SHE GOT AWAY
SCENE XIV - FINALE
the words seemed to fail him as he could almost see his world crumbling.
jimin-hyung: "you must hurry if you want to make it. jiho's in the courthouse to finally submit the divorce papers"
blinking his eyes as if processing the words that he had read, he rubbed his brown orbs for over a couple of times before he felt the inexpliccable way of his heart churning and twisting into pain, the tears burning to break free.
no, no, no. scampering and breaking all the hesitation in his veins, the man was running as if his whole life was on the line. the moment jeon jeongguk read those words pop out in his phone at exactly 10.00, he almost fell on his butt as he stood up almost immediately from the comforts of his bed.
please, please. no, i pray to every celestial being to please, no. please, help me – i, i don't want to. i thought the divorce was—
desperation crawling in the man's veins, he painfully made his legs trudge on the pristine white halls of the courthouse as the tears brimmed in his eyes. on his way to the place, he knew he had broken the speed limit as he swerved on every lane, barely missing the other cars. he was desperate and call him crazy but what mattered the most was to stop jiho and the impending ending of their marriage.
please, i beg of you. i'd do anything, i'll do anything just no. snot forming on his nose as a lump started forming in the depths of his chest, the man fought the urge to cry miserably as he badly wanted to see even just a trace, a strand of those brown hair. he had been through hell and even if the wound on his ribs haven't fully healed yet, he couldn't care less of how it hurt and if his stitch might be already bleeding . . . what was important was to see jiho, now.
fear clearly evident in his features, he was searching for a mop of brown long locks that he adored and loved so dearly, so desperate to make it on time to stop the one thing he should have called off a long long time ago – divorce.
i beg of you. Finally reaching the floor where the divorce papers should be submitted, jeongguk was welcomed with a swarm of large crowd, making it impossible to find jiho. "jiho, jiho, jiho—" he murmured softly at first before the desperation crawled on him and he started calling out on the room like a madman.
"jiho, jiho! kim jiho!" jeongguk could instantly feel the tears in his eyes, he could feel the way it gave way and flooded on his cheeks but he could only wipe them furiously as he still hoped that somewhere, out there, jiho was still standing and hesitating to give the divorce papers. please, to whoever is someone listening to me, please . . . please give me strength and the luck to see my wife.
please, god. i want to see her, i don't want to lose her. i don't want to lose my family, my life.
"kim jiho!" feet pacing all over the floor, jeongguk searched for the familiar petite figure that he always and never stopped loving. he had been dying to meet and touch her for so long, he hadn't expected their first meeting after the surgery to be this way. he had hoped that when he meets jiho for the first time again, he could have the chance to apologize. that the moment jiho wakes up, he had hoped jimin to give him the privilege to even ask for forgiveness but– but that thought seemed so futile.
"kim jiho!"
it has been almost a month after the surgery and day fourteen never seemed to come. right after the transplant, jeongguk had been knocked out for three days. the man had a hard time adopting to a life with only one lung and to say that his first two weeks after that surgery was bad, was an understatement.
from the moment he woke up from his slumber, everything seems to be hell.
everything hurts— his body and his emotions, everything just throbs painfully. the man's thoughts were a jumbled mess as he yearned for something inside his heart, even if jeongguk was the one who gave half of his lungs, jimin made his resolve to never let jeongguk to see jiho and yeon. the older man was against the idea of letting them meet as jiho might not take jeongguk's presence quite well, the brother thought that if the two meets, jiho might breakdown and stress isn't what she needs for recovery. jeongguk tried to understand where jimin was coming from but, he couldn't help the way his eyes glossed whenever he hears taehyung's faint voice coming from jiho's ward. it was painful, so so painful and the man felt like dying.
why was taehyung allowed, while i am not even allowed to see just a single glimpse of how jiho looks like? i want to see her, touch her and even know what she was feeling like, i want to know. i want her to know that i don't want to divorce, i want to keep our family.
was it painful? hell yes, the man had yearned to see jiho's state the moment his eyes first opened. the first thing he had called for the moment his eyes opened wa jiho's name. the moment he had regained consciousness, he expected to see even just yeon, to visit him and ask for his father. he had been dying to see jiho for as long as he could remember, so desperate to even catch a glimpse of her state but none of it was given to him. none.
jeongguk was only able to know jiho's current state by the updates of the doctor who had done the transplant but, it was never enough. the man came to learn that after a week, jiho regained consciousness and she need more time to adopt with her new lungs, she had to take rehabilitation and might stay for a month. nothing is enough.
"jiho" please, jiho— hope almost dissipating in his eyes as he futilely called out for that name, he wished that time could just stop and he could return to the way things were, when everything was alright and at its place, when he could still hold jiho and kiss her without the fear of rejection. jeongguk would do anything.
but he knew it was futile to ahave a wishful thinking.
i'd do anything. i'd do anything, anything! please!
"ji–" eyes widening as his vision caught sight of long brown locks and the oh so familiar petite back, jeongguk felt his breath hitch as hope started pouring in his worried heart. accompanied by a small child, the woman's back was facing him and he wasted no time to march towards the person as his sight became clearer and clearer.
oh my god. jiho, i'm so sorry. i'll– jeongguk's thoughts were like ticking bombs inching to erupt. i'm going to tell you how much i love you, how much i need you. how much you mean to me, i'm going to ask for your forgiveness just please . . . please.
"yeon–" whispering like a prayer, jeongguk saw his son. yeon, his son. yeon, yeon. oh my god. the man was right, with all the left energy in his body, jeongguk immediately trudged closer and closer as he saw yeon's features crumpled with tears and clinging unto her legs – jiho's. jeongguk felt his heart skipping a beat at every step. oh my god, jiho.
"jih—" a few steps away, jeongguk was almost there when he saw . . . one thing that never should've happened.
I—jiho, i love— tears pooling in his eyes as the scene soon unfold in his line of vision, jeongguk instantly heard the way his heart collapsed as it tore into pieces and beyond repair.
no, no— breath hitching against his rib-cage, he felt like a part of him died as his knees give out and he slumped on the floor, with unstoppable tears choking his fragile body.
nothing hurt more than this, seeing this scene is far more worse than everything he had felt. the pain from his rib wouldn't compare, the pain from losing his title as the next heir never seemed to hurt more than this.
right across his slumped figure, a warm and strong arms enclosed his (used to be) family. i—i'm too— entrapped in securing and protective hold, jiho and yeon clung unto taehyung as if their whole life depended on the man's support. like a steady rock, taehyung's strong arms held the shaking figures of jiho and yeon, as if too afraid to let anything harm them. taehyung held the two with the same fervor of eagerness and need, as the two burried their crying faces on both sides of taehyung's shoulder. right across jeongguk's vision, he could see the one thing he had let slip away.
–late, i'm too late. jeongguk felt like dying.
eyes void with emotion, jeongguk wished that the world would just end, that the grounf could just eat him whole cause nothing . . . nothing hurts more than seeing what was yours slip away.
i– i never made it. defeated and lost, jeongguk knew he had lost the battle. the divorce papers had been given thus nullifying anything he had with jiho and with the way things are, his family is nothing but just a good memory.
if only . . . if only i never made that mistake then— then, i—
"let's divorce, jiho" like an unstoppable whirlpool, jeongguk heard his voice speak way back forty days and he couldn't help but feel even more miserable. funny how he used to be so desperate to separate with jiho, how he wanted to get rid of jiho and be free but now . . . now, karma's a bitch.
we— we really divorced, huh? just like . . just like—
foolishly, a man could only realize the worth of one person once they're gone, forever. in the case of jeongguk, he might have just learned that lesson in a very hard way.
loving jeon jeongguk wasn't kim jiho's mistake, it was his to let her slip away. kim jiho, she got away from jeongguk's grasp.
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nicknote: and huhuhuhu (ಥ﹏ಥ) that concludes the ending for "she got away" i'm sorry if some of you wanted jeongguk and jiho to not divorce but, i also cried y'now? i had an internal battle hence the reason why it had been so long before i uploaded.
p.s. there's still an epilogue (ಥ﹏ಥ)