Once More, Love 3

13. Lifeline (2)

DID SHE REALLY JUST SLAP ME IN THE FACE?!

"W— wae? Wae? Wae? What did I do? Why did you do that?" I feel my lips quiver at the same time the sting on my skin lingers for a couple more seconds longer than I believe it should. Gosh. She slapped me hard for sure. "Why did you hit me? Wae? WAE? WHAT— WHAT DID I—"

I paused to lower my voice a little in case questioning her would sound like a protest to her and trigger her hand to move and kiss my cheek again. The last thing I want to happen is to receive another slap. "What did I do this time? What did I do to you, Nayeon-ah? That was so sudden. T— tell me. Please. Wae?"

And before I could throw another barrage of questions to her, not just one tear rolled from her face but it was like a dam broke down from her eyes.

Nayeon did not, once again, give me the satisfaction of getting any verbal answer. Instead, she just sprang to embrace me, her face wiggling to mold with the crook of my neck. I can feel my skin instantly get wet from her tears.

"Na— Nayeon-ah?" I know I was the one who got literally hurt, evidently by the burning in my left cheek but she is the one crying right now so I'm confused as hell. "Hey, baby. What's wrong? Tell me."

"Don't you dare say that again." She mumbles over my skin with a voice that sounded in the middle of scolding and whining to me. "I will never forgive you if you say that again."

"Whi— which is...?" I ask in wonder while I carefully wrap my arms around her. She's really close. I can at least hug her, right? "What did I say? Which word? Which sentence? And when did I say it?"

"Paboya!" Her left hand began to pound on my chest. "Paboya, Jeongyeon! Don't say that again!"

"Umm— Na— Nayeon. In case you don't realize, I'm on a hospital bed for a reason. It hurts when you hit me—"

"Let you just die?" Her cries turn to audible sobs as I feel the pounding on my chest getting weaker and weaker. "Ya. Why would you— why would you say that? Why would someone say something like that?"

"I— I said that?" I asked not because I didn't remember saying it. I asked because I'm sure I only uttered those words in my head before everything went black in my memories.

Her hands grab the fabric of my hospital dress as she continues to be a sobbing mess in my arms. "Why would you say that?"

I know it already happened a couple of times but I still can never get used to me getting detached from reality when I have those attacks. She clearly heard so there's nothing left for me but to acknowledge it. "I'm sorry that you had to hear it."

"Sorry?!" She abruptly pulls back so that her face is right in front of me. Ahh. What a pretty face. I was starting to smile when she raised her voice again as she continued speaking. "Is that all you have to say?! You were lying on the floor! And the last thing I hear from you before you lose consciousness is that you want to die?!"

Yeah, I'm being scolded. "Nayeon—"

"You even have blood at the back of your head!"

Huh? I immediately reached to the back of my head in instinct. There is indeed a soft patch at the upper middle part of it. Is that gauze? And there is a band wrapped around it running through my forehead. "I got hurt?"

She just glares at me in response.

Wow. I really was numb all over when I was in that storage room. I didn't know that I got hurt. I just did everything I thought I could possibly do at the moment to stop the voices in my head.