Chapter 8: Today

"An awaited day could be of death or revival, of happiness or agony. But when it comes to be called today, relief is part of the equation."

~~~~

One Month Later

The girl given the temporary name, Jihye, lies unconscious still. Sungyeol questions himself why would his family take care or her and stick by her side till now when she's no more than some unknown girl he happened to save coincidently, on impulse.

She still didn't wake up, and the fact made him feel impatient but at the same time he couldn't take any of this out to anyone. He couldn't say he's sick of it, sick of her. She took away his sister's time and attention and all his family along.

Not only does he think she's a burden, but an unwanted intruder as well. Sungyeon, on the contrary, starts feeling more attached to Jihye, taking care of her became a habit, how not when she was registered as the mother she always wished to be.

Sungyeon spoke to Jihye often, even when she wasn't heard, she still spoke. She told her about her life in England and why she's still not married. She confessed that she is sterile, she told the story behind her break up and opened herself wholeheartedly to Jihye.

At one point, Sungyeon admitted to herself that having a daughter, even if temporarily, was what she always wanted. She grew to wish for Jihye to wake up soon, but a thought at the back of her mind made her wish otherwise at sometimes. She feared that when Jihye wakes up, she'll just leave like her ex did. She was being possessive over something that wasn't hers to begin with.

Daeyeol felt his sister's happiness with Jihye, he sees her talk much more than before. He never saw her say what's bottled inside her since the day of her break up. He is grateful just like his parents who also visited often unlike Sungyeol who didn't visit much, if not ever.

His cold side is making yet another appearance. He is a lighthearted boy who makes many people smile because his his charm and humor, normally, but he doesn't give into people quickly. He doesn't trust enough and acts cold towards most of them. Getting on his bad side from the start is the first problem Jihye will be facing.

Today is weekend, all families are hanging out together and the Lee is too, they head to a restaurant for a quiet relaxing family dinner.

The table is decorated with the father's constant talks about his goals and accomplishments, a few jokes from both boys here and there while the mother nods lovingly.

Sungyeon's phone rings, disturbing the atmosphere of the quiet, fancy restaurant. She hastily wipes her mouth and excuses herself to answer the call.

It's the hospital's number. This is urgent, she immediately swipes her screen. "Hello?"

"Good evening, this is Seoul Medical Center, is Lee Sungyeon with me?"

Sungyeon nods at first but quickly opens her mouth to answer, "Yes, yes. This is Lee Sungyeon."

"Your daughter just woke up." Sungyeon's head shots up at the words she hears, many different emotions fill her all at once: happy, sad, excited, nervous and scared, "she woke up and the doctor interrogated her simply. She answered that she's seventeen, the replay was so automatic as the doctor assumes. After that she got a panic attack and fainted, she just woke up again minutes ago. We don't want to stress her out, you should be here before we interrogate her again."

"I'm coming now. Thank you." Sungyeon ends the call and hurriedly goes back into the restaurant to inform the rest. Daeyeol gasps, but Sungyeol looks at his sister before he subtly rolls his eyes whispering a low finally to himself.

He may sound cruel but he doesn't even know the girl to feel anything at the moment, he doesn't even tolerate her existence. She just ruined his family dinner, "I'm coming with you!" Sungyeol turns to Daeyeol in surprise when he hears him saying that.

"Me too." The mom stands up with her son.

"I will take Sungyeol and follow you with my car. You go ahead." The father told his daughter before she left with Daeyeol and her mom in a rush.

Given no choice, Sungyeol followed his dad and the whole family was driving to the hospital. He kept reflecting on himself, he saved her at first because he thought it was something he had to do, because he pitied her. But now she stuck by for too long that he's relieved she woke up. He's relieved she'll leave.

His family won't be busy with her anymore and everything will fall back to how it used to be, the car hauls to a stop in front of the hospital and he exits, glancing at his sisters car locked and empty just behind his dad's before he heads to room 217 with his father.

~~~

Standing steps away from room 217, Sungyeon chose to take a while before opening the door and going in.

She already rushed here leaving her brother and mother who weren't in such hurry, her breathes were coming out loud and heavy and her heartbeats were fast.

In that mind of hers, she didn't think of Jihye as an unknown girl anymore. She was now her responsibly. Her daughter, even if just on paper she still felt happy about the fact she had a child.

Jihye was not someone precious to Sungyeon at first, she knew she did that because she pitied her, same for all her family. But now, she felt that she was actually getting paid back through this month by Jihye listening to all her rants.

She didn't forget that there is always an ugly truth, the girl doesn't know her. The girl was unconscious, in deep sleep, the whole time. Sungyeon shook her head and held her hand over the cold metal door knob. It's time for her to see the unfairly treated victim back to life.

She went in and her eyes landed on the other side of the room. There were medical staff all around the bed, she still couldn't see Jihye. Hence, she took her heavy unsure steps to the occupied bed.

"What's your name?" She heard the doctor ask and gulped. Finally standing across the bed, inches away from it, she saw the awake Jihye.

The girl's features looked so elegant. Her eyes were a chocolate brown, pretty yet full of fear and her black lengthy hair hung loosely down her shoulder encompassed with a big white bandage around her head.

"My name?" The girl sounded unsure. Sungyeon's feet froze, let alone her whole body and her heart slowed down when she heard the distinct voice of that girl.

It sounded so vulnerable, it was a bit hoarse because of her dry throat. The young girl sounded so pure and innocent. Afraid too. "My name..." The girl repeated looking everywhere but the eyes of the people around her.

Jihye felt the lump that build up in her throat go heavier. She thought again and again, but she couldn't get the answer.

What was a person without a name?

She panicked, she broke down again letting tears run down her pale cheeks and let out muffled stuttered words.
"I-I don't.. I d-don't know my name."

Sungyeon felt her eyes wet. She still couldn't comprehend what was wrong with the girl but the sight was depressing. "Ms. Lee. You should speak to her alone first." the doctor told Sungyeon when he noticed her presence.

She nodded to him instantly and all the medical staff took their retreat, leaving her alone in the room with Jihye.

"Who are you?" Jihye asked crawling backwards.

"My name is Sungyeon, Lee Sungyeon." she answered, "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you." she said getting closer to the bed Jihye was on and sat down.

"Do you know what's my name?"

The girl asked desperately, at first Sungyeon was taken aback but when she saw the girl calmed down she gathered the courage to tell her what was going on.

"I will tell you, but promise me to calm down and listen to me till the very end." Sungyeon started nervously. Was it the right thing to tell her? What was she doing, was it the right thing?

She didn't know.

So she decided, she won't tell her about how she was found. She won't tell her what happened to her body.

When Jihye nodded, she took that as her cue to begin, "My brother found you in the water a month ago, he bought you here to the hospital and the doctors started hospitalizing you."

"The hospital you were first bought in was a small busy one, so the doctor decided to discharge all the patients without guardians.

"Fortunately, my brother heard that and did something so you wouldn't  get discharged.

"And the only thing we thought of doing was to register you as a family member of ours. His fake niece and my fake daughter." Sungyeon finished taking a deep breath.

Fake. Fake. Fake.

The word fake kept repeating itself inside Jihye's head, she felt herself going insane. The girl held her slender fingers pushing them through her hair, then felt something around her head.

She acknowledged the wrapped bandage and soon the rest of the bandages around her other body parts, "What's happening to me? I don't remember anything, who am I?" the girl cried.

Sungyeon got off her seat and sat on the bed beside Jihye, "Calm down, it's going to be okay." Sungyeon soothed, pulling the fragile girl into her embrace. Jihye felt safe, but her tears wouldn't stop. She was lost and blank.

Just as on cue the door slammed open and Sungyeol and Daeyeol ran in, the nurse was trying to stop them because the doctor requested to give the mother and the daughter some alone time. But they stubbornly came in to see their sister hugging the anonymous girl.

"What's happening?"

"How is she, Noona?"

Both boys asked while breathing heavily, the older asking first followed by the younger. They stood across the room looking at the girl in their sister's embrace, she was still crying.

The both of them couldn't do anything but wait for Sungyeon to tell them what was happening.

~~~

Terrible fail? Oh boi I'm so bad.
I tried to make this Good, ah idek. She finally woke up! I'm so tired though, ugh. Now I'll sleep, hehe.

Hope you liked it, and thank you so much for reading this ff and sorry for the long wait. I need some motivation from you guys, please vote and comment your feedback.

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