Chapter Text
"Miss Lee, here are the remaining papers to be reviewed and signed."
A small girl wearing a formal office attire handed a thick folder towards a pudding-haired woman who was busy fiddling with her laptop, eyes deeply focused on her work.
"Thanks, Nako."
Taking a break from her work, the woman gave her a sweet smile before stretching her tired body; eyes closed, joints cracking, her black hair with silver ends dancing in every move she made.
The girl laughed at her boss and smiled, "Miss Lee, you should just go home for now. It's already eight in the evening."
"Nako, you should stop calling me Miss Lee. It's making me age faster plus you already clocked out so you're not working anymore. No need for formalities." The woman pouted at her secretary, Yabuki Nako, who was also her friend since high school.
"Fine, Chaeyeon-unnie. You should go home soon."
"I still have to fini—"
"Unnie, just go. If you don't, I'll stay here with you."
"Hey, you're not going to be paid for overtime work already. Just go home. It's been three hours."
"You do realize that you've been camping in this office since a week ago, right? I know you're sad so you're drowning yourself with work and you have your things inside your private room here but going home is another thing. Please rest. I won't leave until you do."
"But don't you have a date with your girlfriend?"
Nako groaned in frustration. "That's why I'm telling you to go home so I can go to her already!"
"What's her name again? Honda..."
The shorter girl hissed. "Hitomi. Honda Hitomi. So hurry up, the clock is ticking. If we break up, I'm going to kill myself and haunt you forever."
"I don't want to be haunted by you, of all people." Chaeyeon chuckled and closed her laptop, immediately stuffing it inside her bag.
"Good. Let's go!"
She laughed at the excited Nako. "What time is your dinner with Hitomi?"
"Thirty minutes from now."
"You're safe then. Well, good luck! Have fun!" Tapping her secretary's shoulder, she proceeded to walk towards the stairs.
"Why are you using the stairs? It's the 20th floor..."
"I want to exercise."
"Just go for a walk outside instead of killing your poor feet with the stairs. You can breathe some fresh air when you walk across the Mapo Bridge on your way, not some stuffy humid air inside the stairway. You can leave your car here, after all."
The taller girl hummed while pondering. "Okay. My home's not that far anyways."
Getting inside the elevator, Chaeyeon remembered the phone she picked up a few days ago that she left inside her bag.
"What are you doing?" Nako shot her a curious look while looking at her who was digging through her bag.
"Looking for a certain phone. I hope it's still al— ah! I got you."
The tall girl clicked the power button of the phone, hoping it's charged properly before it was left behind and she was glad that it really is charged. Though there was only half of it left. She swiped the phone to unlock it, no passcode needed it seems but Chaeyeon was startled when the phone started to vibrate endlessly, receiving calls and messages it missed after being revived again.
"Holy crap. That's a ton of notifications."
Chaeyeon gave a forced laugh, scratching her nape.
The moment the elevator dinged, Nako scurried away and shouted, "Ah, I'll be going now. Take care!"
She gave her a smile and waved her hands before looking back at the phone while walking out of the building. There were a hundred missed calls as well as messages for the owner but Chaeyeon only smiled sadly.
You are so loved.
All of a sudden, the phone vibrated for the last time, indicating the last message it received from an unknown number which was a few hours prior.
[Come to the Mapo Bridge at 8:00 pm. If not, I will jump down with our baby.]
Chaeyeon froze, feeling extremely alarmed at its content so despite knowing that she isn't the owner of the phone, she sprinted towards the said place as fast as she can, bumping on some people she ended up running at in panic. A few minutes of running, she arrived at the said location, there were little to no people passing by, only the roaring of cars at the side. She placed her hands on her knees, gasping for air as she pushed herself to the limit just to get there as soon as possible.
From afar, she could see a woman with long black hair, holding her stomach with a small bump while her other hand was holding her phone. She decided to carefully approach her after assuming that she was the person who sent the message.
Stopping in front of her, the pregnant girl looked at her, dead eyes wet with tears, her lips chapped, hair so messy. Chaeyeon's heart broke when she saw the expression of the person in front of her. She could tell how breathtakingly beautiful this girl is based on her features alone but right now, her face was screaming her feeling of helplessness.
The two of them stared at each other in silence when Chaeyeon mustered her courage to talk to the girl.
"...are you the one who said to meet here at eight?"
"...who are you?"
"I-I'm his friend."
The girl smiled in irony. "So he decided to ignore us, huh."
"N-no, that's not it!"
The girl narrowed her eyes at Chaeyeon.
"He... he's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean by gone? He ran away and went abroad?" The girl laughed scornfully. "I shouldn't have trusted him that night. I'm an idiot for falling in love at first sight. Because of my feelings, I lost everything and now, he abandoned me? Well, fuck him."
Chaeyeon felt frustrated, she knows that the girl in front of him is suffering but she was still blaming him without really knowing what happened.
"I wish he dies." The girl's last words broke anything that could keep Chaeyeon's calm.
"SHUT UP" She growled at the girl, gritting her teeth as her hands clenched tightly from the anger and grief she has been keeping for weeks. "Lee Jaehyun never left by his will. He was involved in a car accident almost a month ago while saving a young girl from being run over by a car."
"W-what?"
"He's dead."
Out of nowhere, the girl in front of her staggered on her feet, making Chaeyeon regain her composure and jump to stop the girl from collapsing on the hard concrete. She swung her bag towards her back before putting the girl's left arm over her shoulder while she wrapped her arm around the girl's slim waist for support.
"W-what am I supposed to do now..." The girl started sobbing and the taller girl couldn't help but panic when she did. She knew that stress is bad for pregnant women and the baby could be in danger. His baby will be in danger.
Without thinking, Chaeyeon hugged the girl to comfort her. Shushing the pregnant woman to calm down while giving her soft pats. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."
Before Chaeyeon knew it, she felt the girl get heavy as she passed out. Realizing this, she called for an ambulance right away, worrying about the health of the girl and the baby inside her womb.
--
The girl woke up in a white room. An IV drip to her right and a sleeping stranger on her left. She wanted to ignore the girl but she felt her throat dry so she woke her up instead by weakly tapping the arm of the girl that she could barely reach.
Feeling the movement, Chaeyeon quickly opened her eyes to see her, worry immediately painted over her face. "Are you feeling okay? You want some water?"
The girl gave her a small nod making Chaeyeon stand up from her seat to get a glass of water from the stuff she bought earlier.
"Thank you." She weakly muttered making the taller girl smile.
"I'll go call the doctor now, okay?" She then pressed the button beside the hospital bed to call for a doctor.
It didn't take long for one to arrive at the room. After checking the girl's blood pressure and the drip, she smiled at her patient.
"I'm glad you're finally awake. You should be more careful not to forget to drink fluids for the baby. By the way, I'm your gynecologist, Kim Minjoo."
"Gynecologist?"
"I asked for her. Don't worry, she's not a quack doctor." Chaeyeon smiled at the confused woman.
"Unnie!" The doctor in front of her whined making Chaeyeon chuckle.
"She's a friend of mine."
"B-but I don't have the money to—"
"You don't need to worry about the bill." Chaeyeon gave her a pat. "Minjoo, if everything's fine now, can I talk to her alone? I'll just tell her the stuff you told me."
The doctor giggled. "You literally just called for me a minute ago but you're already making me leave."
"Sorry. I'll make it up to you when we all meet next week."
"No problem, Anything for you, unnie." Minjoo then bid them goodbye before bowing.
The ones left in the room were engulfed in deafening silence.
"How are you feeling now?"
"I... feel lighter." The pregnant woman reached for her stomach, running her hands on her small bump carefully.
"You were dehydrated so you passed out. Minjoo said you can be discharged after finishing the drip and some additional check-ups for the baby." She smiled at the girl but the other only shook her head.
"I... don't have anywhere to go to..."
"...is that the reason why you tried to contact Jaehyun?"
"Yeah... I found out that I'm six weeks pregnant a month ago so I told him. I was happy because he said he will take responsibility but he just disappeared... with no traces whatsoever." The girl smiled bitterly at her words.
"I see... I've known him since we were kids. He's a responsible person so I'm sure he really planned to do what he said."
The girl gave her a forced smile. "I'm glad... So he's really sincere... I'm sorry for saying those stuff about him."
"No, if I was in your shoes, I'll probably feel angry about him too." Chaeyeon gave her a reassuring smile.
"Thank you..."
"So... what are you planning after this?"
"I really don't know. I'm already kicked out of my apartment... I already used up my small savings and sold everything I had for the baby's vitamins."
"What about your parents?"
"They... cut ties ever since I left Japan."
"You're Japanese?"
"Yeah. I came from Kagoshima."
"Ah. I see. I'm sorry to hear that. By the way, I'm Lee Chaeyeon. How rude of me to introduce myself this late." The girl whipped her head towards Chaeyeon who was offering her right hand for a handshake while awkwardly scratching her nape.
"Oh. I-I'm Miyawaki Sakura." She accepted the girl's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Chaeyeon gave Sakura a sweet smile making the girl smile back at her although small.
She really is pretty when she smiles.
Chaeyeon thought to herself as she felt her cheeks feel warm.
"Thank you for taking care of me when I was passed out."
"Oh, no worries. What do you plan to do after leaving the hospital?"
"...I really don't know. Maybe ask for my friend's help. I didn't want to burden her but I don't have a choice."
"You're still planning to keep the baby?"
"What are you talking about? Of course, I do." Sakura gave her a weak smile. "I wasn't lying when I said I'll kill myself and the baby if Jaehyun didn't appear but the situation is different now. I'll try my best to live and give the baby a good life."
Chaeyeon couldn't help but sigh before smiling at her. Finally, she made up her mind.
"Well then, if you don't have anywhere to go, I'll take responsibility in his place."
"What? But..."
"It's okay. Let me take his place instead. It's Jaehyun's child too so this is the least I can do for him." Chaeyeon smiled further at Sakura and held her hand. "Don't worry, I'll do my best to become a good guardian for both of you."
Sakura remained silent, she was having mixed feelings. She knows she seriously needs a helping hand to raise a child but she felt bad that she'd have to depend on someone she even barely knew who was kind enough to offer help.
Is it really fine?
The woman's gentle voice interrupted her from her deep thoughts. All her life, she's never heard a voice as kind as Chaeyeon's, her expressions just exude genuine care and sincerity for her. She just doesn't understand why someone would be willing to go that far just to help her and her baby.
"I can provide for the two of you just fine. You really don't have to worry. I'll help you."
Tears started streaming down Sakura's cheeks as she smiled at Chaeyeon. "Then, please take care of us."
Chaeyeon felt her heart skip a beat before smiling back once again at the girl.
"I will, Sakura. Take care of me too."