.ninety four.

-

"No. My name is Minji. Eun...is the name of my husband."

-

Right after the final blow struck her, it was almost instant. She could feel the warm crimson blood pooling around her body and her husband's voice felt miles away from her. There was a slight sting that lasted if only a few minutes, but it all faded into nothing as her consciousness drifted off. There was no way to recover from it, and everyone knew it. 

Then there was darkness. Which was something she was already accustomed to since she no longer had her eye sight. But she began thinking it strange when that darkness was mingled with bright streaks of color in front of her eyes, like a brush on a canvas. But the canvas was pitch black and getting more and more clear with images, voices, as her mind seemed to focus on what it wanted her to see. 

The very first image she saw was of herself jumping into the lake to save Hajin. The two struggled to keep themselves above water just as an eclipse darkened the skies and didn't let them see where they were going. Then all she could see once more was absolute darkness as her lungs were beginning to fill with water, suffocating her. She remembered her thoughts in that moment, thinking that this was the end for her. She remembered the anxiety as her lungs began to burn when she ran out of air. But then she resurfaced in the private baths of the palace, where a bunch of princes were bathing. 

She was confused and in awe as she realized she was in a different time period, where princes and princess ruled the country. It was her same country, but a thousand years in the past. She remembered fighting with Eun in the bath and Jung telling her that she was Park Hak Soon. She was no longer Minji.

She remembered Jung and their relationship, how beautiful it was, and how much they loved each other. She still felt guilt at the fact that they never got their happy ending. But then, if they had gotten married, she would have never found her true happiness with Eun. Eun who was a wonderful husband to her, and a great father to the children. Eun who had matured in order to take care of her and his family. She remembered how beautiful their relationship was too, and how much she loved him. It stung to think of the way their lives had ended back in Goryeo. The way he had tried to sacrifice himself for her safety. But she would never let him go alone, and neither would he.

Every memory was crystal clear and crisp in her mind, as though she had just lived them. She remembered every single detail and felt every single emotion all at once. Every voice in her mind called to her, but the most prominent was that of her husband's, begging her through it all, "Please don't go without me."

Her heart ached at his words because she felt the grief in his voice. He really didn't want to continue living if she wasn't going to be by his side.

As the final memory passed through her mind, the colors faded back out to black and she sucked in a deep breath, her eyes blinking back and adjusting against a bright white light. Minji thought to herself that it was more likely the after life. She was done and she could only hope to see her husband again in what may be their heaven. But instead of the after life, she heard the rushed voices of people talking around her, and the beeping of machines. As she slowly came to her senses, she felt like she was hooked up to different kinds of machines and she then knew there was no way she was still in Goryeo. Perhaps after being struck down in the palace courtyard, she had been sent back home.

But home was no longer where she wanted to be. Her home was wherever her husband was, and he wasn't in this strange place.

"Patient Jane Doe is showing signs of consciousness." Minji heard one of the people say with concern, and she now assumed it was a nurse. She heard footsteps of them walking around rapidly, and she could hear noises of people entering the room as well. But her eyes were still getting used to the blinding lights above her head in the room.  

Another walked over and Minji felt a hand on her forehead as they felt for her temperature, one of the very first tests to run on her. Then they went on to check the machines she was hooked up to, and they made sure they were all working properly. The voices were then joined by another voice who spoke with some authority over the commotion. It was probably the doctor who was responsible for her. "The patient woke up? Has she said anything? Does she remember anything that happened?" The doctor said breathlessly, sounding as though he had ran to her room when the nurses told him the news.

A nurse gave a shake of her head in response to him. "After one year of being in a coma, the patient has finally shown signs of life. She has not spoken yet, and we do not know if she remembers who she is."

"Let's run some tests on her as soon as possible to see how she's doing. Our priority right now should be her physical health." The doctor instructed and some of the nurses scurried off, going to retrieve the medical tools that they needed in order to test her.

Minji felt as though her whole life crumbled around her. Her life in Goryeo, her life as Park Hak Soon. Eun, their children, is had all been a coma induced dream. They didn't exist, and she had just been in the hospital all this time. But why did it all feel so real to her? Why did it hurt so much thinking about her four children and her husband? Tears welled in her eyes as the realization hit her, yet she did not want to accept it. It may have been one year in the present time, but Minji was certain she had lived six years in Goryeo. She could feel it, and no one could tell her that wasn't the truth.

When her eyes were finally adjusted to the light, her doctor walked up and knelt by her bedside. Her pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face and offered her a friendly smile. "Hi. I know this might be difficult for you to process right now. But you're in the hospital and we are here to help you. Do you remember anything that happened to you? Do you remember who you are?"

Minji opened her mouth to speak, but the only word that fell out was a name. But it wasn't hers. 

It was Eun.

-

For the first couple of days, Minji refused to speak with anyone at the hospital. Her doctor and the other nurses ran some tests on her and concluded that she was absolutely healthy when it came to her physical health. But they were concerned for her mental well being. She wasn't talking to anyone, and the only word she had mentioned thus far was a single name. Eun. But Minji just didn't trust them, and she felt strange having her sight back. She didn't want to talk until she could see if even one familiar face. But she didn't see anyone. No one ever went to visit her. After the first week, Minji doubted anyone would visit.

Her father had left her mother when she was a child, and her mother had passed away three years before the incident at the lake. Then the only two people she had were her two childhood best friends--Hajin and Gayoung. Gayoung was out of the question. She had been the one to indirectly cause all of this when she took Hajin's boyfriend, and the apartment the two were sharing together. And Hajin--Minji hadn't heard from her. But since she was still in Goryeo, it had to mean she was either still in a coma, or she had perished and her mind had just come up with a look alike of her friend while she was in her dream world to cope with the grief she was feeling.

When she knew the doctor was really trying to help her, she decided to talk to him. Though she was a bit hesitant at first. 

She had been taken to his office in the hospital so they could talk privately, away from all the hustle and bustle of the other patients and nurses. After not having moved for a whole year, Minji could not stand or walk for long periods of time and had been provided with a wheel chair. "I want to know where my friend Hajin is. I just want to know if she's okay." She demanded the moment the nurse left them and they were alone.

"Your friend is still unconscious." He informed her without hesitation. "You two both came in, practically suffocating in lake water. Then you both fell into a coma. It was the strangest thing for two people at the same accident, to fall into a coma at the same time. It baffles me, I don't understand how that could happen."

Minji felt a sigh of relief escape her lips. At least Hajin was alive and she was okay. 

"Are you going to tell me your name?" The doctor asked, trying to get information out of her now. He had answered her question, now he wanted her to answer his. "You both didn't have identifications on you, and no one ever came to ask for a relative with your descriptions. Maybe there's someone we can call to come get you? A husband? Family?"

Minji replied with a shake of her head. "I'm not married and I've never had any children. My only family was my best friend Hajin."

She was not married. At least not here, in the present.

The only husband and children she had ever known was Wang Eun and their four beautiful children.

The doctor eyed her with a confused look on his face. Perhaps, he thought to himself, she was suffering from some form of amnesia and she didn't remember her family. Or maybe she was just lying and did not want to return to them. Still, he decided to press further on the topic. "Are you sure about that? Because the tests we ran on you showed signs that you've had at least three children."

Minji's eyes widened in surprise at the doctor's words because they proved what she had been doubting about her past life during her convalescence. If it had all been a dream and she really hadn't been in Goryeo, there was no way she had any children in the present time. But then, why had her body changed and showed signs of her having children once? 

He then asked her another question. "And is your name Eun? That was the one word you mentioned the day you woke up."

She gave a shake of her head. A sigh escaped her lips as she admitted to him. "No. My name is Minji. Eun...is the name of my husband." The doctor would have no way of knowing anyway that Eun was her husband in a past life, in Goryeo. 

Now he felt like they were getting somewhere. Now he had not just one, but two names, to go off of. If he could just find out more information about this Eun, he could help her get back to her family. After one year with no one ever looking for her, he thought he might just have to pull the plug on her and call it quits. It was a miracle that she was even alive now, the same was the case for her friend. The doctor was just very interested to keep tabs on his patient and find out how she would recover in the future.

"Where can I find this man? Your husband..." He asked her.

Minji replied with a shake of her head. "I don't know..."

-

so minji has woken up in the present tense, and she remembers her past life in goryeo. everything seems like it had been just a dream. so was she dreaming? was it real? 

only about six more updates before this story ends, and then we're off to the sequel.

i hope you have all enjoyed this story. it means the entire world to me that you all liked it and that some of you followed it for so long. i've been writing this for almost three years. that's insane. 

-clary