Stay Alive | MYG ✅

Chapter Eight

Yoongi's POV

Knowing that Hayley should be getting out of work soon, I head over to offer her a ride home and see if she will at least talk to me. I'm angry and disappointed, but I still love her at the end of the day. Waiting at the curb, the minutes pass, and still no Hayley.

"Fuck it," I say as I get out of my car and approach the restaurant, but as I approach the entrance doors, I notice her friend Ji-Hu leaving the building.

"Hi, umm, you're Ji-Hu, right?"

He looks at me in shock, obviously recognizing me. "Umm, yes?" he asks confused.

"I'm looking for Hayley. I was going to offer her a ride home....is she working late?"

"You..." Ji-Hu half whispers as he looks past me at my SUV and then back at me.

I cock an eyebrow at him, "Me, what?"

"You! You have got to be kidding me! You are the mystery person who broke her heart?" he says indignantly. "It all makes sense now! Hiding in your SUV when you pick her up, the big muscle man at the club, the reason why she never shared who had been making her so happy!"

"I, uhh..." I reply, taken aback.

"I'm not stupid!" he breathes out. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! She ghosted me! I just want closure..." I admit, which I know is crazy because this man could splash this information across the internet within a matter of minutes.

"Really?" he says sarcastically.

"I love her. I NEED closure. She broke my heart. You know what it's like to be utterly in love with her, don't you?" I reply as I appeal to his reasonable side.

Ji-Hu stares at me in disbelief for what feels like forever before he looks down at his feet. "I...I do know," he says lowly. "We were unusually slow at the restaurant, so she went home earlier in the day."

"Thank you," I say slowly as I begin to walk away.

"Hey, whatever you do. Could you try and fix whatever broke her -because my heart is breaking to see her like this," he says quietly. "She doesn't have to love me, but I need her to at least love herself."

I look back at this man who seems to be wearing his heart on in sleeve just as much as I am, and I can appreciate that, "You're a good man, Ji-Hu."

He nods at me quietly with a mutual understanding, and I walk to my car with a new found determination to locate Hayley and sort things out no matter how much it might further hurt my heart.

When I press my finger against the call box to see if Hayley will buzz me in but to no avail, she doesn't answer. Frustrated, I brush my hands through my hair, trying to figure out my next move.

Maybe she went out?

Something feels so off, I can't explain it, but my gut seems to be leading my feet, and I find myself making my way around the building until I reach the windows that look into her kitchen. Placing my hands against the glass, I stand, peering in, only to see Hayley's form on the kitchen floor.

"Noooo, noooo," the words come out of me in a flurry of panic. "HAYLEY!" I yell as I knock on the window, only to see Smudge trying to nudge her awake with the top of her tiny black head, which sends the alarm bells off inside my brain even more.

Adrenaline kicks in, and I find myself running toward the entrance of the apartment building and arrive just in time to catch the door before it locks shut as a resident is leaving. Sprinting down the hallway, I slide to a stop in front of her door and banging on it, hoping to wake her. I hear Smudge crying out meows. "SMUDGE!" I cry out as I push against the door, my mind a wild frenzy when I reach down only to find the door unlocked.

"Oh my God," the words tumble out of me in shock as I slam the door shut behind me and run toward my love.

"Hayley! Hayley!" I cry only to have her eyes flutter open, and she looks at me in confusion.

"Yoongi?" she says while her hand goes to her forehead and holds it as if trying to hold her skull together.

"Hayley! You scared me!" I am finally able to say as I try and calm down. "What...what happened?"

"I uh, I don't know. I was just having a big cry, and I think I blacked out."

"I'll call an ambulance. Fuck, I should have done that first. I was panicked," I breathe out as I grab my phone.

"Don't. Please, don't.." she says quietly as she tries to sit up, only to grasp her forehead again and then start to lay back down.

I scoot forward so her head rests on my leg like a pillow and push the hair out of her face, "But I think you need help, Hayley...."

"You know, I got this bad migraine, and everything went black, but I stopped taking my meds recently, and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have done that...."

"Wait, you went off all your medication at once! Just like that, cold turkey? That's dangerous. You have to wean off pills if you make that decision. Why didn't you talk to the doctor?"

"I've been such a mess," she tries to cry but no tears come. It's as if she has none left in her. "Why are you even here?"

"Because you broke my heart in a million pieces when you shut me out without explaining why. I can't keep going like this. I need you to help me understand, or I'll never move on. It's too much to bear," I explain honestly.

"I heard your phone call. You said our night in bed together was enough fuel for a new album. That you finally had 'stories' that your 'mission was accomplished' like I was nothing but a distraction to come up with new storylines," she says, her lip trembling, looking away from my eyes. "I don't deserve this, but I should have known there was a reason you were wasting your time with someone average like me..." she says bitterly and broken.

"No, oh my God, no," I say softly as I brush my fingertips through her hair, and Smudge appears next to us, carefully approaching Hayley to ensure she is okay. "I just meant you have filled my creative cup because I've never felt this way about someone before. I can't help but have those feelings spill into my work. God, woman, can't you see that I fell for you the minute you tried to give me the last rameyon as if I'd never eat again if I didn't have it? You reminded me of my friends at the restaurant. You wanted to take care of me, without knowing who I am, and that only made you more endeared to me."

"Oh...what? No?"

"Yes, yes," I say, placing soft kisses across her knuckles.

"Wait! What?" she says, surprised as she tries to wrap her head around all that has happened. Smudge crawls carefully up her and then pokes her little black nose onto Hayley's, and it may be the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

"She's okay, Smudge. We're all going to be okay," I soothe her as I stroke her fur to let her know she doesn't have to worry anymore. "You know the person on the other of the phone asked me if I was in love, and I just replied 'mission accomplished' because I was afraid to say the words and jinx us ~and look, it jinxed us anyway," I scoff. "I love you, and I want to date exclusively. I can't lose you again."

"I'm so sorry," she says softly. "I should have asked you about that phone call. I guess I was waiting this whole time for the other shoe to drop because I haven't felt deserving of you."

"We'll work on that, but first, we are going to call your doctor and see about your condition. Please, I need you to stay alive for a long time to come."

"Okay," she whispers. "Oh, and Yoongi, I love you too...."

Leaning down, I place a soft kiss on her forehead and then take my cell phone out of my pocket to place a call to the doctor so I can take care of this woman that I never want walking out of my life ever again.