe the tear that manage to escape from her eyes as images of the first weeks floated around inside her head. Changmin had manage to get through to her & she realize how wrong it was for her to keep Yunho in the dark but Yuri never got the chance to tell Yunho because when she & Changmin had only gotten near the bedroom door, she had change her mind again. Peering in through the door, Yuri saw Taeyeon holding Yunho in her arms. He was leaning onto her & the sight had reminded her of why she had decided in the first place to keep this part of Yunho’s memory dormant. Yuri had turned & walked back to the kitchen with tears in her eyes. Changmin had followed her & pulled her into his arms, “I understand now Yuri. I’m sorry.” Changmin had said, while holding her, “She’s my sister Oppa.” Yuri cried into Changmin’s chest.