Throughout the night Jiyong stayed beside Sohee… his guilt has already swallowed him whole… blaming himself and his selfishness for what happened to the girl that loves him so much…





Their friends went… totally not knowing what happened… he didn’t tell them the reason behind it... he doesn’t want to make things more difficult especially to Dara… Youngbae got the hint of what’s happening… feeling sorry for his friend who’s now suffering from a terrible heartache.





“I think she needs you right now Jiyong… I know it’s hard… but just let it be that way for the meantime… sometimes it scares me of what Sohee could do so let’s just keep an eye on her first…”






All he could do is nod… agree on what his friend told him to do… he now looked so pale… so wasted… for he too could feel himself breaking… this is just too much…






He never wanted to hurt anyone… but still it happened… he never expected Sohee going to the point of killing herself just to make him stay…






Now… it totally sunk into him that he could never love her back… he doesn’t want to be tied up in the neck… using his guilt against him just to get what she wants… she’s too selfish for his love… all he could feel towards her now is pity… and anger to himself on how much he have caused her to be that way.






Dara came too… and Jiyong knew what she feels… it painted on her face… on her silence that she’s blaming herself too… she’s paler than before… her eyes were both blank…






And when he got the chance to have a talk with her… he quickly dragged her away from their friends…






“Dara-ah…”






He called her… caressing her cheeks … and there she broke down… tears started to pour down from her eyes.






“Jiyong-ah… I shouldn’t have come back here… I should have just stayed in abroad… this won’t happen if I didn’t show myself up again…”






She told him… looking down… he quickly hugged her tight… she continued to sob… burying her face on his chest… wetting his clothes by her tears.






“I’m sorry… please don’t blame yourself… you didn’t do anything… if there’s someone to blame… that’s me… I shouldn’t have used Sohee to forget you… please… don’t do this… we can get through this… just don’t blame yourself please… I don’t want to see you in pain Dara-ah…”






He too couldn’t help himself but to cry… everything’s now so difficult… thinking if they could ever escape this nightmare…






He held her shoulder and pulled her from his embrace… trying to see her face again to gather back his strength… he noticed her necklace… together with it is her ring… ‘their’ ring… he wiped off his tears with his other hand… reached for the ring and smiled to himself.





“You still kept it…”






He whispered… she stopped from crying and looked down to what he’s talking about….






“Please promise me you will never let go of this… I’ll do everything just to put that ring back to your finger again… please Dara-ah… don’t leave me again…”






She couldn’t answer back… seeing his painful expression made her heart in so much pain… she hugged him again… tightly wrapping her arms around his neck…






He was surprised… but managed to hug her back… wrapping his arms along her waist… he knows what her answer is…. And with that all of his strength came back… knowing that Dara is still ready to wait…






“Stop worrying arasso… just do your thing… I’m fine… I’ll fix everything…”






He caressed her head… kissing the side of it while whispering those words…






“You’re my strength Dara-ah…”







And with that her heart fluttered more… she wanted to tell it back to him… she wanted to tell him she’ll wait… she wanted to tell him she loves him… comfort him but her voice is too caught up in … and Jiyong knows and understood her enough.







--




He slept on a couch after they left… he let Dara to tell Seunghyun he couldn’t go to work tomorrow…




Sohee is still unconscious… he knows she doesn’t want to die… why would she call the medics before she did it…? And because of that he’s still grateful… for he doesn’t know what he will do is she dies just because of him… it will truly hunt him…




He couldn’t sleep… looking at the ceiling with his arm above his head… he’s still thinking of what will happen once Sohee would wake up… afraid that once she will, she would be more different and aggressive…




Since when did she become like this…?




He knows she doesn’t have her parents anymore… being raised by her grandparents… and became independent for such a very young age must’ve been truly hard for her… beside him and their friends… she got no one else to be with… and maybe that’s the reason why she’s afraid to be left out…



He pitied her… but he can’t do anything about it… he can’t be forever be with her… his heart wouldn’t take it… he would never stay with someone out of pity… but by the looks of her… by the way she decided things for him and for her… it’s better for her to be pitied at… rather than to be left alone…




--




Morning came… he managed to have a couple of hours sleep… he looked terrible with his clothes from yesterday… Their friends brought him last night some clothes but he didn’t get the chance to change…




He checked on Sohee but she’s still asleep… her face is not as pale as last night… he heaved a sigh…





He got his clothes and went to the bathroom… cleaned himself and changed his clothes… after that he checked on her again… nothing had changed.





“I’ll be right back… I’ll just eat…”





He caressed her head and whispered to her…




--




“Dara-ah…”




He called her… he just wanted to hear her voice…





“Jiyong… what’s wrong…? Did she already wake up…?”




“She still hasn’t… are you at work now…? Sorry for bothering you…”





“No it’s okay… have you eaten…? Don’t forget to eat arasso…”




She sounded worried… he smiled a bit… it’s his first time after three years hearing her worried voice again… how he missed her being worried over him.




“Yes… I already did… Dara-ah…”




“Yes…?”




“Saranghae…”




She didn’t reply… all he could hear is her breathing… he smiled again…



“Arasso… I’m going to hang up now… I’ll be going back to her room…”




“Ah…. ye-yes…”




She stuttered… he was about to hang up but she heard her speak.




“Yes…?” he asked




“I- take care…”





And with that she hanged up… he sighed and again a big smile curved his lips.




It took him almost an hour to get back… honestly he doesn’t want to go back… for whenever he sees Sohee his guilt would eat him alive again… he spent his time wandering around the hospital…




And when he got back… he saw someone sitting beside Sohee’s bed… a man with his back facing him…




Jiyong’s forehead creased a bit… somehow the man seemed familiar to him.




He opened the door which caught the man’s attention…. Slowly the man turned around… his hand still holding on Sohee’s hand.




“Heechul…”



Jiyong called… the man smiled a bit…




It was Kim Heechul… Sohee’s first boyfriend when they were still in high school…