The pages in her book get used up quickly as the days of her hospital stay increase, with her writing frantically as if she knows that her time is almost up. She weaves in and out of her story as she's trying to build it up from her web of convoluted ideas.

Whenever Serim is visiting her and she's not receiving her drugs, she'll be writing away on her book, the rough drafts piling up as she moves on to the next chapter, to the next and to the next. She doesn't look back to edit them, she simply writes, figuring that she wants to lay out the whole foundation of the story first before going back to read it all over again.

She doesn't care if her story doesn't make sense, or it sounds too cliché to even make someone like reading it, as long as she feels happy while writing it. She finds herself escaping to the world she made her own, trying to make up characters of her own despite them being based off the people that she knows. She toughens herself up, making it as if it's no big deal as she goes to throw up in the bathroom before returning to her bed, pulling the platform towards her as she continues to write.

Seonghwa and Serim are impressed at the new determination they see in her, and they silently agree that this is most likely because of the pink-haired pianist she met. Ever since they left her with Hongjoong that day, there seems to be a fire igniting within her, driving her to continue writing without even a sign of her being affected by her cycle of treatments. Most of the time the couple sit on the couch, watching as she grips her pen, the sound of the tip scratching against paper enough to tell them that she's no reason to stop now.

It's until she reaches the chapter where the princess, Park Narae, will get to know what the Arcus is that she stops, and Seonghwa looks at Jinju as she slumps back against the headboard of the bed.

"I just realized that I still haven't figured out what kind of object the Arcus is supposed to be," she laments as she twirls the pen in her hand. She puts it down, then as if for the first time, she leafs through the previous pages, reading up on all of what she wrote. She doesn't even realize that she has wrote so much, considering how the sentences just flowed out from her easily and she pens them down without much thinking. "Any idea?"

Serim is sleeping on Seonghwa's lap, and Seonghwa is rigidly sitting so as to not make her stir. He whispers, "Maybe you can take a rest, I feel like every time I visit you, you're writing. Sleep on it and maybe have the night to think about it."

"I will, ah, I'm getting tired from holding the pen too long. It's more of an outline rather than a complete story though, just me describing what goes on at certain parts of the story. I'll try to compile and elaborate it later."

"Can I see?" Seonghwa asks. As both of them are not able to move from their spots, Jinju throws the book on the couch, careful so that it doesn't hit her best friend. Seonghwa reaches out for it, and he chuckles even as he reads the prologue. Then he skims through the rest of the story, trying to grasp the idea she's delivering. "You're giving me way too much credit in this, I don't look that good. Plus us fighting because we're of different ranks? This sounds like an idea from Serim."

Jinju rolls her eyes as she dramatically throws up her hands. "Really? Cause I'm pretty sure Serim is always foaming at the mouth whenever she takes a look at you. She says your face is sculpted perfectly or something- her words not mine. Don't be too proud. And yes, it was her idea to include that scene of you and her supposedly 'fighting' because your relationship isn't an approved one."

"She said that?" Seonghwa chuckles as his left hand immediately pats Serim's hair gently. She mumbles something in her sleep before she smiles, but her eyes remain closed. "She's cute." He gives up whispering as he puts away the hair that's covering her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah she is," she utters before pouting. "Thanks for reminding me that I am essentially the third wheel in this relationship. If both of you are only going to make me jealous, I may ask you to leave," she says lightheartedly.

"You can have your fairytale with the pianist you have a crush on, this Kim Hongjoong."

"In another life, maybe," she mumbles. "Seonghwa," she suddenly calls him out, and when he puts back the book down before giving back his attention to her.

"Yeah?"

"I know that you've been nothing but good to my best friend and even me, plus you proved it. And I hope that you'll keep doing what you are even when I'm gone. Don't let her cry again because of me, and keep her happy. Make her forget about me, tell her that I'm in a better place and I'd hate to see her sad. Tell her that we'll meet in another life, even though we may not be the same people." She pauses when Serim stirs, but then she continues snoring. "Tell her that I'm happy and grateful to have her as a best friend. I wish nothing but the best for both of you."

Seonghwa looks down at Serim, a weak smile on his lips. "This story... what does it really mean to you?"

"At first I wanted it to be a parting gift, but after I met him I wanted it to be the fuel for my motivation to write. After I actually wrote the words down... I feel it as more of an escape... A distraction from what I hope is not happening. But I know my own body, my own capabilities, Seonghwa. I feel it. I know, and everyday in my dreams I see this world getting further and further away from me. You may think of it as me giving up, but it's more of me accepting what's to come. I can't keep fighting a losing battle. The doctors, nurses, they don't say it. But I can see it behind their smiles and their expressions can't fool me. These drugs are simply not working anymore, the tumour is not getting any less invasive. I'm just counting down my time until this world finally shuts off."

Seonghwa touches the tips of his fingers to the corner of his eyes, dabbing the fresh tears appearing. "When I lost my sister, you and Serim were there to comfort me. I found that I see my sister so much in you that I wouldn't mind having you as a real one. Two years later and I'm having to face the same thing again."

She purses her lips. "Just know that I'm honoured to be able to know you, and that I'm happy you're the one Serim met. Fate... is a funny thing. If I wasn't admitted to the hospital in the first place, we would probably not even meet. So I'm grateful that she found you even when I was down in the ward."

Seonghwa sniffs as he wipes away his tears roughly. "I'm not ready to see you leave."

"Most of the time we aren't ready for whatever life throws at us, but we have no choice. I'm just... saying this because I'm afraid that I won't have the opportunity again in the next days. When I wasn't writing my days were just full of throwing up, feeling like I'm not even human anymore. Writing the story has been a great distraction for me. But if you," she turns serious, "ever hurt Serim, know that I'll haunt your house and scare the shit out of you. You're a scaredy-cat so I'm going to have a lot of fun with that."

Despite the tears he laughs, but slowly, with Serim still sleeping soundly on his lap. "It would be great if you can hang out with us even when you're a ghost. If the ghost is Oh Jinju I'll probably make an exception."

"You're probably going to have to wait a long time, since I'll be happy up there," she jokes. "I'll be stuffing my face with food and dancing like a maniac."

Seonghwa exhales. "Both of you are one of the best things to ever happen to me after I lost my sister. It would be a hard goodbye."

"It's better if we don't know when our last goodbye is going to be. I may be gone tomorrow, or even the following weeks." She looks down at the book on the couch as she presses her lips together. "I'm satisfied with how the story is turning out." She tries to be cheerful but it's hard to hide the pain in her voice. "I'm going to sleep on it, and maybe in my dreams I'll find what the Arcus is."

She lies down, stares up at the ceiling as the immense pain she's feeling in her head starts to take over her system, but she doesn't want to cry. She refuses to show that she's in pain, that to Seonghwa she's only closing her eyes to get a good sleep. Under the blanket her hands are balled into fists, with her forcefully closing her eyes as she hears the door being slid open and his footsteps making their way out as visiting hours are over.

She doesn't know what she fears; the unknown as to what'll happen if she slips into a coma or if she happens to take in her last breath tonight.

That night she manages to fall asleep, but it goes on longer than she has intended.

In that suspended state of being both alive and dead, she wakes up in a new world, where she is told that her name is Park Narae and that her memories have been wiped out due to an accident. She meets all kinds of people, ones who seem very familiar but she cannot recognize immediately. She suspects some of them, and in the state of confusion she tries to navigate a whole new world. She goes on an adventure with them, meets an animal that can shapeshift, and falls in love with her fiancé.

It stops as soon as she finds the Arcus.

Everything seems like a dream... until they tell her that it is one.

---

In her real world, Serim visits her everyday and occasionally with Seonghwa, and they make it a habit to tell stories to her, even though she doesn't respond. Days turn into weeks and it's already been a month since Seonghwa last talked to her. Serim cries and regrets the fact that she was asleep when Jinju slipped into a coma. The doctors, nurses and even the twins visit her sometimes, but they're only seeing her figure in the same pose, giving no reaction even as they step noisily into the ward.

The only person who has no idea on what happened to her is Hongjoong, who waits by the piano almost every day to see whether she'd come down and talk to him again. After hours of waiting, he gives up when he cannot catch a glimpse of her. He could have visited her ward, but he figures that they're not close enough for him to show up uninvited. Maybe she has somewhat left the hospital, or maybe... he doesn't want to think of the worst. He doesn't run into her friend or her boyfriend and he realizes how little he knows about Oh Jinju. The only thing he can do is wait by the piano, in hopes of meeting her.

He tries to make himself feel better that maybe she doesn't go down anymore because she's too busy with her treatments and she needs a lot of rest, or maybe that she just simply decides that she doesn't enjoy listening to his music anymore. His heart is telling him that something is not right, but he refuses to entertain it.

One day, he does spot Serim from afar that he almost trips over his own feet as he tries to catch up with her. Out of breath, he immediately asks about Jinju, her well-being and why he doesn't see her around anymore. The change in Serim's expression is enough of a bad sign to him, but he almost drops to the floor when he hears that Jinju has fallen into a coma.

"Is it... alright if I go and visit her?" Hongjoong asks as he shoulders his bag. His hand is shoved inside his bag, his fingers brushing over the pieces of paper. "If it's not then it's fine, I understand."

"Ah, no, of course it's alright. It went over my head and I forgot to tell you about her, everything has been quite a mess lately," Serim utters, her face looking like she's been crying nonstop since the past month. "I'll bring you to her room, and um... I hope that it's not of a shock to you to see her unresponsive. It took me several days to get used to it."

Hongjoong only manages to nod, lips locked as he tails her to the south tower of the hospital, going up to the floor where Ward 6 is located. It feels strange to him, how it's always Jinju who has been coming to him, yet he never made the effort to come and visit her. Serim doesn't say anything as she slides the door open to allow him to go in, before she mentions that she'll be waiting on the chairs outside.

As soon as he's left alone with her, he takes one look at her face and he cries. He turns away from her bed, as if she can see that he's crying, before covering his mouth to silence himself. As he manages to control the tears pouring down, he faces her again and he takes out the papers he has in his bag. He takes a deep breath and composes himself.

"I don't think you'll hear me saying this... but I wanted to let you know that I... created a piece of music for you." He leafs through the pages, "It's something simple but every moment I was writing I thought of you. I wanted to play it for you, but you never appeared again." He gives off a painful chuckle, "I- I thought that you didn't want to hear me play again, so I brushed it away even though I was kind of sad. Ah, I feel so bad right now. I thought bad of you, when you're here lying down in a coma." He pauses as he sobs again, and he throws his head downwards, his pink hair curtaining his face. "I missed you. I felt that it was too fast for me to say that I like you, but I should've said it when you can still smile at me."

He wipes his tears but more pours until he gives up on leaving his cheeks dry. He turns to his bag, fishes out his handphone and clicks on a recorded audio.

"It feels embarrassing to let you listen to it, but I recorded it," he says through a pout as he sniffs. "I know that you can't hear me, but even though you might not like it, please pretend that you do."

He presses on the play button and the latest piece he composed fills in the room. All through the whole recorded audio, he can't stop crying as he moves away, regretting all the things he left unsaid to her. By the time the music stops, Hongjoong mutters under his breath, "I hope that you can find your happiness someday. The song is named after you, and I'll never forget it until we meet again. Thank you... even if we only met for a short while."

Taking one last look at her, he packs his bag and steps out of the room. As he sees Serim, he bows as a sign of acknowledgement but before he's able to walk away, she stops him, asking whether she can talk to him for a moment. He nods, and they move to the common area on the same floor.

At the common area with cups of instant coffee in front of them, this is the first that Hongjoong has the chance to sit down with Jinju's best friend. Most of the time whenever she walked with Jinju, she'd always leave them alone together, whether claiming that her boyfriend was calling or she had something urgent to attend to.

"This feels... awkward because I know that I never really talked to you properly before," she starts as she grips the paper cup in her right hand. She takes a sip before putting it down and sighing. "But I feel like there are a lot of stuff Jinju never got to mention to you because even though she's friendly, she always had her feelings reserved. You might not even guess what's on her mind because she was always smiling."

He nods, looking down at his hands. "She's beautiful when she's smiling. When I first met her and she told me that she liked the music I was playing, I never felt anything like that. She was the first person to ever like a piece I composed."

"Thank you," she says. When he looks up in confusion, she continues, "She stopped smiling and wasn't herself after she got admitted to the hospital. The cancer was eating her will to live bit by bit, so she became someone different... someone who would only stare blankly at the ceiling even as I visited her." She sniffs as she takes another sip. Her nose is red but the warmness of the coffee helps her to stop from breaking down. "But for the first time, she greeted me first when I came, and she told me that she wanted to continue writing after she met you."

"She's a writer..."

"A wonderful one. I never thought I'd see her smiling again, but you really changed her, and I thank you for that. You were her inspiration to continue writing, and to continue living... but fate had other plans for her. When she slipped into coma, I wasn't even awake by her side. I was happily sleeping, not knowing that I was about to lose my friend for who-knows-how-long. But at least I'm comforted by the fact that she did smile, and she was happy before she fell into a coma."

"I don't- I don't know what to say," Hongjoong exhales. "I didn't think we were close enough so that I could visit her, but I wished I acted shameless and went to visit her. I only waited stupidly at the piano, hoping silently that you would show up with her on the wheelchair."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"I'm scared that it'll be too late..." he relays. "That-"

"Jo Serim!" someone shouts her name until she turns back to look at the caller, who sounds frantic as he approaches the table they're at. It's Yeosang. "Serim, you have to come- it's Jinju-"

Serim stands up roughly until her chair is almost tumbled backwards. She takes another look to Hongjoong, which prompts him to follow her as they run through the halls, as if racing to find who can arrive at the ward the fastest. They don't need to ask around to know what's going on.

Mingi and Yunho are outside the room, and Wooyoung is standing under the doorframe with a grave look on his face. Serim pushes past them, tumbling into the room before her ears get assaulted by the sound she hates the most.

"No, no, no!" Serim shouts. "Oh Jinju!"

Hongjoong walks slowly into the room, dragging his feet unwillingly as he drops his bag to the ground. The music sheets with the piece he wrote for her spill out, but he doesn't have the energy to pick them back up. He wanted to show them to her, even though she may not understand the lines and symbols of the music notes. He wanted to play the piano for her, maybe teach her a few strokes on the keys so that she can play something simple.

He loves looking at music notes because they seem like something unassuming, yet when played they'll produce beautiful sounds. He can read music, but to him, the lines and peaks on the ECG machine are something foreign. What he knows is that when there are peaks, it means that the person is alive. So as he approaches the bed and he sees the screen of the machine, he wills for a change, for a peak to appear.

But the line stays flat.

---

[A/N: Someone said to me that I always write tragic relationships... I'm sorry.]