Faulty Hearts (aka "Tara & Belle") [Dreamcatcher | SuYoo | Sua x Yoohyeon]

Chapter 14

Ahh! I'm soo sorry for the long wait. Been busy with work then too tired to write after I get off but I have been writing surely but slowly. Finally finished this chapter by splitting it up. Don't know why I felt the need to make them so long even though some of you don't mind, esp. you guys who binge read all 13 chapters in one sitting. Geez! Lol But thank you for your patience, I hope you still remembered where the story left off.

Enough rambling, maybe I'll add more notes later. Thank you, enjoy!

Edited 06/06/2020 minor grammatical corrections

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Swirls of colors danced in Yoohyeon's vision, battered by steaming waves in a sea of darkness. Maybe if she stared hard enough it could hypnotize her into forgetting everything from yesterday, or even better, the last seven days, drowning them in her deepest thoughts. But they'll never completely go away.

One week. Has it been that long since the accident? Has it been that long with Minji still in a coma? Yoohyeon hasn't visited her since the night she went out to the club. It's not like anything has changed. Of course, that wasn't the only reason why she hasn't gone back to the hospital. She kept replaying the past events in her head like a nightmare repeating over and over. Then a voice stirred her out of her thoughts.

"Hey!" It called to her.

"Huh?" Yoohyeon huffed.

She looked up and saw a little boy in front of her with arms crossed, gawking at her curiously.

"What?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

"Aren't Pokémon supposed to be happy? Why do you look so sad?" He asked genuinely.

Yoohyeon looked at herself and remembered that she was still wearing that freaking Pikachu onesie since yesterday. Even with the face mask on, this child could still read her emotions. Was she that obvious?

"I'm not sad, just tired." She lied.

The child continued to stare at her before his mother whisked him away, emphasizing not to talk to strangers, "especially foreigners."

Yoohyeon rolled her eyes at the remark then reoriented herself back to her surroundings. She was at a laundromat close to the hotel, finally running out of clean clothes. Dozens of machines buzzed and hummed around her, giving off scented heat of soft powder or fresh linen.

She turned her eyes back to the colorful swirls that had hypnotized her earlier. The washing machine was spinning the only four hoodies and two pants in her possession. Survival bare minimum she recalled her saying. Her black duffel bag laid limp at her feet and she had forgotten that Minji's purse was inside it. She took it out and sifted through it again like the first time she saw it at the police station. It still smelled strongly of chocopies and Minji's perfume and it flooded her with memories she desperately tried to ignore. She flipped through her wallet, ignoring the money inside, then spotted that picture of them together again. The more she stared at it the stranger they looked, like completely different people who lived in a parallel dimension where everything is perfect. Or was perfect. There's nothing else inside the purse that gave any other clues as to how Minji's been doing. It just looked like she kept busy with work, the only other thing she cared about. Then there's that keycard to some place in Incheon. A hotel perhaps? Was it work-related or—?

Dread filled Yoohyeon again. She really didn't want to be here anymore, on the verge of running away again. Staying here was only making things worse, yet a nagging feeling still made her stay. For what though? She dug into her bag this time and pulled out that wrinkled check, examining it like she had done so many times. Maybe she should call the writer of this check. Maybe they can fix all of this. But Yoohyeon shook the thought from her head and averted her eyes back to the washing machine again, wishing the swirling suds and bubbles could wash away her memory of all this. Start over, like none of this ever happened.