Epilogue | 1

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Sunoo had walked long along the road before he eventually reached a small town. His arms were sore and numb from having carried Lin the whole way. He had sought out the first medical clinic he had come across and begged them to take a look at his girlfriend, that she had been brutally raped.

They were both transported back to Seoul in an ambulance. Lin in a hospital bed, and Sunoo sitting beside her, a shock blanket wrapped around him as he kept his eyes fixated on her face. He had swayed along with the bumps of the ambulance, not minding any of them.

Someone had given him the date when they had arrived at the hospital in Seoul. They had been gone for a toal of nine days. Lin's parents had gone to visit her in the hospital the moment they got the news, thanking Sunoo for having carried her all the way to the nearest medical facility.

It all just seemed too bitter sweet for Sunoo. He didn't liked how they thanked him for bringing their daughter into the place she got so injured. But he still visited her. He brought her a perfectly white Lily everytime he went, and she had slowly gathered them in a small vase, with a total of seven Lilies.

"I remember what happened when we got out," Lin had revealed on Sunoo's eigth day of visiting, making him quietly nod and look down at his hands. 

Lin was yet to sit up, so he couldn't sit in the bed with her and were forced to a chair much lower than the bed. 

"They knew who you were," Lin murmured quietly with a frown on her face, a stray tear rolling over her cheek, "you did this."

"I didn't," Sunoo shook his head quietly.

"You did... you had an agreement with them. You had something that could let you out, and none of us," Lin reminded quietly and Sunoo just nodded, "how?"

"I... when I used the app for the first time," he sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I used it on you, you know that. But uhm... they contacted me, threatened me. I had to bring the others with me," he whispered and Lin frowned, "you don't get it."

"Then explain it better to me," Lin whispered with her frown etched into her face, "why did you do it?"

"They started by threatening me with hurting you. Sending me your address and secret pictures taken of you on your way home from school," he whispered, "they said they would only let you be if I found a group for them to play a game with them. I didn't think... I didn't know it would be the game of tag they meant. I just wanted to keep you safe... I didn't know they would do it on the roadtrip, I didn't know people would die."

"Five of our friends died," Lin reminded and Sunoo immediately nodded as he looked down at the floor between his feet, "you caused their death Sunoo."

"Don't say that," he whispered quietly and dried his eyes with the back of one of his hands.

"You did," she whispered, "you betrayed our friendship, you killed them."

"I didn't want any of them to die," he shook his head.

"But they did," Lin persisted and Sunoo immediately looked away from her bed, "you started therapy sessions, didn't you?"

"I did," he hummed quietly and she nodded.

"What do you tell them?" she whispered.

"That I indirectly helped with the murder of five of my friends, without knowing," he whispered quietly and leaned back in his chair, still looking down at his hands.

"I don't want you to come and visit me anymore," Lin whispered and Sunoo looked up at her in bewilderment, "I need time to heal... and even thinking about forgiving you is making me sick."

"Are you sure it's not the antibiotics?" Sunoo hesitantly questioned and Lin only nodded in return.

"I am completely sure it's not the antibiotics," she hummed and rolled over on her back, crossing her arms over her chest, "do you remember what I told you on the rooftop of school?"

"You told me many things," Sunoo reminded as he folded his hands in his lap, "can you be more specific?"

"I told you one of my biggest wishes and goals with my life," Lin calmly spoke and Sunoo quietly nodded as her exact words hit him.

"You wanted to live a traditional life... get married, have children, but still be independent and work a job where you'll earn more money than your spouse," Sunoo reminisced the exact words, not delivering them in the same way as they had been delivered to him. That time she had sat with a smug smile on her face, almost as if she was teasing him and testing if he'd be alright with that if they lasted that long. He was always alright with that, he just wanted her.

"That's right," Lin nodded in return, "they gave me a Hysterectomy for my injuries after the rape. Do you know what that is?"

"I don't... no..." Sunoo murmured and looked down once again, instead of looking at Lin's side profile, that was no less than perfect in his eyes.

"They removed my uterus... so I can never have kids myself," Lin calmly replied, "and it's the fewest men that's alright with their significant other not being able to give them their child, and just adopting instead."

"I would be just as happy with that," Sunoo reminded and Lin shook her head.

"You're not part of the equation, Sunoo," she calmly spoke making Sunoo's heart sink down to his feet, "you haven't been since I found out. You'll never be part of that equation again. So I want you to do as I asked you to, and don't come visit me again. I told mom I wanted to move out of the country after what happened, and we are," she whispered, "we don't know where yet. But we'll begin packing once I've been discharged."

"Alright..." Sunoo murmured quietly as he nodded and got up from his chair, "can I say goodbye to you properly?"

"What does that imply?"

"Can I at least peck your cheek one last time?"

It was silent as Lin eyed him with squinted eyes, before eventually shrugging.

Quietly Sunoo bent down and pecked her cheek softly, running his fingers over the spot he had kissed on her cheek, before turning around and beginning to walk towards the exit.

"I won't tell anyone what you did to us, as long as you promise to stay away from me," Lin spoke up as Sunoo grabbed the doorknob.

"Doesn't change the fact that I will continue to love you," Sunoo reminded and Lin simply shrugged as she frowned at the ceiling above her.

"I still love you, but I'm not gonna change my decision," Lin admitted, "and... for Jiyeon's funeral, I want you to sit in the opposite end of the church. Got it? Nowhere near me."

"She was just as much my friend as she was yours," Sunoo reminded and Lin shook her head.

"Not after you betrayed her like that," Lin reminded, "now go before I call the doctor in and tell him you're bothering me."

True to his words, Sunoo never returned after he had left that day. Not even at Jiyeon's funeral did he near Lin one bit. He sat at a reasonable distance and made sure to go nowhere near where she stood. Even after the service he went straight home instead of staying and talking with the few of his friends that had made it out.

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