Ep-1: A New Start.

Kim Soo-yeon~

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

They say the mind is like a glass-once it's shattered, no matter how many pieces you pick up, you can still see the cracks.

For me, that glass shattered five years ago, when he left without warning.

One moment, we were laughing, planning our future; the next, I was alone, staring at an empty space where he once was.

I force myself to breathe. One step at a time. It's my first day here, my first real day working in the asylum as an intern. I should be nervous about the patients, about getting things right. Instead, all I can think about is him.

"Hello miss... Zoning out again?", Dae-hyun's voice pulls me back to the present. "You okay?", his voice is deep yet soothing.

I glance over at him in the driver's seat. He's giving me that look-the one he always gives me when he knows I'm not okay but is too polite to outright say it. His dark hair is tousled in that effortlessly messy way that only he can pull off, and of course, his stupidly handsome face doesn't help. There he is, perfect as ever, and here I am-a storm in human form.

I nod, forcing a smile. "I'm fine," I lie. I've been lying about being fine for years now, so what's one more day?

He doesn't buy it, of course. He never does.

"Sure, sure. Just remember, you can't lie to me, Soo-yeon. I'm your personal life preserver, your knight in shining armor, your-"

"Fire extinguisher?" I offer, raising an eyebrow at him.

He bursts out laughing, a deep, rich sound that fills the cramped car with warmth.

"Fire extinguisher? Really? I save your life on multiple occasions, and you reduce me to firefighting equipment?"

"You didn't save my life. You just got me out of one or two-or maybe five-very awkward situations." I grin, feeling a bit lighter for the first time today. Dae-hyun has that effect on me. He can make me feel like the world isn't as heavy as it seems, even when it's crushing me.

"Awkward?" He snorts. "You mean that time I had to drag you out of that dive bar because you were one drink away from confessing your darkest secrets to a total stranger? Or when you almost married that guy in Vegas?"

"It wasn't that serious-", he narrows his eyes, "Okay! maybe a bit serious... but what would I have done... I was drunk-"

" 'I was drunk', how could any one marry a fucking man being drunk?", He said mimicking the first part.

I give him a pissed look. Literally, that incident has already been TWO fucking YEARS!

Yet... He will drag it to every edge of our conversation.

But that's Dae-hyun. He's always been my firefighter, pulling me out of disaster after disaster with that stupid grin on his face, as if he enjoys the chaos I bring into his life. And, if I'm being honest, I'm pretty sure he does. I don't know how I would have survived the last five years without him.

Five long, exhausting years that nearly broke me.

"We're here," Dae-hyun announces as we pull up to the asylum's gates.

...EUNSEONG HOSPITAL...

...은성 병원...

The towering structure looms ahead. The grey walls swallowing all the hidden screams into it.

I gulp, suddenly feeling the weight of the place.

This isn't just some internship-it's a place filled with broken minds, a place where people are sent to be fixed, but sometimes they don't come out the other side.

I turn to Dae-hyun.

"Do you believe I can do this?"

"Trust me..."

His smile gives me comfort.

...⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝...

...~To be continued~...

...What do you think about her journey?...

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