A second chance.
That was what I wished for.
The one thing I prayed for every night before I sleep. The one thing I prayed for, at the very night before I woke up in an entirely different life.
A new life.
My second chance.
❈❈❈
I was 30 years old wh...
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—First life. St. Vincent's Hospital, year 2027—
While it seemed like I was stuck in place, that time and everything around me had stood still, I could still feel it as the world outside continued to evolve.
Though it might sound contrary to what I had wished for, I had kind of expecting for Jungkook to still be relentless on trying to see me or contact me for him to get what he wanted. I had prepared myself in case he would show up here in the hospital with another surprise visit or to give me continuous text messages and phone calls to remind me of his threats. Yet almost a week had passed, and he had yet to give me any of it.
Instead of smothering me and haunting me like I had thought he would, Jungkook only did the other way around. He disappeared.
By the time the week was coming to an end, as time kept moving stealthily slow between days of treatments, medications, and scheduled therapies, I finally got myself the surprise visit that I had been anticipating for.
Only it was not Jungkook who came to see me.
It was his older brother.
Jeon Junghyun had always been the level headed one out of the two brothers. He was the one person that Jungkook would run to whenever he needed help, the only voice of reason that could have made a lot of differences if only Jungkook would do just that whenever he was facing a problem, instead of running to his old friends that could only give him all the wrong solutions.
At some point in my marriage, Junghyun had even taken my older brother's place as my confidant, and sometimes, as a mediator to help me communicate with either Jungkook or his family. He would always come to me with open arms and listen to all of my troubles whenever I needed someone to talk to, giving me all the right advices and the right answers which I could not get from other places.
I could not exactly remember how the two brothers had drifted apart. The only thing I knew was that the moment Junghyun stopped appearing in our lives, that was when everything came tumbling down.
"You should have come to me," he said to me as he sat down next to the bed, after we had gone through all the unnecessary pleasantries as if we were two strangers instead of the close related in-laws we once were.
It was obvious that he was not completely sure about coming in here alone. While seeing him here, watching how his eyes grew wide as if he still could not believe he would find me here when he first entered the room, to the moment his gaze softened with concern, I started to feel guilty for not letting him know about what had happened. The problem I had was with Jungkook, and it was not fair for me to bring his family down with it.
But I was not about to say that to him. Not when I was not sure whether he would be taking his brother's side or mine.
"And what good would that be?" was all that I could say, though I could not help but give him a sad smile. "You can't always fix everything, Junghyun. Certainly not this."
