The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 82

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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82.
The elevator that hadn’t functioned once during the entire search of the upper floors.
Now it struck him as strange—both the floor indicator lights and the call button illumination were dark.
Cha Kyung immediately called the building owner again.
“Have you ever cut the main power to the building?”
— The main power? No, I haven’t. We need the elevator for construction work… You’re saying it’s off?
He ended the call and rushed down the staircase.
Opening the electrical panel on the first-floor wall, he found every circuit breaker pulled down. All of them, in a building that had been functioning normally until yesterday.
Cha Kyung began flipping the breakers back up. Click, click. With each one, emergency lights flickered on in the corridor and the overhead lights came to life.
As he switched the final breaker, a dull mechanical whine echoed overhead—the elevator motor grinding to life.
Soon the floor indicator lit up, and finally the elevator doors slid open.
The first thing that caught his eye was Seong Do-ah, crumpled in the corner of the elevator, unconscious.
“Seong Do-ah!”
Cha Kyung rushed to her and wrapped his coat around her body.
As he carefully lifted her, blood trickling from the back of her head ran down her neck and soaked through to the lapel of his coat.
Her pallid face had turned an ashen blue even at the lips.
Supporting her with one hand, Cha Kyung dialed 119 with the other. Sticky blood smeared between his fingers.
At that moment, her eyelids began to flutter as faint consciousness returned.
Her unfocused eyes moved slowly across his face.
“…Ugh, Cha Kyung.”
“Don’t speak. An ambulance is coming.”
Do-ah’s limp hand rose slowly and came to rest on the back of his. Her fingers were ice-cold.
“…I knew you’d come…”
As her eyes began to close, Cha Kyung gently tapped her cheek and raised his voice. “Do-ah. Stay with me. You can’t sleep. Do-ah!”

At his urgent tone, Do-ah managed to open her eyes again. The corners of her mouth twitched minutely.
It was impossible to tell if she was trying to smile or bearing pain.
“…You’re… huh… my guardian angel.”
Cha Kyung’s hand stilled.
He thought that every misfortune that had befallen her had its origin in him.
He had hired the lawyer, cornered Kyung-jun, and ultimately pushed Do-ah into danger—all of it stemmed from him.
The thought that being near this woman only brought her harm was strangling him.
A guardian angel.
Do-ah’s head tilted to the side and her hand slipped from the back of his. Cha Kyung froze, holding her motionless.
He grasped her sliding hand again. All he could do was grip it firmly.
The siren of an ambulance began to wail from the end of the alley.
* * *
“Ugh… ugh… My head…”
One side of the back of her head was swollen and hot to the touch.
Any slight movement of her head sent what felt like a molten weight rolling inside her skull.
Each time, her forehead and temples would cry out in unison, and her stomach would churn.
Unable to help herself, she let out a moan.
Then a cool, broad hand settled on her forehead.
The temperature was perfect—neither too cold nor too hot.
“Mm… that’s soothing…”
Do-ah pressed her face into the large hand.
“Ugh… mm… Cha Kyung.”
Without thinking, she spoke his name. And felt his hand flinch at the sound.
The cool touch remained by her side, yet the relentless pain made Do-ah’s brows furrow continuously.
Clink. Click.
Then came a small, clear metallic sound from somewhere, followed by something cool seeping into the inside of her arm.
The pounding ache inside her skull eased by a layer, and Do-ah settled her eyes shut again, at peace.
Time passed like this, continuously.
One day the skin beneath her eyelids grew so bright she squinted, and she heard the sound of a curtain being drawn.
Another day she felt cold and shrank into herself, and the room’s air grew warmer.
Throughout it all, a low voice called her name softly now and then near her ear.
Curious about who called so desperately, Do-ah spent days struggling to open her eyes.
Finally, when she managed to open them with effort.
Bright light poured into her field of vision, and blurred shapes began to take form.
“Do-ah!”
An elderly woman with a lined face was standing beside her. Beside her was a neatly composed middle-aged woman.
“Grandmother… Mother…”
After confirming their faces, Do-ah’s eyes searched the surroundings.
A white ceiling, white curtains, an IV drip hanging from her forearm, the faint smell of disinfectant.
She was in a hospital again.
“Do-ah, you’re worth looking at, so why do I keep seeing you get hurt like this?”
Weathered hands caressed her cheek. Her heart clenched.
At the same moment, the sensation of a larger, firmer hand became vividly clear.
It had been here—she was sure of it.
Do-ah turned her head to the side. Cha Kyung was nowhere to be seen. She pushed herself to sit up.
“Ah…”
The moment she moved, a sharp stabbing pain shot through the back of her head.
“You haven’t fully recovered yet. You need to rest a bit longer.”
Jung Hye quickly tried to lay Do-ah back down. But already the days after the traffic accident were flooding her mind.
Back then, Cha Kyung had never come to the hospital room, no matter how many days passed. Then on the day they met after her discharge, he had announced their breakup.
The anxiety that the same thing was happening again tightened her throat.
“Um… where’s Cha Kyung…?”
Just then the hospital room door burst open.
The very man who had made Do-ah anxious was standing there with shopping bags in both hands.
Jung Hye and Gyu-seon, catching a glimpse inside the bags, spoke in unison as if they’d rehearsed it.
“What is all this? Are you moving out on your own?”
“Exactly how long are you planning to keep Do-ah in the hospital with all these things?”
He hadn’t been absent.
He had been by her side all along.
Thick tears rolled down Do-ah’s cheeks. Cha Kyung approached with a startled expression.
“Do-ah, what’s wrong?”
“I thought you weren’t here, waah!”
“Do-ah, crying will hurt your head. You useless thing! I told you to watch the room.”
“Of all the timing, to step out right when Do-ah was waking up.”
Caught between the reproach of both Gyu-seon and Jung Hye, while also managing Do-ah’s tears, Cha Kyung approached her with an awkward expression.
“Go where? I promised to stick to you like a leech.”
Cha Kyung’s large hand wiped away Do-ah’s tears—the same hand that had pressed on her forehead all through the night.
Do-ah was drowning in emotion when Jung Hye’s hand came down sharply on his.
Smack—!
“Don’t touch a patient’s face with unwashed hands!”
“I certainly washed them. I washed several times in the bathroom and sprayed disinfectant all over everything in these bags.”
“Oh my, did you? I’m sorry then.”
Her voice and expression conveyed no apology whatsoever.
A smile spread across Do-ah’s face too.
* * *
She had now been in the hospital room for a full month.
Even after waking, she couldn’t keep her mind clear for some time.
She heard that upon arrival at the Emergency Room, she’d undergone major surgery lasting over ten hours.
After that, she’d gone back and forth to the Examination Room countless times for various tests.
Fortunately, her consciousness had grown sharp at some point, though it took several more weeks before the crushing headaches finally subsided.
Now the sutures had healed, and the pain no longer came as frequently as before.
“Mother, I’m really fine now. Yesterday I even walked all the way to the end of the corridor on my own.”
“And who was it complaining that her head was throbbing again last night?”
Jung Hye gently held Do-ah’s hand and smiled warmly.
“Do-ah. I know being in the hospital is frustrating and exhausting. But for your mother and me, whose hearts nearly stopped when we heard the news, wouldn’t you stay just a bit longer and be fully recovered before you’re discharged?”
It was a voice full of genuine worry and affection. How could she refuse after hearing that?
So Do-ah resolved to stay in the hospital until all her tests were complete and she was completely healed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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