Shall We?

Four

"Your test results will be out in a week," her oncologist said to her.

Ha Eun nodded.

"Don't worry too much. It's just procedure," she added quickly, reassuring her.

"Thanks again, doctor," Ha Eun said appreciatively.

She left.

Ha Eun yawned on her way out, feeling extremely exhausted due to lack of sleep. What happened this morning made it even worst.

She spent the next few hours crying, while munching on her snacks. Ha Eun only managed to sleep for an hour before forcing herself to wake up for her appointment.

She looked terrible. Puffy eyes, dark circles and cheeks sunken.

Her encounter with Seung-hyun had made her more aware of her surroundings. She glanced over her shoulder a few times when she walking along the busy street, worried that he might be following her again.

Her odd behaviour had caused several onlookers stared at her. Feeling stupid, she entered a café and placed an order for a cup of strong coffee, as she needed one at the moment.

A cup of strong coffee on an empty stomach wasn't a good idea. By the time Ha Eun finished her coffee as she was about to leave, her knees almost buckled as she went weak when she saw a group of 5 friends entered the café.

She stumbled sideways, accidentally bumping against someone and to her horror, she felt down. Seung-hyun saw the whole thing, pretending not to be bothered. But his eyes darted towards her direction for a few times as Ha Eun apologized to the person she bumped into before rushing out quickly.

Forcing herself to walk a little further, Ha Eun entered a small alley which was her usual shortcut back to her place.

Light headed and giddy, she had to stop for awhile while searching for something to hold on before losing her balance.

Ha Eun felt a tight hold on her arms, stopping her her from falling to the ground and once again, she was surprised to see who it was.

"Let go," Ha Eun said rather weakly.

"And let you fall? As much as i want to see you getting hurt but i don't think that'd be appropriate since there are so many onlookers," Seung-hyun replied, half whispering.

True enough, her giddiness had attracted too much attention and one passerby even asked whether she was feeling okay or she needed to go to the hospital.

"Thank you, but it's okay," Seung-hyun told the lady, "She's with me."

Ha Eun gave up. The last thing she saw was his face and the last thing she heard was him calling out for her name.

That was it. Before she blacked out completely.

Waking up because of the bright light was irritating,but waking up because of the loud noise was another thing.

Ha Eun woke up with a start, when she felt her surroundings was familiar, and she was right. She woke up in an emergency room where she had been working at last night.

"Why am i here?" Ha Eun asked the nurse, panicking slightly.

"Doctor, you passed out on the streets," she replied.

Ha Eun almost cried out in exasperation.

"Who brought me here?" Ha Eun asked again.

"A man-"

That's it, she thought. Ha Eun removed the iv drip, her nurse looked scandalised and she tried to stop her from leaving.

"But, but, you don't look well enough to be discharged," the nurse said to her, "Your blood test isn't out yet!"

"It's okay. In two days time, I'm still coming back here anyway," Ha Eun said quickly, "Morning duty for the next 2 weeks."

"But-"

Ha Eun left the emergency room immediately, through the back door and went straight to the main road, hoping that she would be able go get a taxi before Seung-hyun found out that she went missing.

Lucky for her, a vacant taxi spotted her and Ha Eun left using it. Perhaps it was the coffee that made her feel restless and anxious. Or was it because of Seung-hyun.

By the time she reached out, she was completely worn out. Ha Eun went straight to bed without changing her clothes. Having no energy to do anything else, she fell asleep almost immediately to sound of her stomach grumbling.

"Will you marry me?" Seung-hyun's voice was heard.

"Luckily, it was only stage one but we won't take any chances as cancer cells could grow rapidly."

This time it was her oncologist.

The dream/memory made Ha Eun wept in her sleep.

"If only he knew," she mumbled incoherently.