Shall We? | NCT Lee Jeno ff

Chapter 22 - Hyun Nam

Hyun Nam thought she would wake up in a hospital bed. She tried to feel the hospital sheets beneath her and the oxygen mask on her mouth, but she didn't find them. She only found her bedroom covers and her soft pillow. Her eyes opened. The room was dark and was only lit up by a single lamp beside her. The rain she remembered was gone and all that was left was the moonlight. Had it been all a dream? Did she fall asleep when she came back from the dinner with Kang Dae and imagined all the dreadful things that had happened? She realized it wasn't a dream when she tried to move. Her back felt like it was stabbed more than a hundred times. She looked at her arms and saw it was covered with bandages. So it was real then. She was too focused on regaining her strength to sit up to see that there was a man fast asleep in one of her armchairs. He rested his eyes with no hint of worry or distress. His arms were folded in front of his body and by the sight of his idle silent body, Hyun Nam knew Jeno must've been asleep for quite a while.

Her eyes went to the clock on the wall. It was 1 am. She forgot that Father could be in the house and barge in her room at any moment, but it's been, she guessed, around 2 hours since she was brought here and Jeno was still safe from her merciless father. She realized that she wasn't wearing the dress she wore earlier, it was now her usual nightdress. Hyun Nam gasped and looked over to Jeno. Could it be that he-? She rolled her eyes at the absurd thought. She had quite a lot of maids who could help her out of her soaked gown. Her back's stinging pain fought with her wish to stand but her body urged her to stay strong. Her feet touched the cold marble floor, it sent chills through her whole body. The gardens looked exceptionally beautiful at night when all is dark and only the moonlight and lanterns lit it up. She remembered how she used to play in the gardens all the time with Mother. How they would plant fruits and vegetables on a little farm Father gave Hyun Nam when she was 5. Mother used to be often annoyed with her because she would always accidentally drop the seeds everywhere. Eunkyung and Ji Hyeon would help sometimes, too but they usually joined in when they were planting flowers or berries. The strawberries at the farm were the best. They were so sweet yet would make 5-year-old Hyun Nam's face pucker up because of the sourness.

"Stay in bed, your bruises are healing," Jeno whispered from behind her. She turned to see him standing up from the armchair. Stretching his arms out and entire body.

"Aren't you going home? It's 1 already, don't you have schedules today?" Hyun Nam asked, folding her arms to warm her body up from the cold of her room.

"I wanted to at around 12, but I fell asleep," he said and walked over to her side where he saw what she was staring at earlier. The two figures stood silently in front of the window. The boy stood with his arms folded like the girl. Some glances would be stolen, but in the end, the boy stared at the girl.

"I spent almost all my childhood in these gardens. My mom used to be at home more often so we spent a lot of time together there," the girl smiled and sat on the floor, her mouth curved into a smile but her eyes started to glisten, the moonlight reflecting from it. The boy sat down and continued to stare at the girl's side profile. The color that had been gone from her face when the boy met her a few hours ago was back, giving her rosy cheeks, one of the things the boy was staring at. The girl started to slowly fall apart. Her smile faded and denial had turned into acceptance. A tear streaked down her cheek which she wiped. Even when she was crying. Even when she was unconscious. Even when she just lost the person she loved the most. She managed to look beautiful, thought the boy. She sobbed without wiping her tears away, still looking at the garden. She brought her knees to her chest and her hands around her legs. The boy moved closer to the girl who was nervous to console her, afraid he was going to do something wrong. He looked at the girl as if asking for permission, before bringing one of her hands to the floor where he placed his on top of hers. The girl kept on crying, without looking over to the boy. Their hands slowly intertwined with each other. The girl squeezed it, trying to stop herself from crying again and staying strong but she couldn't. The boy inched closer to the girl and that was when the girl completed the gesture the boy was too afraid to do. She placed her head on his shoulder, her legs now extended out.

"She's really gone," she said through her now silent tears.

"I'm sorry," the boy whispered once more, resting his head on hers. 

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