FALLING SLOWLY ||Complete||

Knots undone

The pain is sudden - a bolt that scorches its way through her veins with an intensity that could buckle her knees. Eun steadies her, his hand cold against her elbow, brows frowned in concern.

“Noona why don’t you sit down for a bit?” He asks mildly, looking worried. “I’m sure your friend will take time to arrive.”

His hand is insistent, steering her away from the corridor, bowing to an occasional acquaintance until he reaches a door.

“It’s my office temporarily -” he flashes a grin of a indulgent child showing his toy cupboard before pushing in. “Come - you can wait here.”

“You have an office here?” In spite of her worries, there is a hint of surprise in her tone.

“Mu hyung has been good to me - aish, I should call him chairman Hwang or something right?” He bustles around, while Soo settles herself on the couch. “Since I supposedly revived his brother, he wanted me to wait around and monitor his progress.”

“You -” Ha Jin bits back the question. Was it Eun who revived So, or hadn’t it been Wook? Was not he the one that went back with her, taking the antidote?

“So hyung called me up after the little run in with your uncle.” Eun says, taking a seat himself. “That’s how I knew exactly where to find him. Which is exactly why you shouldn’t worry about him Noona, he is many things - but not a fool.”

She had already known he drank it willingly, the poison her uncle set for him. Her heart aches to think that he came looking for her rather than saving his own life - Eun continues, gently taking hold of her wrist.

“I thought it was Wook -”

“Senior Hwang?” Eun’s expression darkens at the mention. “One of these days I’d love to talk to him about his diagnoses at length. He has been playing with too many people…” So Wook had just let her believe he was helping - trying to win back her favor. “Which brings us back to my original purpose, I’d like to have some tests conducted on you - noona,” he says seriously.

“Tests? What kind of tests?”

He pats the back of her hand, before quickly taking her pulse and drawing away.

“Your accident happened long back - you should be properly healed by now.”

His words leave her throat burning, and her eyes prickle with unease.

He wouldn’t find out I’m dying or something once again would he… she thinks, reflecting back to the encounter with the royal physician thousand years ago. The man had told her she had only a decade left of her life. The need to live burns inside her with a renewed vigor and she realizes it has little to do with her own greed for life.I want to live with him - a little longer. Her own thoughts of yore comes back to haunt her recollections.

“So hyung believes they’ve been poisoning you as well - and honestly after the TUE fiasco I have little trust in that brother of his.”

**

Woo Hee fiddles with her thumbs, confessions - she realizes - are not conjured out of thin air and she had been carrying around her guilt for far too long. She had always been running away, she admits reluctantly. It was one of the reasons why she did not appreciate running into her childhood best friend, who used to be her flatmate during university, after all these years taken to overwrite their hurtful parting.

He had accused her of trying to drive a wedge between him and his new found sweetheart. More than his words - the enlightenment had broken her. For until that moment she had been giving self - made excuses, justifying that what she had been doing was to protect her friend - for his own interest. The girl had been too secretive and aloof for his own good - she had convinced herself that she was trying to protect him from a possible heartbreak.