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“Aagh!”
The moment she fully clenched her fist, a scream burst out instinctively as the pain became incomparable to before. This wasn't right. Something was definitely wrong. She tried to open her hand by instinct, but Seok-hyun was one step faster and gripped her fist.
“Ugh, let go… let go!”
As the pain grew unbearable, Hee-jin began to plead. At this rate, the bone must have broken again. She struggled to pull her hand away, but Seok-hyun didn't budge. Instead, he swiftly turned her body around and hugged her from behind.
“Let me go. I said let me go…!”
Bound by his firm arms, Hee-jin's entire body trembled. Her clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
“Just bear with it a little longer.”
“Please, it hurts!”
“Noona, you can handle it.”
The voice flowing from the lips brushing against her ear was eerily calm. Despite her pleading that it hurt, he seemed abnormally serene, as if he weren't shaken in the slightest.
Hee-jin's reason gradually became paralyzed, and the only thought in her mind was the desire to open her hand. However, because Seok-hyun was gripping it with both hands, she simply couldn't. She kept imagining the broken bones splitting into pieces once again. As Hee-jin burst into tears, claiming she couldn't take it anymore, Seok-hyun's voice flowed calmly into her ear again.
“If you don't do this now, you might never be able to play the violin again.”
“……!”
His gentle warning pierced through the gap of her despair, stabbing at her pain and fear. As she collapsed on the spot, Seok-hyun sat down with her, making a shushing sound to soothe her, as if telling her not to cry.
“Just stay like this. Be still.”
The low, whispering voice was as soft as a lullaby. Hee-jin stopped trying to open her hand and quietly swallowed her sobs. Even though Seok-hyun's large frame covered her, it didn't feel heavy; rather, it felt cozy. Her fingers were still screaming, but his large hands soothed her as if absorbing the pain.
Hee-jin felt utterly devastated that, in this hellish moment, the fact that a devil was by her side provided comfort.
An ordinary person might have felt relieved that they injured their left hand, which is less frequently used, but for Hee-jin, it was misfortune. If she had to choose between the hand that presses the fingerboard and the hand that holds the bow, it would have been better to injure the one holding the bow.
After the pins were removed, Hee-jin's hand looked as if it had returned to normal. Of course, the stitches hadn't been removed yet, but there was no problem in going about her daily life. She could now shower comfortably and wash her hands. If it weren't for the rehabilitation, she would have felt that life had become bearable.
“Ah!”
However, the godforsaken pain that came every time she clenched her fist and bent her hand showed no sign of diminishing.
“You took painkillers. Try to hold on a bit more.”
Seok-hyun, who was hugging her from behind, spoke in a quiet voice. Hee-jin, who found it difficult even to scream, could barely gasp for air. She didn't want to touch a single fingertip of Go Seok-hyun, but without him, there was no way to endure this pain.
Every time she struggled to bend her hand, a pain as if her fingers were breaking surged. Even when she tried to endure it, the pain felt as if it were piercing through the flesh and digging deep into the bone. They told her it was natural to hurt because moving bones that hadn't fully fused would cause irritation. Furthermore, the pain was compounded because there was resistance in the ligaments and muscles that had been immobilized for a long time, and the nerves were not yet fully recovered.
Breathing heavily, she tried to return her hand to its original position, but Go Seok-hyun would not let go. While firmly wrapping his arms around her from behind, he slowly bent her fingers.
“Ah… Aagh!”
Hee-jin screamed, swallowing her breath, but Seok-hyun remained unmoved. He held her fingers fixed, bent just slightly beyond the level she could bear.
“Please….”
As the pleading sound reached his ear, he whispered in a soft and gentle voice.
“Is a pain like this more agonizing than not being able to play the violin? No, it's not. Noona, you aren't such a weak person.”
“Hng….”
Hee-jin swallowed a groan, half-crying. No matter how much spite she harbored or how much she steadied her heart, hope was distant and pain was close.
“Want to rest for a bit?”
The rehabilitation process was a battle of persistence. She was going to the hospital every other day for manual therapy to bend her hand, but that was nowhere near enough. They said she would only see proper results if she relentlessly clung to rehabilitation on her own every day.
That was why, every day for nearly three hours, Hee-jin remained in Go Seok-hyun's arms, bending and snapping her hand. Once after waking up in the morning, once when Seok-hyun, who had gone to work, stopped by the house using lunch as an excuse, once after he finished work, and once before going to sleep….
Except for the hours Go Seok-hyun spent working, he was devoted entirely to helping her with her rehabilitation, but far from being grateful, Hee-jin grew to hate him more and more.
“I'll… keep going.”
Hee-jin wiped the streaming tears with her right arm and bent her fingers again. Seok-hyun smiled and assisted her skillfully. Whenever Hee-jin couldn't take it and tried to release her hand, he pressed down firmly.
“One minute. Just hold it for one minute.”
One minute. At the word that this time, which felt like it would never end, could be finished in one minute, Hee-jin hurriedly began to count the seconds. One second, another second…. With every passing second, the pain seemed to pile up in layers. She barely endured, fighting the urge to give up, and Seok-hyun, who also seemed to be counting the seconds, whispered into her ear.
“Fifty-nine, sixty. You're enduring well. Shall we try for one more minute?”
“You son of a bitch, it hurts!”
“Dogs are usually the best assistants.”
“Fuck!”
“Your swearing has improved.”
Hee-jin was someone who had hardly ever sworn in her life. But perhaps because the pain kept paralyzing her reason, the curses came out naturally.
What tormented Hee-jin the most wasn't the presence of Go Seok-hyun clinging to her. It was her own hand, which, despite enduring this pain to bend and stretch it, would turn stiff again by the next morning. It made the entire process feel like a useless waste of time.
“What do you do by yourself when I'm not here?”
Seok-hyun changed the subject, perhaps intending to distract her. Hee-jin, whose entire focus was concentrated on the pain in her hand, had no energy to answer him, and it was even irritating. It was as bothersome as a mosquito buzzing in her ear.
“Ugh!”
Since she didn't answer, did he think he was being ignored? Seok-hyun bit her ear. Hee-jin startled and trembled at the action of him taking the rim of her ear in his mouth and nibbling on it. She turned around to ask what he was doing, and almost had her lips bitten this time. Shock and disbelief filled Hee-jin's eyes as she quickly dodged.
“That's because you ignored me.”
“Ha….”
Trembling with the impulse to slap that brazen face, she shivered, but Seok-hyun smiled and gestured with his chin toward below.
“Still, thanks to that, you forgot about your hand. Even if just for a moment.”
“……!”
Hee-jin paused. Indeed, because she had been so surprised, she had forgotten the pain for a brief moment. The throbbing sensation returned only once she became aware of it again.
“Well… thank you so much.”
Even though he must have known she was being sarcastic, his smile deepened. Hee-jin lost all desire to continue and lifted her hand. This time, Seok-hyun released her hand without lingering.
“Stay still. I'll wipe it for you.”
As water dripped from the hand that had been soaked in warm water, he gently wrapped Hee-jin's hand in a towel he had prepared beside her. Since the stitches hadn't been removed yet, it was important to wipe it clean and disinfect it again. Looking at Go Seok-hyun, who was nonchalantly wiping away the moisture, Hee-jin spat out a warning.
“Don't cross the line.”
✾ ✾ ✾
“Now, looking at the X-ray results, the surgical site and the bone fusion state are very good. I've confirmed that the bone is fusing stably even after the pins were removed. It appears that the rehabilitation exercises you're doing are not causing any significant strain. You're doing very well.”
Hearing that things were fine, contrary to her worries, Hee-jin let out a sigh of relief. Then, she asked with a much more desperate expression.
“But it still hurts so much during rehabilitation. If the bone is fusing well, then why on earth….”
“Because the new tissue created as the bone regenerates is still soft and sensitive. And it's also because of the damaged nerves. You need to stay stable until it recovers on its own, but during rehabilitation exercises, it inevitably gets stimulated.”
The doctor emphasized repeatedly that if the nerve damage worsened, the rehabilitation period would lengthen, so she must not become impatient. Hee-jin's expression darkened. She couldn't even dream of pressing the violin's fingerboard yet, and she had no idea how much longer she would have to spend this grueling time.
“Patient. You're doing well. You may feel anxious, but if you continue rehabilitation with a delicate intensity, the moment it improves will come.”
The doctor's words sounded like nothing more than a cliché consolation. Nodding vaguely, Hee-jin looked down at her hand. Even though she saw her hand sewn with thread every day, she still couldn't get used to it.
After finishing both physical therapy and manual therapy and coming out, she saw the car standing in front of the hospital lobby. The driver Go Seok-hyun had assigned was waiting on time.
Even though she had been coming to the hospital for a few days, Go Seok-hyun tried to accompany her whenever possible. However, since he had company business, it was impossible for him to clear his schedule every time. So, as if he had no choice, he provided a driver, and Hee-jin felt much more at ease than when she went with Go Seok-hyun. It felt as if she could finally breathe.
“Thank you for waiting, driver.”
As Hee-jin opened the door and climbed into the car, her eyes widened when she saw someone sitting in the passenger seat that should have been empty.
“Chairman Go…?”
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