I've Changed

72. sleeping on the couch

"Are you ready?" As Jae glances up from his wheelchair, I ask. When I notice him fiddling with my ring on my left hand, I look down and smile. He catches my trail of sight and kisses the ring before my pulse.

"I can't wait to get out of here," he sighs as he surveys his room, which he has occupied for more than a month. The doctors wanted to make sure he didn't have any side effects from his coma, so they suggested waiting until the majority of his injuries had healed fully. His bones were healing at a faster rate than mine, so the fact that he only had a cast on his arm and a knee brace on his leg is unexpected.

"The jello isn't good anymore?" When he pushes my face closer to his, I scrunch up my face. I see him furiously shaking his head because he's been eating jello for all of his meal and it makes me laugh.

"It reminded me of our snowman," he pouts, pecking my lips which makes me smile. As I back away, I chuckle when he pulls my face in closer to continue our kiss. "Plus, I didn't get to sleep next to you."

"Who said I was sleeping next to you?" I try to disguise my grin as I see his features droop and his smile become a straight line. He raises his brows, criticizing me for mocking him, but I couldn't care less because his reaction was so cute. "I'm sleeping on the couch."

"No, you're not," he says, raising my brows as I hear the sternness in his voice. "You are sleeping in my arms tonight, got it?" I feel my stomach drop as he says for me to hear, and I'm struck by how serious and domineering he sounds. I bite my lower lip and stare down at his necklace before catching his smirk.

"What if I don't?" I follow his jawline, watching his breath catch in his throat as I stroke my finger down his throat. I start playing with his chain as he raises his brows and reaches behind my thigh. My mouth is open as he squeezes under my ass to gain my attention, which he accomplished, before pushing my chin back to stare at his dimple smile.

"Please," he begs, his desperate expression making me grin. I shift my gaze to his freckles, teasing him as I consider my response, which irritates him by the way his jaw clenches.

"We'll see," When I hear our doctor's voice outside his room, I shrug and straighten my back. I smile as I see Jae's mouth drop when I refuse his request, but it's his reaction to my taunting that I find most endearing. I laugh as he tucks his head into my side and kisses near my ribs softly, because he is aware of my injuries, before turning his attention to our doctor who enters in.

"All set?" She asks, her smile beaming in between us, and I can see she's pleased with our progress.

"Thank you," I respond as I watch her dismissively wave and draw me into an embrace. I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the warmth of her hug, knowing that she had taken care of everything for us in terms of our recovery and next steps. I murmur in her ear, "Expect something later today," and she quickly pulls away.

"There's no need," she says, gazing in between me and Jae, but my smile grows as I gaze down at Jae, who accepts my offer for her with a nod.

"It's our way of saying thank you," I add as I stroke her shoulder and notice the genuine smile on her face and the relaxed posture.

"All I want is for you two to get healthy and continue your treatments," she says sternly, knowing Jae is stubborn and will skip anything, especially after he did it for my sake once, which he knew was ridiculous.

He wanted to spend every second of this month with me in order to make up for the time he had spent in his dreamland. He went to my instead of his physical therapy, which I couldn't understand because we do our assessments in the same room. I love him.

"I will," Jae nods and when our doctor turns away from him, he shakes his head while staring directly at me. As I notice Lovely enter the room, I roll my eyes and rub his shoulder.