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― twenty two.
"following yeong inhyun's court hearing, people were shocked to find out the truth. one of the witness's, jung wooyoung, confirmed to be the son of jung, sister of the late wife of yeong, bringing evidence that his mother had been murdered by yeong and that his sister had been abducted and abused since entering the yeong family. further evidence shows―"
yeosang switched off the television, a sigh escaping his lips as he ran his hands over his face. the news had been exploding with his court hearing, no one ever expecting such a plot twist to occur. the secrets that had been destroying the two siblings for years finally came out and they could finally live in peace, the monster that had been terrorising them for years, finally being put behind bars for good.
a yawn caught yeosang's attention as he turned his head towards the girl who had woken up from her slumber.
"oh." she quietly mumbled to herself, unaware of yeosang's presence as her eyes met the ceiling of the hospital room first. "i'm still here." she quietly whispered to herself. although she had woken up a few times after her surgery, she was never conscious enough to realise what was going on around her. after sleeping for a couple of days, today was the day that she decided to finally wake up.
"inha." yeosang approached her side, the girl slowly turning her head at the sound of her name. her eyes widened once she realised what was going on. "you're awake." he was relieved, like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.
inha was silent, her expression remained blank as she stared at yeosang who had tears in his eyes. she wondered why the boy was crying, there wasn't any reason for him to cry. she sighed, turning her head back as she returned to staring at the ceiling. still processing her situation, her next words stabbed at yeosang.
"i shouldn't be here." she declared. "i should be dead."
yeosang shook his head, falling into the chair next to her bed, dropping down to her level as he grabbed hold of her hand. however, inha was quick to pull her hand out of his grip, uncomfortable with the touch of someone else. although he was taken aback by the action, yeosang brushed it off.
"what do you mean you should be dead? inha, that man is behind bars now, you can live your life free―"
"free?" inha cut him off. "it doesn't matter what happens to him, i'm stuck with those memories." she reminded him, her voice strained as it was clearly dry from lack of water. "my mother and the woman that was my mother all these years, they both died because of me. why does he get to live behind bars? he got to do everything that he wanted to and now i have to live with the damage."
yeosang nodded, understanding where the girl was coming from. it wasn't enough to just have everything exposed and then put him behind bars. "we can work through this,"
"we?" inha cut the boy off before he could continue. she looked over at him, wondering if he was being serious. gently pushing herself up, inha sat up right as she stared at yeosang, making the boy nervous. "yeosang, if i'm being honest right now, even the idea of being in the same room as you right now makes me feel sick." she admitted.
yeosang, processing her words, was unable to figure out how he was meant to react. "oh." he quietly let out, wishing that he had heard wrong.
"it's not your fault." she quietly added, noticing how he was doing his best to hide his hurt. "but i can't make you wait." yeosang was about to open his mouth but she continued. "every time i try to see my future with you, do you know how sick it makes me? to think that you'd have to be with someone who's been assaulted by someone claiming to be her father, to have someone touch me like that again makes me feel so disgusted." she admitted, tightening her body as she rubbed her arm, trying to forget his touch.
"inha..." yeosang didn't know what to say. what could he say to comfort her? what could he do to prove that he could see past all that?
"i told you," she began, hugging herself closer. "i'm left with those memories forever." yeosang nodded, realising that inha was going to need a lot of help to overcome the trauma. it isn't like in the movies where the male lead can swoop in and save her, acting as if nothing had happened. this is real life, and they need real life time and solutions.
"then let's make new memories." he shrugged as if it were easy. "i know it won't be easy, it'll be a lot of hard work and it'll be painful." he continued, not breaking eye contact once with the girl who had tears welling in her eyes. "but we'll work through it together. you've been alone for too long, inha."
inha didn't realise, but those tears had managed to escape. she felt her body relax as she nodded her head. although she was struggling to believe it, but she felt that yeosang was different to all those other men in her life. she wanted to trust him.
using one hand to wipe away those tears, she slowly held her other one out, her gaze fixed on her blanket as she was too scared to look him in the eye. yeosang stared at it, wondering if she needed something. he hurriedly looked around, wondering what she could be asking for, which made her heart soften.
"your hand." she quietly requested. the boy stopped in motion, looking over at her as he wondered if he had heard right. however, as she gently emphasised her hand, he let out a small smile. nodding his head, he gently placed his larger hand in hers, encasing it fully as he held it tight. the girl sniffled as she finally looked up at him again.
