savior | kim taehyung

4.

I started to panic.

His beautiful, perfect head was on my shoulder. What if I got him dirty? What if I made him smell? What if I somehow made him ugly? What if he caught a disease from me?

I was shaking. He needed to get off me now.

I shot up from the bench, hearing a thud from behind as his head hit the hard wood. I wanted to turn back and check on him, but I stopped myself.

I was out of the hospital, so I didn't need him anymore.

I didn't need anyone.

Without looking back, I started running.

"Hey! Hani, wait!" I heard him calling, but I didn't stop. I just kept going.

-----

Panting, I finally stopped running in front of the outside market that was near my apartment. It didn't look like he was following me.

[a/n: in korea there are some outdoor markets called shijangs. they're basically an area of a LOT of vendors who sell everything from shoes to clothes to jewelry to sweets to food. the prices are low and can be bargained.]

Good.

Wiping the sweat off my forehead, my attention was caught by the white-and-blue checkers on my sleeve.

Shit.

I was still in my hospital gown. People probably thought I was a runaway patient.

Figuring that I needed to change into normal clothes, I made my way into the market and spotted an old woman selling boring, light-toned shirts and bottoms. Walking over to her, I examined my options. There were three items that caught my eye, being hidden in between layers of old, yellow & white sweaters: a black-and-white striped halter top, a white graphic tee, and a plain pink shirt. Leaning towards the halter, I looked for a decent bottom. I found a pair of grey athletic shorts, and decided to go with the combination of the two. Handing the shirt and shorts to the lady, I pulled out my wallet.

"How much?" I asked, having two five-thousand won bills ready. I didn't forget to notice that I only had about fifteen-thousand won left.

[a/n: instead of dollars, korea uses won. as a rough equivalent, five-thousand won would be about 4-5 dollars in american money, so they're almost the same (with america being a bit less).]

"For both, it'll be seven-thousand won," the old woman said with a smile. Handing her the money, I waited as she bagged the clothes and got my change ready.

Giving her a small smile, I took the bag and turned to leave. But, I was stopped by her calling me back.

"Miss," she called. "Come back here for a minute."

Turning back around, I went over to the woman again. Grinning, the woman bent down and grabbed something under her chair. She pulled out an oversized blue jean jacket and handed it to me.

"Take this, pretty dear. It's too chilly to just be wearing those outside."

Trying to refuse, I shook my head. "I'm fine, thank you. You can keep the jacket." However, the woman stood and pushed the jacket into my hands.

"Take it as a gift. You remind me of my granddaughter, so I don't want you getting sick." Smiling, she signaled for me to leave.

Feeling a bit of guilt for taking probably this woman's best merchandise, I lifted the corners of my mouth and left, walking quickly. I needed to change as soon as possible: this gown smelled like the hospital.

Soon enough I found a restroom available for me to use. Shuffling inside, I locked the door and started getting changed.

Finishing getting dressed, I took a chance to look in the mirror to check my hair.

But something wasn't right. Shocked, I dropped the bag with the hospital gown inside and leaned closer.

Who was the person staring back at me in the mirror?