The Red of the Rose | Taeyong

37 | Taeyong and Miah

Rain was pouring down and Miah walked around the puddles with an umbrella in her hand. She stopped at a florist and looked up at the sky before picking flowers.

'These ones,' she said, pointing to the red roses. Taeyong will like these ones  she said to herself.

She ran the rest of the way and arrived at the hospital. There was someone waiting for her on the seventh floor. Gently, she knocked on a door to her right but heard nothing.

'I'm back,' she announced entering the room but heard no reply. 'Sorry I am late but I got you flowers.'

There lay Taeyong in his bed, with his eyes shut. It has been a month since he has been in a coma.

On that fateful night, he was rushed to Johnny's family hospital in emergency but even after a successful surgery, Taeyong remained unconscious.

Doyoung was treated for his shoulder wound. Luckily, the bullet didn't hit any vital organ and he was discharged after a week of observation.

But Miah was inconsolable. Despite her own injuries, she refused to leave Taeyong's side. The doctor had to treat her wounds on the bench outside Taeyong's emergency room, where she sat in a daze till his surgery was completed.

Yuta, Jaehyun and Mark handled the situation with Young-ho. He was placed under arrest for kidnapping and assaulting Miah and for shooting Taeyong.

Taeyong's parents flew back home and stayed in the hospital for two weeks. They left after meeting with the doctors and Johnny's parents, to ensure that everything was in order after which they relied on constant updates directly from the doctor.

College was a little tricky to manage. At first, Taeyong's parents intervened asking for a formal leave but Doyoung had a better idea. Since Taeyong's work in different group projects was already done, Miah and the guys helped compile it for submission. They took Professor Moon's help to convince the other professors to allow such an exception. With the mid-terms already over and his projects in order, Taeyong had enough of the grade to at least pass the semester and given the circumstances, the professors allowed for a deferment of his final exams.

With everything in place and taken care of, the only thing that remained was Taeyong himself.

Miah stayed beside Taeyong throughout. She spent her hours in the hospital talking to him, telling him about her day and about what happened in class. Sometimes, she would even bring a book she thought he would like and read it to him. It was not easy to see him like this, but she never cried in front of him. She sat by his side day and night, patiently waiting for him to wake up because as long as Taeyong was still breathing, there was no way that she would lose hope.

On a late evening, after bidding Yuta and Jaehyun goodbye, Miah stepped out of the hospital room to bring fresh flowers. When she returned, she found a figure beside Taeyong's bed. It was Serin. Miah silently walked past her to the other side and set the flowers on a high desk beside the window.

Seeing Miah, Serin immediately got up from the chair and spoke hesitantly, 'Hi, I wanted to visit.'

'Want some coffee?' Miah asked, noticing Serin's sunken face.

'Hm, thank you.'

After some time, Miah brought two steaming cups of coffee. Serin was sitting on the couch beside the window now.

'It's hot, be careful,' Miah said, handing one of the cups to Serin, then sat beside her on the couch.

The only sound in the room was the beeping of the machines and the occasional sip of the hot coffee as the evening was setting in.