WORDS. |Kim Seungmin

Forty One.

Cured.

Felix was cured in the most magical way ever. He was cured when he wasn't even looking for his Healer. He was cured where he never expected, when he never expected, by the one he never expected.

After crying for some time and hugging for more, the three friends stepped out of the studio to leave Felix and his Healer to have some privacy. Changbin rushed to his car to hide his crying self. Aria sat on a bench by the studio's garden to cry her heart out.

She was still in shock. She already cried in her brother's arms but she just couldn't stop. They almost gave up on finding his Healer years ago. They gave up on him being cured. She gave up on meeting her brother's chocolate eyes again. But then, miracles happen.

It happened right in front of them. Felix and Sky's eyes colors got merged, forming a new brown color, leaving the two with identical eye colors.

Aria was still sniffling when Seungmin approached her. He quietly sat beside her without saying a word. He was still uneasy about how she was ignoring him for the whole day. He knew he had to confront. He knew she had already revealed his last secret.

"Here." He said handing her a bottle of water.

She lifted her head and looked at his painted face. "Thanks." She said, receiving the bottle but never uncapped it or drank. She rested her back on the bench and wiped her face with the back of her hand as she was finally calming down. "I've never thought that we might find her like that."

"He's a lucky boy." Seungmin said with a broken smile.

Aria shifted in her place to face his side. "What about you? Aren't you lucky?" She asked and Seungmin stiffened. He knew she was looking at him but he couldn't face her. "You knew it, right? All that time, you knew." Aria's voice was shaking.

"I did." He confessed.

"Then why? Why didn't you tell me? When you could simply end all of this? When you could end your misery? Why do you keep torturing yourself?"

Seungmin knew he had to face this time. It was his last chance to let go of everything and tell her the whole story. He knew it from the second his eyes fell on his reflection in the mirror that morning and saw how his face had no trace of the words he talked the night before. He knew that she might have found it in a way.

Aria knew she had to face this time. It was the last chance she could give him. She wasn't planning on waiting for his clarifications anymore. She knew it from the second her skin brushed against his face the night before and she saw how the words disappeared where she touched him. She was startled. She was scared. She was confused. She didn't know what to think or how to act. That was until the earlier encounter helped her collect the pieces.

Sky's words about the inner voice telling her to take Felix's sunglasses off, just like how Aria's inner voice was telling her to touch Seungmin's skin. Sky getting frustrated for not being able to see Felix's eyes was the same as how Aria would feel every time Seungmin would step away from her touch.

It was her.

She was his Healer.

All that time she was his Healer. His cure was that close but he never used it. And obviously, he knew. Aria could understand now why he would always keep his distance and make sure their skins never meet.

"I told you," Seungmin said, lifting his face up to look at her. "The secret I had might scare you."

"Why would I get scared from being your Healer?"

"Because the secret is not only about you being my Healer." His voice was starting to get high and shaky. He was angry and scared. He was angry with himself and scared of what was coming next. "Do you think me being your neighbor, your classmate, and your regular customer, all was by coincidence?" He asked. His face was a mix of emotions. "I followed you, Aria. Once I found you are my Healer, I followed you."

"W-what? How? How did you find me? And.. and why didn't you tell me?" She stuttered.

"Do you think that a stranger walking up to you and telling you 'Hi, you are my Healer.' wouldn't have scared you? Especially, when I'm being punished for a crime, not a simple mistake?" He paused to look at her lost face. "Not all Punished are lucky like your brother, Aria."

"But we've been close for months now. You could've told me and I wouldn't've been that scared."

"I know. But I was the scared one." He looked down to his feet. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and inhaled loudly before he opens his eyes again, but never he dared to look back at Aria. "It all started when I came to the café for the first time and I saw you. I felt a strange pull to you as if you were some magnet to me. I couldn't take my eyes off you. I was afraid you might disappear if I even blinked. I found myself coming back the next day and it was the day I realized it was you. I was paying for my bubble tea when your hand brushed against mine. And when I went home, I found the words written there disappeared." He paused and chuckled lightly to himself before he resumes. "Magically, the next day you looked at me as if you knew me. You smiled at me warmly and I felt all my insides melt. I was sure. It was you."

Seungmin rubbed his face nervously. He still couldn't look at her. He was still afraid. He was even afraid that he might lift his head to find that she was already gone.

"And then I didn't know what I was doing. I caught myself following you. I caught myself moving to your neighborhood and changing universities and even specializations to be around you. At first, I blamed it on the bond of the Healer and the Punished. Then I started doubting myself. I started thinking it was just my greed and the want of being cured. I was disappointed in myself so I let it go and didn't do anything to get closer to you but at the same time, I couldn't help but come to the café again to see you. But my miracle happened when you ran after me that day and asked me to be your project partner."

He smiled. A beautiful enchanting smile. He smiled at the memory of how he felt that moment when she approached him. He smiled remembering how blessed he felt and how warmness took over his body again as if the sun was shining only on him. That day, hope sneaked into his hopeless heart again.

Seungmin was smiling, not knowing that tears were streaming down his face at the same time. He didn't know that the tingling in Aria's fingertips started to build up again. The inner voice was telling her to wipe his tears, to hug him tightly and to kiss away his pain.

"Finally, I got to know you." He resumed talking. "I got to know how beautiful you are, inside out. And that's when my fears and insecurities came back. I wasn't sure that I deserved to be healed, to be forgiven. I wasn't sure I deserved you. When I locked myself in my house and I did nothing but thinking, I came out with a conclusion. I was scared. I wasn't scared of not being healed. I was scared of losing you. Not the Healer you, but you." Seungmin shoved his head towards Aria and finally, his eyes met her crying ones. His broken smile, his tears, and his words all painted his face. "I was scared of losing the girl my heart is beating for."

Aria wanted to gasp but she couldn't. She wanted to sob but her cries came silent. She wanted to talk but her words were caught inside her throat. All she could do was to move closer to him, to lift her hand to his face and let her fingers hold his chin to pull his face to hers, allowing her tingling lips to land on his damp cheek in the softest kiss ever.

Seungmin didn't get startled. He didn't pull away or try to move. He felt right in all possible ways. That warmness filled his insides again. That calmness took over him and his whole body was melting under her touch. The touch he was depriving himself of for months now.

Aria pulled back when she felt the tingling fading away. She looked at his face to find the words fading slowly where her lips were resting for the past few seconds. Curious to see more of that magic, she started wiping and brushing all over his face with her hands, erasing all the words that were hiding his beautiful face. When his face was clear, she cupped his cheeks with her two hands, smiled at him then leaned in to place a peck on his other cheek, earning a soft giggle from the boy.

Once she pulled back, Seungmin quickly wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her into his embrace. The girl didn't waste any time before she returned the hug. Seungmin hummed in satisfaction, letting the new feeling fills his body and soul.

The feeling of being finally secure, safe, and complete.

He wasn't forgiven yet. He wasn't healed yet. He wasn't a Normal yet.

But he was planning to forgive himself. He wanted to be healed. He wanted to be a Normal again.

And all he needed to do that, was her. His Healer, his love.