Baekhyun groaned, waking up from his sleep as he felt sore all over his body. It was already the third day he’s staying at the hospital, and he’s already tired of sleeping like a log every single time. The man looked around the room and found no one. Right, he forced his parents to leave last night so they could have a better rest. Sure, he was staying at the VVVIP room and it wasn’t a problem to provide a room with bed for them, but still, this was a hospital. Baekhyun wanted them to rest comfortably at home. “I’ll be okay, Mom, you can come back in the morning.” He pleaded, and his parents complied. And yes, his father did come in the morning. The older only dropped by for a while before he was off to the company, also telling him that his mother would come in the evening as she had things to do.

Baekhyun noticed the tray of food on the side of his bed, and he wondered why the nurse didn’t wake him up for lunch. Glancing at the clock, it was already half past twelve. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, pushing the button to set his bed so he could sit comfortably. He took a gulp of water from the glass on the high table beside the bed before grabbing his phone to check if there’s anything related to work that needed to be taken care of. But he found nothing. He knew his dad probably asked everyone not to disturb him with work for the meantime. Yeah, everyone in the company probably already knew that their COO was being hospitalised. He fainted in his own room and they had to rush him to the hospital. As much as he wanted to keep it a secret, he was sure that everyone would hear the news about him in no time.

Yes, so everyone knew, except Aerin.

Baekhyun heaved a sigh as he stared lovingly at his phone. He set a picture of them smiling to the camera as his home screen, one picture which was taken at the garden when they went to her birthday trip last time. There was something energizing from her smile. And taking some seconds from his time to look at his screen never failed to boost his mood every single time he was frustrated with work. It felt as if he was recharged. Yeah, Aerin had that effect on him, he even wondered how. Ah, look how stupid he became when he fell in love. He smiled. But again, he still didn’t know until when he would let himself suffer like this.

It has been days since the last time he talked to her. Call him childish but yes, it was because he was jealous. Aerin was getting busy with her university, and he tried to use this time to take a distance from her. Baekhyun wanted to take his time because it hurt. Imagining her getting back together with Sehun really didn’t sit well with him, but again, he knew he couldn’t do anything about it. When he told his best friend about it, Jongdae told him to fight. Baekhyun only laughed bitterly at the idea though, because what was there to fight when there was nothing to begin with, when the girl already chose the other man over him?

Instead of drowning too deep into his grief, Baekhyun chose to channel his time to focus more on the big project he was handling. He knew this investor he was going to charm wasn’t an easy one. Everyone in the industry knew how strict this person, and how well known he was as such a detail-oriented investor—who was so hard to be won over. Baekhyun only knew that he should not slack with this opportunity. And along the way, Baekhyun realise that he started trying to ignore her message, started to miss the night call before bed which they usually do especially when they couldn’t meet. Baekhyun also pushed himself too hard on this project, making him stay overnight, missing his lunch time and sometimes dinner too. He did all these, hiding behind the shield of ‘doing his best’ for the important project. Jongdae told him to slow down, even his father too. But he brushed them all, saying they needed to win this for the company.

And that was until he collapsed three days ago inside his own office.

The doctors said it was over fatigue. Baekhyun lost a lot of sleep, not getting enough nutrition as he mostly dependent on the high dose of caffeine every day which resulted to a problem in his gastric system. The doctor asked him to rest totally, which his father instantly agreed although Baekhyun insisted that he would be just fine after getting some hours of sleep. Baekhyun only complied in defeat when his father threatened him to tell Aerin about his condition, because the younger begged him not to tell the girl.

And in these three days he was staying in the silence of the hospital, there was not a day where he did not think about the girl he loved.

How was she doing? Was she doing okay with the tons of assignments she usually whined about to him? Was she happy? Did she get along well with the people in her new study group?

Sigh.

It would be a clear lie if he said that he didn’t miss her presence. Baekhyun missed talking to her. He missed listening to her laugh. He missed their silly late-night talks. He missed spending his time looking at her pretty eyes while carding his fingers through her silky hair. He missed every single thing about her.

Baekhyun missed her.

He missed her so much, and it was suffocating.

The man had finished his lunch and felt the medicine’s effect started kicking in. He was sleepily browsing through the channel on the television when he heard some knocks on his door. People from his office already came yesterday, so he was sure no one else would come today. If it’s his mom, then she came earlier than he thought she would be. “Come in, Mom, the door isn’t locked.” He said, half shouting just in case his mom wouldn’t hear. She didn’t even need to knock, though? He wondered.

And when the door slowly pushed opened, it wasn’t his mom who was there behind the door.

He was drowsy yes, but he didn’t know the medication could result to hallucination, though?

“Do you think it’s funny to keep me out in the dark?”

The girl he loved the most, his favourite girl whom he really missed, was standing on the doorframe, folding her hands on her chest, and pouting adorably.

She closed the door before rushing to Baekhyun’s side. And the first thing she did when she reached him was— “Ouch! You’re not allowed to hurt the patient, Ma’am.” The man winced, caressing the spot where the girl just punched him hard. Oh well, without pinching himself, at least he knew that this definitely was not a hallucination.

But really, though, Baekhyun couldn’t hide the smile which threatened to bloom on his lips.

Aerin threw herself on the vacant chair right