The familiar ceiling, with a hazy view due to the remaining effects of the medicine, came into sight.

Seowon Medical Center.

It was a place similar to the hospital room where she had been admitted for regular health check-ups.

Between darkening and brightening in front of her eyes, her hazy pupils gradually became clear.

Seo-yoon raised the arm with the ring needle stuck in it, which she had grown tired of looking at due to traffic accidents.

To pull it out or not, that was the question.

While pondering a meaningless dilemma, Seo-yoon looked at the ceiling again and muttered.

“Nothing again.”

The large lump that rushed in all at once made her head throb.

The memories, shattered into pieces, rearranged themselves, making the past four years of Seo-ji-an blur.

The moment of parting with Kang-hyun, who said he would marry another woman rather than be attacked by a stranger, was more vivid than the fear she felt when attacked by an unfamiliar man.

The memories of the past covered the present, creating a feeling of time flowing backward.
Seo-yoon, who pressed the mattress with her palm, slowly rose as she was about to lean on the bedhead, and a transparent automatic door slid to one side.

“Seo-yoon.”

Kang-hyun, who approached with a somewhat awkward face, grabbed Seo-yoon’s hand.

Seo-yoon, who was looking at Kang-hyun without responding, withdrew her hand that was held.

She hated how he always seemed to leave her alone.

“Don’t touch me.”

Kang-hyun’s Adam’s apple swayed greatly in response to the unfamiliar rejection.

“Yoon-ah.”

“Was it fun?”

“…….”

“I’m asking if it was fun.”

“No.”

Anytime he considered it his resting place to visit only when he pleased.

Kang-hyun, who used to call Seo-ji-an’s name affectionately as if he truly loved her, now just felt shameless.

Even though she had seen him living like a person who had lost a precious existence and died, she didn’t want to think deeply about it.

The time that had been relentlessly neglected was etched in her mind, so now she only had an impulse to lash out at him.

“Casually calling me Seo-ji-an, hugging and confessing love as if I were nothing. Acting like the most affectionate and warm person in the world. When I begged you to stay with me, you didn’t even lift a finger. Why did you pretend to be so good?”

Seo-yoon’s shoulders, glaring at Kang-hyun with bloodshot eyes, shook violently.

Perhaps because of the overload in her head, or because her injured body was not recovering, basic breathing, inhaling and exhaling, was difficult.

“Lie down for now. We can talk later. I’ll listen to everything you say.”

“Why did you laugh like that?”

As she spoke with a sharp voice, her distorted mouth twitched in spasms.

“Why did you make Oppa fall in love with you again?”

With tightly closed lips, Kang-hyun now only stared at Seo-yoon’s hand, which he might never be able to hold again.

Even though she had anticipated this day and had prepared herself with fear and tried to comfort herself with anxiety beforehand, now that it had arrived, her mind seemed completely empty.

“I was happy as Seo-ji-an for the past four years. Even if Oppa hadn’t shown up, I would have remembered it forever. I had family and friends! I wasn’t sad without Oppa; I was never lonely for a single day!”

A scream mixed with a cry echoed through the spacious hospital room.

Seo-yoon poured out a burst of resentment, gasping and breathing heavily.

“Calm down, calm down.”

“Don’t touch me!”

Thud, Kang-hyun’s hand, pressed forcefully against Seo-yoon’s rough arm, wavered in the air.

Kang-hyun, who was trying to grab her trembling shoulders to lay her down, faced even stronger resistance than before and stepped back two paces from the bed.

After turning his head for a moment, Kang-hyun calmly spoke.

“I haven’t contacted your parents. You’ll be confused right now, and it’ll be difficult to meet those people.”

Seo-yoon buried her face in her hands.

Thinking of her parents, who didn’t even know that Seo-ji-an was dead, and the faces of the strangers carrying Seo-ji-an’s posthumous tablets while spreading love, tears burst out.
“Stay in Hannam-dong until you’re discharged, just until then.”

“Why do you need to tidy up? Can this situation be tidied up right now?”

Eyes tainted with resentment shook aimlessly.

It seemed like nothing could be undone.

She couldn’t go back to the Seo-yoon before the accident, and she couldn’t face her parents pretending to be Seo-ji-an.

“Take care of your body first. You’re in pain right now.”

“Why is all of this happening because of someone? Why do I have to go through this? It was all because of Oppa from the beginning. Because I dared to be near someone like Tae Kang-hyun, I had to do this crazy thing just for me! Ah……”

Seo-yoon, who couldn’t control her complicated and confused emotions, grabbed her head.

A terrible pain surged like someone hitting her with a hammer.

Calling the medical staff belatedly, Kang-hyun, who had stood there a moment ago, repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist with cold hands.

“Was it ridiculous for me to love Oppa as Seo-ji-an again? Oppa probably wished my memories wouldn’t come back. That’s why he tried to confine me again. Right?”

Seo-yoon smiled, folding the swollen corners of her eyes.

Throwing the words that came to mind directly at him, her stuffy and hot feelings were somewhat relieved.

“It would have been easy and comfortable for me to be in agony, groaning about how I’ll die if you don’t embrace me. How did it feel to call another woman’s name while holding me?”

Seo-yoon’s hand holding the rustling blanket vibrated.

“Do you love me? Does Oppa love me?”

Seo-yoon leaked a bitter smile as she wiped her broken lips.

The voice that used to confess love several times a day had suddenly lost its value.

The scenes of Kang-hyun whispering love to her without a break were all dim.

It wasn’t important that it was her who approached him, trying to distance herself from him, step by step, and finally make him pour out his feelings.

Now, the just-recalled memories distorted Kang-hyun’s affection into outright denial.

The attitude Kang-hyun showed, distinctly different from the past, distorted into his past cruel self.

“…Oppa is really like a monster, terrifying.”

He wouldn’t be hurt no matter what she said.

Having released the emotions she had kept buried during the lost time, she freely vented her frustration.

Kang-hyun’s pupils, containing a trembling Seo-yoon, shook subtly.

“Yeah.”

Kang-hyun, who accepted the thorny words without moving like a rooted tree, slowly reached out a lukewarm glass of water.

“Drink, your throat must hurt.”

Seo-yoon naturally brushed off his hand, and the spilled water from the cup drenched Kang-hyun’s clothes.

“I’ll change my clothes and come back.”

Fetching water again from the water purifier, Kang-hyun placed the cup on the bedside table and turned around.

“Oppa.”

A lifeless voice grabbed Kang-hyun.

“Why did you always leave me alone?”

Seo-yoon, with a murmured resentment as the end, closed her eyes tightly and then opened them again.