Do You Remember? (EXO Chen)

Memory Lane

"Holly! Ya Holly!"

Someone kept on calling my voice over and over again. I wanted to respond, but it felt like there was tape over my mouth.

"Go and get some sleep. I'll call you when she wakes up," another voice spoke up.

No. Don't leave, Chen.

That was all I thought of before I fell back into darkness.

~~~

There was a bright light shining through my eyelids. Why was it so bright? I struggled to open my eyes, and saw the blinds drawn wide open. The sunlight was streaming through, and I vaguely remembered that it wasn't that bright the last time I saw outside.

Sophia was sleeping in one of the chairs right under the window, her eyelids fluttering. She had dropped her bag, and it laid on the floor, along with her jacket.

Feeling a slight movement by my right arm, I sat up slowly. Chen was leaning against the edge of the bed, also sleeping. I could hear his soft breaths, and resisted the urge to pat his hair.

I looked around, and realized I was in a hospital room. I saw my phone by my bedside, and checked it. 3 new messages and 1 missed call. I had only been out for 1 hour, which was relieving.

"Holly?" Chen stirred, peering up at me with his perfect eyes. He sat up when he realized I was awake, and observed me silently.

"You don't have to be here," I whispered, careful not to wake Sophia, "don't you have a lot of schedules to go to?"

He shook his head, his eyes not leaving my face, "my manager already took care of all that."

"Why are you here? I'm fine," I gently prodded, "I don't want to cause you any trouble."

"You don't....." he trailed off, "why did you stay up so late to practice?"

"I wanted to do well," I whispered, smiling warily.

"But your health is more important," he objected.

I smiled, "thanks for worrying about me, Jongdae."

"Don't....." he started, and I was alarmed to hear that his voice was shaking, "please don't do that again."

"I won't. Ya, why are you like this? This is all my fault, not yours," I replied gently.

"This....this reminds me too much of what happened 3 years ago...." his eyes glazed over, as if he was seeing something that wasn't there anymore.

"3 years ago?" I echoed, "what happened?"

Before he could reply, my phone started ringing. I hastily answered the Skype call, shooting a panicked glance at Sophia. Thankfully, she seemed to be sleeping deeply.

"Holly! I heard from Sophia! Are you alright?" my aunt asked frantically.

"I'm alright, so don't worry. I just didn't have enough sleep," I gently reassured her. Beside me, Chen respectfully bowed towards my aunt.

"Ah, anyounghaseyo," my aunt waved to him. Since when could she speak Korean?

"Nice to meet you," Chen respectfully replied, bowing once more.

"Were you the one who brought Holly to the hospital?" my aunt asked. He nodded, and my aunt let out a sigh of relief, "thank goodness you were there!"

"Auntie!" I interrupted, "don't worry, okay?"

"Do you remember?" she asked urgently. I blinked, and stared blankly at her. Chen shot me an alarmed glance.

"Remember what?" I asked, confused.

"Your lost memory," my aunt repeated. I widened my eyes at the fact that she had said that in front of Chen.

I shook my head silently, "but I already know the whole story, right?"

My aunt bit her lip, but just nodded in reply.

"Isn't it time for you to go to work now? Please get going," I chided her, "I'll be discharged in a jiffy, so don't worry."

"Don't overwork yourself again, or else I'm bringing you back here," my aunt warned.

I nodded, and she searched my eyes before hesitantly starting again, "I told your mom."

"What?" I replied, my mind going blank.

"She deserves to know. She's really worried, so please talk to her," my aunt explained.

"I'll try," I replied abruptly. My aunt let out a sigh of relief, and waved goodbye. Chen and I waved back, and we disconnected. I placed my phone on the bedside again, and blankly met Chen's eyes.

"Lost memory?" he repeated, confused, "did you have amnesia before?"

"Not really......" I observed him warily, "14 years ago, I was involved in a car accident and didn't have any memory of the accident. But the doctors said I could get it back at any time."

"But didn't you aunt tell you what happened, then?" Chen frowned.

"I feel like she changed the story," I replied faintly. Meeting Chen's eyes, I shrugged, "maybe I'm just over thinking it."

"Ah, I see," he replied simply, and we both fell silent.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" I offered. I felt like there were so many things to say, but this wasn't the place to say them. I was too scared Sophia would wake up.

"Can you...?" he glanced at me worriedly.

I slowly stood up, with Chen hovering beside me. Walking a few steps, I smiled, "yeah, I feel fine."

We headed to the rooftop of the hospital, where there was a beautiful garden. There were multiple benches there, and we sat down on one that overlooked the rest of the city. I felt like we were so high up.

"My younger sister died in that accident," I found myself saying. At that moment, it no longer felt like I was there anymore. Like there was someone else talking for me, spilling out the whole story to Chen.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, making my heart flutter. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes, and fixed my eyes to a tall building in the distance so I wouldn't look at him and cry.

"I can't remember what happened. But my sister died, and I made it out alive. With my dad," I said flatly.

"But that's not....you live with your aunt, right? So did your parents...." Chen trailed off uncertainly.

"I live with my aunt, because I don't want to see my mom," I bitterly replied, "it was her fault. I couldn't face my dad either. I couldn't look at either of them in the eye."

Wordlessly, Chen pulled me into a hug. I closed my eyes, taking comfort in his warmth.

"Me too, three years ago," he started quietly, "I think I understand why you can't face your parents. I can't face her the same way."

"What happened?" I asked, pulling back slightly so I could look into his eyes.

"I was dating someone before I began training as an idol," he started. A part of me died from those words, but I didn't say anything about it.

"When I started training, she said that I was becoming too distant. More concerned about training than her. We broke up," he continued.

"Then three years ago, I received a call from her mom," he trained his eyes on me, "saying that she attempted to commit suicide. Because of me."