Second Time Around

Chapter 24.

Min-Sun could feel the ache through her body before she ever opened her eyes. She felt every bruise and every muscle that she didn't know could be strained. She heard the faint beeping of a machine and slowly opened her eyes staring at a stark white ceiling. She moaned softly closing her eyes and turning her head towards the right where the beeping was coming from. She opened her eyes to find an IV pole beside her beeping away. She stared at it for a couple of seconds before looking the opposite way towards the wooden door.

Her movements were slugish and she felt like she could go back to sleep for another few hours. Her brain felt fuzzy and her entire body hurt.

She felt something by her legs twitch and she lifted up in the bed slightly to look down and see a mess of brown hair. Their face was turned away from hers, but she knew who it was. One of his arms was underneath his head blocking out any remnant of sunlight while the other was clutching onto hers tightly. She tried to move her hand out of his grip and a faint smile spread across her face at how tight his grip was. She looked at their hands giving his hand a squeeze trying to see if this was reality.

"Han.."She croaked out. He twitched ever so slightly moving his arm that was blocking out the sunlight. The light hit his face causing him to slowly groan and sit up from his slumped over position. He moved his hand away from her own, stretching his neck and back before opening his eyes to stare into her own. His eyes widened realizing she was finally awake.

"Min-Sun. Oh my god, thank god." He stood quickly coming closer to her head. He brought his shaking hands to her face and held it staring at her as if she might disappear. She smiled never breaking eye contact as she brought her own hand up placing it over his own.

"Oh hang on let me grab someone okay?" He broke eye contact first looking over to the IV pump as if he was just now hearing it. He brought his hands down and stood up getting ready to leave but Min-Sun quickly grabbed his hand. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave when he was the one person she wanted beside her. He chuckled slightly looking down towards their hands.

"Min as much as I don't want to let go either, you need someone to take a look at you. I will be right back." He brought Min-Sun's hand up to his lips and gave it a kiss before letting it go and going into the hallway. The silence that filled the room felt louder than the beeping of the IV pump. Fortunately a few minutes later a young nurse came in with Han trailing behind.

The young nurse smiled to Min-Sun as she went over to the IV pump checking on it. "Hello Miss Lee, I am Mrs. Kim and I will be your nurse. I'm glad to see you are awake. I'm just going to take your vitals and contact the doctor about what we should do about your treatment plan okay?" Min-Sun nodded letting the girl do her job. Han took a seat to the side watching her with careful eyes. Min-Sun turned her head to look at him and smiled. She was glad he was there.

"Alright I'll help you sit up a little, after that I will talk to the doctor about what we are going to do." The nurse helped sit Min-Sun up in bed and position the pillows around her so she could be a little more comfortable. Han tried to help but ended up getting in the way which caused him to get scolded by the nurse. Min-Sun thanked the nurse as she left the room leaving her alone with Han. Silence filled the room again, yet this time it was more comfortable.

"I would have been fine for a few minutes.." Min-Sun huffed out finally breaking the silence. She looked over to Han who was laughing. He had pulled the chair he was previously in closer to her side of the bed.

"Always the stubborn one. Lucky for you, you have me to take care of you." It was her turn to laugh this time as she remembered the nurse scolding Han for almost ripping out her IV not even five minutes ago. When she stopped she looked over at Han seeing that he was staring at her being eerily silent.

"What?" She couldn't recognize the look in his eyes. It was a distant look, one that she had never seen from Han before.

"Nothing, I just remembered I missed your laugh is all.." He looked down to his hands fiddling with his rings.

"Han.." She called his name hoping he would look at her again.

"Sorry...it's just so crazy that you are awake now..It..It was really hard without you here Min..." He breathed out shakily clasping his hands together. They were slightly shaking at this point and Min-Sun swallowed not knowing what to say. She wanted to reach out and hold his hand and apologize right then, but she knew that he had much more to say.

So she waited patiently for him to continue.

"You were fine one day and then the next you closed yourself off from all of us...from me.. Then you get kidnapped and are missing for days and it felt like the world was crumbling around me..Then we find you and he was choking you. I kept screaming your name but you wouldn't wake up.." He choked out looking up towards the ceiling so tears wouldn't fall from his eyes. Min-Sun swallowed the lump in her throat feeling horrible.

"What I hated most off all was that it took all of that to realize how much you mean to me. How much I appreciate all you do for me..and how much I appreciate you..." He looked up to Min-Sun who was holding back tears.

"I'm sorry for being so distracted with Jia and being a bad friend. I'm sorry for not confessing to you sooner than that night at the festival. You were so sweet and kind, and the whole time you were silently holding everything in." He held her hand giving it another kiss. Tears fell down Min-Sun's cheeks listening to his confession.  What an odd time for a confession she thought. 

"Han I-" She started before she cut her own self off. She looked away from Han's warm eyes trying to clear away her own tears, before patting the bed next to her. She moved over ever so slightly and looked over at Han signaling him to come and take a seat. He looked confused but still got up and came to take a seat beside her. He turned so that he was facing her and they both stared at each other for a moment.

Then Min-Sun leaned forward kissing Han on the cheek feeling her cheeks flush red. She looked away in embarrassment. "Thank you for saving me..I know what I did was wrong. I did what I did because I felt like I had caused so much trouble and that it would be better for you all if I just disappeared for a couple of days. I should have never handled it the way I did and I am sorry for that."

Min-Sun stared at her hands and was surprised when Han took one of hers in his and gave it a slight squeeze. She still refused to look at him out of embarrassment, but she felt a kiss pressed to the side of her head that caught her by surprise. It caused her to look over to Han who had a wide grin on his face.

"You know, you are kind of cute when you are embarrassed." He brushed the hair away from her face causing her to blush even more. She looked away embarrassed again trying her best to change the subject.  

"S-so what ever happened to Min-Woo?" She tried.

Han went silent and this caused her to look at him wondering what happened. His playful smile disappeared as a serious look took over his face. 

"When we got there Min-Woo was....choking you..." He paused squeezing her hand and she squeezed back signaling for him to continue.

"He saw us coming and panicked.  He let you go and took the knife that was on the ground. He..stabbed himself before anyone could get to him.  They all tried to stop the bleeding but on the ambulance ride to the hospital he bled out." He explained and Min-Sun let out a shaky sigh.  

"Holy shit.." Min-Sun whispered out in shock. Han squeezed her hand again trying to give her some source of comfort. 

"I know it is a lot to take in...but at least it is all over now. You don't have to worry about the notes or someone coming after you anymore." He spoke softly this time. Min-Sun nodded slowly not really sure how to feel. 

It was all truly over...