━ 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆

09

Sooyoung pov:

"Ouch..." My head throbbed as I slowly opened my eyes. It was pitch dark in the room except for the monitor beside my bed. Almost instantly, the smell of disinfectant attacked my nose as I stifled a sneeze. I felt someone lying beside my bed and squinted to make out who it was. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that it was Chaewon. 

"Chae...won..." My throat was parched and I struggled to make the words out. 

"Huh- what-?" Chaewon woke up instantly and looked at me. Her mouth fell open.

"Sooyoung! You're awake!" She cried as she hugged me.

"Where am I?" My head was hurting badly and I was so confused. 

"You're in the hospital. You and Yeonjun got into a car accident a few days ago and went into a coma ever since." She replied, still holding my hand tightly as I saw her eyes begin to water. 

"Car accident...? The last thing I remember is Yeonjun and I being in the car. Wait there was another car that was driving towards us and then I can't remember... Where's Yeonjun?"

"Yeonjun is still unconscious. Soobin is with him, don't worry." Chaewon said. 

"I have to go see him," I said, as my tears threatened to fall. 

"Sooyoung don't. You just woke up, drink some water, it's on the table here. Let me inform the doctor first before you do anything else. He will know what to do." Chaewon quickly ran out of the room as my head began to hurt once more and I went back to my slumber.

~Time skip~

"Sooyoung, I missed you so much, my princess." I opened my eyes slowly and saw my mother standing beside my bed, weeping silently. "Mum..." I whispered. "She's awake again." I hear Chaewon say as she helped me to sit up slightly, propping up a pillow for me. 

I held my mother's hand that had wrinkled with age and we hugged between lots of tears. 

"I'm ok mum, don't cry already ok?" I said between sniffles, wiping her tears away with my thumb. 

She looked frailer since the time I saw her before the accident. My heart ached to see my mother like that. She used to look so youthful and people always said she aged backward, looking prettier each year. But with all the worries she has had recently, her white hair was showing and she looked weaker. 

Soobin pov:

"Soobin? Is...that you..?" A voice called out weakly and I jolted awake. 

"Yeonjun! You finally woke up!" I exclaimed as I shed tears of joy.

"Woke up? What do you mean? Where am I?" He asked, looking around in confusion, wincing as he held his head. 

"You and Sooyoung got into a car accident a few days ago and went into a coma. You're in the hospital." I informed him as he looked even more confused. 

Then he said something that made my heart skip a beat. "Soo..young..? Who's that?"

My throat was dry and I couldn't process what he just said. The way he pronounced Sooyoung's name sounded so foreign and would make others think that he didn't know her at all.

"She's your fiancée. Stop joking around already." I laughed, trying to convince myself that he remembered Sooyoung. 

"My fiancée? Since when did I have a fiancée?" He looked genuinely confused. 

My stomach twisted. 

No. 

Just no.

 He couldn't have forgotten Sooyoung. 

He must have noticed my expression as he asked me worriedly "Soobin, are you ok? You don't seem fine. Your face is so pale all of a sudden." 

"Huh- oh it's fine, I'm ok, I'll go out for a while, get some rest if you need it." I stuttered as I managed to pull myself up and walk out of the ward, collapsing on a chair outside. 

Chaewon.  She would know what to do. I quickly called her to come over and she came running over a few minutes later, breathless. "Yeonjun woke up already, but..." I couldn't bring myself to utter those words. 

"But what?" Chaewon said as she tilted her head slightly in confusion. 

"He doesn't remember Sooyoung."  

Chaewon pov:

"He doesn't remember Sooyoung."

I felt my stomach plunge as I heard those words. My mouth was dry as I struggled to digest what Soobin just said. Nonononono. He couldn't have forgotten my bestie, his soulmate. 

I asked Soobin to call for the doctor as I slid onto a chair, still processing the news. 

"We should ask the doctor to confirm if it is normal." That was all I could utter out as Soobin went to get the doctor.

After a few minutes, the doctor came and I stood up shakily and shook his hand. "Good morning doctor, my wife and I are good friends with the patient and we would like to know if memory loss is a normal side effect," Soobin asked as I couldn't make out a word at all.

 The doctor nodded his head and I wasn't ready to hear what he said next. "Yes, it's normal, don't worry. Patients that suffer rather serious injuries to their heads tend to forget some things. Their memories would take around a week or even a year to get back. It depends on patient to patient. They usually get their memories back when something important triggers the brain." 

He concluded as I asked, "How much of his memory did he lose? Just now when my husband asked the patient about his fiancée which he met 6 years ago and he didn't remember her at all." 

I must have sounded panicky as Soobin wrapped an arm around my shoulders to comfort me. "The memories that the patient has lost might date back to 6 years ago. If that's the case, the best solution is to bring him back to the places visited before to jog his memories when he is ready to be discharged."

 The doctor suggested as both Soobin and I nodded our heads. 

We were scared, scared that our best friend would take a long time to remember Sooyoung.

I sat back down slowly, rubbing my temples in despair. Sooyoung had been begging me to take her to Yeonjun. If she knew he didn't remember her, she might not be able to take the blow. 

With a heavy heart, I returned to Sooyoung's ward. She was much happier now after seeing her mum and I didn't want to make her upset all over again by telling her the bad news. She hadn't smiled so much in a day and my heart ached when I thought of her heartbroken expression when I broke the news to her. The least I could tell her was that Yeonjun was awake and fine so she would not worry herself thinking about him.

Knocking softly on the door, I walked in the find Sooyoung smiling at me. That made my heart sink even further. 

I must have had a strange expression on my face as she frowned slightly and asked with a concerned tone to her voice, "Chaewon, are you alright, your face seems kind of ashen. Did anything bad happen?" 

"Oh, it's nothing bad. I went to see Yeonjun just now because Soobin said he was awake. He's fine right now so you don't need to worry!" I smiled widely, my eyes not meeting her gaze. 

"He's awake?" She exclaimed as I nodded my head in reply. Her eyes shone with happy tears and I felt an instant pang of guilt for some reason. 

Maybe I should tell her...but if I did, she would be so upset... I was stuck in a dilemma as she tilted her head slightly.

 "Chaewon, are you sure there's nothing wrong?" 

"Oh uh- ya, nothing's wrong." I smiled as I hurriedly hugged her to prevent her from asking any more questions. 

I knew the answers to her questions, but I didn't feel like she was ready to hear it. 

🍒 ⋆ 🍇 🎀 𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔❢ 🎀 🍇 ⋆ 🍒