Disease II

Sequel to Disease I

[three]

Title: Disease II

Character(s): Cho Kyu Hyun (Super Junior) & Kim Wichan

Summary: Life without Seulong was completely different, no matter how mundane the daily routines were. If dating a criminal results in an imperfect ending, how about dating a policeman? Kyu Hyun starred as police Chief Cho in this one-shot.

The aroma of espresso perked the doctors up as they stood by the corridor, each holding on to the small paper cup containing the hot drink. Yet another successful operation completed. Among the specialists stood a petite girl with her brown hair tied up neatly in a ponytail, her hands behind the back and touching the wall. She was no longer taking down notes feverishly like she did half a year ago. There was no need to. She had finished memorizing all the theories and done her practicum 6 months ago. Then why was she still stuck in the hospital as a trainee?


Had she not met her first and only lover and helped him escape from police, she wouldn’t have almost lost her job and be despised by her parents. Her brother saved her from being fired but she had to repeat everything she had done before the incident. She hated it, not because she had to start from scratch, but because her brother pulled her out of trouble, asserting the fact that she was a useless kid.

The theories never changed. The hands-on experiences were similar. She remembered every single concept she was taught and every step required in a consultation. Yet it never felt the same. Life without Seulong was completely different, no matter how mundane the daily routines were.

She went to his grave again. She brought him beer, his addiction. If he was alive, she would have tried to stop him from drinking too much. However, he’s no longer so, and it would be selfish to deprive him of that. She wanted to get flowers for him but she did not know his favorite. There was no chance for her to ask him.

“How can you leave without curing my disease? Don’t you know I’m suffering?” She broke down in front of his carved name on the stone.

.

“Kim Wichan.” She finally introduced herself to the man sitting opposite her, who had been babbling about himself once they sat down.

Cho Kyuhyun. The name was deeply registered in her mind. So was his face. He was really good-looking, she could not deny. The whole package was indeed appealing, considering the fact that he was a promising chief police in the town and had a rather high education. However, Wichan was in no mood to chat with him intimately. She did not even meet him voluntarily; her mother had forced her for that blind date. She wasn’t sure if her parents were trying to help her get out of Seulong’s shadow or attempting to marry her off as soon as possible so that she would not linger on to bring shame to the family. Yet she was quite convinced that she could not accept any more man in her heart. The love disease Seulong left for her had consumed almost all of her.

“So, I heard that you’re practicing medicine now?” Kyuhyun probed on, determined to get the girl to speak more.

“Yeah.” One word reply.

He nodded his head slowly. He didn’t exactly need to ask. He had known everything about her. How she passed her test in the hospital, how she broke the rules, how she had to repeat all her subjects… he had learnt about them through her parents. It was peculiar how he sympathized with Wichan instantly when her parents explained to him. That was before they even met and the meeting confirmed his decision to lend a hand to the girl. She might not have spoken much but the eyes which shone told him that she was the one.
.

“Kyuhyun shii! Waiting for Wichan?” One of the nurses asked as she spotted him sitting patiently on one of the seats, obviously waiting for someone.

He responded with a bright smile, making the other females in the hospital go green with envy over Wichan.

The blatant wooing techniques had been on-going for months and many wondered why the female lead still hadn’t accepted such a cute guy. Only few knew of Seulong and no one understood Wichan’s obstinate devotion towards her first love. It was surprising how Kyuhyun could have so much endurance and persistence in trying to change the mindset of Wichan. Perhaps he was trained to persevere till the end since young. Maybe it was out of his natural compassion to help people. Yet it was more likely out of fondness.

Wichan stepped out of the changing room, ready to go home, only to see the same stalker standing in front of her, smiling as always. She let out a slight sigh. That Kyuhyun was just as stubborn as Seulong was in the past. One who would not give up even if it cost his life.

“But it cost his life…” A gentle reminder stabbed her heart again.

She had to admit that Kyuhyun’s efforts touched her and that he was gradually gaining more significance in her life. However, he was too similar to her dead boyfriend, so alike that she couldn’t bear to take a second look, for fear that she would call him by the wrong name.

“Let’s go!” The policeman said jovially as his hand reached out for hers, only to grab the air in the end. The girl wasn’t ready yet. His heart sank but he kept his beam on, refusing to admit defeat. “One day, I’ll get to hold the hand.” He assured himself.
.

Few days passed after the awkward scene and Kyuhyun stopped waiting for her in the hospital. Wichan played with the badge on her coat, her eyes uncontrollably scanning the area to see if he would be there. She felt perplexed for the first time. Did she hurt him when she moved her hand away consciously? Maybe she was too much.

“Where’s Kyuhyun-shii? He’s not been coming here recently…” Her senior questioned as he leant against the counter for a short rest.

“I don’t know…”

“Don’t you miss him?” He asked again, reading her mind once more.

“No… it’s not really my business…” Wichan stuttered. It was clearly a lie. She missed him so much that her badge was worn upside down; her mobile phone switched on when it shouldn’t be and her treasured notebook misplaced without herself knowing it.

Before she could even come up with excuses to block that man out of her mind, she was called for duty again.

.

“Kyu…hyun?” It was almost a re-enactment of the scene when she saw Seulong in the hospital, his chest bandaged and the body dressed in a set of patient uniform. Only that the person was different.

“Hey Wichan. Nice to see you again…” The guy’s smile never seemed to leave his face.

“What happened?” She was visibly worried, for him.

“Oh! It was nothing… haha… some assholes, I mean, some criminals hit me with a bullet… but I managed to catch them all in the end!” He intended to boast further about his own courageous act to distract himself from the pain on his wounds, but stopped when he saw the girl crying.

“Wichan… why…why are you crying? Don’t cry, please, I don’t know how to handle this…” His heart beat furiously. It didn’t even feel so bad when he was chasing after the drug dealers. He was absolutely at a loss when the girl he liked so much starting sobbing uncontrollably.

Wichan could not comprehend herself either. The tears came naturally, her heart ached wildly and her arms instinctively wrapped around Kyuhyun. It suddenly felt incredibly familiar. The disease was attacking her again and he might be the one who could cure it.

The subsequent weeks passed extremely quickly for Kyuhyun, so fast that he was slightly upset to hear that he could be discharged. He had enjoyed his stay in the hospital wholly. Being a workaholic, he would usually think about his duties at the station whenever he was given a long break. However, this time round, his mind only revolved around the nurse he was attached to. He knew he should be getting back to work as soon as possible, for there would always be cases waiting for him to make judgments. Yet there was an intricate part of his heart that wished to remain in the hospital, so that Wichan could continue attending to his needs and showing her concern for him.

Wichan had completely changed her attitude towards him, from cold treatment to friendly gestures and warm smiles. She would even laugh hysterically when he made some lame jokes that others usually ignored due to its stupidity. He was rather surprised at the transformation but it was nonetheless a positive change and he wished everything would stay the same way as it was. He was afraid that once he stepped out of the hospital, Wichan would go back to her old self, the one who refused to open up to him.

Fortunately for him, she continued to brighten up his life with her sweet smile after the discharge, implying that it wasn’t a dream after all. Things proceeded pretty quickly and soon everyone at the hospital knew that they had become an item. If there was something that didn’t change, it was his affection for her. The daily routine of fetching her to work and home never appeared dull or tiring to him. Wichan would sometimes surprise him with a visit at the police station too, which earned envious looks from the fellow colleagues.

He wondered if that was how one should feel when in love. It was his first time experiencing such feelings. For all his life, he had been chasing after robbers and arresting them, immediately after he graduated from the police school. Wichan brought him colors, making him realize that life was more than just fulfilling tasks and taking down statements. Bringing justice to the world still remained at the top of his priority list, only that he discovered more meaning to his life. His colleagues often teased him that he was suffering from lovesick. He had not come across the term but if that was what caused him to feel so blissful, he might just have gotten it.

.

Wichan adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulders before stepping into the police post. She caressed the protruding box from the outside of the bag, feeling the warmth from within. She had prepared omelettes for Kyuhyun’s lunch and planned to hand him the lunch box when passing by. Well, not exactly passing by, she made a detour actually, just so she could pass him lunch.

Kyuhyun’s accident taught her that life could be fragile and that she should not miss the chance to display her emotions again. The sting in her heart was fading with time, probably due to Kyuhyun’s consistent showering of love. The relationship would go smoothly and she would soon forget about the past misery, she thought to herself.

“Hey, Chief Cho’s especially busy recently, isn’t he?” One of the policemen distracted her thoughts.

“Of course! The case has been going on for so many months and it’s still not solved!” Another policeman, an older one, replied casually.

“What’s it about?”

“You didn’t know? 8 months ago, Chief Cho led a team of members on a mission to arrest one of the biggest drug dealing group in town… All of them were caught except for the mastermind and another member. The head of the group is still nowhere to be found, that’s why Chief is so annoyed.”

“Oh…then what about the other member? The one who escaped, was he captured in the end?”

“That Seulong guy? Oh well… he was exceptionally smart and it was so darn hard to track him down. Apparently he had hidden himself in a hospital for quite some time before Chief spotted him and shot him… he could have saved his own life but god knows why he continued to run… and I heard he ended up dead in the hospital. Come to think of it, it’s the hospital that Chief’s girlfriend is working in right now!”

“Woah, what a coincidence! Do you think she saw that criminal?”

“I don’t know… so what if she saw anyway? Hahaha…”

The chat was wrapped up with boisterous laughter but little did the two policemen know that someone outside the station overheard the conversation.

All the mental obstacles she had overcome herself; all the efforts spent on building the relationship with Kyuhyun; all the dreams she painted for the future… everything was destroyed.

She wandered mindlessly to the grave. It had been a few weeks since she last visited him. Seulong must have been mad at her for being forgetful, not to mention her for being a traitor who dated the very same guy who took away his life.

“I’m sorry, Seulong. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Other than apology, she could not think of any other way to express her remorse.

.
“Hello? Mrs. Kim? Yes, I am Kyuhyun. Wichan hasn’t gone home yet? It’s alright. Please tell me when she’d reached home safely…” He cleared his throat to make himself audible, “yes, yes. Thank you, goodbye Mrs. Kim!”

God was playing a prank on him. Just when he thought it was the perfect time for him to propose, the female lead had to vanish out of the blue. He thought he was able to read Wichan’s mind but was soon proved wrong when she left a note for him, telling him that she wanted to be alone.

What on earth happened? What did he do wrong? He was confused. Had he not done enough? Did he treat her badly without himself knowing? Was she not ready for the marriage proposal? Yet, even if she was, she did not have to run away from him. Didn’t she know that he would panic without her?

“Is it over, Wichan?” He asked softly as he stroke the cat on the bench, reminding him of the girl whose eyes shone more brightly than the cat’s.

.

“What do you mean by ‘over’?” His head shot up and he spun around to see the owner of the tender voice.

Her fingers reached for his slender face and pinched the cheeks until he yelped in pain.

“Wichan!”

“This is to tell you that you’re not dreaming.” It was a playful reply but Kyuhyun could care less. He pulled the girl into his arms, refusing to let go. She had returned for him, it was all he cared.

“I’m really sorry Kyuhyun. I had to settle some decisions myself, and I couldn’t do it with anyone around me.” Wichan breathed into his shirt.

“It’s okay, I’m just happy you’re back.”

Wichan smiled. It took her long enough to ponder over the issues rationally and come up with the answer herself. There was no doubt she was still suffering from the love malady Seulong left for her but she knew, that one man could cure it for her eventually. Seulong had to rest in peace one day, after learning that she had found her happiness. And the day Seulong reaches the heaven to become Wichan’s guardian angel, will be the day Kyuhyun puts on the ring for her.

She buried her head into his body again. She might need to do some decent explanation for her sudden departure and reappearance but she could take her time. She had the entire lifetime to do so.