THE BEACH | Squid Game

014

Chapter Fourteen | Reunited

Saebyeok awkwardly stood in front of room 458, holding the bouquet of flowers looking down at the ground. A train of thoughts went over to her mind. Would Seunghee be happy to see her? Would she even remember her at all? Her gripped tightened as she felt her own heart clench at the thought of Seunghee forgetting her.

But she snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the swing door open then looked up to see a nurse, who was slightly shorter than her.

The nurse raised a brow and narrows her eyes at Saebyeok. "...I'm pretty sure you're visiting the wrong patient."

"Is this the room of Choi Seunghee?" Saebyeok questions, as the nurse responded by nodding her head a little. "I'm in the correct one then. My name is Kang Saebyeok...and, uh- just please give this to her." Saebyeok said in panic, pushing the bouquet of flowers towards the nurse.

"Whose behind the door-"

Just as Saebyeok was about to leave, her gaze met at the girl who she helplessly fell in love while facing the worst time of her life. Seunghee stared at her, with her face of disbelief.

The nurse cleared her voice, causing the two girls to break eye contact. "Ms Choi, do you know her?"

"Y-yes." Was all she could get out of her mouth, not knowing if this was a dream or not.

The nurse stared at the bouquet of flowers she was holding and gave them for Seunghee.

"She got you these," The nurse spoke, and Seunghee mouthes her a thank you. "Would you like her to come in?" The nurse question again, and Seunghee could only nod her head. The nurse opens the door more wider, allowing Saebyeok to come in.

As she walked in, she can't help but notice how empty her room is. There was only one bed that is placed by the window, with a table and chair next to it, with several machines. It was quite similar to what Saebyeok saw at the 001's building.

A hand however, stopped her walking any further. She looked at the hand that was wrapped tightly around her arms, and looked up to see the nurse.

"Please be careful with her. She is diagnosed with severe trauma and anxiety with unexplained events that had happened to her after a cop came in here, and she is now just getting better." The nurse spoke with a stern tone then finally let go of Saebyeok's arm, before walking out of the room closing the door shut.

"Did you win?" Saebyeok's ears perks at Seunghee's voice. She looks back at Seunghee to see her sitting in bed, hugging her knees.

Saebyeok sighs and made her over to the chair that was next to Seunghee's bed. She sat on it and clasped her hands. "Yes, but not without a price." She refers to Gihun and Sangwoo.

"Did you do it?" Seunghee questions once again, causing Saebyeok to raise a brow needing more context. "How's your brother? Did you manage to get your mother out of North Korea?"

Saebyeok nods in response finally understanding what she meant. "Yes, the broker that I hired managed to get her out. My brother is fine too. In fact, he's about to go to school!"

Saebyeok voices out with a tone of excitement and a smile plastering on her face. Seunghee couldn't help but mirror the smile back, finally seeing Saebyeok happy again. Silence filled the room, but neither of the girls felt uncomfortable by it. In fact, it was rather relaxing to them.

"So," Saebyeok started, breaking the silence. "You've been at this hospital for a year. I'm sure you have been pretty lonely being here alone."

Seunghee sighs and took one of the flowers out of the bouquet and places it on the palm of her hands, staring at it. "During those times, I have wondered to myself to what could've been if Seunghoon never sacrificed himself for me and I lost, I wondered what could've been if I just wasn't stubborn enough and hit the X button, I wondered what could've been if he and I never dialled that phone number."

"And after all those alternates, I wondered," Seunghee pauses, crushing the flowers in her hands, gripping it too tightly. "If he and I could've been happy."

Saebyeok's heart sank hearing all those words out of Seunghee's mouth. She lifts her arms and held Seunghee's hands with hers, longly squeezing them.

"You two would've been."

She spoke softly, out of comfort. Seunghee smiles and squeezes them back three times, before she let go of her hands only to tuck a strand of hair behind Saebyeok's ear.

"I missed you. So much."

Seunghee couldn't help but lean in towards Saebyeok's chair and peck her lips and pulled away. Saebyeok smiles in return and pulled Seunghee's arm to close the distance between the two, before giving her a real kiss. Seunghee felt the butterflies on her stomach once again, the same one she experienced a year ago.

At long last, they were reunited as one.

The End.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This book has over 8k reads and over 500 votes, this is so crazy to me. Thank you all sm for supporting this book and I am proud to say that this book is finally finished! Not the best ending, but I wanted them to have a happy ending after all the shit they encountered. Also, I am working on another Kang Saebyeok book, so stay tuned for that ;)