Lost Butterfly

01: You and I

The tall man in a suit walked in a private room, although he was dressed finely, his face was haggard and there were noticeable dark bags under his ocean-coloured eyes. In front of him was a frail, sickly woman leaning against the hospital bed that had been rotated up.

“Hea.”

The woman with bandages wrapped around her body slowly turned around to look at the exhausted man yet his eyes were gentle as ever. She nodded slightly to greet him.

“Koon-ssi, you are here.”

Hearing her weak and hoarse voice, Koon Hyun lowered his eyes as he tightened his lips. This woman, Cheong Hea, that he had cherished had turned out like this because of his own misjudgement. Seeing her in this state slowly killed a part of him one by one as days passed by.

He walked up and took a seat beside the hospital bed. He looked at the bowl full of fruits on the small table and picked up a red apple. He grabbed the fruit knife and began to cut the apple into pieces.

“How are you feeling today? Does your head still hurt a lot?”

Cheong Hea shook her head and smiled faintly. “Not anymore. Thank you for asking.”

She still spoke formally to him, Koon Hyun held in a sigh. Nonetheless, he smiled back at her. He felt relieved that she wasn’t in as much pain as yesterday. Just remembering what had happened the day before made him want to tear up, she almost gave him a heart attack.

“Mm, that’s great to hear. If you’re feeling hurt, let me know, okay?”

“Of course, Koon-ssi.”

“Have some apples.”

Cheong Hea watched as the man gently fed her the apple pieces he had cut. She couldn’t help but think that he was very cute when she saw that they were cut into the shape of a rabbit.

When she woke up in a hospital not long ago, this man sat beside her, looking so excited and relieved. He kept calling her a name she didn’t recognise. Then she realised that it could have been her name. That shocked her because she couldn’t seem to remember anything, whether it was her family, friends, or her own life.

She wasn’t able to speak but as time went by, her throat slowly recovered. The first thing she said to the unfamiliar man was: “What’s your name?”

That seemed to have affected the man heavily as he looked like he had heard a funny joke. He took a step back in disbelief and asked her over and over again if she was being serious.

“Hea, don’t fool around. You—Is this one of your silly pranks again? You’re joking with me, right?” 

“Hea…” She uttered the name. “I presume it’s my name? What’s my surname then?”

Those words that came out of her confirmed the thought that he feared the most but he didn’t dare to accept the fact yet. He immediately called a doctor and the doctor began to ask questions to the patient to analyse her condition. After what seemed to be an eternity, he silently walked out of the room and disappeared.

The doctor looked at the patient with sympathy before leaving her alone to rest.

So I have amnesia which I got from being in an accident…and my name is Cheong Hea.

Then…who was he? What was he to her to look so defeated and heartbroken?

Her question was soon answered when the man returned. Sitting in a chair beside the bed, he stared at her with love as he opened his mouth to speak.

“You are the love of my life, my wife, and my partner in crime.” He chuckled at the last words. 

It seemed like they have had fun memories before. This made her sad and sorry that she couldn’t remember anything of those memories. Though, never did she expect that the man she was curious about was her husband.