Again

8: When we made promises again

Yoohyeon changed into more comfortable clothes, the ones that are dry and not drowned because of the pool of tears that they both shed a while ago. She was making some tea for Minji to calm her down while the other was seated on the couch, with her knees near her chest and her arms wrapped around it. She looks so small right now, her red puffy eyes and her sniffling, and with one of Yoohyeon's jackets wrapped around her. She really shouldn't find Minji very cute right now (but she does anyway).

Once the tea was done, she placed the cups down and sat beside Minji, the older automatically wrapping her arms around Yoohyeon's waist. They really look like a tree and a koala right now. Minji gave a tap on Yoohyeon's waist and said,

"Why aren't you hugging me back?" Yoohyeon snickered and wrapped her arms around Minji's shoulders. She looked too cute and she has to admit that made her heart flutter. A clingy Minji is always cute.

"Happy now?" Minji just nodded and closed her eyes, feeling the exhaustion of the heavy crying session earlier. Yoohyeon dislodged the human koala beside her and gave her the cup.

"Can you drink some for me? Please?" Minji sighed and got the cup from Yoohyeon's hand. She could never say no to those puppy eyes. After drinking half of it, she immediately went back to her old position and pulled Yoohyeon in her arms. That brought a laugh out of Yoohyeon's lips, Minji's favorite sound in the world. She then remembered,

"Wait, how about you and Haseul?" Yoohyeon placed her cup down and shook her head.

"We're just friends. Haseul has a girlfriend. If I remember correctly, her name is Vivi. And the reason Haseul transferred to this hospital is because Vivi landed a project near here. She doesn't know if Vivi will go back to China or stay here with her. And I already met her, during our dinners together since Haseul noticed that I looked so "lonely" and she guessed that it was because of you." Minji looked up and raised her hand to give strokes on Yoohyeon's cheek.

"Were you lonely? Because of me?" Yoohyeon sighed and nodded.

"I hate to admit it, but I was. I thought that once you wake up, we'll go home and just cuddle, spend time with each other, and just do what we used to do before the accident. But we didn't. Because you didn't remember me." Yoohyeon could feel the guilt swimming in Minji's eyes so she slowly cupped her cheek and gave a light peck on her lips. While caressing the soft skin, she whispered lowly,

"But that's when I realized how much you mean to me. I thought I lost my life too. Seeing you come out of that ambulance bathed in blood, I-" She breathed out, remembering how Minji looked like that day. Minji placed her hand over Yoohyeon's that was resting on her cheek, and gave comforting strokes on the back of it.

"I couldn't control everything. In the middle of the ER, I cried, or rather wailed. If Gahyeon wasn't there to stop me, I would've operated on you and- and something worse might've happened. It's just- I wasn't expecting to see you here among all places. Not in the ER. I didn't know what to do, Minji. What if I lost you? I don't think I could live." Yoohyeon cried again but this time, Minji is here. She missed her. She missed her so much.

"Then- then, when you woke up, you couldn't remember me. Seeing people flock to you, say their admirations for you, made me insecure. What if you don't love me anymore? What if you just forgot everything that we had? And you weren't there to hug me, to comfort me, to shower me with kisses to remind me that I'm the only one you love." Yoohyeon rested her head on Minji's shoulder, her face facing her neck and slowly caressing the hand that she was holding.

"But it's okay now. I have you now. And I'm never letting you go ever again." Minji rested her head on top of Yoohyeon's, feeling so apologetic that Yoohyeon had to suffer all of that alone.