𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 ✓

Chapter 38

HYUNJIN stared at his wife's limp, unconscious body that was laying on the hospital bed with tearful eyes, his hand still gently attached to hers. He took a deep breath and glanced at her beautiful, pale face.

"You're all I have, jagiya," he whispered tearfully, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, "please, don't leave me."

He got no answer, which wasn't a surprise at all. He sunk his face in the bed sheets that were on her bed, soft weeps of heartbreak escaping his mouth.

"I-I don't want anything from you. I don't want you to be nice to me, and I definitely don't want sex. I just want you to be with me."

He bit his lower lip, "if you wake up and forget who I am, I'm going to do my best to remind you of our relationship every day if I have to," he sobbed, "just please stay with me."

He sighed and inhaled once again to calm his racing heartbeats down and to tone his sobs down a little. And for a moment, he was afraid to close his eyes.

He feared that if he slept for even a minute and woke up once again, she would slip away from his arms like fog.

And the last thing he wanted was to lose his wife and go back to his abusive parents' house, just to hear them scolding him about his inability to protect his wife.

But the thing he hated was the fact that, if she died, he wouldn't find someone to hold him close and reassure him as she did.

And he feared the loneliness.

Losing someone he loved was already hard. Losing someone that lived in the same house as him and then going back to his old, pathetic life was certainly a nightmare.

But most of all, he didn't want to lose his wife, because she was the only person that truly loved him after all.

In return, he loved her back. With all of his heart.

More than she loved him, even.

"Don't leave me, jagiya."

The choked, strangled voice almost came out inaudible. And he couldn't care less.

Because he knew she could hear him. No, he was completely sure about it.

"Jagiya, I love you more than anything. I know you can hear me. I love you so much," he whispered, his hand squeezing her wire-free hand tightly, "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

He could hear the low, muffled sentences of his friends, who were sitting just outside the door. Soft, muffled sobs could be heard from inside the room as well.

And as much as he would've loved to go check on them, he disagreed on leaving his wife's hand as long as she was still unconscious between life and death.

"Do you hear that, jagiya? They're worried about you too..." he spoke mindlessly, his gaze fixated on nothing, "everyone loves you. I love you. More than anything."

He was still on his knees, on the floor beside her bed. Despite his legs aching and begging for a rest now, he knew he wouldn't miss a second to stay beside her.

And he knew anyone else would've called him desperate and pathetic. He would've called himself helpless and pathetic.

"When I was young, my parents would always beat me and tell me if I didn't get a good job and a good wife, they would disown me. When I wanted to become an idol, they disapproved, of course. So the only thing that was keeping them from disowning me was a great wife," he explained, chuckling darkly and wiping away a tear that poured down his handsome, restless face, "so they had to interfere because they thought I couldn't be trusted with making life decisions."

He chuckled once again, this time more tears escaping his eyes, "and for the first time ever, I thought they made something good when they made me get married to you."

"It was like heaven, really, even if you didn't see it that way," he raised her hand slightly to meet his parted lips, then placed a soft, passionate kiss on the top of her hand, "they said I had failed everything in my life, and no other woman would've wanted to marry me because of the r-rumors. But you..."

He took a deep breath, "you were the only one who believed me."

He tore his sight away from her, glancing at the heartbeat monitor beside him. The red lines were still curving themselves up and down, just like before. Everything was fine.

And for a false moment of hope, he thought she would be alright.

He continued to stare at the heartbeat monitor, occasionally and mindlessly placing soft kisses on the top of her palm. He closed his eyes to calm himself down, taking a deep breath to exhale and repeat. He could only focus on that for the next minutes.

That, and focus on ignoring the dull ache in his heart.

A moment of tranquility overwhelmed him. His eyes fluttered open once again and he turned his full attention to his wife, a small, pained smile creeping over his face.

And he could've stayed like that for the next few hours if it wasn't for the beeping that began suddenly from the heartbeat monitor.

He glanced desperately at the monitor, only to find what his heart had feared the most. The worst nightmare he could ever imagine.

The red curve-like lines had turned to painful, straight lines, followed by the heartbreaking beeping that filled the room.

The red lines had failed him.

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