Afire Love - Autumn 2015

Autumn 2015

She rushes through the busy hallways of the hospital and ignores all the people around her. She arrives at the third floor of the hospital and walks past few rooms hurriedly before stopping right in front of a room numbered 304. Her heart was beating fast as she held out her shaky hand towards the knob. She pushes the door slowly and caught the sight of Mark, lying on the hospital bed with wires all over his body. His face looks pale, almost the same color like the hospital wall.

Mia flops helplessly onto the floor.

Jaebum who was sitting next to Mark quickly stand up and helps Mia back onto her feet. He walks Mia into the room and let her sit down onto the empty seat next to him. She quickly grip Mark’s hand and tears began to stream down her face.

“What… happened…?” Mia looks at Jaebum, waiting for his response. Jaebum let out a sigh.

“Jackson and I… We went to his apartment, to check on him… When we found him on the floor, unconscious… with pills scattered across the room and blood… dripping from his mouth and nose.” Jaebum closes his eyes, trying to chase away the horrible scene he had witnessed few hours ago.

“Oh God… Mark…”

“The doctor said that… he needs to stay here.”

“For how long?”

“I… don’t know. His condition is worsen, Mia.”

Mia slumps her face onto the mattress, next to Mark’s arm as those words of Jaebum went through her ears. She grips Mark’s hand tightly and cries in despair.  Her heart aches as she looks up and saw Mark’s pale face.

My beautiful Mark… What have he done to deserve all this? Why out of all people… Why him?

Her sobbings grow louder.

“Mia, calm down… He’s… he’s going to be alright.” Jaebum bit his lower lips as he tries to comfort her. Few minutes ago, he had said that Mark’s condition began to worsen and now he’s saying that he’s going to be alright. He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.  Well, a white lie can be really useful at times like this—even though he knows that it doesn’t make any sense and will only lead to a bigger piece of mess. But someone needs to calm this girl down.

Mia raises her head up, glances at Jaebum for a few seconds and stares at Mark, deeply.

Yeah. He’s going to be alright. My Mark’s going to be alright… He will…

-----

She stares at the can of coke in her hand and slowly let out a sigh. She gradually lifts up her head and began to look around the hospital mini park. She’s alone at that time. Well, the weather was quite windy that day. Of course, no one wants to stay out in the open space. But she’s still there, didn’t budge even a bit and the wind definitely brings chills all the way through her spines and bones. Yet she’s still there.

She could really use some fresh air and also some time alone now, just to relax her mind a bit. That was what Jaebum told her 30 minutes ago and she does agree with it.

“Hi pretty. You’re alone?”

Mia quickly held up her head as a response to the sudden greeting. Jackson’s face came into view. He grins widely at her. Mia breathes out in relief. Jackson casually lands himself onto the bench next to Mia.

“What’s with the flirty tone?” Mia raises one of her eyebrow. Jackson laughs.

“Yah, I’ve always flirt with you. Didn’t I?”

Mia smiles a little. “Sorry, Jacks. I’m not in the mood.”

Jackson smirks and leans his back to the bench. He looks up to the blue sky. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“So… How’s Mark?” Jackson takes a quick glance at Mia. She sighs, unintentionally.

“He’s fine, I guess. But he’s still unconscious.”

Jackson nods slowly.

“Thank you, for bringing Mark here.” She smiles warmly at Jackson, as a sign of gratitude. Jackson chuckles a bit.

“You’re most welcome, Mia. That’s the least we can do.”

Then, the silence took over the situation. Jackson peeks over to take a look at Mia. His heart breaks a little when he saw her swelling eyes and her red nose. She’s definitely crying all the time. Her cheeks slowly flushes into various shades of pink the moment the cool breeze of autumn blew past them. Jackson stares in awe.

She’s the most beautiful mess he had ever seen.

“Our life is… quite like a drama, right?” Mia suddenly broke the silence. Jackson raises his eyebrow. He patiently waits for Mia to continue her words.

“I never thought that, this kind of thing would happen in my life, our life. Until now, I can’t fully accept the fact that Mark’s suffering from this hideous disease. It feels like nightmares, you know. He’s a good kid. Why does he have to go through this? What have he done wrong? Why?” Her whole body starts to shake and tears fall from her eyes. Jackson instinctively took her into his embrace and calmly tries to soothe her. 

“I don’t want him to die.” Mia quietly says in between of her sobs. Her lips quiver terribly. Jackson quickly caught up what she was saying and gently strokes her arm. 

“None of us want that to happen, Mia.” Jackson bit his lower lips.

Yes, he definitely doesn’t want his best friend to die.

“I’m really a bad girlfriend, aren’t I? I can’t even help him. All I can do was look at him, lying hopelessly on that hospital bed. I’m such a jerk.”

“No, you’re not, okay? Please, don’t be like this, Mia. We have to be strong-- for Mark’s sake. Don’t blame yourself. All of this happened beyond our control. You can help him by praying that everything’s going to be okay. Just pray, and leave the rest to Him.” I hate to see you like this, Mia and I’m sure, Mark will hate it too.

Mia sniffles and wipes away her tears. She chuckles a bit though bitterly but still, made Jackson smiles.

“Be strong, girl. Okay?” He holds her hands tightly.

“I’ll try. Thank you, Jacks.”

“Hey, what friends are for?”

-----

She pushes the door quietly and slowly makes way into the room. She looks around before taking a seat beside Mark’s bed. Jaebum’s gone. Well, she’s the one who told him to go home and come back again tomorrow. He and Jackson have been very helpful by bringing Mark to the hospital. In return, she offers herself to accompany Mark tonight. Jaebum just agreed with it.

Mia silently grabs Mark’s hand and gently strokes it. Mark’s hand felt icy cold against her warm hand. Mia sighs. She drops her forehead down onto the mattress and tries to sleep but she knows she can’t.

There are lots of things going through her mind right now and she definitely can’t fall asleep in such a restless condition.

She quickly raises her head when she heard shuffling sound on the bed. Mark slowly opens his eyes and blinks a few times, trying to adjust his sight in the dim light. His looked at his hand that was stabbed with needles connecting to the IV drip and was confused with the whole situation but when he saw Mia, he suddenly felt relieved and slowly sparks a little smile.

“Hey…” He pats Mia’s head gently. She still stares at him in surprise.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“For like, 12 hours… I thought that… you would never wake up again…”

Mark chuckles weakly and brushes his index finger against Mia’s soft cheeks. “Silly girl… Of course I’ll wake up. It’s not my time to die, yet. See, I’m alright. You’ll still be able to see this beautiful face of mine so, no worries.” He smiles. Mia bit her lower lips and suddenly burst into tears. Mark’s eyes widen as her sobbing grows louder. 

“Come here…” Mark quickly rise himself from the bed and took Mia into his embrace. Mia buries her face into Mark’s neck and cries her heart out. Mark hushes and gently soothes her back.

“Why are you crying…?”

“I… I…” Her words were stuck between her throats. She kept on crying until her heart finally feels at ease. The tight hug broke and Mark softly wipes away her tears.

“Yah, you’re the one who should be comforting me. I’m the one who is sick here, not you.” He looks at her and smiles teasingly. Mia pouts and gave Mark a slap on his shoulder. He let out a weak, slow laugh and again, took her into his arm.

“I was worried sick… You have no idea how fretful I was when I first received the call from Jaebum. You nearly got me a heart attack. Please, don’t do this again to me…”

“I know. I’m sorry…”

They are still in each other’s arms, but this time, the hug last longer. Mia circles her arm around Mark’s waist and their hugs tighten. Mark’s smile still didn’t fade away and he kept on caressing Mia’s soft hair. His body condition is still weak and of course, he’s feeling exhausted as hell. The agony he feels every time he tries to breathe the air out of his lungs was no joke but with Mia by his sides, he constantly forgets about all the pain he’s suffering from.

“You remember that one song, the one that we always play in the car every time we went out for a night drive? The one that instantly becomes our favorite when we heard it for the first time?” Mark suddenly asks, randomly. Mia looks up at him and scrunches her eyebrows.

“And… which one is that? You do know we have tons of songs in the playlist, right?”

“I know but this one is the iconic one; Afire Love by Ed Sheeran.”

A tiny smile spread across her face the moment Mark mentioned it. She slowly nods her head. “Afire Love… Yes, that song.  What about it?”

“What about it? Hmm, it’s nothing actually. It just… it kinda suddenly pops up into my mind.”

“You and your random talk, Mark Tuan…”

But it’s okay, that’s literally your charm and I have nothing against it…

“Darlin'… hold me in your arms… the way you did… last night… and we'll die inside for… a little while here oh…”

Once again, Mia lifts her head and looks at Mark who was already staring at her. Their gaze met and she started to feel butterfly in her stomach. It’s been a while since she last felt this kind of feeling.

Mark continues to sing with Mia safe in his arm. His throats taste like mixture of phlegm and acid juices but that doesn’t stop him from singing. “I could look into your eyes… until the sun… comes up… and we're wrapped in light… and life and love…”

“Mark dear, sorry for interrupting your lovely serenade but I think, you should stop. You’re out of breath.” She shots a concern look to Mark as he coughs hardly for a few times. Mark just laughs it off.

“Yeah, I know but Mia… holds still.”

She was about to ask him why when suddenly Mark lean towards her and carefully plants a soft kiss onto her lips. It feels like a jolt of electricity running through her skin as their lips touched and their fingers intertwined. It only lasted for a split second but it definitely feels like forever. The kiss broke and they now are facing each other.

“What… Why…” She’s lost for words.

“I’m just taking chances because who knows, that would be our last…” His eyes glisten in the dark and Mia can actually see the pain he’s hiding through it. He’s going through one hell of an agony right now and still, he managed to smile. He keeps on saying he’s okay when actually he’s not.

Tears started to stream down her face again.

“No, Mark. This won’t be the last. I will never, ever… let that happened.” With that, she moves one inch closer to him so their lips could touch, again. This time, the kiss last longer. It taste like mixture of tears, peppermint and also blood, but still it feels good.

“I hope we can stay like this, forever…”

“And, we will…”

Put your open lips on mine

And slowly let them shut

For they're designed to be together oh

With your body next to mine

Our hearts will beat as one

And we set alight

We're afire love