POV: Yoon Sae-ri
---
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She woke to the sound of machines.
Too bright. Too white.
Her body was heavy. Her mouth was dry.
Her hands moved slowly—first to her stomach.
Flat.
Empty.
No…
Sae-ri turned her head.
The chair beside her bed was empty.
Ji-won wasn't there.
Something in her chest caved in.
---
Twelve hours earlier.
She had worn heels that night.
They were ivory, with gold around the straps, a gift from Ji-won for their third anniversary. He kissed her ankle when he buckled them, and told her she looked like his future.
They left the dinner party early—laughing.
He was tipsy. She was not.
He leaned against the passenger side door, loose and happy. "Let's run away tonight."
"To where?"
"Anywhere. Let's go be poor in Paris."
She smiled, brushing his hair from his face. "We're not poor, Ji-won."
"We could be," he said. "If it meant I got to have you and them."
Them.
The child in her belly.
She laughed and kissed him then.
---
The intersection was blinking red.
She saw it before the car hit them.
It came from the left.
A blur. Screeching tires. Metal. Glass.
Ji-won yelling her name.
Then black.
---
She woke again.
Different room. Dimmer.
Ji-won was there now, sitting beside her. His hands were red. His shirt soaked. There was a cut over his brow.
His eyes were blank.
"Ji-won," she rasped.
He looked at her.
Everything about him cracked.
"Sae-ri," he whispered.
She reached for him. He caught her wrist. Pressed his lips to it. Then his forehead.
And then—he broke.
He didn't sob. He didn't scream. He just shook, head bent over her hand like a sinner begging forgiveness.
"I couldn't stop it," he said. "I couldn't get to you fast enough."
She didn't understand.
Until she did.
She sat up—ripping IVs, ignoring the pain—and pulled back the blanket.
Her stomach.
Her body.
Her baby was gone.
She made no sound. Just opened her mouth and howled without breath.
Ji-won climbed into the bed with her.
Doctors came. Nurses.
They left again.
No one could reach her but him.
She clawed at his chest, hitting, screaming, sobbing so hard she thought she might split in two.
Ji-won didn't flinch. He held her tighter.
"You're not alone," he said. "I'm here. I'm still here."
She bled again that night.
Not from her body.
From her soul.
---
Later
"I want to die," she whispered.
Ji-won's arms were around her. She was wrapped in a hospital blanket, curled into his lap like a child.
"No," he said simply.
"I want to go with them."
"No."
"Ji-won—"
He kissed the crown of her head.
"Then I'll go first," he said, voice soft and raw. "And wait for you."
She sobbed.
He pulled her closer.
"I'll wait forever," he said, "if I have to."