𝗯𝘆 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲. . . lee heeseung ✔

twenty two

[ . . . ]

HEESEUNG PUSHED PAST THE PEOPLE IN HIS WAY, NOT CARING ABOUT HURTING ANYONE. Shouts of protests echoed behind him, but he could not care less, his mind fixated on one thing ( Jiyeon ). He had not been allowed to see her, the doctors and nurses telling him that she needed to rest. 

Coming to a halt outside of her room, Heeseung slowly opened the door. 

It was there he saw her. Skin a tad paler, but other than that she looked fine, better even. Her eyes held life he had never seen before, there was a smile on her lips, a genuine smile. Those were rare. Seldom had he ever seen her genuine smile, and if he did, it was in private, where no other could see. Her smile had been reserved for him, only for his eyes to see. But of course, she could not remember that. 

'Jiyeon?'

And when her eyes met his. The air left his lungs, throat tight and mouth too dry to form words. Heeseung was not sure whether he should laugh out of happiness or cry, because he had missed her. He had been more than worried, going through every possible scenario in his head before arriving at the hospital. 

'I'll leave you two alone,' the nurse said, a warm smile on her lips. 

Without further warning, she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. 

'Oh. . . Jiyeon. . .' Heeseung trailed off and walked over to her, hands finding her cheeks. 

Taken aback by his sudden closeness, Jiyeon jerked back, away from his touch. 

Hurt flashed across his eyes for a split second. 

'I'm sorry I━' Jiyeon cut herself off, a nervous chuckle leaving her lips. 'Who are you?'

Expression falling, heart breaking, Heeseung cleared his throat. 'You don't remember me?'

A look of pity stretched across Jiyeon's face. 'No. . . I'm sorry.'

'It's okay,' he uttered without a second thought. 'Really, it's fine.'

'Are you sure?' Jiyeon inquired. 

'Yeah.' He nodded. 'I'm sure. You can't help it. . .'

'Yeah. . .' she chuckled. 'I can't.'

'I'm sorry for touching you like that. I didn't reali━'

'It's all right,' Jiyeon cut him off, lips forming a thin smile. 'I can imagine it must be hard for you. We were probably close before it all happened.'

'Yeah, we were.'

His mind wandered to the memories he and Jiyeon shared, causing a smile to spread on his lips. 

'How close were we?' Jiyeon asked, leaning a bit closer, noticing the wistful smile on his lips. 

'Very close,' Heeseung answered. 

'I can tell,' Jiyeon muttered. 'You have that look on your face. . . as if you are talking about an old lover.'

'An old lover?' Heeseung raised an eyebrow. 

'Yeah,' she laughed and Heeseung could've sworn he went to heaven for a split second. 'I can see why I used to love you. You have a pretty face. . . kissable lips. . . a beautiful voice and you seem to care deeply for me. I respect that.'

Heeseung's cheeks flared up in heat, never had he seen Jiyeon so bold before. . . That memory loss seemed to have changed her. While he knew it was Jiyeon he was standing in front of, it wasn't the old Jiyeon. No, this Jiyeon wasn't plagued by the demons in her own mind, this Jiyeon seemed happier, far happier. 

'Thank you, Jiyeon,' Heeseung nodded. 

'No worries, anytime━' she cut herself off, not knowing what his name was. 'I'm sorry, I don't remember your name.'

'It's fine,' he said. 'Don't worry about it.'

'Okay,' she nodded. 'Okay. . . uhm. . . The nurse said you knew what happened to me.'

'Oh,' Heeseung uttered. 'Yeah, I was there. . .'

'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to━' Jiyeon quickly said, eyes wide.

'No, no, no, I'm just not sure if you want to know,' Heeseung told her. 

'Well. . . I'd like to know what happened,' Jiyeon said.

'Okay,' Heeseung hastily nodded. 'Uhm━ okay.'

And so he proceeded to tell her, watching her face turn into one of confusion. He had deliberately left out details about her past life, not knowing if she wanted him to talk about her past self too or not. 

'Thank you for telling me. . .' Jiyeon trailed off.

Heeseung could see the uncertainty on her face. Not that he could blame her, nor expected her to react any other way. None of her living family members had bothered to visit her, it was only Heeseung and unfortunately, Heeseung had not been a part of her whole life. As much as he wished to tell her about her past life, he couldn't. He could only tell her about the moments they had shared together. And he wasn't sure if Jiyeon wanted those moments. Hell, he wasn't even sure if she still wanted him. 

All he could do was hope for the best. 

[ . . . ]