EPHEMERAL || BBH

The Path Along the Trees ❁

*.☽.*

He took me to sit on the chair before wrapping a towel around me. I couldn't stop crying and I already felt my body shaking because of the cold. He took another chair and sat in front of me as he brushed the hair away from my face.

"Baby, I'm really sorry."

It was the first thing that he said after staring at me silently for a couple of minutes while I looked back at him, still sobbing.

"Seeing you this way..." He let out of what seemed to be a regretful sigh as he bent to cover his face with his hands, his elbows on his knees.

He looked as devastated as I was. When he straightened up his posture and faced me once more, I could clearly distinguish the tears from the water dripping from his wet hair.

"I shouldn't have let you go a while ago." He added, remorse evident in his tone. "Watching you leave drove me crazy mad. I couldn't even think straight for one second. I wanted to stop you, so bad..." He trailed off to take a deep breath.

He lifted his both hands to brush his hair away from his face.

"Damn." He hissed, momentarily looking away as I watched how his hands formed into fists on his lap.

It took about a couple of seconds before the look on his face transformed into something else.
Despair.

"But I also wanted to give you the space that you wanted." He stated, his head titled down. "I stayed in the car for a few minutes. But then, I kept convincing myself not to follow you to respect your decision but I could only hold it for so long before I decided to follow you."

The moment he met my eyes once more, my heart wanted to get out of my chest, it was beating so loud. It hurts to see him this way. I knew he already felt so bad about what happened and I didn't seem to know how to make it better.

"I wanted to make sure you were safe and I didn't care if you're gonna get mad at me for doing it. So, I tried to look for you but I was too late. I couldn't find you anymore." He paused to place his hands over mine.

His hands, despite being wet, still brought that familiar warmth.

"I looked for you anywhere, every street, I wanted to get out of the car and get in to every café, every corner but there were too many..." He said breathlessly before pausing.

His sentence was left unfinished but I knew what he meant. But somehow, I still didn't have the right mind coordination to answer, nor even make a sound. The look of pain on his face was making me feel worse.

"I said I wouldn't hurt you." There was still an ambiguous anger but evident remorse in his voice. "But it's what I exactly did."

The glisten present in his eyes right after saying his last statement left a pang in my heart. And suddenly, I couldn't seem to afford not holding him. So, without wasting any time, I pulled him into a hug.

Silence was what came after.
No wanting him to hear any of my sobs, I bit my lip.

***

9:34AM

As expected, I woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. I groaned in pain, as soon as I was conscious. And with my eyes still closed, I brought my hands to my head.

You're never gonna drink again, Park Hae Won.

I silently scolded myself as I finally struggled to open my eyes and instantly realized that I was in his room. I rolled to the other side of the bed but it was empty. My thoughts immediately wandered to his whereabouts. I got off the bed wanting to look for him. I slightly winced as soon as my bare feet made contact with the cold floor because for some reasons, it triggered my headache.