[Sim Daejung]

I pace nervously through the hall, wondering whether it's not too late to save Della. I don't want to be the reason of her downfall. I forced her to open up to me about her past trauma and now here she is, lying on a hospital bed.

I'm such an idiot. When will I learn some tact? I've always made the same mistakes over and over, promised I'd learn from them and change, only to repeat them all the time. It's a vicious cycle I'll never get out of if I keep up with these nasty habits.

I guess I can't do much now. I sit down and cover my face with my hands, wondering if I'm bound to keep facing struggles in my life or if, for once, I can stay out of trouble.

***

Sujin stares at me in disbelief. She doesn't want to accept that I moved on, that I've just started a family. She insists that she and I were bound to be together. The same goes with Daehwa. They don't want to let go of me.

Their presence alone suffocates me. I want to run away as far away as possible from them. They don't love me, they're obsessed by me. It's like they won't stop until I'm bound to them forever. The point is, I don't want either of them. I don't need them in my life anymore. I already have someone who makes me happy.

The two women approach me with their threatening glares and forced smiles. I'm cornered. I can't do anything but surrender. I have to accept I have to stay with one of them. Yet, I can't abandon my newly created family. I'm not that kind of man.

Now, Sujin and I are face to face. She glares at me and hisses. "That girl is not the one for you, Daejung. That child isn't yours either. She deceived you. I am the one for you. I will become the mother of your children."

The more I try to ignore her pathetic rambling, the worse. Now, Daehwa joins, making my head spin. She pushes Sujin away; then, she grabs my shirt and yells, "Don't listen to her! She's just some ordinary midge! I am your future wife! I will be the woman of your life!"

I slap Daehwa's wrist, after which she lets go of me, but just for a matter of seconds. She's now set to stamp her lips on mine. I won't let her kiss me. I won't let her blackmail me with her feelings. She needs to stay out of my life, and so does Sujin.

When she's close to kissing me, I bite her lips to make her retreat back. She slaps me. "Idiot! Look what you've done!" I ignore her theatrics, turn my back at her, and make four steps towards the exit.

Sujin chases after me, but I begin walking faster. She runs, which allows her to catch up with me. I notice she's just surpassed me and trip her. I chuckle. "Do you really want to block my path? Get lost, Sujin, I'm serious." I walk over her, find the exit, and pass the threshold.

***

The doctor who's in charge of taking care of Della has some reassuring news for me. Or this is what I hope. "Fortunately, she's stable, but we'll still keep her under observation," she says. Since I'm still wrapped in a cloak of tension, she adds, "By the way, it was just low blood pressure, nothing serious."

Thank God! I thought I'd lose her. I need to stop being overdramatic. I mean, it can happen, right? I take deep breaths as the doctor announces that I'm allowed to visit Della. I bow to thank her and watch her leave to deal with some other emergencies.

As soon as I make my way into the room, Della's face lights up. She must love the idea of having a familiar, yet not threatening, face around, especially at such a delicate moment. She signals at me to take a seat on the bed, but I politely decline.

She insists. "Are you sure? You aren't forced to stand all the time. Trust me, you'll want to take a sit after a while." Still, I don't change my mine. I'm fine. What matters is that she is healthy. I don't think taking up space on her bed is a good idea.

She asks me, "How are you holding up? I mean, it doesn't look like you're in good shape. As that lovely doctor said, you don't have to worry for me too much. I'm fine, I'm recovering." Her excuse doesn't sound convincing, but I let it slide. I don't want trouble right now.

I in turn can lie and say I'm okay, but I can't bring myself to hide the truth from her. "Actually, I feel quite weird. I've had some not so pleasant visions and dreams over the last twenty-four hours." Bringing up what I imagined in just one day feels generous at best. My mind has been messed up for much longer.

"I can imagine how painful it must've been for you. By the way, I'm sorry for before. I gave in to the stress and-" Yeah, her blood pressure dropped. It's understandable. This is one more reminder to myself that I shouldn't push her too far. If anything, I should come clean about myself.

She continues. "Anyway, what were those visions about? Your exes? Or maybe your family?" She's wrong. I've never really had a relationship, so I can't refer to the women I've had fun with so far as proper ex girlfriends. Moreover, such "dreams" (or, better said, nightmares) don't involve my family of scumbags, luckily for me.

"Well, it's about two women who have haunted my existence over the past few years. Actually, longer than that, in one case," I explain. "They were obsessed with me, but I can't exclude they still are. I even slept with them to prove them wrong."

Della burst into laughter. "Funny, isn't it? Usually, you sleep with a woman and you enjoy it. I guess they weren't your type, were they?" She jokes about it and I don't see any problem for that; I think she'd change her stance if she met Sujin or Daehwa in person, though. Those two women can literally suck your soul like fucking ice-cream and then swallow it.

"Just 'not my type?' You're putting it really mildly, Della. Sujin—one of the girls, for your information—was literally text bombing me. She hid behind a random username to get away with that." Della is lucky that I deleted that chat. She wouldn't take it well if it were still available, anyway.

"Ouch... It doesn't look like you made the smartest decision by giving her another chance," she comments. I wonder if she thinks so because of her past experiences, or just because she's an introspective person. Seeing that someone can point my own weaknesses without making me sound stupid is refreshing.

Yes, it's a dig at all those people who acted all high and mighty, judging my actions and behavior, only for them to turn out to be hypocrite at best, if not complete pieces of shit. I'm done with them, in particular Sujin and Daehwa, growing roots in my mind and infesting it with negative thoughts.

I want them gone, like, as soon as possible.