forget-me-not || lee dohwa

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐝

That's the Kind of Heartbreak Time Could Never Mend

After Namju left, the days literally flipped by.

Dohwa spent every chance he got at trying to reach the library while clutching the faded polaroid in his hand. Unfortunately, the Writer made his feet move towards Juda, hovering around her like the guardian angel he was meant to be and thwarting the bullies' schemes that had increased multifold as Juda was now vulnerable in the absence of her knight-in-shining-armour.

Eun Danoh's prolonged absence in the rapidly moving timeframe made Dohwa guess that she was stuck in the hospital. His doubts were confirmed when his brother came home one night, wearing a grim face, offhandedly mentioning how Baek Kyung hadn't left her side, waiting for her to wake up.

However, Dohwa could only think about how worried and anxious Haru must be. As he paced up and down the A3 room, a thought slowly crept up in the back of Dohwa's mind. Baek Kyung must be suffering too. Like Gyeoul had said, his life was entwined with Danoh's. If her story changed, so did his. The more Dohwa thought about it, the more he realized why Baek Kyung had been stubborn about not wanting the Stage to change and why he felt animosity towards Haru.

Why couldn't he just act like a normal human and ask for help, Dohwa thought to himself, not wanting to justify his friend's actions. "We're not friends," Baek Kyung's angry, bitter voice rang in his ears and Dohwa felt a sliver of hurt. Dohwa and Danoh hadn't spent a long time in disowning their memories and their actions—those belonged more to the Writer than them. Baek Kyung, however, lived in the past. He was drowning in his memories. It made Dohwa toy with the idea of reaching out to him.

He padded across the school corridors, hypervigilant of his surroundings in case he walked past Gyeoul by accident again. The pain in her tone when he had failed to recognize her still echoed in his heart.

It always seemed as if his heart was aware of everything about her even before he was.

He missed her. His Gyeoul. He missed the way her presence filled the hollow in his chest and the warmth that took over him when he walked beside her. He missed the joy he felt when he saw her waiting for him and the way she called his name every time he found her. He missed everything about her despite not remembering what she looked like.

The walls around him flickered and in a blink of an eye, Dohwa was back home. His brother was at the dining table all alone, bent over a thick file, interlocked hands pressed against his troubled forehead. Dohwa heard him mumble about how he was afraid Danoh didn't have much time.

He blinked again and found himself eyeing Juda wistfully from the school terrace as she tried to distract her by watering the plants. Once the short Stage ended, Dohwa felt the actual panic rise in him as he hurried to find Haru. As it turned out, the boy was looking for him too.

"Dohwa," he said, trying to swallow his growing concerns, "have you seen Danoh?"

"My brother said she's in the hospital," Dohwa placed his hand on Haru's shoulder, "You should go to her quickly. She might need help." Haru didn't need to be told twice.

However, time, apart from the Writer, wasn't on their side. Ten minutes later, the scene changed. They were halfway through the month already but Dohwa could have sworn that he had seen the calendar in his room say October 1st two days ago. He sat somewhere in the middle of the benches in the Music Room, sighing defeatedly as he picked up his violin.

Blink. He was walking beside Juda, helping her by carrying lab equipment.

Blink. He was playing violin in an empty classroom.