episode_0022

Her clothes, soaked to the point of being like a rag, rapidly stole her body heat. At this rate, not only she but also the fetus in her womb could be in danger.

But Mira didn’t stop. She pushed her exhausted, breathless body onward, continuing to move.

“Yunyoung!” “Yunyoung!” “Yunyoung!”

She desperately called out his name multiple times, searching for her lover in the streets. But each time she turned around, it was only strangers.

Yunyoung, whom she sought so desperately, was nowhere to be found here.

After constantly running, the cold air in the rain left her gasping for breath. Mira, breathing roughly and heavily, didn’t try to rest for even a moment, despite looking pained and exhausted.

The thought of Yunyoung disappearing from her side was far more important to her than her own health or well-being.

“Please, where are you, Yunyoung?”

Unable to find Yunyoung no matter how much she searched, she sobbed, crying out his name towards the sky several times as if in despair.

The rain intensified, becoming so severe that it was hard to see ahead even while standing still. The fierce, pelting rain striking her exposed skin caused stinging pain that relentlessly assaulted her.

“I hate this… I hate this, so please appear before me quickly.”

She wanted to find Yunyoung quickly and return home together.

He had told her he loved her countless times. There was no way he would abandon her.

Even if he had become distant and cold recently, she knew he was a warmer and gentler person than anyone. Moreover, his child was in her belly.

“Appear quickly. I’m scared.”

She whimpered in a fearful voice, trying again to find Yunyoung’s figure nearby. Mira, disheveled and wandering aimlessly, already didn’t look sane to anyone who saw her.

If he wasn’t visible after thoroughly searching this vicinity, she should have realized he was somewhere else, but at that moment, her thoughts couldn’t reach that far.

Her mind was simply plagued by the compulsion to find Yunyoung, rendering any rational thought impossible.

As she ran back towards the alley, Mira accidentally stumbled forward and fell. She had slipped on the wet, rainy ground.

Mira’s face instantly filled with alarm and horror.

She tried to brace herself with her hands to prevent falling unprotected onto the ground, but she failed. Mira lost her balance too quickly, and of all things, her stomach hit the ground first.

“Aaaaargh!!”

Mira screamed in immense pain.

Clutching her stomach, she writhed on the ground, wailing.

It wasn’t just pain; it was unbearable. A woman passing by witnessed the incident and quickly rushed to Mira’s side.

“Are you okay? Hey!”

Mira’s mind was clouded by pain, preventing her from speaking. The woman urgently pulled out her phone and called 911. Until the ambulance arrived, Mira writhed in agony, continuously groaning.

“Yunyoung…”

Even as her consciousness faded, she softly called out Yunyoung’s name.

-1-

Mira, brought into the emergency room, was tormented as if dying, unable to even lose consciousness from the immense pain.

Due to the impact, her water broke in late pregnancy, and unexpected premature labor began.

Mira, sent to the obstetrics and gynecology operating room, gave birth to the child earlier than expected. The medical staff were silent. They seemed to be taking some measures, and their voices were raised among themselves.

The doctor inserted a tube into the mouth of the baby, who wasn’t even twitching, and started a respirator. Simultaneously, they began chest compressions with their fingers, but the child showed no sign of crying.

-2-

Mira, upon waking, realized she was hospitalized in a ward. She looked around, examining where she was, feeling bewildered. Just then, a nurse who saw her regain consciousness approached her side.

“You’re awake. Excuse me, but could you help us confirm your identity?”

“…Is this a hospital?”

“Yes.”

Mira recalled falling in the rain. And seeing her empty belly, her eyes trembled pitifully with fear.

“My… the baby in my belly…? What happened to my baby?”

“Please calm down, first.”

“Tell me. What happened to the baby?”

Mira, half out of her mind, grabbed the nurse’s arm and shook it, asking, preventing her from leaving.

Soon, several nurses came, pulled Mira away, and administered a sedative. Mira desperately tried to resist the oncoming sleep, but she couldn’t endure.

She tried to find the baby in her belly by any means, but her mind gradually blurred, and she eventually closed her eyelids.

Some hours later, Mira woke up, but she was in a half-dazed state due to the effects of the medication.

When the nurse asked for her personal information for treatment, Mira blankly provided her name and resident registration number.

Meanwhile, the hospital borrowed Mira’s phone and called the people saved in her address book. Their priority was to find a guardian for the mentally unstable Mira.

They tried to find contact information for family members, but no such entries were visible. Left with no choice, they began calling everyone in the contact list in order.

Most people who answered the call refused even after hearing Mira’s situation, but finally, one person agreed to come to the hospital.

-3-

“Mira.”

Her close friend, Eunseo, came to visit. Eunseo had been Mira’s closest colleague when she worked. After Yunyoung’s death, when a distraught Mira confined herself to her home, Eunseo had worried and visited her several times.

However, because Mira refused to see anyone, Eunseo had to turn back from her doorstep every time.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Eunseo received a brief update on Mira’s condition from the medical staff.

The child had been stillborn due to external impact in late pregnancy, and this fact had not yet been told to Mira herself.

They also didn’t fail to mention that her mental state seemed very unstable and dangerous.

Upon hearing Mira’s condition, Eunseo felt such deep sorrow that tears welled up in her eyes. Only after composing herself somewhat did she finally meet Mira, who was hospitalized in the room.

“Mira…”

Seeing Mira, so gaunt and emaciated, Eunseo’s eyes welled up again. She resented herself for being unable to do anything for her friend, who had become so broken.

Eunseo pulled Mira’s face against her chest and sobbed.

“Why have you been out of touch all this time? What have you been doing alone until you got into this state? What were you doing?!”

But Mira didn’t perceive Eunseo’s emotions. Mira’s fractured mind was elsewhere.

“Did you happen to see my baby? The baby in my belly is gone.”

Mira asked in a voice that sounded hollow. Eunseo remembered what the nurse had told her about the stillborn child.

The medical staff seemed to want her to tell Mira, but Eunseo herself felt it would be too cruel to bring up the subject to Mira right then.

Mira, with unfocused eyes, asked again.

“Where did our baby go? Huh? Did you happen to see our baby?”

At that sight, Eunseo felt a great pain in her chest.

In the past, Eunseo had failed to tell Mira, who was suffering, to face reality.

She felt she should have, but she didn’t have the courage to say such things to Mira in her current state.

She believed that such words would only deepen the wound in Mira’s heart, which had been gravely injured by her lover’s death. She thought it was something to help with after Mira had recovered.

But now, seeing Mira so deteriorated, she realized her choice back then had been wrong.

Regret washed over her, knowing that even if it reopened Mira’s wounds, she should have been there to help her confront reality.

Mira would grieve upon learning her child had died, but she couldn’t be allowed to escape reality forever.

Eunseo told her that the medical staff had done their best to save the child, but they couldn’t save its life.

Mira listened calmly to the story, without causing a disturbance. The hospital granted Mira’s request to see the body of the stillborn child.

“My baby. Our baby…”

Mira clutched the dead baby tightly to her chest.

After that, Mira could not live normally. Not only had Yunyoung left, but to make matters worse, her precious child in her belly had also died.

Mira’s mental state gradually deteriorated. After her discharge, Eunseo took her to her own home and acted as her guardian.

However, Eunseo also had her own work, so she couldn’t look after Mira all day.

During the day, when Eunseo went to work, Mira was merely left alone in the house like a doll. But she remained quiet, without causing any disturbance.

Eunseo considered that a blessing in disguise. She held onto the hope that even if it was difficult now, if Mira could recover and gradually accept reality, she might one day change.

Weeks passed, then months. Eunseo devoted herself to Mira, who had no one to look after her if Eunseo turned away, and helped her in many ways to stand on her own feet again.

But Mira didn’t change at all. She still repeated the same words, denying reality.

She only desperately searched for the deceased Yunyoung.