Four days. Four nights. Countless tear drops. Immeasurable pain. Taeyeon wondered if she was going to lose her mind if Tiffany took any longer to wake up. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t sleep one more night just to wake up full of hope and have reality smash it in her face.

“Tiffany, please. Please wake up. Please open your eyes. I know you can hear me. The doctors said you can hear me. Just…a tiny bit. Just open a tiny bit. I’m here, Tiffany. I’m right here. What are you waiting for? Why don’t you want to wake up? Don’t be a ing lazy now. You gotta get up and see the trophy you won. It’s ing huge and awesome. And it’s yours. It’s all yours.” Taeyeon squeezed her eyes shut. Her lips trembled. “I can’t stay strong much longer, Tiff. I’m dying here. I’m dying every single day. Please wake up before I drop dead. ing wake up, Tiff.” Taeyeon pressed her forehead against Tiffany’s lifeless hand and tried to breathe through the strain in her nose and throat. “ing hell, wake up. Wake up now. Please!”

It was no good. The hand was just as lifeless as before. And her heart was just about ripped half way out of her chest.

“I…love…you…”

–

Tiffany’s father arrived on the fifth day. Taeyeon wasn’t expecting it so she was surprised when Paul entered the room with an elderly man. She rose to her feet, looking to Paul for answers as the man went to Tiffany’s side.

She watched as the man touched Tiffany’s face and her hair with a gentleness that one would use with a new born baby. He then leaned over her, eyes closed and held her hand as he muttered something under his breath. Finally, he straightened up and turned back to them.

“This is Taeyeon,” Paul said, gesturing at her.

“I know.” The man stepped forward and smiled. Taeyeon remained frozen and stiffened when he gave her a hug. “Taeyeon. Have you been here taking care of Miyoung all this time?”

“Yes.

“Are you… her father?”

“Yes.” He smiled again and Taeyeon saw Tiffany’s smiling eyes in him. So that’s where she got them from. “And you’re her girlfriend.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Paul told me you refused to leave even though everyone has been asking you to take a break.”

Taeyeon nodded. “I want to be here when she wakes up.”

“Now I see why my daughter loves you so much.”

Feelings from nowhere surged and clogged Taeyeon’s throat.

“And I’m glad Miyoung found a person who loves her just as much.”

“Mr Hwang—”

“Call me Uncle Hwang.” He smiled and patted her shoulder. “And I hope you’ll get to call me Daddy Hwang one day.”

Taeyeon found herself nodding as though she’d been dying to call him Uncle Hwang all her life. “You will get to hear me calling you Daddy Hwang. You will.”

“Of course.” He smiled again. “It’s only a matter of time.”

–

Sunny, true to her name, was a ray of sunshine whenever she visited. Sunny would take her to the garden and sit on the grass with her, leaning against a tree. It helped that she didn’t have to look into Sunny’s eyes with this arrangement. She could then empty the dumpster full of her worst thoughts and scariest imaginations onto the one friend she knew she could always trust to keep her in line.

“What if she doesn’t wake up for months? Years?”

Sunny put an arm around her. “You’ll stay strong. You’ll wait for her.”

“I’m not strong enough for this.”

“You are.”

“Sunny, you don’t know how weak I am inside. I mean, I hate it but it’s there—my weakness.”

“We’re all weak in some way, Taeyeon. Everyone. Every single one of us. But we have a strong side too. You’ve got this far. You’re not that weak.”

“I can never outtalk you.”

“That’s because you know I make perfect sense.”

“Shut up.”

Sunny laughed. “Now that’s the Taeyeon I know and love. Girl up. You’ll get through this and Tiffany will wake up.”

“She’d better.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Sunny spoke again. “So, about Peter.”

“What about that ing-prick-that-should’ve-been-chopped-off-from-the-surface-of-this-Earth.”

“Violent much, Taeyeon.”

“That’s me being kind.”

Sunny rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know that Peter has admitted to paying off a mechanic to tamper with your car’s brakes. And not only that. They’ve also got him for that car fraud fiasco that got Tiffany arrested.”

“He’s responsible for that too? !”

“Yeah. And he’s getting his just desserts.”

“Good. A man like him shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets.”

“Hyoyeon says they’ve got the dirt on him. He’s not walking away from this unscathed.”

“Tiffany will be happy to hear that.”

“She will.”

Sunny’s confidence was comforting. And through that, Taeyeon found it in her to smile again. Brief as it was.

–

Day 12. Tiffany was given a positive health report but the doctor couldn’t explain why she was still in a coma. Taeyeon stood Uncle Hwang and smiled and nodded but slumped onto the couch in the room, drained.

“Taeyeon, would you take an old man’s advice?”

“Yes?”

“Go home and get a good night’s sleep.”

“But—” Her family, Sunny and other friends had tried multiple times to get her to go home but she had refused every single time.

“You’re way too stubborn, Taeyeon,” Sunny had scolded her. But nobody could make her leave Tiffany. Besides, Uncle Hwang was in the room most of the time as well and she enjoyed listening to stories of Tiffany’s childhood. She learnt that Tiffany had a thing for Pink since the beginning of her existence. Tiffany, even as a six-month-old baby, was partial to pink objects. She would play more with her pink toys than toys of other colours and as time passed, grew to completely ignore all the other colours when she played with building blocks. The stories of Tiffany’s childhood made her laugh a lot and Uncle Hwang was happy to share as many stories as he could recall.

“I’ve been here with you for a whole week and I can see it taking a toll on you. You wouldn’t want Miyoung to wake up and see a haggard girlfriend, would you? I know I won’t.”

“Do I really look that terrible?”

“It’s your eyes.” Uncle Hwang smiled kindly. “Your eyes are sad. You’re tired. Listen to me and go home tonight, okay?”

Taeyeon sighed. “Okay, Uncle Hwang. I’ll listen to you.”

–

Taeyeon returned to Tiffany’s side the next day, feeling just as tired as before. Spending the night in her own bed hadn’t helped much. There were too many memories of Tiffany in bed with her, the secrets they shared, the hugs and kisses. She was better off sleeping in the hospital ward with Tiffany.

Uncle Hwang had not arrived yet so she sat by Tiffany’s side, holding her hand, talking to her as she usually did. It was supposed to help Tiffany, according to the doctors. Tiffany could hear her, said the doctors. So she talked. It was surprising how she hadn’t run out of things to say after twelve days. It was amazing, the things she could come up with to say. From her earliest memories, to the most recent (before the crash), from her brightest to darkest moments, nothing was spared. She told Tiffany everything. No holds barred. No walls left standing. And it was liberating to a great extent. She liked telling Tiffany everything.

“Tiffany, wake up. Come on. I can’t wait to tell you everything all over again. I’ll tell you everything. No more secrets.”

Taeyeon froze. What was—holy . Did Tiffany’s finger just twitch? Her gasp caught in . Tiffany had just opened her eyes! Tiffany’s eyes were open!

“Tiffany!” her voice came out a mere whisper, despite the immeasurable amount of faith, hope and joy that was blossoming in her heart. “Tiffany, you’re finally awake!”

Tiffany looked at her and she burst into tears. “Tiffany…” she sobbed. Too much happiness packed in a moment hurt, but in a wonderful way. It was a beautiful kind of hurt. “Tiffany… you’re back. You’re finally back.”

Much to her horror, Tiffany’s eyes closed again. She pressed the emergency button in a panic and squeezed Tiffany’s hand, desperately hoping that nothing was wrong with her. No, no, no. Please. That can’t be the last look. !

“What happened?” asked the nurse who came running in.

She leapt to her feet. “Tiffany opened her eyes. She opened her eyes and looked at me. But she closed them again. She’s okay, right? Please tell me she’s okay.”

Much to her consternation, the nurse smiled. What the is she smiling about?

“That’s a good sign,” said the nurse.

“But she’s not opening her eyes again.”

“It’s normal.” The nurse picked up the clipboard from the foot of the bed and made a few entries as she checked the machines around Tiffany. “Most coma patients only wake up for a moment the first time. She’ll be able to maintain consciousness for a longer period the next time.”

“So she’ll wake up again?”

“The machines are saying she’s stable so you have nothing to worry about. She’ll wake up again and the next time she does, she’ll stay awake longer.”

“Oh my God.”

“Congratulations. Your girlfriend is on her way to recovery.” The nurse replaced the clipboard and smiled. “She’s a tough cookie too, waking up on Friday the thirteenth.”

Taeyeon looked at the date on the clock. The nurse was right. It was Friday the thirteenth. “Yeah, Tiffany would wake up on a day like this.” She grinned and gave Tiffany a kiss on her forehead. “My girlfriend’s awesome like that.”

–

Tiffany woke up again the next day, just as the nurse had said she would. This time, Uncle Hwang was there with her. The joy in his eyes had multiplied her joy when she told him that Tiffany had woken up at last, albeit, only for a minute or two, and he was adamant on being there the next time she did.

“Tiffany…” Her tears welled up instantly.

Tiffany’s eyes flickered from her to Uncle Hwang. “Daddy…” she breathed. Taeyeon tried not to look disappointed and afraid.

“Honey, I’m here.” Uncle Hwang took Tiffany’s hand and her hair with love. “Daddy is here.”

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital.”

Tiffany frowned. “I… I crashed.”

Taeyeon bit her lip. She couldn’t bear to imagine the horror Tiffany must have felt in that moment.

“Yes, you did. But it’s okay now. You’re okay.”

Taeyeon stood to the side, waiting as patiently as she could for her turn but Tiffany turned to her suddenly, catching her by surprise. “Tae…”

Taeyeon rushed forward. “Tiff…”

A thousand and one words flashed through her mind. Yet the three words that she swore she would confess as soon as Tiffany woke up got stuck somewhere along the way out.

“Taeyeon…”

“That’s me. I’m your girlfriend. You remember me, right?”

Tiffany smiled. “Of course.” Her eyes flickered and closed as they stared at each other and soon, she was out again. But this time, she had stayed awake longer and though she hadn’t spoken much, Taeyeon now knew that Tiffany remembered her.

And it was more than enough.

–

Day 15. Taeyeon was at the Im’s, having dinner. It took Hayeon and Yoona a lot of physical tugging and high level persuasion to get her to leave the hospital now that Tiffany was capable of waking up for longer periods of time but they managed to do it. Now that she was here at the dinner table with them, she was glad that she agreed to come. It was a relief to get away from the cold, clinical surroundings of the hospital, to be surrounded by warmth, love. Hayeon was her chirpy self. Yoona, because of her father’s presence, was not as cheeky as usual but her quips were forthcoming nonetheless. Uncle Im was his fatherly self, stern, yet caring.

It was her mother who was different from usual. Different from what she remembered. This was the first time in years she shared a dinner table with her mother in a home setting and it was nothing like what she knew. While she wasn’t exactly the brightest, friendliest person at the table, she was a far cry from the brooding, angry mother that used to terrorize dinners, breakfasts…

This new mother didn’t frown. She didn’t scold. She didn’t slam plates onto the table. This new mother sat, looking demure, at the table, smiling. She scooped veggies for Hayeon. Picked beef slices for Uncle Im. It was even more unbelievable to her when her mother actually put a slice of pork on her bowl of rice. She stared at the slice of pork for a solid five seconds before coming back to her senses when Hayeon nudged her, grinning. Her mother was strange. The dinner was strange. Everything was strange.

The chatter over the dinner table was as ordinary as the blue sky on a summer’s day. Yoona talked about her day at work, Hayeon talked about her day at school, Uncle Im shared some updates at work. His company had been thrown into an upset when Peter confessed to the crimes he had committed but things were stabilizing day by day.

Uncle Im had visited her at the hospital to explain Peter’s involvement in the whole episode, which she had appreciated immensely. It turned out that Yuri was right. It was revenge. Revenge for being replaced by Paul. He had claimed to have been unjustly removed from the company, pressured by the old and respected Mr Kim, Paul’s grandfather. He managed to get into Ssamyoong when they needed an assistant for the racing team but Hyundae’s successful car launch and prowess on the circuits fuelled the angry fire within. He should have been in the middle of all that success. He should have been the one claiming all the credit. So when he found out that Paul was the grandson, anger rose and he vowed to bring Hyundae down.

Taeyeon listened with interest as Uncle Im detailed the plans for his company and even joined in the mini discussion that arose from the sharing. She liked it. She liked how her opinions were valued and taken seriously. She liked how everyone at the table was part of a team. Team Im. It made her smile and for the first time, she realized how much she craved a family despite the life she had built around not having one.

Maybe she could deal with her mother’s presence in her life after all. Maybe.

–