A/N: Hi there! I’ve been working on this fic for a long time now. One of my good friends is the biggest Chani stans I’ve seen and she’s been wanting this fic for a very long time. So I hope you guys enjoy it, I love you all - Kay
Waking up was the hardest thing to do. You were disoriented, unaware of where you were or what had happened to you. You remembered the blinding, white lights of the hospital room as you peeled your eyes open for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
You were terrified, surrounded by nothing by the blank white coloring of the room, and ecstatic nurses that ran out of the room to inform the doctors that you were now awake. Doctors soon rushed into your room, adding more white to the room. They flew in with their branded stethoscopes, and blank charts that had been waiting for you for god knows how long.
“Hello Y/N, can you follow this light for me?” Said an old, bearded man with a pressed white coat. You looked up to him, your brows furrowed in confusion. Something about what he had said had thrown you off completely, it confused you more than being in the room.
You thought about it as you moved your eyes around to follow the yellow light he shined in your eyes. As he clicked the flashlight off, it finally dawned on you what had bothered you so much.
He had called you, Y/N. Y/N. Was that your name? Was that your identity? Were you supposed to know that name? You spaced out as you mulled over the thoughts of who you were. You wanted to scream out, to cry out in confusion because you simply couldn’t remember what your name had been.
The same bearded doctor pressed the surface of your shoulder slightly, prompting you to lean back in your hospital bed. “It’s okay, Y/N. Your vitals are good and so are the functions of your nerves. For now, just go back to sleep. We’ll bring you some food in about an hour.” He reassured you kindly.
The doctor turned to the nurse and pointed to the phone outside the hospital room. “Call the fiancee,” He whispered to her. The nurse nodded her head and scurried out of the white room.
As she left, you couldn’t help but to feel your eyes become heavy once again. You clamped your eyes shut and soon became washed over with sleep.
When you woke, a young man was sitting, hunched over, in a chair next to your bed. His knee was shaking nervously while he played with his fingers as a distraction. “Hello?” You managed to muster out, your throat was sore, and dry from dehydration.
The man shot out of his chair, nearly tripping over the plastic material in the process. “Y/N,” He cheered, a large smile spreading across his face. His cheeks, pale just a moment ago, were flushed pink from the excitement he was holding.
The man bent over and reached for the dusty pink cup filled with water, a neon colored straw poked out of it. “Please, drink something,” He urged you as he lowered the straw to your cracked lips.
Even though you didn’t know the man in the room, you complied with his wishes. He seemed to know you though, judging by the excitement in his tone every time he called out your name. Once you finished taking a drink of water, you scanned the man up and down, soaking in every feature you could see.
He was a handsome man, that would be evident from a hundred miles away. His black hair fell lazily into his brown eyes, and his nose scrunched up everytime he smiled. He spoke with the deepest voice you had heard, it sounded as if it had been coated in honey, or anything remotely sweet. You felt as if you should know this man, as if he held an incredulous meaning in your life once. Though, you couldn’t place a name to his face, or the meaning behind why he had been so happy to see you.
“Who are you?” You coughed as your voice slowly came back. The man frowned, nodding his head slightly. He scootched the plastic chair back out and sat down in it again, his once vibrant smile now nowhere to be found.
“I’m Chani Kang, and you’re the love of my life.”
He had wrote his confession in a note. His handwriting looked like chicken scratch on the ripped lined paper. It was juvenile and innocent, something to be expected from nervous ten year olds.
“Do you like me?” It read in fine, black ink. There were three boxes underneath the question, all labeled as “Yes.” You looked up from the piece of paper, your brows knitted together in annoyance.
“Kang Chani, you didn’t give me a choice to say no,” You grunted as you started to draw in your own box, with the word “No” printed out boldly. Chani gasped in shock as he watched you modify his note.
“But you were supposed to say yes.” He mumbled as he took back his piece of paper. You grinned up to your friend, flashing him a devious smile. Truth was, you wanted to check all three boxes, claiming that you really did like your friend, but you wanted him to chase after you just a little more.
“Maybe someday, Kang Chani” You grinned as you handed him back his favorite black pen. Of course it had just been something you had said in the moment, but he was holding you to your word.
“I have to be the only fifteen year old on this planet that hasn’t had their first kiss.” You mumbled into the bowl of cereal you had taken from Chani’s kitchen. Your best friend looked up to you from his place on the living room floor and laughed.
“Are you kidding me, Y/N? A ton of people haven’t had their first kiss yet.” He objected loudly. You stared him down from your place on the couch, giving him your signature, ‘You have to be kidding me’ stare.
“Name one person,” You challenged him. You leaned over and set the bowl of soggy wheat crisps over on the coffee table as he thought about ways to prove you wrong. “Well, for starters, there’s me.” He began.
Your eyes widened in shock, you had been sure that Chani had had his first kiss already and you were a little shocked that you had been wrong. “You? What about Jisoo, didn’t you kiss her?” You questioned as remembered his previous girlfriend.
Chani shook his head slowly, “Nope, we never made it to that point.” Chani informed you, proving your previous statement wrong. You laughed in response to this. You ran a hand through your hair and lowered your head. “We’re losers,” You sighed as you thought about how neither of you had experienced the infamous ‘First kiss’.
“What’s so great about it anyway?” Chani grumbled. He crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch, just right in between your legs. “It’s just a kiss, aren’t we supposed to have hundreds of them through our lives? What makes the first one so special?”
You shrugged your shoulders. You brought your hands up and started to play with your best friend’s black locks. “I think it’s symbolism for the ending of childhood. I don’t know, it’s stupid.” You groaned.
Chani perked up his head and turned around to face you. “What if we got it over with? The two of us? We’re best friends so it should be weird, right?” You stared back at him in shock, was he truly suggesting that the two of you be each other’s first kiss?
The thought was tempting, and as you raked your mind, you couldn’t find a single reason not to. You nodded your head, still rendered silent from his sudden offer. “How are we supposed to do this?” You asked. Your eyes started to trail down his face, until they landed on his rosy lips. Never had you thought about him the way you were thinking of him right now.
You had never considered him handsome, and you had never considered kissing him. Though, right here, right now, you were seeing your best friend in a different light. You were seeing him the way everyone else around the two of you saw him. Absolutely beautiful. Your heart started to race while your palms became clammy.
It finally hit you, you were about to kiss your best friend.
“You just go in,” He informed you, his face growing closer to yours. You nodded your head and closed your eyes, pressing your lips together as you leaned in closer to Chani. Your lips soon met. You both pulled away from each other quicker than you leaned in for the kiss. Your faces beat red, but you covered them up by your sweaty palms.
“So that’s all that’s to it?” He questioned, confused that there hadn’t been more. You nodded your head, completely stunned in shock. “Do you want to try again?” He asked shyly, a little embarrassed that he had asked you that.
Still stunned, you nodded your head and waited for him to lean back in.
He held you in his arms as his hand played with your fingers. A blanket covered your lazy bodies while you lied on Chani’s couch. It had been a year since the two of you shared your first kiss with each other. A year since you both fully realized the extent of your hidden feelings.
A movie played in the background, but neither of you were really paying attention to the action scenes playing out before you. Instead, the two of you talked like normal, just as you had always done. But instead of keeping your distance as friends, Chani held your hand as he held your body close to his.
You were in the middle of telling him a story about what had happened earlier in the day, when the words left his mouth. “I love you,” He said quietly, just enough for only you to hear him. You stopped telling your less interesting story, your mouth hanging slightly ajar.
“What was that?” You asked. You brought your fingers up to your ears and rubbed them, making sure you had heard your boyfriend clearly. “I love you,” He repeated, saying in slower, sweeter, this time.
You stayed silent, not having expected him to just blurt it out like that. “I-I love you too, Chani.” You said back to him, a large grin spreading to your face. Love. That was it. You loved this man more than words could explain, and it had taken the two of you a year to finally blurt it out, even though you both knew it had been longer than that since you had felt that emotion.
“We’re in love,” He whispered excitedly. He repeated it over and over again in his head, never getting tired of the way it sounded. “We’re in love,” You repeated his words, maybe just a bit more excitedly than he.
Chani leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to the crown of your head. “I love you, Y/N, and never will I feel anything different.” He uttered in your ear. You were in pure bliss, “And I love you, Kang Chani.” And you were excited to say it for many years to come.
It had been a mistake. The biggest mistake that the both of you ever committed. It had been the year to end all years. Between college entrance exams, and familial deaths. From stress, to the constant bickering. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.
The weight of your lives bore down on the two of your until neither of you could stand up straight and bare what was thrown at you, and as the year came to a close, so did your relationship with Kang Chani.
The love of your life, your best friend. It had been nearly three years since that night in his living room, when the two of you shared your first, hesitant kiss. It had only ever been uphill from there, perfect even. Though, all perfect things must come to an end at some point.
You weren’t there for each other any longer, so caught up in your own lives that you forgot to look back at each other. The oncoming break up had hurt you every day for weeks. You knew it was coming, and soon. You thought Chani knew too, that he was thinking the exact same thing as you.
And once it was over, you had never regretted something more in your life. He was the one you loved, your best friend, your soulmate, and you weren’t ready to let him go. It had taken you weeks to convince yourself to march over to his house and talk to him about it. To let him know how much it hurt to live life without him.
You knocked on his wooden door three times before he opened it. He had stared at you, dead in his tracks. A girl trailed behind him, like a curious puppy. She was pretty, beautiful even, and she glared at you like you had stolen her favorite toy.
“Y-Y/N, what are you doing here?” He stumbled over his words while he tried to block the girl from your view. You cast your gaze from in between Chani and the girl. Your stomach did somersaults as you looked at the two of them. You wanted to throw up.
“I- Nevermind.” You clenched your eyes shut to keep yourself from crying in front of the two of them. This was the worst pain you had ever felt. You turned around and walked to your car, ignoring Chani’s protests as he called out your name from his house.
You couldn’t understand how he moved on so quickly while you were stuck pining over him.
He came to your house later that night. You trudged over to your door, wearing old sweatpants and a stained old t-shirt. Your eyes were red and swollen, caused by many hours spent crying.
You opened the door, only to be greeted by Chani and a bouquet of red flowers. He let himself into your house, shutting the door behind him. You took a few steps back, eyes wide. “What are you doing here?” You snided, crossing your arms over your chest.
Chani handed the flowers to you, and as he leaned closer, you could see that his red eyes mirrored your own. “Chaehyun was over because I was trying to find a way to look at someone that wasn’t you. Dammit, I love you far too much, Y/N. Breaking up with you was the worst thing the two of us could have possibly done. I am so sorry, Y/N. I-” He sighed and paused so he could reached over and pull you into a long embrace.
“I love you and I don’t know what to do without you,” He cried into your neck as he held you tightly. You felt the tears play at your eyes, you raised your arms and wrapped them around his waist.
He took the words right out of your mouth.
On your fifth year of being together, Kang Chani took you to the beach in the middle of Autumn. It was freezing cold, and even the thick jacket you had brought didn’t keep out the cold of the season.
He had walked you over the water’s edge, where the waves met the sand and the rocks washed ashore. The sound of the water lapping over itself was peaceful, mimicking the sounds heard when you listened inside of a seashell.
“I was hoping it would be a little warmer than this,” He admitted as he shoved his hands inside his thin jacket. You laughed and looked at the beach, even if it was freezing cold, it was still a beautiful sight.
As you were looking, you heard Chani shuffling around next to you. You quickly turned your attention back to your boyfriend, who was now on his knees, a little black box in his hands. “Y/N, my love, my best friend, remember when I asked you if you liked me when we were kids?” He began.
You nodded your head, rendered silent by the situation. Chani smiled and opened the box, revealing a small diamond in the middle of a golden ring. “Well, you said that someday you might like me. I’m kind of hoping that you like me now because this would be a little bit awkward if you didn’t.” He joked, looking up to you with the slyest grin he could muster.
You rolled your eyes, though you couldn’t contain your smile as it spread widely across your face. “I love you more than I can say, Y/N. Even as a little kid I knew that I would fall in love with you. You’ve been my best friend since the beginning, and I know we’ve had rough patches, but we always conquer any hardships that come our way. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”
“Is that even a question?” You teased, holding your hand out for him to slide the ring onto your finger. Tears threatened to spill from your eyes as he slid the golden ringlet onto your ring finger.
When he came back up from the ground, he wrapped his arms around you and smothered you in sweet little kisses.
That was the day you were admitted into the hospital. On the way back home, a young driver, not paying attention to what he was doing, swerved into your line on the road, causing a car accident involving five cars.
There weren’t any fatalities, but you were in critical condition for weeks, having slipped into a coma due to the extent of your injuries. In that time, when you were hooked up to the machines and unconscious to the world, Chani had hardly left your side.
When you woke up, he sat by your bedside and told you every story there was to hear about your love story. He concluded his storytelling by telling you about your engagement and the reason why you were wearing a ring on your finger.
“We’ve been through all of that?” You asked him, staring at him in disbelief. The story, sounded almost too perfect, and it hurt you to think that you couldn’t remember a thing about any of it.
Chani nodded his head and grabbed onto your hands, holding them tightly within his own. “We’ve been through many things, Y/N. This is just another battle we have to face. But I want you to know that I love you more than anything.” He said in nearly a whisper.
You looked to the man in front of you. Tears now running down your cheeks. “Chani, I can’t remember any of it. I want to remember it.” You cried. Chani looked up and grabbed ahold of the back of your neck. He leaned over and kissed away the tears that fell over your cheeks. “We’ll just make more memories, Y/N.” He assured you. He wrapped his arms around you and let you cry on his shoulder.
“I can’t wait to finally fall in love with you again.”
