Jinri's awake. 

Those two words had Jongin's skip a beat in complete joy and exhilaration. 

Hanging up without thinking, he whirls around to find Jinri. 

She is nowhere to be found. 

Jongin bolted from the classroom, down the stairs and out the door. He caught the bus right on time and found a seat in the back. 

The timing was impeccable. 

Arriving at the hospital, Jongin ran through the halls like a madman, desperate to see her and take her in his arms once again. He almost wanted to cry, knowing that she was alive, that God had not forsaken him. 

Crashing into the room, he slammed the hospital room door open, unable to pace himself. He was dangerously out of breath and a thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead, his bangs slicked to the moist skin. He couldn't speak as he panted, his hands gripping his knees, which were buckling beneath him. 

"Jongin!" Mrs. Choi rose from the bedside with a water bottle in hand, but Jinwoo had her sit down once more and took the water from her.

"Hey." 

Jongin felt a cool sensation on his cheek and he looked up to see Jinwoo pressing (albeit shoving) the water bottle into his face with a grudging expression. 

"Take it. You look like you're dying." 

Jongin didn't reply as he clumsily unscrewed the cap and shoved the mouth of the bottle into his own. 

".... How.... is... she?" was all he managed before going for a second drink. 

"She's been stirring for a bit, but she should be opening his eyes any minute." Jinwoo said as he returned to Jinri's bedside, where her parents and brothers were gathered. 

"Where did you come from?" Jinhwan asked, still dressed in business attire as he questioned Jongin. 

Jongin never felt comfortable around Jinri's brothers. They were civil, but yielded a judgemental attitude towards him, especially Jinwoo. Jongin couldn't really blame them. Jinri really didn't deserve someone like him, who was clumsy and forgetful. He was hazed quite a bit by the Choi brothers, but Jongin wasn't going down without a hell of a fight. 

"The school."

"That's quite far. Did you run all the way?" Jinwoo asked. 

"Only when I wasn't on the bus." Jongin replied slowly.

The two brothers were silent and Jongin could tell they were evaluating him. Did he not show up soon enough? Was he dressed to sloppily? 

"Loosen up, man. We're not going to eat you." Jinhwan slapped him on the back. 

"Yeah, we just like giving you a hard time." Jinwoo chimed in. 

Jongin was baffled. Never had the Choi brothers been so chummy with him. 

"Oh, which reminds me." Jinwoo said as he sauntered over to Jinri's mother. 

After whispering for a few minutes, he returned with his fist tightly grasping something. 

"You know anything about this?" 

Jinwoo held out his hand to reveal a simple necklace with a delicate pink rose as its ornament. 

"Oh. Yeah, I gave this to her." 

"Then I think it’s only fair you're the one to return it to her." Jinwoo replied as he pressed the cool metal of the necklace into Jongin's hand, which he pocketed. 

"Mmf." 

Jongin's attention snapped back to the girl lying in the bed. Her mother was holding her hand tightly while her father was holding Sanyi, anxious to see his daughter open his eyes. 

Although parts of her face were obscured by bandages, her eyes and mouth were uncovered. 

Jongin's breath caught in his throat as Jinri's chocolate brown eyes fluttered open. 

"Jinri! Sweetheart!" Mrs. Choi breathed. 

Mr. Choi and the Choi siblings all murmured in happiness and relief as they watched Jinri slowly transition back into the real world. She was still too weak to sit up, but tears trickled from her eyes as she greeted her loved ones. Everything was back to normal again. 

It was only until Sanyi was brought before her that they realized something was off. 

"Sanyi!" Jinri said softly as her little brother patted her cheek softly. 

"Sanyi's missed you." Mrs. Choi said. 

"Wow, how long was I out? Sanyi wasn't this big before." 

"What are you talking about? You've only been asleep for less than two days. Sanyi hasn't changed." 

"Sure he has. He looks like he's at least five now." 

"That's because he is five, Ri." Jinwoo explained patiently. 

"Nuh uh. Sanyi's only two. isn't he?" Jinri shifted slightly on the bed. 

Jongin closed his eyes. 

Oh God. Please-

"Jongin. Come here." Jinhwan motioned for him to come closer.

Jongin meekly obliged, shuffling softly to Jinri's bedside. He looked at Jinri, who stared up at him with her beautiful eyes and her soft hair spread out of the pillow like a halo. She her dry lips and uttered the words that would shatter Jongin's heart.

"Who are you?" 

***

"It's cognitive dysfunction. In Jinri's case, it's retrograde amnesia. It seems that she has no recollection of any of her years in high school." 

The doctor had spieled out a whole bunch of medical nonsense that Jongin couldn't care any less about. Stuff about bleeding, hemorrhages and other crap. 

All that he got was that Jinri couldn't even recognize his face anymore. 

Three years gone in two days. 

Jongin sat with his face in his hands outside of Jinri's hospital room. Soojung had arrived a few minutes ago after Jongin had called her. Sunyoung and the others were on the way. 

"You okay?" 

Jongin looked up to see Soojung standing above him, concerned. He wiped his red rimmed eyes. 

"No." 

She didn't reply as she sat down next to him. 

"She'll come around." was all she said after a long silence. 

"Yeah." 

Silence. 

"Did she remember you?" 

Soojung sighed and bobbed her head; a nod. 

"Yeah. We met in middle school. The others won't be so lucky. Jinri didn't meet any of them until high school." 

Jongin didn't understand. It was so unfair. Where was the Jinri that he loved for the past three years? What about the supernatural one he had spent the last two days with? Was it all just a hallucination?

"I'm sorry." Soojung said suddenly. 

"Why are you sorry?"

"It's just... I can't imagine how you feel right now. I can't sympathize with the feeling of being completely forgotten by someone you love so much. I know how much Jinri means to you. I can see the way you look at her and trust me, she loves you too. To have all that just taken away from you because of a freak accident..." Soojung's voice quivered as she spoke. 

"I... don't know how to feel. Jinri had always meant so much to me. I just... never knew the extent of how much she did." 

"What are you going to do?" 

That's right. What was Jongin going to do? Jinri's memories of him were wiped clean out of her mind. Was he going leave her mind an empty slate? An empty chalkboard?

Or was he going to start over with a fresh piece of chalk?

Dumb question really. 

"Easy. I'm going to make her remember. And if she doesn't, I'll just make her fall for me all over again." 

***

Jinri sat in her hospital bed, not quite listening to her tutor yammer on and on about quadratic formulas. 

"Hey! Are you listening?" 

"Huh? Oh, sorry." 

"I know it's hard, but you'll need to pay attention and study hard if you don't want to be held back too much." Siwon sighed as he flipped through her textbook. 

"It's just so hard! I'm supposed to be a fifteen year old entering high school, not an eighteen year old leaving it." Jinri pouted at her older cousin. 

"Amnesia's not an easy thing to deal with, Ri. I'm sorry that you're having a hard time." he ruffled her hair. 

Jinri's mind was still in shambles despite having woken up for quite awhile now. She only remembered her family and Soojung. Of course, there was also Minho and her lifelong neighbours. There was of course the other three girls that were supposedly her best friends. They were nice enough and Jinri could see herself becoming friends with them. 

It was that Kim Jongin that puzzled her.

She never wanted a boyfriend. She had promised herself that she would never acquaint herself with love in her high school years, but apparently she did have one. And they started dating only a few months after entering first year. Could her will be that weak? Or was Kim Jongin different? 

For the past few months, he came every single day. Sometimes he brought gifts. Sometimes he just came to talk. It was awkward at first, but she did find herself talking freely and comfortably with him as time went on. He listened to her and he gave her his utmost attention. Jinri found herself enjoying his company more so than she expected. Based on what her family and friends told her, she was pretty crazy about him and vice versa. 

But she wasn't sure if that statement applied now. 

After Siwon left, Jinri found herself expecting Jongin to drop by like he usually did. 

It was Soojung who came instead. 

"You look disappointed. Were you hoping for Jongin?" Soojung smirked as she came in. 

"N-no." Jinri sputtered and blushed. 

"Don't be embarrassed. We won't judge you for liking him. That's how it’s supposed to be." Soojung sat down by her bedside and dropped her purse down to the floor. 

"I don't like him." Jinri said, although it came out unsure and almost like a question. 

Soojung shook her head and sighed. 

"Um... Just out of curiosity... Why didn't he come today?" Jinri asked and bit her lip.

"So you do want him to come." 

"No, I-I'm just curious. He came every single day and-" 

"He's been a bit busy lately at university lately. He has a duet coming up, so he's been practicing." 

"A duet?" 

"Yup. The dance is pretty intense and his partner's a huge perfectionist, so they've been practicing every chance they get." 

"Oh." was all Jinri said. 

Soojung could see jealousy radiating off of Jinri's face and she deviously fetched her phone from her purse.

"He sent us a practice video. Wanna see?" 

Soojung took Jinri's silence as a yes and pulled out her phone. 

Jinri watched as Soojung loaded the video. She did know that Jongin danced, but she found it silly and imagined him tripped over his own feet. 

The video would prove her horribly, horribly wrong. 

For the Jongin in the video was lithe, graceful and passionate. His eyes were fierce as he and a blond girl wearing a hat and a mask engaged in a powerful hip hop duet, which was a bit too sensual for Jinri's liking. His hands traveled down the girl's body, to from her face, to her arms and down to her waist. 

"Thank you. I get the message." Jinri pushed the phone away, flustered. 

"Admit it. You're jealous." Soojung pocketed her phone.

"I'm not jealous." 

"Tell that to your face."

"I'm not jealous of Jongin and his partner or whatever!" Jinri snapped, cheeks heated and frustration bubbling in her chest.

"I see." 

Soojung didn't want to pry any further, but she was satisfied with the redness of Jinri's cheeks and the pout of her lips and took it as a good sign. 

***

"You're got your walking boot off?" Jongin asked as Jinri limped over to the window to close it. 

"Mhm." she nodded curtly as she climbed back into her bed. 

Jongin didn't reply as he took his usual seat next to her bed. Her leg was pretty much healed and most of her fractures and torn ligaments were fine. Her hemorrhage was thankfully not life threatening or permanent, but would still take a little bit longer to heal completely. Jinri seemed quieter than usual, not that a delicate quiet version wasn't to Jongin's liking. Her hair had grown longer over the past few weeks and she still took his breath away each time he saw her. 

After speaking to her, he realized something was wrong. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're quiet and your mind's wandering. Something's wrong." 

"Nothing's wrong, okay!" she snapped. 

Jongin shied away from her sudden outburst.

"Sorry." Jinri replied softly. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" 

"I'm fine." she said briskly. 

"No, you're not." 

Jinri couldn't understand why Jongin was so persistent. She couldn't understand how well he could see through her. Jinri thought she was relatively good at concealing her emotions, although not as well as Soojung. 

"Why would you think I'm not okay? How are you so sure?" 

"I know you. I know you're okay and when you're not. I know when you're faking it, Jinri, because when you're unhappy, I'll do anything in the world to make you smile again." 

Jinri blushed unconsciously. How could he say such things without hesitation or embarrassment?

"So what's upsetting you?" 

"Nothing. I'm just a little tired... So how's everything for you at school?" 

Jongin wasn't quite ready to let Jinri bypass him with a simple fatigue excuse. There was something bothering her and he knew. He was itching to know, but he didn't want to press. So he swallowed the subject and moved on. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't come and see you last Tuesday. I had practice." 

"I know. Soojung told me." 

"Oh. I wish you could come see. I think you'd like it." 

"Soojung showed me a practice video." Jinri said flatly. 

"Really? What did you think?" Jongin leaned forward eagerly.

Jinri looked out the window, focusing on the small robin hopping around on the tree branch outside. 

It was good!

I loved it!

It was awesome!

"I didn't like it." 

Jongin was taken aback by her swift answer. Jinri felt horrible after seeing the dejected expression on his face, but bit her lip and kept her wits. She watched as Jongin swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing before he spoke.

"May I ask why?" 

"I just didn't." 

"Oh. Yeah, I guess. It's my first solo, so I probably looked really nervous and messed up a-" 

"Wait- You're talking about a solo?" 

"Well, yeah... What are you talking about?" 

Jinri flushed, furious with Soojung's deception. 

"Soojung showed me another video." 

"Which one are- Oh, you mean my duet?" 

"How'd you know?" 

"I only ever had two taken." 

"Oh."

"Then why didn't you like that one?" 

Jongin felt smug when he asked. He knew why. Even if Jinri's mind was rewinded to three years ago, she was still the same when she got jealous. Averted eyes, pouted lips and her cheeks would be a deep red. 

"I-I..." 

Jongin grinned and ruffled her hair playfully. 

"Hey!"

"Sorry. You're cute when you're jealous." he teased. 

"I'm not jealous!" she protested, heat rushing to her cheeks. 

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Which reminds me...." 

Jinri smoothed her hair as Jongin went into his bag, searching for something. 

"Here." 

Jinri held out her hand curiously as Jongin let a sparkling object drop into her hand. Upon inspection, it was a silver necklace with a delicate cream rose with two small pearls on each side serving as its ornament.

A long alarm of bells went off in her head, noises and images flashing through her mind as her head pounded. 

"It's really pissing down, isn't it?"

Pink box... Cream ribbon. 

Rose. 

Two pearls.

Park gazebo. 

"Put it on me." 

A kiss that tasted like rain. 

Truck speeding down the street uncontrollably. 

Jongin, get out of the way!

Pain. 

Blood.

Blurry images and voices flashed through Jinri's head, her brain pulsing painfully. She yelped in pain as she dropped the necklace onto her lap. She clutched the side of her head in pain, wordlessly screaming in confusion. 

August 1st. 

Silver chords. 

A beautiful fountain. 

A promise.

After failing to calm her, Jongin could only run into the hall, screaming frantically for a doctor.

A few sedatives later, Jinri was out cold.

***

Sleep did not come easy to Jinri for the next few days. Plagued by nightmares, she would wake up in a fright, sweaty and confused beyond measure. 

"Your brain's trying to heal itself. I suppose your friends and family have been bringing you reminders of your past life. Although the reminder effect does not reverse RA, it does help." 

It meant nightmares and sleepless nights for Jinri.

"You don't look good." 

Jongin had come on his daily visits to a paler than sheet Jinri with noticeable dark circles under her eyes. 

"I want to go outside. It's stuffy in here." 

"You know you can't take one step out of the hospital until next week."