𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 || 𝗡𝗜-𝗞𝗜 ✓

[ 25 ]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- THE RED ROSES' PETALS
━━━━┅━━━┅━━━━

The next few days flew by quickly.

It has been about at least five days since Hyejin was hospitalized after the accident that happened, and about five days since the contact between Riki and her is going well again.

It felt nice that they were together without arguing with each other.

Riki visited her in the hospital every day after school. He told her how things were going at school, if anything had happened and how he was teasing the teachers. Hyejin always had to laugh about it.

"They deserve it," she would say with a big smile on her face.

He missed her already.

How she smiled at him, how she talked to him, how she spent time with him. Basically everything.

It was now the last class in school. Riki couldn't keep his attention on it like the last few days and was only thinking about her at the moment.

After this class he would come back to visit her and give her a big hug, because she deserved it.

Still, Riki was extremely worried about her condition. Day by day, Hyejin was getting sicker. Her face seemed so pale, she looked like a corpse. Her little body was getting thinner and thinner since Hyejin refused to eat. She didn't feel well enough to do so.

Only when Riki was around she wanted to eat, because then Riki asked her to.

And with her heart, it was still the same story. A low heart rate with a lot of pain in the chest.

It was not getting better, only worse.

When Riki was in the hospital, he would often meet her brother there and the duo that Hyejin was so good friends with. Then they would go and chat for a while.

Leaning his chin on his palm, Riki looked to the side, where Hyejin's empty table and chair stood. He couldn't wait to take her in his arms again and tell her he loved her.

Suddenly the bell rang, which meant it was the end of the last lesson. Riki looked up when he heard the sound in enthusiasm.

"Okay everyone. Get your stuff and leave the classroom tidy. Have a nice weekend everyone," the teacher said, struggling as he had to babble through all the talking students.

Riki got up from his seat, put on his coat and tossed his backpack over his back.

It was time. Time to go to Hyejin.

-

Step by step he made his way through the hospital, on his way to her room.

In his right hand he held a box of chocolates for her to eat, because she had told him once that she really liked them. Especially when she wasn't feeling well.

When he arrived at her room, he grabbed the doorknob with his left hand, the hand that still had nothing in it. He sighed deeply once before pulling the doorknob down and opening the door.

"Hyejin, I'm here again..."

His words faded when he saw that there was no one in the hospital bed. He frowned his eyebrows and walked over to the bed.

He put the box of chocolates down on the nightstand and then put his hand down on the middle of the bed.

The bed was cold, as if no one had been in it for hours.

Quickly he looked around the room restlessly, checking to see if he was in the right room, but unfortunately it was the same room.

The card he had given Hyejin earlier was hanging on the wall with a thumbtack, and the vase of red roses was still on the windowsill.

"Hyejin, where are you?" Riki asked softly as his eyes began to fill with tears and walked over to the windowsill.

He grabbed a rose from the vase and smelled it. Still they smelled as good as they did in the flower store.

Riki only now realized how beautiful these flowers actually were. The red roses' petals were blooming beautifully.

He wished that after she was released from the hospital and healed, Hyejin would bloom again as beautifully as she was before.

Tears sparkled in his eyes from the sunlight shining into the window.

Suddenly, a creaking door sounded behind his back. Riki flinched and turned around, still holding the rose.

In the doorway stood a nurse. The nurse who was taking care of Hyejin. "Oh, Riki," The nurse said shocked, not expecting Riki to be here so early, "You must be wondering where Hyejin is."

Riki nodded impatiently up and down as he bit his lower lip.

The nurse sighed deeply and stared at the ground.

Riki had realized her strange action and therefore tilted his head slightly. "Did something happen?" He asked worriedly.

"Has Hyejin told you the news yet?" The nurse began as she walked over to Hyejin's hospital bed and neatly made it up.

"No," Riki shook his head slowly from side to side as his eyes followed the nurse's movements.

His head was all confused by the sentence she just said. News? What kind of news? He had never heard of this so-called news. Did Hyejin hide something from him that he wasn't supposed to know? But then again, where is she now?

Riki panicked and counted to ten in his head as he took a few deep breaths in and out.

The nurse looked at Riki, worried, seeing how much he was stressing that maybe something bad had happened to his love.

But what he didn't know is that that's what's going to happen.

"Riki," The nurse began. Riki quickly looked her way and listened intently. "Hyejin... Her docter told her that they can't do anything anymore."

The boy with the rose in his hand sighed deeply and let the rose fall out of his hand. He bit his lower lip and covered his mouth with his hand.

"Her heart is doing too badly and is scheduled to stop today. She is now on oxygen."

Riki rubbed his forehead restlessly; he felt himself getting nauseous. He also became dizzy and felt unwell.

"I'm sorry, Riki," the nurse said as tears also filled her eyes. She felt bad for this poor boy, who just came visiting his love. "Hyejin... she's dying..."