Love, Me

7: Deep Breaths

Jinki found Taeyeon at the back of the house, standing perfectly still as glistening crystals rolled down her cheeks silently. He approached her slowly, sucking in air as he did so.

"You okay?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Go away," she snapped coldly and continued staring blankly ahead.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay being alone out here?"

"I said leave me alone!"

"What's wrong with you? You've done nothing but yell at people over small problems, and you keep fainting, you're weak and..." Jinki's voice softened towards the end, suddenly guilty for raising his voice at her.

"I'm not weak! You don't understand."

"Of course I don't understand! You've never told me anything, what would I know?"

A chilly silence flooded the air, even the light breeze seemed colder than before. Tears continued forming at the corner of Taeyeon's eyes. The single lightbulb hanging at the back of the house seemed to dim a little as she opened her mouth.

"I didn't want to tell you or Dad this because I didn't want anybody fussing over me," she sighed, clenching her fists tightly. "I'm anaemic."

"All the more you should have told us!" Jinki breathed, eyes wide in disbelief. "That explains that day when you came back..."

"I can take care of myself, Jinki. I mean, I came back from Harvard in one piece."

"But that doesn't prove you are able to do so properly. How much sleep did you get on average?"

"...About 4 hours."

Jinki inhaled sharply and pursed his lips. "Did you have proper meals every day?"

"Does that even matter?"

"It does! I just want to know. I'm worried, okay? I'm worried because I love you! I don't want to see you suffering."

"...I skipped break a lot so that I could catch up on my studies."

"Grades over health? That's not the Taeyeon I know."

"So what? You've changed too! You're such a worrywart it annoys me!" Taeyeon stormed off, leaving Jinki stunned for a few seconds.

A pair of warm arms suddenly pulled Taeyeon back into a hug. Jinki apologized, his voice tinged with sadness. Taeyeon struggled for a bit before finally collapsing against his chest, exhausted from getting all worked up. After a few deep breaths, she managed to calm down.

"I'm sorry too."

***

> Fast Forward <

The warm afternoon sun shone through the window as Jinki lazily rolled off his bed, even though he was awake. He nearly kicked the door down in excitement. It was the 100th day since he and Taeyeon got together, how could he not forget?

"Taeyeon!" he called cheerily while knocking on the door, "Time to head out!"

An equally excited Taeyeon rushed out of the door, oblivious to the tuft of hair standing proudly on the top of her head. Jinki chuckled softly and held her by one shoulder, fixing her hair with the other. Meanwhile, a bright crimson spread across her cheeks.

"There we go," he grinned and held her slender little hand in his as the couple set off on their date.

They were going to the café they used to frequent years ago. Taeyeon was absolutely in love with their sandwiches, and Jinki basically liked everything on the menu, apart from the strong brews. The two had each prepared a small gift for each other, and planned to give it to each other at the café. Jinki held on tight to the small box in his left pocket, while Taeyeon made sure the blue polka-dotted envelope was in good condition.

As they reached a zebra crossing, Taeyeon suddenly asked, "Will you leave me one day when you're tired of me?"

Jinki, being his usual cheeky self, replied with an exaggerated gasp, "Oh no, what if I said I would?" before bursting out in laughter.

Taeyeon, however, didn't take the joke too well.

"Why can't you take things seriously for once?" she rolled her eyes, turning on her heels and barging across the road without looking back even once.

A sleek black Mercedes was speeding down the street while Taeyeon stomped down the road. As soon as the driver spotted the angry female, he slammed hard on the brakes. The car horn blared loudly and Jinki yelled for her to turn back, but it wasn't enough to jolt Taeyeon from her state of anger. The vehicle passed the zebra crossing...

...and missed Taeyeon by only a few inches. She completely ignored whatever was happening around her and continued marching down the opposite street. It was not long before she disappeared from Jinki's sight. This girl is killing me. What was she thinking?

Minutes later, his phone rang. And now she's calling me.

"Yeah? What's the matter?" he spoke cautiously.

Soft sobs could be heard over the line.

Jinki... I'm so so sorry. I wasn't thinking. Could you come pick me up?
"Where are you now?"
At the staircase in front of the café. *sobs*
"Alright, hold on, I'm coming over," he said, trying to comfort the distraught Taeyeon over the phone.

***

"Don't cry, I'm here," Jinki whispered, hugging his girlfriend tightly and stroking her hair tenderly on the stairs.

It was pretty awkward though, he could feel eyeballs boring into the back of his head as people passed by the couple on the sidewalk, but he knew he couldn't let her go just like that.

Taeyeon's sobs (thankfully) subsided quickly and the two strolled up the stairs to the café where to their surprise they found...

"Jessica!"

The wavy-haired female waved from inside the empty café excitedly, and the two quickly rushed to sit with her. Their date could wait. Catching up with Jessica was much more important right now.

"Hang on, I need to use the washroom," Taeyeon said, adjusting her bangs so that dear old Jess wouldn't see her red, puffy eyes.

"Come back quickly! We have a lot of things to talk about!" her friend giggled and waved her off.

"So how've you been? Got a guy yet?" Jinki asked, grinning widely.

"Nah, being single right now is actually pretty great! I feel more free this way."

"Independent woman, as always, huh?"

The two friends continued chatting away, each word full of excitement and joy. Jinki avoided talking about Taeyeon's condition, for he worried that she might not be too happy with another person knowing that she wasn't doing well.

Half an hour later, Jessica checked the time on her phone.

"Taeyeon's gone for pretty long, hasn't she?" she asked, her eyebrow slowly raising.

"You're right. Why don't you go check on her?" Jinki felt panic rising in his body.

Jessica quickly scuttled off to the female washroom, while Jinki looked on worriedly. She ran back in ten seconds flat, her face drained of colour and eyes wide in shock.

"W-What happened?" Jinki stood up immediately, eyes filled with both fear and concern.

Tears started streaming down Jessica's cheeks as she covered her mouth, trembling slightly.

"What do I do, god, what do I do?"

"What is it?"

"It's Taeyeon! She... she- on my gosh," Jessica broke down halfway through her sentence. Jinki caught her before she collapsed to the ground. She couldn't stop crying, the more she cried, the more horrible Jinki felt. He felt his stomach lurch as he finally realised what just happened.

Oh no. This is bad. This is very bad.