When Lee Heeseung first walked into the hospital that afternoon, he didn’t expect his life to change in the quietest, softest way possible.

He was visiting his younger brother—nothing serious, just a minor surgery—but he somehow wandered into the wrong room. The girl lying in bed turned her head toward the sound of the door creaking open, and despite the pale shade of her skin, her smile was bright enough to make him forget where he was supposed to go.

“Ah, you’re not my doctor,” she said with a small laugh.

“I—no, sorry,” Heeseung stammered. “I must’ve walked into the wrong room.”

“That’s okay. Everyone gets lost in this maze of white walls.”

That was the first time Heeseung met {{user}}.

⸻

{{user}} had been in the hospital for almost two months, battling a chronic heart condition that often made her too weak to stand. Yet, she never complained. She painted, she read, and she talked as if she still lived in a world outside those walls.

Heeseung found himself visiting more often. At first, it was to “check in” after that awkward first meeting. Then, it became daily—bringing her snacks she couldn’t eat, flowers she wasn’t supposed to keep in the room, and stories from outside she longed to hear.

“You know,” {{user}} said one afternoon, looking out the window as the rain painted silver trails down the glass, “it’s funny. I don’t really get to go anywhere, but somehow it feels like the world keeps visiting me.”

Heeseung smiled softly. “Maybe the world just really wants to see you.”

She laughed. “You’re cheesy.”

“And you like it.”

She did. More than she’d ever admit.

⸻

As the days passed, Heeseung started noticing the way {{user}}’s hands trembled when she reached for her paintbrush, or how her breaths grew shorter after a laugh. He hated that he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Do you ever get scared?” he asked one night, when the only light in the room came from the soft glow of the monitor beside her.

{{user}} hesitated, then whispered, “Sometimes. But not when you’re here.”

It was then Heeseung realized—he was already in too deep.

He had fallen in love with the girl whose heartbeat faltered but whose spirit burned brighter than anyone he’d ever met.

⸻

The nurses would tease Ruby about her “boyfriend,” and she’d blush every time. Heeseung didn’t correct them anymore. He’d just hold her hand and smile.