A/N: Hello! I'm no pro so feel free to correct any grammar lapses and typographic errors when you see one. Thank you for reading, enjoy!
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Chapter 1: Sick and Betrayed
One restless night, Seoul City Hospital.
The sound of the clock ticking on the wall had been the only thing Hyerin could hear until the doctor finally looked up from the file in his hands. His face was serious—too serious it made her heartbeat skipped.
"Miss Nam, I already have your test results and unfortunately it's not looking good," he said slowly. "We found a cyst in your ovary track and it's—"
"H-Hold on, what?!"
At the sudden mention of the news, Minjae's hand, which had been resting lightly on Hyerin's knee, went stiff.
A cyst? In her ovary?
Minjae's form shattered and his usually compose demeanor became very unstable. Even cutting off the doctor who was supposed to be briefing his patient about her illness.
How could his future wife incur such a disease before their wedding?
"D-Doctor Zhang, please tell me, this kind of ailment is... It, it can still be cured, right?"
Ahem!
Doctor Zhang cleared his throat, making Minjae realize how he was acting over the top. He bit his lips and looked away.
"Young man, you must be very worried about your lover. However, I'm sorry but the lump this time had become very big," the middle aged doctor forego Minjae's rude behavior and fixed the rim of his thick eye-glasses. He replied calmly, with each word falling like stone. "It's already pressing against major vessels. I'm afraid we cannot operate her."
Hyerin could feel her breath growing shallow. The cold from the examination table was already seeping into her bones.
"What?! What do you mean no surgery, doctor?" Minjae asked, voice rising with panic. "How, how can my fiancée survive then?"
What about their wedding? Their plans? Their future family?
"Please tell me, there's a way... There has to be... There's always something, isn't there? Some other method? What about medication?"
Hearing the man's outburst and desperation, in stark contrast to the woman's unusual silence, a flash of sympathy crossed his eyes but the doctor's expression didn't change.
"Well, now that you've mentioned it..." Doctor Zhang's voice trailed off and continued. "Originally, Miss Nam would still have seventy percent chance of surviving an operation but after giving your mother one of her kidneys, her body had deteriorated and become too weak," he explained.
"At this point, if we proceed with surgery or heavy drugs, her chances of survival are extremely low. The cyst is intertwined with tissues we can't reach without risking hemorrhage. Anesthesia alone could stop her heart."
Minjae turned to Hyerin and became weak on his knees. "How, how could this be? H-Honey..."
He looked stricken, like he had just watched someone draw a curtain over the future. While she could only shut her eyes, trying to muster all the courage she had to stop herself from breaking down.
She was already dying inside but the doctor wasn't finished.
"Even if, by some miracle, we removed the cyst, the damage to her reproductive system had become irreversible. Miss Nam Hyerin, she... I'm afraid to say this but she will never be able to conceive."
That was when Hyerin felt her chest go hollow.
She hadn't cried. Not then. But she felt the weight of the world slowly crushing to her soul.
She had only nodded slowly, as if her head were no longer connected to the rest of her body.
---
That night, Minjae had not spoken much.
The days that followed were worse. His hands stopped reaching for hers. His smile became forced, thin, like it belonged to someone pretending to love her. He began avoiding home, giving excuses that sounded more like apologies.
So when he finally stood before her in the living room, rain dripping from his coat, his face twisted with guilt, she wasn't surprised.
Nam Hyerin knew. She had already known this was coming and that just made her feel more miserable than she already was.
"Honey, I'm sorry... I-I'm really sorry, Hyerin-ah," he said, kneeling down her wet marbled floor, wasted in his tears.
"G-God knows how much I tried. I really tried and I thought I could stay. I wanted to..."
"But every time I look at you now, I see that hospital room. I see a future where we're always afraid. You leaving me all alone and me losing you. I-I can't... I feel like going crazy just thinking about it..."
"I... understand," she replied slowly. Her voice was steady. Too steady that it sounded rehearsed.
"No, you don't! You don't understand at all!" Minjae rasped.
"Hyerin, I want children. A family. To grow old with someone and experience many things together. I know we planned this together, everything together but..."
He exhaled sharply.
"Honey... What should I do if you can't be in that future? I'm not strong enough to let go of that dream. I'm really sorry..."
"I said... I understand," she repeated sternly though secretly shaking.
No, he's right. She doesn't understand at all. How could she ever understand?
Being in the same neighborhood, they have become friends since grade school even though they were four years apart in age. They fell in love and thought it was till the end.
During her first year, she had to give up university because his mom needed an immediate kidney transplant and she was the only available match. He was grateful and told her that he would take care of her in the future until they were old.
It was a promise of a lifetime that she held on for so long.
But now, just a few years after giving her that promise, in the sickening reality of being twenty three, to see that same devastated look he had wore on the day he begged her to save his mother...
Hyerin felt so wronged and betrayed.
Even so, how could she selfishly ask him to stay, looking at how he was desperately begging to walk away?