~ Part Three ~

Jumin Han forced his gray eyes shut, momentarily blocking out the brightly lit hospital corridor. The muted sounds and sterile scents that surrounded him were off putting, but his apprehension put all other thoughts and feelings to rest. In his hand, he held a bouquet of pink carnations, as had become his custom in the past two months. And despite how often he gifted them to Kohina, she never seemed to grow tired of them.

Kohina . . . his lovely seamstress. His ill princess. . .

Jumin forced himself to take deep breaths, as several minutes passed, and he heard other visitors and medical personnel pass him. His world was on a sliding axis, and it was all he could do to stay standing and calm. There had been many times in his life where he had felt lonesome. Many times when his lack of connection and emotion with others had weighed heavily on his shoulders. But nothing could compare to the pain he bore now.

"Mr. Han?"

Jumin opened his eyes immediately, regarding the nurse who had addressed him. "Yes?"

"Miss Kwon is ready to see you now. She's weak and a bit groggy, but she expressed the desire for you to come in."

Jumin nodded and began to walk past the nurse, before she continued. "Sir, Doctor Hwang said you can stay past visiting hours if you like. . . Considering the diagnosis."

The nurse's words cut him like a knife, and it was all he could do to nod again. He pushed past the matronly woman, before rapping his knuckles softly against the door to Kohina 's hospital room. He didn't hear an answer, and entered quietly, closing the door behind him.

"J. . . Jumin?"

"Yes, Kohina. It's me." His heart melted at the way her lips pulled up into a small smile.

Kohina lay propped up in her hospital bed, covered in several warmed blankets; her head pressed back languidly into the pillows. In one arm she had an IV drip, but the bag was empty of any medicine. The nurse apparently hadn't changed it out yet.

In the space of two months, Kohina had seemingly aged a decade. She was small and frail, her skin paper thin and grayish in color. Her chest heaved with the labor of her breath, as she weakly reached for the man at the threshold of her bed.

He placed the flowers down, before sitting in the chair at her bedside. Gently he took her hand into his own. She was cold to the touch and clammy. Nothing at all like she had once been. But he didn't recoil. He could never recoil from her.

"You came," she rasped, her smile still lighting her features.

Jumin placed a kiss to her hand, before trapping it again. "This is the only place I could be, Kohina. It's where you are."

"I'd prefer the shop. . . Or a field of wildflowers, blowing in the wind…" She stopped, trying to catch her breath, before squeezing his hand. "But if you're here, then I'm happy."

Jumin rubbed his thumbs against her knuckles, staring at her silently for several drawn minutes. He read the plains of the woman's face, and felt emotions well up in his chest. They almost choked him, and he struggled to swallow it down. No. He couldn't be weak. Not when Kohina needed him to be impregnable. Her last memories couldn't be of him weeping. He'd never forgive himself if he caused her more pain than she was already facing. Their parting would be crippling, but for her, he would find a way to survive it.

"Doctor Hwang …. told you?" Her tone gave nothing away, but the resolution in her eyes nearly killed him.

"He called me on my way here." Jumin found himself unable to say more, as gray orbs met light brown . How could he ever bring himself to say it aloud? How could he ever accept what was happening? Even the most steadfast of men couldn't face this foe without fear or doubt. But he still wished he knew how to be brave. To be unyielding and strong. . . To not feel so helpless. Worthless.

Jumin closed his eyes as a wave of sadness hit him. He tried to push back the tears that welled behind his lashes, but they came anyway. He fought desperately to hide them from his beloved seamstress, but she saw them and her grip on his hand tightened.

"No," she whispered reaching out to cup his face. "Jumin, don't turn away. . . Don't hide what… you feel." He turned into her touch; his hot tears running down her palm and wrist.

"You deserve a man who is unwavering. A champion to serve your needs. A man who can save you. . . But I can't. No money, or expertise, or wisdom will stop this from happening. There is nothing to negotiate or bargain for. I am out of my depth for the first time in my life… During the time when it matters the most..." His voice broke with emotion as his mental walls crumbled to dust. His heart was breaking, and he couldn't stop the twisting threads in his mind from knotting.

Until he heard Kohina begin to cry. Horrified, Jumin looked at her, before he realized that her tears weren't ones of sorrow. . . Instead, she smiled through them and her eyes twinkled lovingly.

"You silly man. . . Don't you realize you've already saved me?" Her breathing was harsh, but her words were light and happy, shocking him.

"Kohina, you don't know what you're saying. The morphine-"

"Isn't in my system," she finished for him. "I asked them to wait for my dose until after we'd spoken. . . I wanted to have a clear. . . mind… when we said our goodbyes…"

"Kohina..." More tears came, cutting his vocal cords off before he could say more. Her name was all he could murmur, and it felt like the sweetest prayer he'd ever offered.

"I want you to listen to me, Jumin," she said, smiling sweetly through her pain. "You have saved me, since the day we met. . . You have been my friend and . . . the love of my life. . . You have shared time and your heart with me. . . You've given me the deeper part of yourself that you always hide from others … and I found it beautiful.

"You stood by me through all of this darkness... and helped me see a happy ending…"

"How can it be happy when you're leaving me?" Jumin gazed at her with overcast gray eyes. He'd never shown so much emotion before, not even to his father. . . But for once, he didn't hold back. Not if this was to be the last moments they shared. Besides, she would have seen through him, even if he did repress it. She'd always seen him for who he was.

"It is happy because we taught each other how to love." The smile in her voice was palpable. "I'm afraid of dying, Jumin. . . But knowing that you're here. . . That someone will miss me when I'm gone? . . . It makes it bearable. I can go in peace, knowing that you're still here."

"A piece of me will go with you, Kohina. And it'll never come back." He knew his heart would never be the same when she died. Even with her positive words of passing.

"And a piece of me will stay with you." She replied. "I shall be there with you, in every moment until we meet again. . . I will love you no matter where I am, my dear Jumin Han."

"I planned on encouraging your transition- of being your rock. But instead, it is you comforting me."

"You've always been my cornerstone. It's my turn to lift you up." She joked, before grimacing. She'd been too long without morphine. But when he offered to call the nurse she refused.

"No morphine. . . Not now. . ."

"But you're hurting."

"Yes. But I can't think with the drugs. And I want to remember all of this… Every second before I go. . . So that when I'm reborn the memories will be fresh." She stopped to think before saying simply. "I'll come back as a carnation. And when you see me, you'll know I'm at peace. . . And you'll be happy."

"I will count the days until you come back to me, Kohina ." He leaned down, to where she rested amid the pillows and blankets and kissed her tenderly. He lingered as long as possible, as their tears mixed together and her heart began to slow. "Until the day you give the piece of my heart back, I'll be waiting. . ."

"Jumin." She said his name in between rapid, painful inhales, before her eyes glazed over.

As he called the nurse, Jumin felt his sorrow consume him. He watched as they administered the last dose of morphine to his unresponsive love. And he sat long into the night, until the exact moment when Kohina 's heart stopped. He held onto her until the doctor and nurses came to take her body away. He watched as if made of stone, as they placed the sheet over her slack face, and lifted her onto a gurney.

Then as they wheeled her away, Jumin glanced down at the bedside table where he'd placed the pink bouquet hours before. Numbly he fingered the flowers he'd brought with him, letting the silken petals run across his fingers, as he wept freely.

The pink carnation. He thought. A remembrance of times past. A pledge never to forget.

Our flower. . . No. Her flower.

Epilogue

{Three Years Later}

It had been a long day; between several meetings and the drama of the RFA Messenger. Jumin Han read the newest messages in the chatroom, scanning for anything of note.

Failed my midterms fml T_T Yoosung had typed with plenty of cry emojis, which had triggered a joking response from Seven about playing LOLOL too long.

Jumin rolled his eyes before replying. If you want to work for our company, you should take care of your GPA.

As Yoosung, Seven, and Zen continued on the topic, Jumin replied on autopilot … before everything went to hell.

Wait! Seven had stopped the flow of conversation. I think someone entered the chat room;;

Jumin's eyes grew wide as he read the name that had appeared in the chat. . . It couldn't be…

Kohina ...? He typed curiously, as the rest of the RFA members panicked and began to threaten the newcomer. He took a deep breath. Kohina was a common enough name. He wouldn't let it affect him. . .

Quit shitting around, he typed with annoyance. Kohina ... Who are you? Reveal yourself, stranger.

Finally the stranger answered: Reveal yourselves first. I'm the most confused one here...

As the newcomer sent her message, a new icon popped up on the screen. Instead of a profile picture or selfie, a flash of pink filled Jumin's gaze momentarily blinding him. After focusing hard on the image, he felt his heart flip and skip a beat.

A pink flower as delicate and lovely as a woman's kiss. . . A flower of remembrance and eternal love. A flower he had avoided for three years. . .

Jumin regarded the icon picture with a sentimental gaze, before the strangest sense of peace enveloped him. For a moment he felt as if someone were physically holding him tight, and filling him with hope.

Hope, love, peace, they were emotions he'd forgotten. But somehow, this stranger had brought them back to the surface of his soul. With nothing more than a picture and a name.

Jumin reclined back against the leather of the limousine thoughtfully. He was stuck in traffic after work, and had never been more grateful that he'd taken the time to check the chatroom. This stranger wasn't his Kohina , that much he was certain of. But the effects of her appearance in the messenger had brought back his seamstress and made her live.

Her loss had haunted him for three full years. . . But in just a moment, her dying promise had been fulfilled. The flower had given him peace, just as she said it would. And her presence didn't feel so far away, as it had. . .

She found me, he thought, with a small smile as he began to type out his next response in the chat. She kept her promise. She's still here with me. . .

What this odd turn of events would mean, Jumin Han could only guess. But he knew that he would meet it head on with conviction and faith. There was a future to rise to, and a new party to plan. And perhaps. . . another soul to connect with.

~FIN~

A/N: So this marks the end of Pink Carnation! I hope you all enjoyed it! It was an emotional story, but one that I'm glad I wrote. Thank you all for reading, commenting, and following along!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own: Mystic Messenger (game, characters, franchise, etc.) Jumin Han, Elizabeth the 3rd, or your feels. ^^