Nepenthe ( Ateez Mingi)

Chapter 7

I hesitated before getting off of the car.
Am I doing the right thing?
Yeri noticed my worries and patted my shoulder, " don't worry. Although i can't exactly say that you will get to know everything, I can guarantee that they will not hide anything from you. When I told them about you, they were so eager to meet you," she turned off the engine, "let's go."
As soon as I entered the restaurant, a guy with a very sweet smile with dimples walking toward us ,
" you guys finally here. we were waiting for you," he said, "can you please wait in the private room? We are a little crowded at the moment. We will follow you as soon as possible," and he led us to one of the private room.
After waiting for another half an hour, the door of the room opened, and another guy came in, running to me. " ari! I have missed you so much," he squealed, "Why did you lose a lot of weight? Don't worry, I will feed you a lot. Don't you dare leave my place without gaining at least two kilos!" he continuously talked without any break for breath.
The one we met earlier pulled that guy from me, " young ah, calm down. You are making her uncomfortable."
"Oh I'm sorry," he pulled himself from me.
Yeri introduced them, " This is San," pointing to the dimple guy, "and this is woo young," pointing to the loud short guy.
"Nice to meet you, woo young and San," I gave them a smile, "and I'm sorry that I don't really remember you."
San shook his head, " there's nothing to be sorry about, ari." He continued, " we have heard about your situation from yeri, and she said you have questions for us."
I explained them the whole situation. " so, can you guys please tell me more about that, please?"I pleaded.
They looked at each other, feeling uneasy.
Then, woo young nodded. " we will tell you everything we know."
San started to explain, "we were friends in college. You, mingi and Yunho were already close friends since you guys were together in high school . And I heard you and mingi were close friends since middle school. I was in the same class with yunho and that's how we got close. At first, I thought you and mingi were going to date sooner or later, by seeing how you guys act around each other. You rely and trust so much on mingi and mingi, that guy was always ready to fight a whole world just for you."
He continued, " but yeosang entered into your life. I don't exactly know how it happened when I noticed,you guys were already dating."
"The process was too fast. You both fell in love at first sight," woo young interrupted. I changed my gaze toward woo young, that's when San explained, "he was friend with yeosang. That's how we met too. You both were our mutual and you were the one who helped us to start dating."
" and after we graduated, we gradually lost in touch with each other. But after about 2 years, we heard you and yeosang got engaged and were planning to move out of town."
He breathed in heavily before continuing, " and one day, we heard about your accident. We heard that you were unconscious for days and yeosang died only after a few days in hospital."
I trembled and Yeri grasped my hands in hers.
"we went to yeosang's funeral. We met with mingi and yunho too. When we asked them about you, they said your condition was so bad that you were still in ICU and the doctors didn't allow anyone except the family to see you."
San continued, " as our minds were scattered and shocked as we couldn't believe what had happened to you guys, we forgot to take any contact information from mingi and Yunho to be kept updated about you."
Woo young stated, "after that, we went back again to the hospital you were in , to visit you, but you were already transferred to another hospital . So, that's how we lost you."
I stared at my palms in disbelief, " Then, what about the thing that mingi told me? That we were dating since college?"I asked.
"Well, from what we know, I'm sure that you only dated yeosang until the accident. But mingi was your closest friend. Even while dating with yeosang, you still rely on mingi and very close with him."
I shook my head in shock, " so, he lied? He lied to me about everything?"
I started to tear up, "but why?"
Woo young placed a cup of water and a tissue paper in front of me, "that's what you have to find out yourself , ari."
We returned home after thanking San and woo young.
Of course, after I got stable and ,wooyoung really did feed me a lot too.
Before leaving, "ari, we don't really know what is happening but just know that you are not alone. We are here for you. You can always come to us."
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I'm sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for mingi to come back.
I heard his car after a few hours and then he came in.
He walked toward me, "sweetheart, why haven't you gone to sleep yet? It's already late."
"Stop there," I demanded , standing up.
His steps halted midway, "sweetheart?"
I stared him in the eyes, "care to tell me who Kang yeosang is?"
Please say no, mingi. Please. Please refuse everything. Please say that they were all lying to me.
Mingi looked at me with his eyes widened and his lips slightly parted, "sweetheart,I can explain."
My legs got limped, " so it's all true. It's true that you lied to me"
I sat down again on couch, "why, mingi? Why? I trusted you."
Mingi tried to come to me.
"No," I stopped him, "don't come near me."
" I'm sorry, sweetheart. Please listen to me. Let me explain," he begged.
" why the heck should I listen to you?" I yelled.
"Please," he begged, " I didn't have any bad intention. I have my reason to do so. So, please let me explain."
I stood up again and stared into his eyes, "then, explain. Tell me why you did that."
He sighed, " when you were in coma for a very long time, I was afraid that I was gonna lose you. Some people even advised me to remove the ventilator since you will never wake up again. But I couldn't do that . I just pray everyday for you to wake up. And you woke up. It was a miracle. I was very delighted. You don't know how grateful I was at that moment."
I took a deep breath in, " how's that supposed to be the reason for you lies?"
He continued, " after I got the news about your amnesia, I didn't know what to do. The doctor told me to keep you away from any form of stress so I decided it would be better for you to forget about him,"
his tears fell, "I wanted to keep you safe, my love. I didn't want you to suffer any pain. I know that you will be heartbroken and be in so much pain if you found out about him, so I decided that I will keep that matter from you for the moment , for your health and well-being."
I asked in disbelief, " so you just decided how to do with my life on your own? Don't tell me that you decided to keep that from me forever?"
He said, " Not forever, I'm planning to tell you when the right time comes. I was going to tell when you are recovered completely and ready to take that information."
"I'm sorry, my love. I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please don't hate me," he apologized.
"No," I shook my head, "I can't trust you anymore. I cannot believe that the only person I knew and trusted after my tragic event in life , has been lying to my face all this time."
I clenched my fist, trying to hold my tears.
He was crying, taking a step toward me.
But I took a step backward.
"Ari, my love," he cried.
I ignored him and ran back into my room and locked the room.
He knocked on my door, " please my love, don't shut me out. Please , open the door."
I ignored him , sitting down on the floor, leaning on the door ,with my face in my palms.
I couldn't control my tears anymore.
It's been hours and he was still outside my door, begging, " I'm begging you. Please don't lock yourself in your room. I will do anything to make up for you."
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