When Evelyn woke up, the sudden light that hit her eyes after so much darkness almost blinded her again.
It felt like that dizzying moment after lying down for too long — like when you sit up too fast and the world fades to black for a few seconds.
As her vision slowly adjusted, she found herself staring blankly at a white ceiling. Even the simple act of blinking felt strange.
"How long have I been asleep?" She wondered hazily. Even breathing felt distant and foreign.
When she turned her head to the side, she noticed a young man sleeping in a chair beside her, his hand firmly wrapped around her left hand.
She didn't recognize him. The unfamiliar warmth of his grip made her uneasy.
She parted her lips to speak, but no sound came out. Her throat and lips were unbearably dry, as if she hadn't had a sip of water in days.
The faint sounds she managed to make came out as nothing more than weak whispers, so this time she tried to pull her hand away from the pink-haired man's grip.
But his hold was firm —possessive, almost— and it was hard to free herself while lying down.
After a long, clumsy struggle, she finally managed to tug her hand back.
Almost as if he had been waiting for that very moment, the young man stirred and opened his eyes with a low groan.
For a few seconds, the pink-haired man just stared at her blankly— then his blue pupils suddenly shrank, and his lips parted in shock.
"E-Eve?!"
Evelyn frowned. Being called that by a complete stranger made her uneasy.
The young man quickly jumped to his feet and leaned closer, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Eve— Oh my god! Are you really awake right now?!"
When Evelyn parted her lips again to speak, the young man had already fumbled his phone out of his pocket while frantically slamming the emergency button beside her bed.
He pressed it over and over, as if the force of his hand alone could make help arrive faster.
The sharp beeping of the machines mixed with the mechanical whirring of nearby devices, blending into a dizzying cacophony that made Evelyn squint in discomfort.
The pink-haired, blue-eyed young man stood out vividly against the sterile white of the room.
He wore an oversized hoodie —its shade of pink a little lighter than his hair— and a pair of blue jeans torn in several places. The silver piercings on his ear jingled softly with each of his hurried movements.
Evelyn thought absently that he looked like someone who had stepped straight out of a webtoon— or maybe like one of those handsome idol boys.
A couple of minutes after the pink-haired young man hit the emergency button, two nurses rushed into the room.
They hurried toward Evelyn and the young man, who let out a breath of relief at the sight of them, his expression clearly brightening. Then, putting his phone to his ear, he said calmly,
"Our comatose patient just woke up. Please run the necessary checks," and walked toward the door.
Evelyn's gaze followed the nurses as they approached, but her mind snagged on the words he'd just spoken.
Comatose… patient? What..?
One of the nurses turned to the other and told her to call the doctor right away.
As she checked the tubes attached to Evelyn's arms and the ones running into her nose, she asked gently, "How are you feeling?"
But Evelyn's thoughts were still circling the same confusion.
I was in a coma? For how long? I guess it makes sense, though. After that kind of big accident… It's a miracle I even survived.
When Evelyn drifted into her own thoughts, what pulled her back was the nurse's repeated questions.
"Can you hear me? Do you feel any pain or numbness anywhere?"
Before answering, Evelyn tried to move her body as much as she could while lying down. There didn't seem to be any problems.
That was what felt strange. After that kind of accident, she thought at least her leg would be broken.
"I'm fine…" she managed to say, though it was difficult.
Her voice came out hoarse and weak, almost silent. Still, the nurse heard her, so Evelyn spoke again.
"Where… is my sister?"
The nurse wore an expression that made it clear she had no information about that, just as the pink-haired young man and the doctor entered the room. The young man was talking to someone on the phone.
Excitedly, he said to the person on the other end, "Eve woke up! Come here right now!"
When the doctor quickly approached Evelyn's bedside, the nurse stepped aside to make room for him.
"Hello, how are you feeling, Evelyn?"
The doctor was a middle-aged man with a clean, calm face. His black hair reached his shoulders, and he wore transparent-framed glasses.
When Evelyn tried to sit up, the doctor immediately moved forward to help her.
Meanwhile, the nurse adjusted the angle of the hospital bed. As Evelyn leaned back in a slightly upright position, she said,
"I'm fine."
The doctor turned his eyes to the medical machines in the room. Evelyn glanced between him and the young man who was still talking animatedly on the phone.
"How long have I been in a coma?" she asked, looking at the doctor.
After checking the monitors, the doctor turned back to her.
"You've been in a coma for about three months. You suffered a head injury that caused brain trauma. While it didn't lead to any severe complications, a previously experienced traumatic event might have prolonged your comatose state. Do you remember what happened?"
As Evelyn remembered pulling her sister away from the oncoming car, a sharp pain shot through her head.
The sudden ache made her press a hand to her temple and shut her eyes tightly, letting out the first sound she had made since waking up— a low groan of pain.
Hearing her pained sound, the pink-haired young man quickly ended his call and rushed to her side.
"Eve, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
In the middle of the memory of saving her sister, Evelyn suddenly saw something that didn't belong to her— another memory.
The moment she saw the approaching car, she saw herself pushing a man out of its path instead.