The one in green is spoken in Japanese.

Taera’s POV

                At last! The meeting has ended! I heaved a deep breath – relieved. The only thing left to do was to finalise the list of the teachers. But that can be done back in Seoul, which I will set my foot on in another two days.  I decided to stay in Japan for another two days to attend FT Island joint concert with their label mates on its second day which will be tomorrow. It has been almost two months since I last saw Jonghoon – and it was even for less than a day.

                “Sajang-nim, are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you here?” The sudden question by my personal assistant, Miss Yoon startled me; pulling me out of my trance. I tore my gaze away from the scenery before me to her direction, giving her an assuring smile. I nodded a little before answering. [Sajang-nim - President]

                “Yes. You can go back first and get a rest for a day – or even a few days off. You have been away for too long from your family; you deserved a break. Or, do you want to go to the concert with me tomorrow?” I said jokingly. Her eyes widened with her head shook furiously. She has never favoured modern music. She’s all into classics – might sound bizarre, but it was the reality.

                “No, sajang-nim. I was just asking. Uhm, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now.” She uttered shakily. I nodded to her question and she immediately stepped out of my room. During this one month, there has been so many things happened. It was recently that I unleashed my playful side to her. Being a serious person she is, she sometimes couldn’t handle my antics.

                “I wonder if he’ll see me at the concert tomorrow.”

****

                My mouth water as I ogled the fresh pineapple slices at the fruit section. I was a big fan of pineapple although my tongue felt funny whenever I eat them as I have a habit of drinking water after eating fruits. And tonight, that fruit looked more tempting than ever as if it was alluring me to eat it. I contemplated about it for a while, looking like a complete idiot standing in front of the fruit section – as Jonghoon told me to refrain eating them since I was pregnant with Joongli and Joongki back then. ‘Well, I guess eating a little won’t hurt,’ I said assuring myself as I take one slice of the fruit. It turned out the fruit was sweet and I kept on eating them as it was so fresh and succulent. And before I knew it, I was already full after eating God knows how many slices of pineapple.

Third person’s POV

                Taera walked into her hotel room which was located next to Yoon Eunji’s. She decided to treat herself with a warm bath after working hard for almost two months without proper rest and sleep. After setting the water’s temperature right, she let the tub to be filled with water while she went out to watch the television for a while. It was then when she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. She clutched on her clothes tightly trying to channel the pain she was feeling. She reached for her handphone that was placed on the coffee table and realised she has been trembling the whole time.

                “Yoon-ss..ssi, do you have pain killer?” she said to the person on the line. A murmur was heard across the line and seconds after that, Eunji came into the room with a bottle of pain killer pills through the connecting door that Taera has left open on her side. Eunji could see beads of sweat formed on Taera’s pallid face. She was about to lay Taera down on the couch when she saw Taera’s white pants was tainted with blood. She was about to ask Taera about it when she saw Taera has fainted.

****

Taera’s POV

                My eyes fluttered open and a bright light forced my eyes to close again. Again, I tried to open my eyes slowly and was greeted with an unfamiliar white ceiling. That was when I heard some people shrieked in urgency in…Japanese? It took me some time to recall the fact that I was in Japan for a business trip. I looked around in confusion to realise that I was hospitalised. I remember experiencing pain at my lower abdomen and asked Miss Yoon for pain killer – but I didn’t remember going to a hospital.

                A doctor came in and checked up on me before he wrote something in a file and said something to the nurse. He did all that without uttering a word to me. I was puzzled – wasn’t he supposed to tell me about it? I trailed the doctor’s footsteps with my eyes through the open blinded glass to find him talking to somebody. I can’t really see his face but from his figure, I could perfectly tell who it was. That person nodded a few times before the doctor went away and left him alone there.

                “Jonghoon,” his name escaped my lips as he appeared from behind the door. His heavy steps made me wonder even more – what actually had happened to me? He wrapped his arms around me giving me comfort that I was not sure for what. Suddenly I felt a drop of water fell on my cheek. I broke off the hug and turned to Jonghoon – he was trying to hold back his tears but the droplet on my cheek proved that he has failed.

                “Jonghoon, why? What happened? I mean what’s wrong with me?” I felt myself frowning anxiously for not knowing what had happened to me. I kept on asking him over and over again – getting irritated by each second for not knowing what was wrong with me – I repeat – I don’t know myself what’s wrong with me! It took him a while before he opened his mouth to answer my question me.

                “I…you…”

Jonghoon’s POV

                I quickly ran back stage to our dressing room after our performance ended. The first day was fun – we could see all of F&C artists’ fans and I’m proud to say that almost half of them were waving yellow light stick throughout the concert. I was playing around with Hongki and Jaejin when suddenly my handphone rang across the room. I walked to the table where all of our valuable things were placed and grabbed my handphone. The name that came out as the caller shocked me. Miss Yoon?

                “Yeoboseyo?” He asked uncertainly – not sure who was on the line albeit the name that came out earlier. [Yeoboseyo - Hello]

                “Yeoboseyo, Choi Jonghoon-ssi. I…uhm…Ahn Taera Sajang-nim… she is hospitalised. She…” I didn’t let her finished her sentence and asked her which hospital was she brought to. I was surprised to know that she was in Japan but it made everything easier. I informed our manager about what had happened and told him that I can’t join the ending stage. He nodded in understanding and reminded me to leave quietly so as to not alert the fans out there. I hailed a taxi to get to my destination.

                I met Miss Yoon who was waiting for me at the entrance. She told me about what had happened while we were walking to Taera’s ward. However she can’t seem to get why Taera was hospitalised as she could hardly understand Japanese.

                “How do you know that I’m in Japan now?” I asked her as our steps get closer to Taera’s ward. She was fidgeting upon hearing my question.

                “I saw the concert’s poster.” Her answer was short and something was telling me that there was more that she didn’t tell but I couldn’t care less as the most important thing to me right now is Taera. Our feet stopped right in front of Taera’s ward. Miss Yoon pointed to a doctor that was saying something to a nurse in front of Taera’s ward and said that he was the one treating Taera a while ago. He didn’t notice that I was standing behind him until the nurse he was talking to gestured to my way. He dismissed the nurse upon seeing the urgency written on my face.

                “Konnichiwa. I’m Ahn Taera’s husband, Choi Jonghoon,” I said before bowed. He reciprocated my action. Haruto Aso ; read his name tag.

                “May I know if there’s anything wrong with my wife?”

                “I’ll explain her condition to you in my office,” he blurted out after heaving a deep sigh. I was about to follow him when I felt a tap on my shoulder – it was Miss Yoon. I raised an eyebrow questioningly at her.

                “I’m sorry but I can’t follow you to meet the doctor. I – I have to leave now; my flight back to Korea is at 11 am and it’s already late. I can’t cancel my ticket – my parents are waiting for me at home. I…I’m sorry, Choi Jonghoon-ssi,” she said remorsefully. I just nodded my head, understanding her situation.

                “It’s okay; it’s not your fault anyway. And, I’m here to take care of her, so don’t worry, okay?” I said to erase her guilt.

                “Thank you, Choi Jonghoon-ssi.”

                “No need to thank me – in fact, I was the one who should thank you for calling me. Uhm, I guess it’s better for you to go now – it’s already past 10 pm now.  You don’t want to miss the plane, right?” I said, putting on a smile.

                “Oh, ne! Jeo meonjeo kalkkeyo. Annyeonghigyeseyo.” She bowed a complete 90 degrees bow to which I replied with the same gesture. I watched as she strutted her way down the corridor and a sigh unknowingly escaped my lips – I was not ready to face the news that the doctor was about to tell me. [Jeo meonjeo kalkkeyo - I'll get going first; Annyeonghigyeseyo - Goodbye (said by the person who's leaving)]

                 I braved myself and took confident steps to the doctor’s office. I stopped in front of the door which has the name ‘Haruto Aso’ on it and knocked. A faint voice was heard from the other side of the room telling me to come in. I heaved a deep breath before twisting the door knob open and was greeted with a typical doctor’s office you’ve seen on television. I sat on the chair opposite him when he asked me to do so.

                “Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve to settle some matters with that lady before,” I uttered, explaining my reason for being late. He just nodded slightly before opening a file containing patient’s record to which I believed belong to Taera. He cleared his throat before he said anything further.

                “I’m sorry, Choi-san, but your wife had a miscarriage,” said Aso-sensei calmly. I was shocked to hear that she had a miscarriage. However, I was even more bewildered to the fact that she was pregnant before. I rubbed my face with my palms – my head hung low from the news I’ve just received.

                “The foetus was slightly over one month old; it was at the early stage so it is easy to miss that she’s unexpecting. And it is crucial for her to watch what she’s eating. Do you know what Ahn-san had for dinner?”

                “Well, I’m not really sure of what she ate because I was working. But, her friend just now told me that she had pineapple for dinner,” I said sheepishly. The doctor scribbled something in her file before turning back his attention to me.

                “I see. Pineapple contains an enzyme that is almost similar in papaya. Because of this, it's likely that pineapple could exert an abortifacient effect similar to that associated with papaya. A pregnant woman should not eat pineapple in excessive quantity. Is this her first pregnancy?” the doctor asked again. I shook my head a little before answering.

                “No, it’s not her first time – we have twins. The doctor had told us before about fruit that she has to avoid eating during pregnancy. But I guess she wasn’t aware that she’s pregnant – as you said, it’s easy to miss it in the early stage.” The doctor nodded to my words while he wrote something in the file. It was silence for a while when a nurse came running into the room.

                “She has gained her consciousness.” Both the doctor and I left the office in a haste and sprint-walking to Taera’s ward. I was told to wait outside while Aso-sensei went inside and checked her condition. When he was done, he noted down a few things in Taera’s file that he brought with him from his office and told some things to the nurse on duty. I watched all his moves until he came out from the room.

                “Seeing her condition, I think she can be discharged tomorrow. And about the miscarriage, Choi-san; I guess it’s the best if you’re the one to tell her.” He patted my shoulder before he left together with the nurses. I inhaled deeply, and heaved a deep sigh before I pushed the door open.

                “Jonghoon,” she called out my name. I walked to her bed and enveloped her in warmth as I embraced her; offering her comfort. I felt my eyes started to get teary, to see how her pink face turned pale and how cold her body was. A pang of guilt suddenly washed through me – it was my entire fault. If only I was more caring towards her. I was a no good husband. I tried to hold back my tears but it was completely a futile attempt when I saw my tear on her cheek as she turned her head to my way, breaking our hug.

                “Jonghoon, why? What happened? I mean what’s wrong with me?” A frown was clearly formed on her forehead as she asked me. She kept on repeating the same question again and again – getting impatient by each second, her voice getting louder bye each word uttered, her eyes getting redder by each tear that started to pool in her eyes. It’s killing me to see her like this, but I just couldn’t seem to have the courage to tell her about it – to tell her about the death of her unborn child.

                “I…you…” I cleared my throat once before trying again as my first attempt came out as gibberish. I took her hands in my mine and I saw her getting puzzled by my action. I rubbed the back of her hand in circular motion to ease my tension.

                “You had a miscarriage earlier,” I muttered lowly. I saw her body stiffened to my statement, her eyes unblinking.

Third person’s POV

                “You had a miscarriage earlier.” His voice was faint; however it was loud enough for Taera to hear. Her body froze – she was pregnant? Her hand unknowingly crept to the lower part of her abdomen. Her eyes followed after but only for a tad while before Taera looked up to Jonghoon who had his sad face on.

                “I was pregnant?” Her eyes widened in shock as her mind started to think. ‘I was pregnant? That was extremely absurd! It has been so long since Jonghoon and I…’ her thought trailed off as an event crossed her mind. Seunghyun’s birthday.

                “It was slightly one month old. The doctor said it’s possible that you didn’t notice that you’re pregnant because it’s still new and there…”

                “I ate the pineapple.”

                “Taera, you didn’t know,” he tried to soothe Taera but he knew himself it wasn’t going to be an easy task.

                “I ate the pineapple, Jonghoon. I ate it on my own will – I ignored your words to not eat them…”

                “Taera..”

                “I killed him! I killed my own baby, Jonghoon!” Taera burst into tears in no time as regret filled her. ‘If only I listened to Jonghoon. If only I had better self-control. If only,’ – Taera’s mind was filled with regrets but she knew herself that there was nothing she could do about it.

                Jonghoon pulled Taera into a hug. He tried to comfort her, rocking her side to side in the process as if he was putting a baby to sleep. Taera’s wailing was not getting any better – she would murmured something like ‘I killed him’ or ‘It was my fault’ every once in a while and it was killing Jonghoon from the inside. He felt guilty for not being around her – he felt guilty seeing her like this, putting all the blame on herself. His arms tautened around her, hoping that will succour with her crying.

                But it didn’t.

                Taera was crying non-stop, blaming herself all the time saying that she was the one who had kill her baby. The way she was saying it was as though she took a knife and stab that little poor thing in the heart – to which she didn’t. And Jonghoon couldn’t take it anymore. He held both of Taera’s shoulder; his grip was tight enough that it’ll leave marks on her skin and set his eyes straight into Taera’s.

                “You did not kill him. You did not kill our baby, Ahn Taera. Get a grip of yourself. You’ll not only hurt yourself by doing this, but everybody around you – Joongli, Joongki, Jaejin, the other members…and me! It hurts me to see you like this when we both know that you did not kill him. Blaming yourself won’t bring any good to you. So, stop blaming yourself!”

                Taera stared at Jonghoon wide-eyed – obviously stunned by Jonghoon’s action – with her lips trembling from the excessive crying before she returned back the hug that Jonghoon had gave her before, nestling her head at the crook of his neck. Bit by bit, her weeping turned into soft sobs and gradually became infrequent sniffling. Jonghoon patted her back all the time, trying to put her to sleep. And his effort was paid off when he saw Taera’s peaceful sleeping face. He carefully placed her properly on the bed before him himself decided to crash on the chair next to the bed with his head laid on the bed.

                “Sleep tight, dear,” he whispered before he closed his eyes, with Taera’s hand in his.

****

Taera’s POV

                I had just finished eating my breakfast although the clock hung on the wall already showed that it was already lunchtime. I had a hard time waking up; my head hurt from the crying last night. I distracted myself of thinking about the reason of me crying last night by turning on the television. I flipped through the channels over and over again – nothing was interesting enough. I decided to take a nap albeit just woken up for not more than 2 hours.

                “Yah! Mweoya? Are you going to sleep again?” Jaejin’s voice rang in my ears. Jaejin? I fluttered my eyes opened and I turned to face where the door was to see the whole FT Island there – Hongki, Jaejin, Seunghyun, Minhwan and of course, Jonghoon. I was beyond shock to see them there. Weren’t they supposed to be rehearsing for the concert later this evening? [Mweoya - What the]

                “What are you guys doing her?” I blurted out. Hongki, Minhwan and Seunghyun laughed at my question while Jonghoon simply smiled upon hearing it. While Jaejin…

                “Yah! What kind of question is that? Huh?” shouted Jaejin, fumed with anger as he flicked my forehead once he got near me. I winced in pain, rubbing the part where he had flicked me before. I sent him a death glare before answering him.

                “I meant – what are you guys doing here when you guys should be rehearsing now?” I uttered through gritted teeth, my eyes glaring at Jaejin the whole time. Jaejin acted indifferently as if he did nothing wrong. I later gave up on glaring as my eyes started to hurt.

                “Oh, it’s lunch time! So, we decided to stop by here for a while,” replied Minhwan. I nodded my head, my mind absorbing what he had said.

                “So how are you today?” asked Seunghyun this time. He went near me and sat at the end of my bed. Soon, everybody had taken a spot for themselves on the bed before I could answer Seunghyun’s question before – except for Jonghoon who was standing at the end of the bed.

                “I…uhm…okay? Jonghoon said the doctor said that I can be discharge today. But I guess, I’ve to wait until the concert ends,” I said. I felt a pair of eyes watching me and when I looked up it was Jonghoon, smiling sweetly to me. If that smile was supposed to mean something, I really, really couldn’t grasp the meaning.

                “So you’ll go back to Seoul together with us tonight?” asked Jaejin as he put strands of my hair behind my ear. I just gawked at him to his question, not knowing what to answer. I looked at Jonghoon for the answer to find him looking…panic?

                “Hyung, is Taera going back with us tonight?” asked Jaejin again. However this time the question was directed to Jonghoon. Seriously, Jaejin needs to change his hobby now – like NOW. I rolled my eyes to Jaejin’s curiosity albeit having the same level of curiosity of his. And in no time, all five pairs of eyes were gaping at Jonghoon.

                “I…I… haven’t think about it yet,” Jonghoon replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.     

I'm sorry for this super long and super boring chapter. Please notify me if there's any mistakes, I didn't get to proofread this chapter. And.. this chapter has too many POVs, I hope it won't confuse you :)

And, yes, quite a few of you guys are hoping for both Taera and Jonghoon to make up already. But, lovelies, love is not all rainbows and unicorns :)  I'll write a wrap-up chapter after the story is completed, and you'll get to see why is there unending fights between them.

ChocoBun.