Chained by Expectations | Park Sunghoon

Forty-three

(TW: extreme violence and bodily harm)

Sunghoon had slept for a few hours after visiting Haneul, but now he was awake, alone in his hospital room. He wasn't sure where Jake was, and without his phone, he had no way to contact anyone. He looked out of the window, the clear night sky reminding him of the night he and Haneul had watched the lanterns together. A small smile crept across his face as he recalled that night, the night he had confessed his love to her. And now, despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, he had asked her to marry him. He couldn't wait for both of them to recover so they could be together again.

Just as he was about to get up, he heard the door to his room open and close. "Hey, you're awake," Jake said.

"Where were you?" Sunghoon asked.

"I was talking to some of the investigators," Jake replied.

"And?" Sunghoon pressed.

Jake looked down at the floor before speaking. "They found the gun near the warehouse where she was keeping Haneul, but they still haven't found her," he said quietly.

Sunghoon let out a frustrated sigh. "But they're trying, Sunghoon," Jake reassured him. "Heeseung keeps telling them she's going to come back and finish this, but they're not letting anyone other than the doctors, nurses, and family members in her room."

"What about her dad?" Sunghoon asked. "Has Sunoo mentioned if he hates me enough to keep me from seeing her while he's there? Does he know that I asked for her hand in marriage?"

"All Sunoo said was that he did not want to fight with her now. He wants her to get better and will worry about everything else later," Jake huffed. Sunghoon remained silent. "Do you need anything?" Jake asked.

"Can you take me to see her again?" Sunghoon asked, longing to be in her presence, even if he couldn't hear her voice.

"I can ask Sunoo where they are and see if you can go now," Jake suggested. Sunghoon agreed. Jake quickly texted Sunoo, waiting for his reply. Not even a second later, his phone buzzed with a response. "Her dad is going to pick up some stuff for her and will be back in about 30 minutes," Jake said. "Let's go, hurry." Jake urged, helping his best friend into the wheelchair from earlier.

Meanwhile, in Haneul's room, it was eerily quiet. She had fallen into a deep slumber after Sunghoon left and her dad and Sunoo returned. She had been drifting in and out of sleep, her body still weak and recovering. "I'm going to get something to drink from the vending machine, okay?" Sunoo said, standing up. "I think Sunghoon is coming to see you. Jake is asking 'if the coast is clear,' which I'm guessing means can Sunghoon come see you." He chuckled, causing Haneul to slightly smile. "I'll be back," he said, smiling lightly at her. Despite how much she had slept, she still felt tired, her eyelids heavy. The darkness of her hospital room didn't help. Before she knew it, her eyelids became too heavy to keep open, and she faded into a light sleep.

However, it didn't last long. She heard her door momentarily open and close, but no footsteps followed. Haneul tried to open her eyes, blinking a few times, hoping to see Sunghoon or maybe her cousin who had come back because he forgot something. But instead, she saw the silhouette of a woman, a nurse. The woman didn't turn the lights on, which Haneul found strange, as all the other nurses had done that to check that everything was running smoothly.

Haneul, now alert, watched as the nurse moved slowly towards her with a clipboard. But Haneul couldn't see her face. Her eyes scanned the nurse—her uniform, her clipboard—before they fell on the hospital ID clipped to her uniform. The woman in the picture had black hair, and although the person standing in front of her had her hair pinned under her hospital hat, a few blonde strands peeked out. Haneul's body tensed, her heart rate spiking, the monitor notifying them both. The nurse looked up from her clipboard at the heart monitor. The spike made her chuckle.