1996 | Y.Jw

| 2.24 |

"It'll be over soon," he softly assured, to which I only nodded, "you look tired..."

"But..." I trailed off as a small smile spread on my face, almost mischevious, "I'm still beautiful, right?"

"Of course," he hummed and reached up to brush my hair back over my shoulder, "always."

"Kiss," I whispered and he immediately grinned widely.

Jungwon sat up immediately, looking down at my face before kissing me softly. It was as if I hadn't just woken him up from the best sleep he had gotten in a while.

"You were magnificent last night," he whispered quietly as I moved a bit back on the bed and he laid his head down just in front of mine, "even though you had me panicking."

"Sorry," I whispered and he shook his head quietly.

"I think we can be assured that they won't be searching the town for you girls... I sure hope so after all we went through," he muttered and I nodded quietly.

"Are my injuries bad?" I whispered and he shook his head quietly.

"The worst is the burn on your thigh," he excused, "the bruises on your shoulder and neck are barely visible today, I suppose."

"Neck?" I whispered and he frowned at me.

"He strangled you," Jungwon whispered in return, "don't you remember?"

"I didn't know it would leave marks," I muttered and slowly pulled my hand from his grip, touching my neck tenderly - immediately feeling the ache.

"I really thought he was gonna kill you at that point," Jungwon whispered as he slowly began frowning, "it... felt like... you know... Lin was still in that daze, and Emiko was passed out for a short time. Meanwhile..." he paused as his voice broke.

"You don't have to-" I started and he immediately cut me off.

"He looked insane... and you were struggling so badly and crying and..." he trailed off as his eyes momentarily closed, "what was I to do? Leave the two people I was looking over, or going to help the love of my life? It was two people to one... what could I do. I wish I could go and hit him away, but at least Emi got back to her senses quite quickly."

"You don't have to tell me... it looks painful to relive," I whispered and he immediately shook his head, finally opening his eyes again.

"I need to tell someone," he whispered quietly, "and... I don't want to tell anyone but you, because I don't think you noticed how it all looked for us when you were sacrificing yourself like that. Do you know how insane you were? When you locked us out of that office?"

"I wanted to keep you safe," I muttered and his eyes immediately glazed over as he recalled last night.

"I was terrified," he whispered shakily, "I was so terrifed Ji... I couldn't get to you if anything happened... and once we got inside... whenever you got injured... you screamed, and it was so painful..."

"I'm sorry Jungwon," I whispered and he quietly hummed as he tried to keep himself calm, "please don't cry... I'm sorry."

"I think I might need to cry again," he excused in a whisper, "please don't do things like that again..."

"I promise... I won't do something like that again," I assured him, "once I'm less sore you've promised to take me to the pool, haven't you?"

"We're gonna go," he nodded assuringly as he closed his eyes once again.

"Can you come up and lay with me?" I questioned and he slowly opened his eyes again, giving me a skeptical look, "please? You look to be hurting and I want to comfort you properly... please."

Jungwon let out a small sigh while he still smiled. Carefully he moved up into the bed, almost scared to touch me, but once I had thrown my arm across him he had immediately turned onto his side to face me.

"Don't cry, please," I muttered and softly dried away his tears before softly pecking his cheek.

"I was so scared," he admitted and I only nodded as he leaned his forehead forward to press against mine, "so scared..."

"I know... I know..." I whispered as I kept caressing his cheek.

"I had so many visions in such a short time... I saw you die..." he croaked out, choking back a sob.

Quietly I leaned forward and pressed my lips softly against his for a small peck, only making him quickly grab onto the back of my neck to keep me in place. Even his lips were careful in their touch, as if I had been injuried on my lips.

"Won," I murmured and finally forward my lips off of his.

"No please," he whimpered almost, as I let my hand trail over on the back of his neck and softly play with the hair at his nape.

"It's fine... nothing's gonna happen," I assured softly, "I'm not gonna die... I'm not."

"I just want... the time we have-" he trailed off.

"We have all the time we want," I reminded him softly, "I'm not going anywhere... you're not going anywhere..."

Jungwon eventually just nodded as he whimpered quietly before grabbing tighter onto the back of my neck, knowing he can't pull me closer by my waist as he usually did - this time around.