"Chae Young Shin?" a paramedic asked as she was being driven to the hospital. Her vision came in and out of focus. She couldn't form any kind of response, it was like her body was frozen.
"What's wrong?" Moon Ho asked as he saw the monitor she was connected to begin o beep.
"She's losing too much blood" the paramedic said quickly as he began to gather bandages from the floor of the ambulance. She couldn't help but let out a small gasp as something was pressed firmly against her abdomen. The pain had been bearable before, but she could feel it growing more intense. It took everything for her not the scream. She could feel her breaths quickening and figured the gravity of the situation had finally hit her.
She had been shot. She was bleeding and most likely dying. Was she dying? It felt like she was already dead. No matter how hard she tried, Young Shin couldn't keep her eyes open. But if she closed her eyes, would she ever be able to open them again?
"Jung Hoo?" she murmured when she felt a hand grasp hers. No, she had told him to run. That was probably the best thing, for him to get a head start on whoever would start chasing him again. But the selfish part of her wanted him here. She wanted him to be the one holding her right now. She wanted him to tell her everything would be okay. More than anything, Young Shin wanted him to kiss her right now. She was scared and needed to feel something familiar, and the thought of having his warm lips against hers sent a longing through her that she'd never known.
"Chae Young Shin?" a voice asked again, pulling her out of her daydream.
"Moon Ho?" she asked sleepily. Was that who had been with her?
"You need to stay awake," he said. She could hear the tears in his voice.
"I'm so tired," she admitted.
"I know," he replied as he brushed a piece of hair away from her forehead.
"He's safe, right?" she asked. Talking about Jung Hoo might be enough to keep her awake.
"He ran," Moon Ho replied. He couldn't say for sure that he hadn't been caught, but what was the point of worrying her more?
"When will he come?" she asked as her eyes momentarily closed.
"When it's safe," Moon Ho said, "Soon."
"He'll come," Young Shin said with confidence, "Even if it isn't safe, he'll come."
"You're probably right," Moon Ho said with a small laugh. If nothing else, he'd want to make sure that Young Shin was alive, even if it meant putting himself in more danger. If Young Shin was fully awake, she would be mad, but right now, all she wanted was to have him by her side, even if it put them all in more danger.
Jung Hoo ran until the sound of his heart beating drowned out the sound of Young Shin's pained screams that were still ringing in his ears. How could she? How could she have done that? How could she possibly think that it was okay to sacrifice herself for him? If something were to happen to her… Jung Hoo couldn't vent think about it.
If something were to happen to her, then Jung Hoo might just break his no-killing rule. His need to be good enough for her was the only think that had stopped him from doing countless things. Without her, maybe he'd become just as bad as Moon Shik. No, he thought. He wouldn't. He couldn't, because she would live. Chae Young Shin would be fine, and they would be together.
Even as he thought it, he saw her again, covered in blood with her eyes closed. She wouldn't be okay. If she didn't die, she would at least be in pain. And it was all his fault. This world of his, with murder and revenge, he had brought her here. Her own life was dangerous enough, and he had made it worse. Any pain she was in was his fault.
He stopped running and stared at the ground, a sudden wave of nausea passing through him. He could get her killed, he might have already. If she survived this, Jung Hoo needed to stay away from her. She had Moon Ho and her father to protect her. Young Shin didn't need him. He felt tears begin to pool in his eyes. She didn't need him. But him… he needed her. More than she knew, he needed her. Without Young Shin, he had nothing in this world. Every time he fought, he fought for her. He kept himself alive knowing he had to go home to her. Could he live without that? Jung Hoo didn't know, but he loved her enough to try.
When Chae Young Shin opened her eyes, she was in a hospital room. She sat up slowly, battling the wave of dizziness that threatened to pull her back into unconsciousness. Her stomach hurt, but it was bearable. Young Shin figured that she was on some major painkillers right now. She hoped they wouldn't wear off anytime soon. She took a look around. Young Shin hadn't been to the hospital since she was little. She had been deathly afraid of them, and would lie about the state of her health just to avoid them. She supposed it was because she had only gone to the hospital after she'd been beaten, and she'd be beaten more afterwards because she'd made her foster parents "look bad". So she guessed it made sense that she didn't like places like this much, but right now she felt strangely peaceful. Maybe it was her relief at actually being alive, but she wasn't feeling crippling fear that while linoleum and IV's normally brought her.
Her vision was just fully coming into focus when she saw Moon Ho sleeping in a chair near her bedside. She gently leaned over to wake him up when a sudden stab of pain hit her. She could barely contain her gasp as she tightly gripped his hand, "Ji Ahn?" Moon Ho asked as he blinked she sleep from his eyes, "Are you okay?"
"Pain," was all she could say as she tightly squeezed her eyes shut.
"I'll go get you a nurse," he said. Young Shin nodded before going back to focusing on not passing out. A few minutes later, Moon Ho returned with a nurse.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Where I was shot," Young Shin said angrily. Where else would it hurt? Moon Ho suppressed a smile at her attitude. If she could be sassy, then she obviously was getting better. The nurse only pursed her lips and shot some more morphine into her IV.
"Call me if I gets any worse" the nurse said, "You came very close to bleeding out, and we don't want to take any chances with secondary infections," the nurse before walking away.
"Was I really that close to death?" Young Shin said mostly to herself.
"You gave all of us quite the scare," Moon Ho said.
"I'm sorry," she said, "But… I had no other choice."
"I know," Moon Ho sighed. He thought he would do the exact same thing if it had been him instead of her. He would take a bullet for a number of people without a second thought, the girl in front of him included. He understood why she did it, but he was still a little angry.
"Are you feeling better?" Moon Ho asked after a few deep breaths.
"Much," Young Shin replied, her speech slurred slightly as the drugs began to take effect, "Where's Jung Hoo?" she asked.
Moon Ho looked at her a moment. She was so certain hat her boyfriend would be here, yet there hadn't been a single word from him since he'd left the airport. No one could get a hole of him, not even Min Ja, "He's probably just making sure no one follows him," Moon Ho said.
"You're probably right," Young Shin replied not as confidently as before, "Did anyone call my dad?"
"I knew there was something I was forgetting," Moon Ho cursed as he pulled out his phone.
"I'll do it," Young Shin said, "Could you maybe…?"
"Right," Moon Ho said as he stepped away to give them some privacy.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Chi Soo asked when he recognized that it was his daughter's voice, "It's past midnight and not even a-"
"I'm sorry, Dad," she said. Something in her voice made Chi Soo stop his rant. She never apologized, even when she knew she was wrong. She normally used one of her friends to help her escape to her room until her father's anger had subsided.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm…" she began, "I'm in the hospital."
"What, Young Shin?" he asked worriedly, "What happened?"
"I'll explain later," she said, "Can you… can you come get me, though?"
"You'll be okay until I get there?" Chi Soo asked.
"Kim Moon Ho's with me," she said, "I just… I really want my dad."
"I'll be there soon,"
Young Shin hung up the phone as a small tear fell from her eye. It hadn't really seemed real to her until now. She hadn't really considered that she might die when she jumped in front of the gun. All she had been thinking about was saving Jung Hoo's life. But now, she realized the consequences of what she had done. She should be dead now, it was a miracle that she wasn't. If she had to redo it, she would save Jung Hoo again, but she was shaken.
For the first time, she felt her eyes fill with tears and her breathing become raged. Great, she thought. She was having a panic attack. As if things weren't going badly enough right now.
"Moon Ho!" she yelled as loud as she could with her limited oxygen intake, "Kim Moon Ho!"
He was back by her side in an instant and he knew exactly what was going on. Honestly, he thought it was only a matter of time before everything caught up with her. As she struggled for breath, he searched through her bag looking for her medication. As he asked her how many pills she needed, she was brought back to the first time Jung Hoo had hugged her. Back when he was just an enigma to her, and when she thought her feelings only went one way. Where was he? Young Shin knew that she had been the one to tell him to leave, but he always came when she needed him.
"Call him," Young Shin said as she fell back against the pillows in exhaustion, "Make sure he's okay," she begged.
"I will," he promised as he gripped her hand.
"Tell him…" she began. What could she say that would convey how much she needed him? How could she even put her deep aching for him into words, "Tell him that I don't care if it's safe, I need him here?"
