Light A Flame || Hoshi

Chapter 18

Looking down on his pale figure, Jang-mi felt nothing but regret.

He looked oddly peaceful, nothing like the loud, commanding man she had come to know and hate. He seemed weak and helpless. She began lamenting in her head; what if she had known it sooner? Approached him herself? She pushed away those thoughts. They held no meaning anymore, not when he was within an inch of death.

The heart rate monitor rhythmically buzzed, its sound a melodic purr. His vitals were stable, at least. Maybe he'll live.

"You know," she muttered, half to herself. "It's hard to hate you when you're not talking," she smiled, sitting down next to him. "And- I'm sorry. I should've done something about this. The boys are all worried about you, you know. They left gifts and cards for you. Do you promise that you'll wake up? For their sake?"

She sighed. "I've been nothing but a bitch to you, and for that, I'm sorry. Not because you're in a coma and I'd never tell you if you were awake. This was long overdue,"

Jang-mi stood up. "Bye bye, Hoshi. And I'm sorry for everything," she said, turning around to leave, resigned. What she had failed to notice were the slowly rising peaks on the monitor screen.

As she was about to exit the room, some faint rustling happened behind her back, and a hoarse voice spoke up.

"Jah- Jang-mi?"

Her head whipped around. Hoshi's eyes slowly fluttered open, the glare of the lights clearly irritating his vision.

"Oh my god." she burst out, her eyes going wide. "You heard it all, didn't you?" she softened her tone, finding a glass of water for him to drink.  He nodded in response.

"Why are you always there to hear my monologues? It's like you just happen to be there every time,"

"Then maybe don't do one at the foot of my hospital bed?" he smiled weakly.

"Yeah, nah. I had that one coming," she admitted.

"How long has it been?"

"3 days. They'll either cancel the rest of the stops or proceed without you, no one's sure of what to do yet,"

"Where's Heejin?" he croaked.

"They took her away. She's under questioning right now, but they can't proceed without a translator present. I imagine when you get well enough you'll be asked for your statement too,"

He nodded again, wincing. "You know, you were right."

"In what sense?"

"You really were a bitch to me,"

She laughed at his response. There he was. Hoshi was back. "Do you want me to repeat that? Or can your ego work with one single confession?"

"I'm good for now. Someday later, I'll ask for the CCTV so I can catch you in the moment and replay it for hours and hours,"

"You like the sound of my voice that much, huh?" she smirked, putting his water back on the bedside table.

"Lucky for you, I never say my monologues out loud,"

"Huh. Guess I'll need to find out another way," she responded, slowly getting up to alert a nurse.

***
*3 months later*

Jang-mi sat on the couch, intently watching the video Coups was showing her.

"You and Kkuma edits?"

"Yeah! It's adorable, isn't it?" he said, zooming into a photo of Kkuma with a pink bow adorning her head.