cecelia lightly slept to the rhythmic beeping of the vital signs monitor and the slow dripping of the IV tube. the hospital room only being lit by daylight that came through the open blinds. her chair pulled as close to the hospital bed as she it could. her cheek rested against jun-ho's arm, her fingers splayed over his chest to feel the rise and fall of his breathing.

"cecelia, honey..." a gentle voice broke the silence. "if you're not going to go home and rest, why don't you at least lie down on the couch? i know you're not comfortable like this."

mal-soon, jun-ho's mother, stood beside her. placing a delicate, wrinkled hand on cecelia's back.

cecelia hummed, lifting her head from jun-ho's arm as she stirred awake. mal-soon tilted her head to look at his son's girlfriend. cecelia's eyes were half-lidded, rimmed with exhaustion, she stretched as she met mal-soon's gaze.

"it's okay, um-ma. i'm fine here," she murmured. a faint smile on her lips that didn't quite stretch.

the truth was, cecelia couldn't sleep peacefully anywhere else. if her hand wasn't resting on jun-ho's chest, if she couldn't feel the faint rise and fall of his breathing, she wouldn't be able rest. she was scared of him slipping away. but jun-ho was also like her own personal dreamcatcher. she used to like being alone. she used to sleep peacefully in silence. now, she had nightmares each time she slept away from him.

over the past year, cecelia's life had both reformed and unraveled. the memories of the games haunted her, taking a mental toll on her—ali and sae-byeok's deaths, and her own brush of death when sang-woo had stabbed her. and now, whenever she took her top off, she was reminded of it. the wound scarred. all of what she experienced, carved deep wounds into her soul.

but it wasn't just the nightmares that became her life. it was this—the hospital room, the sterile smell of antiseptic and jun-ho's unconscious body. she spent her days and night with him, talking to him, clinging to the hope that he could hear her.

"you're so stubborn," cecelia spoke to him one day, her fingers tracing the veins on the back of his hand. "of course you won't wake up when i tell you to. just like how you didn't listen when i told you to not do anything stupid...this relationship we have will never work if you're so hardheaded."

but it wasn't that she bothered by it. but instead, she was growing more and more attached to him. and that scared her more than anything as the weeks turned into months. she wasn't supposed to fall for this detective who randomly showed up outside of her apartment building. she wasn't supposed to need him this much. but here she was, tethered to him.

thanks to the money min-seok had given her, cecelia was able to pay off her overdue rent to yun-hee. and when she told yun-hee that her boyfriend was in a coma after being 'shot in the line of duty', well, she decided to give cecelia a break, reversing the eviction for the time being.

mal-soon had made her way into cecelia's life wholeheartedly. from the moment she was made known that her beloved son had a 'secret girlfriend', she instantly welcomed her into their family with open arms. especially when she noticed cecelia's affection towards jun-ho. watching as she slept by his side, held his hand, kept his lips from cracking, and helped the nurses with his care. it was clear that she loved him deeply. so, for mal-soon, if her son doesn't mess up this relationship, she was already prepared to have cecelia as her daughter-in-law.

"celia, dear," mal-soon spoke, her voice soft with concern as her hand carefully went to cecelia's shoulder. "you haven't been sleeping well, have you? the nurses mentioned to me that you've been having nightmares..."

cecelia looked up at her from where she sat, her hand gently squeezing jun-ho's still one. "i'm fine, um-ma." she said quickly, forcing a smile. "really. i've just been tired, that's all."

mal-soon frowned but didn't press further. she would often catch the cracks in cecelia's facade. taking notice of the way cecelia's hands trembled when she thought no one was looking, the way she would stare off into blank space, her digging into her cuticles. mal-soon reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, a silent gesture of comfort.

cecelia's thumb gently caressed the back of his hand absentmindedly, but something changed. a small movement caught her attention—a faint twitch of his fingers beneath hers. her face fell, leaning a bit closer, her heart pounding in her chest as she watched him carefully.

his lips slightly gaped, slowly, his eyes fluttered open. it was sluggish, his lids heavy, but his familiar dark eyes that she hasn't seen in so long finally opened, staring up at the ceiling.

her heart dropped to her feet. blinking several times, convinced she was imagining it, but then his gaze turned to her. "oh my god," she choked out.

her hands flew to his face, gently cupping his cheeks. she could feel the warmth of his skin beneath her palms, the faint scratch of stubble.

"um-ma...um-ma! get the doctor!" cecelia shouted, mal-soon ran out of the room, her yelling to the doctors that her son has waken up.

jun-ho's lips barely moved, his breath shallow as he struggled. "celia," his voice hoarse and broken.

her name on his lips made tears involuntarily form in her eyes. she gasped softly, pressing her forehead against his, a sob muffled by their closeness. she brushed her thumbs over his cheeks, her touch trembling. "i'm here." she whispered, her voice cracking. "i'm right here, jun."

his eyes shifted, looking up at her blankly as he took her in. then, his lips moved again, forming another name.

"in-ho."

𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚 :
WE ARE SO BACK. sorry for the little break i took.
and i'm sorry for the bad prologue chapter for season two
and the bad graphic, did it all super quick. like WHO do i gotta
suck to get a graphic 😩.
OMG i binged watched weak hero class 1 and please tell me
someone here has seen that absolute masterpiece.
love you all. please don't be a silent reader!

with love,
chayla