It did not take long for Tae Yong to realize something was wrong.
The first was how hard it was to think straight. There seemed to be a very heavy fog in his mind, accompanied by a dull headache that was threatening to surface.
Reflexively, Tae Yong tried to raise his hand to soothe his increasingly pounding head, yet his arm did not respond as he expected. In fact, it did not respond, at all.
To his increasing terror, Tae Yong felt that, not only his arm and hand, but his entire body was as heavy as lead.
Was he coming down with something? Tae Yong thought confusedly.
Dimly, in the fog of his mind, he recalled that he was supposed to meet with the Girl at the Statue of Liberty today.
Uh oh. This did not bode well for a first date. Without her contact information, Tae Yong could not even call the Girl to let her know he was sick. But Tae Yong did not have enough encourage to talk to the Girl, let alone asking for her name and phone number. See where that led him, Tae Yong laughed bitterly at himself. He had asked her to go all the way out to the Statue of Liberty, and it would be terribly rude of him to leave her waiting. In fact, he was not sure he would ever have a second chance if he stood her up. He probably would not be forgiven no matter what legitimate excuse he may have. He needed to go, even though it may be completely pathetic for him show up sick.
He had to get up. Tae Yong thought to himself determinedly.
Distantly, he felt a vague sense of approval.
And he opened his eyes.
The first days after regaining consciousness were a blur of confusion, shock and exhaustion.
It was a shock to find out that he was in a coma for three years. To Tae Yong, the days in New York were just like yesterday, where he had a job that he loved and was passionate about being an artist, where he was hit by the beautiful Girl with an apple, and where he went out to the sea on a yacht with Tae Mu and talked about their grandmother.
He was also surprised, but comforted, by the fact that he was back in Seoul. He may have left Seoul because he was not interested in the family business, but it was a great comfort for Tae Yong, in a time of weakness and helplessness, to be back at home, to be spoken to by the hospital staff in a language that he was familiar with and to be able to see his family again. Initially, he thought that his family must have transferred him back from the U.S. when they learned that he was in an accident, but it became increasing odd that only his aunt and President Pyo ever came to visit.
Tae Yong had initially tried to console himself that he had simply missed his grandmother and Tae Mu when he was asleep. Although he had been "asleep" for three years, his body was simply too weak from the lack of use. He drifted in and out of sleep, no matter how hard he to struggled to keep his eyes open, fearing that he may sleep and never to wake again. It took him a few days to be able to sit upright, to speak with the hospital staff and visitors, and to try to move around.
But as days went by without any sign of his grandmother or Tae Mu, he became worried. At first, he accepted, albeit skeptically, his aunt and President's Pyo explanation that his grandmother and Tae Mu were busy with the family business, but the guilt on their faces was becoming more and more apparent whenever he inquired about his family.
Tae Yong also knew deep down that his grandmother would have dropped everything to see him if she knew that he was hurt. He was also concerned that Tae Mu might have gotten into trouble for the accident. He did recall what happened on the boat; he and Tae Mu got into a disagreement because of Tae Mu's place in the family. He vaguely recalled that he was hit by Tae Mu, but everything after was blank. He knew that his aunt and President Pyo were hiding something so he could focus on recovering.
But it did not prepare him for the truth when it was revealed.
Tae Mu, who he grew up with and looked up to a brother, was now in prison because he attempted to murder Tae Yong. And his grandmother, who loved and spoiled him, was no longer in this world due to his cousin somehow.
They had to be the most devastating blows to Tae Yong.
For the first time in his life, he felt truly alone.
When he was recovering at the hospital, he slowly coaxed from his aunt what happened when he was in a coma.
The story that he got from his aunt, and later corroborated by an unwilling President Pyo, was an incredible tale of a man who looked exactly like him.
According to his aunt, Tae Yong was declared missing when Tae Mu returned from New York, claiming that he never saw Tae Yong when he was there.
And Tae Yong would have remained missing if not for this man, who impersonated him. His grandmother, who had missed her grandson so much, accepted the man's claim of amnesia without question despite his odd ancient Korean mannerisms, his long hair, his complete lack of common sense at times, and his equally three strange friends. Tae Mu, feeling threatened by the man's place in the family, located the rightful Tae Yong and brought him back to Korea in an effort to expose the imposter. But his double, assisted by President Pyo and one step ahead of Tae Mu, replaced the vegetative Tae Yong with himself, once again impersonating Tae Yong. Eventually, his twin exposed that Tae Mu hit Tae Yong on the yacht that day and made no efforts to save him, instead making all efforts to destroy any evidence. In doing so, he also caused grandmother's death.
Although Tae Yong understood the reasons behind Tae Mu's action, he nonetheless felt hurt and betrayed. In his moments of denial, he looked desperately for someone to blame, sarcastically asking whether he should be thanking his imposter for defrauding and destroying his family. But President Pyo calmly defended his double, explaining that he had truly wanted to protect grandmother and Tae Yong's place in the family. His double had all the opportunity in the world to appropriate money from his family. Nonetheless, he did not take anything of significant value (even if he may have overspent on daily expenses). His more outrageous spending involved the purchase of two apartments for a girl who helped him, but the girl ultimately declined to accept the gift. She only asked that she be permitted to continue living in one of the apartments – an apartment on the rooftop that was originally the girl's home to begin with – as a tenant paying rent. In the end, Tae Yong's double disappeared without a trace when his "mission", namely, to expose Tae Mu for his crime and to protect grandmother's inheritance, was complete.
President Ryo asked whether Tae Yong wanted to do anything with the apartments.
Tae Yong only shook his head.
Life in Seoul had not been that different for Tae Yong.
President Pyo had asked him if he would like to work for the company. Tae Yong politely declined, citing his health as reason. The truth was, Tae Yong had always been an artist. He had even gone so far as to leaving Seoul in order to escape his grandmother's insistence on his inheriting the family business. If he had little interest in running the company before, he was sure not about to change now. He was, in fact, even less inclined to work for the family business which was the cause of the rift between him and his cousin. Ironically, based on what he learned from various anecdotes, the fake Tae Yong would probably make a much better Yong Tae Yong that him, both as a successor to the family business and as a grandson.
He was also asked whether he wanted to live in his family home. He had returned there once after he was discharged from the hospital. It was difficult to be there, an impeccably clean, vast yet empty house almost devoid of life, a shadow of its former self that was in Tae Yong's precious childhood memories.
Fortunately, when Tae Yong's lawyer reviewed with him all the properties that he now owned , he discovered that there was a high rise apartment in his name near the river that was very convenient located. He liked the apartment as soon as he saw it. It was spacious, but not too large for one person to live in, with a beautiful view of the river.
And so it was decided.
Tae Yong was independent and was used to living alone. He soon settled into a routine not unlike the one he had in New York. He decided to take things slowly and only freelance here and there, as rehabilitation had been tough. Even if Tae Yong was young and resilient, there were times when he was frustrated that his body did not respond the way it did or should. It was during those times when he felt the absence of his family and their support most acutely.
From time to time, he also thought of Her. The Girl in the New York streets who gulped adorably when the yellow butterfly rested on her shoulder, afraid that she would scare it off. The Girl who smiled happily as she watched the bubbles floated across her from the children's wands. The Girl who was so vibrant as she chased down the boys who stole from her.
He wondered where she was now, whether she was still living in New York and working various jobs. Sometimes, he felt that he would be able to see her again if he ventured down the New York streets, or if he visited the pub where she worked. He would apologize that he did not appear because he was in an accident, and she would forgive him if he was given an opportunity to properly explain himself. But then he remembered that three years had passed, and the thought that she could be happily married surfaced no matter how much he tried to suppress it.
Instead, he focused on how much he felt he could learn from her. If she could appreciate such simple things and be happy, then he, who survived an impossible accident, had many more reasons to live.
Tae Yong met Se Na when he visited grandmother's grave on the anniversary of her death.
He did not know who Se Na was, but she clearly recognized him. She introduced herself as grandmother's assistant, and asked whether they could speak about grandmother.
Tae Yong had no reason to refuse.
The two of them found themselves at a café. Se Na was nervous. It was apparent from her posture and body language. She was looking at anywhere but him, her hands trembling. Tae Yong did not understand what he had done to warrant such a reaction.
I am glad that you woke up. Se Na said after a long moment of uncomfortable silence. And I think Tae Mu would be too.
The mention of his cousin got his attention.
I wanted to apologize. Seemingly out of nowhere, she blurted out. I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness, but you deserve to know what happened.
Haltingly, she explained her involvement in grandmother's death. Tae Mu had asked her to go to Tae Yong's room to retrieve Tae Yong's laptop in secret. Curious, she turned on the laptop and found a photo of Tae Mu and Tae Yong together. She quickly came to the shocking realization that her boyfriend was involved in Tae Yong's disappearance and the the photo must have been incriminating evidence. Due to very unfortunate timing, grandmother caught Se Na in Tae Yong's room uninvited and saw the photo. In their struggle for the laptop, grandmother lost her balance and fell down the stairs. Terrified, Sena escaped the scene, leaving grandmother bleeding on the floor.
By the end of her story, Se Na was in tears, bowing her head low as she muttered her apologies non-sensically again and again. Tae Yong was equally affected. Feeling suffocated and struggling to contain himself, Tae Yong stood up from his chair and turned to leave, but Se Na grabbed his sleeves and continued.
Tae Mu and I were the same. We were selfish and only thought about ourselves. We both wanted things that don't rightfully belong to us, and we lied and cheated to get what we wanted. We completely lost sight of ourselves and hurt a lot of people, including you and my sister.
We were not good people, she admitted tearfully, but we didn't think we had a choice. But it turned out, we did. We didn't want to be bad people.
When my sister forgave me, her forgiveness meant more to me than I ever realized.
And I know this is the same for Tae Mu.
Tae Yong paused at her words. He was not ready to forgive Tae Mu, just yet. But for the sake of this woman who loved his cousin, for Tae Mu, and for himself, he was willing to try.
I want to see Tae Mu again. He told her.
Tae Yong felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest after his visit at the prison.
The visit was a lot less emotional than he expected. There was considerable awkwardness between Tae Yong and Tae Mu when they first saw each other again, Tae Mu more subdued than Tae Yong ever remembered. But not before long, they were sharing stories of their recent lives, and tentatively joking with one another. Just as Tae Yong was about to leave, Tae Mu apologized for what happened. Tae Yong waved it off.
They were family, after all.
On his way home, he walked by a juice store. Tae Yong had never been a big fan of sweet drinks, but today, he felt like rewarding himself with one.
And he saw her.
The beautiful Girl who threw an apple at him. She was impossibly there, behind the counter.
He strode into the store. Before the counter, he looked up at the menu and took a moment to consider his order.
One apple juice, please.
Not knowing quite how to act, he looked around to consider his surroundings. When he turned to her again, however, she was clearly distracted. She did not seem to even notice he was there.
One apple juice! Tae Yong repeated his order, raising his voice ever so slightly to get her attention.
Startled by Tae Yong's voice as if hearing him for the first time, the Girl made a reflexive noise of acknowledgement.
The corner of his mouth quirked at her absent-mindedness.
He looked away, not wanting her to catch him staring, but it was clear that something was on her mind and she had never once looked at him.
He shyly regarded her, wondering what took her smile away.
At the stop of the blending machine, Tae Yong abruptly realized he was staring and turned to his find his wallet as naturally as he could. He handed the Girl money for the drink.
She still did not look up.
He took his drink from her hands and said his thanks. As he walked out of the store, he shook his head and laughed at himself, feeling very much like the day in New York when no words came out as she walked straight past him without sparing a glance.
But Tae Yong knew that the next time they meet, things would be different.
"Why were you so late? I have waited for you for so long."
"Where were you? I have always been here."
Life is death and death is life. I will love you beyond life and death. Tae Yong will be my proof. May the both of you live together happily ever after.
Author's Note: Not sure if a fandom exists for this particular series at all, but I love the couple so much that I just have to write about them. (To clarify, in my mind, there is no difference between Tae Yong and Lee Gak for certain purposes.)
There are certain scenarios where dialogue fic is perfect for. This is definitely not one of them. In fact, this is the complete opposite. The fic is entirely introspective, written from Tae Yong's point of view, narrating what transpired over quite a stretch of time. I purposefully avoided using quotation marks throughout except in certain circumstances (no, it's not because I don't know how to use them) precisely because of this, to create a distance from the actual events. When I was toying with the idea in my head, I actually wasn't quite sure how this would actually read on paper, but fortunately the fic just sort of wrote itself for the most part. The question of how well it turned out, well, is another story. Who knows.
I will admit that I really struggled with the last part though. There is not much room for imagination for people who have seen the series. And anything more than this would be superfluous, I feel. That and, when you see someone you have a crush on, I think your mind tends to shut down and you are not thinking 100% straight. In order to get this right, I rewatched the scene many many times (which is fine, because it is one of my favourite scenes), and I noticed details that I didn't see during my initial viewings. Like the pot of lotus when Tae Yong walked into the store (that was smart). And the connection between the apple and apple juice (I didn't notice this at all at the beginning but more that I think about it, the more I believe this is deliberate). Also, it was really obvious from Tae Yong's expression and body language that he wanted Park Ha to look at him, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly it was that gave off this impression until I rewatched the scene five or six times. This is my spin on it (BTW, kudos to the actor for the subtle acting).
I didn't think I would be able to write a love story or, er well, a fic about love. The backdrop may have been Tae Yong's life, but really this is about his connection with her no matter he was conscious of it or not. Can you figure out how many things "she is" in the fic? Though I have to say I feel sorry for Tae Yong as I wrote this. I feel like I'm dropping a bomb on him at every turn. I hope I didn't over do it. I am no good at writing pathos, anyway.
I also sort of had in mind how things are going to play out after this. Our beloved couple will start dating again. Then as he integrated her into his life, he will find out that all of the people around him somehow already know her (which frustrates him to no end. I can already imagine certain scenarios like, Tae Yong introducing Park Ha to Tae Mu as his girlfriend, and Tae Mu and Park Ha guardedly and politely greet each other etc.) He would also be surprised that she of all people knows the most about his double. There will be problems along the way. Tae Yong will know that she had "lost" someone who she loved very much and the people around him are a bit protective because they don't want him getting hurt, knowing who she was in love with. But the two of them will figure it out.
May proofread again for typo at a later date.