I love you.

The three words kept repeating inside MC's head vigorously and her heart felt as if it was racing faster than anytime. She clutched her phone in her hand and didn't dare to look at it; Jaehee had told her that she'd call her when she'd arrive and the buzz of her cellphone would alert her. However, MC couldn't help but be anxious, enthusiastic, worried.

As if some greater power had heard her, her phone buzzed in her hand and she wasted no time in picking it up after checking the caller's ID.

"Jaehee?"

"MC. I'm in the park, where are you?"

The sound of Jaehee's voice made MC more nervous, more prone to fainting from happiness. "Wait a second, I'll come and find you."

MC span around and started walking in random places, searching for her beloved Jaehee. Her erratic heartbeat had stopped until her eyes fell on the girl she was searching for. She was sitting on a bench with her usual work clothes, her eyes peering over her glasses while looking at her phone. MC swallowed the hard lump which was formed in her throat and walked towards the girl's location, waving her hand.

Jaehee's eyes fell on her and she gifted her a tiny smile, waving back reluctantly, "MC, hey."

"Hi." She was careful not to stutter or stumble over her words because one mistake and Jaehee would understand that something was wrong.

Both girls sat on the bench in silence, watching the sky or their hands until one of them spoke up.

"So, how has your day been?"

Jaehee adjusted her glasses and sighed, "It was pretty calm seeing I didn't have to watch over Elizabeth today. I had to organize some files in the office. And now I'm here with you so I'm looking forward to relaxing, at least."

MC nodded and smiled slightly at the last part, her stomach filling up with butterflies at the thought of it, "That's pretty nice to-"

"Also I watched Zen's new movie and it was," Jaehee shook her fists in excitement, "totally amazing, as expected from him. I couldn't stop looking at him, oh gosh."

MC's stomach dropped suddenly, a wave of negative feelings coming and crashing against her pounding heart. Whether it was the fact that she had heard nothing about a new movie coming from Zen or Jaehee's blabbering about him, or even the fact that Jaehee had never cut off anyone while talking, MC was feeling bad about this. Truly, obnoxiously bad.

"Jaehee."

Jaehee stopped talking and looked at MC, making the girl's heart melt instantly.

"I-" I love you. Say it.

MC stood there with her mouth hanging open, the words she wanted to say so awfully much flying off. Jaehee kept staring at her and the tension in the air kept growing until it was suffocating for MC.

Unexpectedly, the girl grabbed Jaehee's hand and pressed it against her beating heart, her eyes never leaving hers, "Tell me that you love me."

Jaehee's expression was unreadable, whether it was MC's blurred vision or her sudden faded perception of space and time. The woman took the girl's hand and placed it over her heart, opening her mouth and forming words that MC couldn't make out.

And it all was because of the repetitive sound in MC's ears, the one Jaehee's heart was making. MC tried to listen to the beat of her beloved's heart but she couldn't. Because there was nothing.

The next thing MC saw was darkness, pure darkness which troubled her because the park was drowned in broad daylight. The longer she kept staring, the more she could make out and she soon realized that she was laying on her bed, staring at her cupboard. Panic conquered her mind and her heart started beating as erratically as before.

Her eyes fell on the digital clock besides her bed. 01:56 a.m.

Jaehee should be up, thought the girl, stretching out her hand to grab her phone from the stand. However, her hand was attacked with intense stabs of pure pain, making her hiss and attract it back to her body. She blinked a few times, curious as to why she was feeling that pain. She shook her head and focused back on Jaehee. She must be up or-

Vivid flashbacks crossed her mind and brought tears to her eyes, as if it was a chemical reaction to them.

But it's been days ever since. She isn't . . .

"No."

Wake up, this is reality, wake up.

"No, it's not true. Stop," MC stuttered, managing to reach out for her phone with her good hand and open it in front of her.

Jaehee isn't-

"Stop it!"

The continuous tears running down her eyes didn't bother MC as she ran through her contacts and missed calls, finding her last messages with Jaehee. Five days ago. The red and blue sirens reflected on her broken glasses by the side of the road could never leave her memory. Her hand was stained with unimaginable amounts of blood but it wasn't her that was bleeding. Her body couldn't even move from the shock as she lied by the side of the road, her eyes stuck on the limp hand hanging from the destroyed car which was crashed against the wall of a building. The words which were ready to leave her mouth were stuck in her throat, confused as to why they couldn't be spelled out.

Is it so hard to say 'I love you'?