A few hours pass by and you feel your phone buzz but with your luck, a customer hands you their food. You smile and start to scan their items. You see a coupon fee on the screen so you grabbed the coupon flier.
"Congratulations! You won the coupons because it's your tenth visit this month." You said, handing it to them. They smile and walk back to the ice creams.
"Here. I'll buy this too then." You nod your head and scan that as well.
"It'll be $15. Are you going to be paying with cash or card?" You see the guy in front of you pull out his phone so you allowed him to scan on the transaction monitor and smile.
"Hey. Could I ask you a question?" He starts.
"Sure. What is it?"
"Are you single?," You blinked a few times, understanding that he was trying to ask you out. "It's just that.. You're really pretty so I was wondering.." You smiled, wanting to stop him from embarrassing himself.
"Sorry. I have a boyfriend. Thank you though.." He nods his head as if he wasn't expecting a different answer and grabs the bag you had placed his things in before leaving. You sigh as you spot a few more customers in the store. It was normal in Korea for everyone to be here late at night but it seemed so late tonight. It was already 12:30 so you had an hour for the end of your shift. But you knew since you were alone here, you had to clean up and organize the boxes for tomorrow which meant basically another hour. You sighed again, continuing to scan the items and fixing up the things displayed in front of the cashier.
What felt like five hours, an hour finally passes by. You close up the store and start to clean up the place. And luckily since the manager had done the boxes, all you had to do was get rid of trash people left behind and take the trash out to the back. So you finished within half an hour. Once you were done, you quickly take out your phone and as expected, you see a few calls from Yeonjun. But what caught your eye was the number of the calls. 32? You scroll down on your notifications to see if he texted too but you see a few more calls from your mom. You quickly clicked on Yeonjun's notifications which led you to call him.
Yeonjun: "Hello? Y/N?"
Y/N: "Yeah. What's going on? I know I couldn't contact you but did you have to call my mom-"
Yeonjun: "Y/N."
Y/N: "What?"
Yeonjun: "Listen to me."
Y/N: "I am.. What? Did something happen?"
Yeonjun: "Look. I don't know the entire situation but your mom called-"
Y/N: "My mom? Why would she call you?"
Yeonjun: "Listen.."
Y/N: "Okay.. What is it?"
Yeonjun: "Your aunt-"
Y/N: "What about my aunt?!"
Yeonjun: "Where are you right now?"
Y/N: "I'm at work."
Yeonjun: "I thought you said you didn't have work this week?"
Y/N: "I had to fill in. Wait. I brought my car. Where should I go? Hospital?"
Yeonjun: "No. I'm not letting you drive on your own. I'll be there in two minutes. Hold on."
You hear the phone call end with a beep and the first thing you thought of actually closing up the store. You quickly changed out of your uniform and into your spare clothes that you brought and hung your bag around your shoulder. Quickly placing your phone in your back pocket, you walk out. And just in time, you see a car pull up. You ran over and enter the passenger seat.
"What is going on?" You say, panicking. Yeonjun looked at you and drove back onto the road.
"Your mom didn't say much. All she did say that something happened with your aunt and she wanted you at the hospital immediately." You fiddled with your fingers so he takes a hold of it and tries to soothe you.
"What if.." Your voice cracks. The more you didn't know, the more you imagined the scariest things and your heart broke at the image of your aunt in the hospital. What if something actually happens to her? You would never forgive yourself again.
"Look. I'm sure that she's fine." Yeonjun says, not knowing what else to say. He couldn't get your hopes up in case something happens but he needed to do something. He could see that you were beating yourself up with this.
As soon as you reached the hospital, you jumped out and ran into the hospital and immediately to your aunt's room, Yeonjun following. You open the door and see your parents crying and although you still didn't know what was going on, your legs felt weak. You leaned down the door frame in which luckily, Yeonjun had caught you just in time, bringing you into his arms.
"We'll leave you alone." Your dad says and you spread your arms out, trapping them from going out.
"No. Both of you aren't leaving unless you tell me what's going on." You knew this made you seem stubborn and kind of like and idiot but you couldn't accept it if anything worse happens to her.
"Honey..." Your dad looks over to your mom and back to your aunt.
"She woke up for a bit a few hours ago but went into a cardiac arrest and we don't know how she's doing. At the moment, she's breathing fine but it's looking a little rough." Your mom explained to you, knowing that you must be having a hard time. You felt your heart burn at the sight of your aunt, causing you to clutch onto it. Yeonjun supports you from the back as you try to breathe properly.
"You.. You must be Yeonjun." Your dad says, trying to find something to distract all of you from suffering too much. He too had been having a hard time because of his sister.
"Yes, sir." Yeonjun says, walking the both of you in. He shook your dad's hand and then your mom as they both gave him a smile.
"We've heard a lot about you. You seem to be a good boyfriend." Your mom says and eyes Yeonjun, motioning that they would be outside. He nods his head as he leads you closer to the bed. You couldn't take your eyes off of the bed which just led you to trust Yeonjun. Until you heard the close, you couldn't even blink. You walked over to your aunt and grabbed her hand.
"Hey.. I'm back," You felt tears form in your eyes again and already knew your voice was cracking. "Please.. Can you just.. Wake up? Tell me that you're okay? That you're not mad at me?" You let out a small hiccup before feeling her finger move. You step back, surprised which surprised Yeonjun as well. With a drop of your tear, your aunt's eyes slowly start to move. Yeonjun stands up to warn your parents and the doctor as you move in closer.
"Y/N..." You hear your aunt say in a small whisper.
"Naeun?," You call her name for the first time in months as she slowly starts to open her eyes. You take her in hand in yours and smile. "Can you hear me?"
"Y/N.." She lets out again and you smiled like you had never smiled. You were so relieved that your breathing became uneven again. The doctors came rushing in as they checked up on her. You see your parents watching from the door as Yeonjun comes walking up to you. He holds you back a little to give the doctors space while you turn around, feeling his embrace.
"Hey.. You okay?" He whispers as you look up at him, your sweater hiding your white fists. You were so anxious that your hands had turned white from gripping them. Yeonjun gave you a small kiss on the forehead and watched as the doctors watch the monitor.
"Good news..," You hear, turning around. "She's back." That was the best news you have heard in years. No, scratch that. Your whole life. You ran back to your aunt as the doctors cleared out, giving you some time to catch up.
"Mom! Dad! She's awake!" You say, jumping up and down. Your aunt slowly became conscious and found you twirling around in joy.
"Y/N..," She said, trying to get up but fell into laughter instead. "Seems like my body is asleep." She says as you helped her up so she could sit up against the pillow. She looked around and smiled until noticing Yeonjun. You looked at her gaze as you held his hand.
"Oh. Right.. This is-"
"Yeonjun." Your eyes widen at your aunt's words and gulp.
"How did you-"
"I was asleep, Y/N. Not dead. I could hear you rambling on about Yeonjun this, Yeonjun that, oh my god and did I talk about Yeonjun?" You blush at how she had just called you out. Yeonjun chuckles as he shook your aunt's hand.
"Well. I guess you know me well then. But allow me to introduce myself. I'm Choi Yeonjun, Y/N's boyfriend." Your aunt nods her and slowly shakes his hand.
"You're handsome. I admit that." All of you chuckled as you stared at your aunt.
"Are you really okay, Naeun?"
"Yes Y/N.. I'm fine."
"Fine, my ass. You were stuck here for months and this was all my fault-"
"Y/N! Your words!" Naeun says. You closed your mouth as you realized you had just cussed in front of your parents. But all they did was stare at you as you gave an apologetic smile.
"Sorry. It slipped out. Fine, my foot?"
"No. Not that. Ass isn't a bad word. It's a butt. Whatever. I meant about this being your fault," You were confused that you almost slipped from your seat. "Y/N.. It was my responsibility and my choice to protect you. I don't regret it at all. Plus, I'm not dead!" You smiled at her positive view on this situation. You wouldn't exactly say you blaming this on yourself for this long was a waste but it definitely made you feel relieved that she was okay.
"I'll go get you some water. Is that alright?" Yeonjun says, standing up. Naeun gives him a small nod before Yeonjun walks out the door. You hold onto Naeun's hand, staring worriedly.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes! I'm feeling fine. Stop worrying.," You bit your lip as you try to calm down. "Enough about me-"
"Hey. Don't you need some rest?" Your dad interrupts. You nod, agreeing but all your aunt does is giving all three of you the most judging look ever.
"What? All the sudden, you guys don't know how to have fun. My little niece is in love and you guys don't even bother to give him consent. Even I can tell he felt uncomfortable." Your parents felt ashamed that they should have at least greeted him nicer but it was all a rush. Nobody could blame them. But you... You were tripping over a thought. You were in love? Of course, you loved Yeonjun. But did you love him?
You stood up and ran out of the door to see Yeonjun grabbing some snacks and the drinks from the bar. You catch up to him and it didn't take him long until he noticed you running towards him.
"Hey-," He stopped when you suddenly wrapped your arms around him, letting you be in his embrace for a few seconds. "Y/N.. What's wrong?" You blink a couple of times before pulling away slowly.
"Have you guys seen her that happy since me? I swore every single time she visited, I wanted to wake up and tell her that she deserved to be happy. With that boy. He makes her happy but.. It hurt to see her think that me getting hurt would only make her a bad person. Meaning she didn't deserve Yeonjun.. How sweet is that girl.." Your parents watched as your aunt rambled on about she felt bad for taking so long to be awake. But who could blame her? It wasn't her fault she was in a coma? Your mom smiled, thinking about you being all happy and full of smiles ever since you had been dating Yeonjun.
"You're right. We should go out to dinner. You, us, Y/N, and Yeonjun. It'll be nice.. So you better rest and get better." She says as your aunt agrees with a nod.
Outside the hospital room, Yeonjun was staring at you worried. He was thinking something happened again in the room and that was why you even thought of leaving the room but it seemed different. You just look tired.
"Hey.. Did something happen?" He says as you look up at him, shaking your head.
"Yeonjun..," He waits for you to say what you wanted to say, keeping his grip on the tray in both his hands. You chuckle as you see him almost drop the drinks. You reach for the cup holder tray with the drinks and place it into your own hands. "I love you." His gaze changes and he smiles. Quickly pulling you into a hug, he places his chin at your nape.
"I love you too..," Letting go, you take his hand in yours and pull him towards the room again. "God.. You scared me. I thought something happened."
"Sorry.. I just realized how you had done so much for me and I haven't done much for you.
"Y/N.. You do plent-"
"No.. I promise that I'll do better. Please just let me.." Yeonjun nods, opening the door with a slide and followed as you walked in.
"Were you running a marathon or something? What was that dash?" Your aunt teases.
"Seeing that you can tease and stuff, you really must be feeling well." You said and your aunt poses a dramatic pose.
"Anyway.. Next time we go somewhere, have him tag along. Maybe next time, we could switch up traditions and go to an amusement park or something. How about it? Hmm?" You look over to Yeonjun and nod.
"Yeah.. That would be really fun. Just.. Get some rest first. Please?"
"Okay okay. I've been awake for ten minutes and you guys are telling me to sleep again." You all chuckle at her sarcasm and how enthusiastic she was even after all these months.
"First things first.. Now that we know Yeonjun and Y/N are in love, invite me to the wedding. Okay, now I'm gonna go back to sleep. Happy?" She states, laying back down. Everyone smiles as you give your aunt a big hug.