A knock on the door wakes Jihyo from her reverie. For the past three hours, she has been staring emptily at the same picture of sunflowers hung across the room from the bed. Her body tenses involuntarily at the thought that it could be Jongkook at the door. "Come in."

A familiar figure saunters in, bringing a wave of floral perfume and bags of food into the room. Relief washes over Jihyo's features as she relaxes into the bed. It's only her girlfriend. "You're here?"

"Yah, how are you feeling?" Byul leaves the paper bags on the black bed tray parked against the pink pastel wall and walks towards Jihyo, bending down to give her a tight hug before leaning back to let her eyes roam over her face, and down her body. Byul knits her brows together. "Gosh woman, you look like hell."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Jihyo replies wryly as she looks over at the food. She can smell the spicy tang of gochujang. "Who informed you?"

"Haha Oppa told me. He's coming later with the rest. You should have, Jihyo-ya." 

"I was going to tell you... Just after work hours, only because I knew this would happen." Jihyo sheepishly adds before tilting her chin towards the bags of food, smiling appreciatively at her friend.

Byul grins widely and flops into the armchair, "That's what best friends are for - I know how much you hate bland food. Plus, you almost lost your life, Jihyo-ya. It's okay for people to be worried." Byul pauses, scrutinising Jihyo with an appraising eye. "You can't protect everyone, Jihyo." 

Jihyo raises her brows and ducks her head down, the hem of her blanket. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do I mean, you know what I mean! Why did you save his life? Scrap that. Why did you save his life at the expense of yours?" Byul's voice rises as her words tumble over each other. "Spill. What's going on between you and Jongkook?"

Jihyo looks up to see concern and worry shining through her friend's pretty eyes. "Nothing." That is technically true isn't it? He is leading his life, and she is trying to lead hers. "I would have done the same for you, Byul. And I don't know why I saved him, he was right in front of me!" Jihyo waves her good arm in the air. "I can't stand by and do nothing. Things just happened!" 

One minute she was standing a few steps behind him, and the next minute, she was lying on the road. 

Byul sighs, tucking her hair behind her ear. She shifts the chair closer to Jihyo. "I thought it was just guilt between you and Jongkook. Jihyo-ya, is there something more?" 

Jihyo only bites her lip, looking helplessly at Byul's sympathetic eyes. 

Byul continues in a soft voice. "You still love him, don't you?"

Jihyo's eyes widen in alarm, horrified at the thought. "What? No, of course not!" She shoves the thought away to the back of her mind. "Look, I only see him as a friend, someone i'm indebted to, you know? Someone that I did wrong to." She can hear how flustered she sounds and struggles to keep her voice calm. "I don't love him, not that way."

Byul only arches a neatly shaped brow. "You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

Byul's eyes turn questioning. "Then what do you want from him? Now that you're back, do you want... more?"

"No! I just want us to be friends, I want the group to be comfortable together again." 

"I see... You know there's nothing wrong about reconsidering Jongkook again. He's looking even hotter now, all angles and muscles. Plus with the hospital and everything. He's become a lot more eligible."

Jihyo resists the urge to wring her best friend's neck. "Yah. Are you crazy? Am I that kind of woman to you? He's happy now with someone else anyway." No, she can't take any chances. She's not going to ruin his life a second time. 

"Gajin?"

"Eo, Gajin." Jihyo responds neutrally, ignoring that stab of hurt in her heart. She remembers the soft look in Jongkook's twinkly eyes when he left the room to answer her call. Jihyo shakes the thought away. "Who's this Gajin. C'mon tell me." Maybe if she hears more about her, she'll become desensitised to this name, to the idea of them. 

Before Byul could continue though, they hear Haha's voice at the door. "Yeobo, Jihyo-ya, can we come in?"

"Eo, Oppa. Sure, come in." Hearing her assent, Haha pushes the door open.

The whole gang trails in behind the short, bespectacled man. With the exception of Kwangsoo, all of them are dressed in sharp suits, telling Jihyo that they probably came straight after work. "Eo, Oppa-deul, Kwangsoo, you're here?" She notes that Jongkook is the last to come in, rubbing the back of his neck and looking more tired than he was earlier.

Oppa, did you have a hard time at work today?

"How are you feeling, Jihyo-ya. We were so worried when we heard about it this morning." Sukjin walks up closer to her and gives her a kind smile as he pushes his spectacles up his nose. "Did you injure your arm?" 

"Yeah, just some scratches Oppa, nothing too serious. I'm feeling much better already." Her eyes roam over the people in the room, thankful for their care and concern.

"That's good, Jihyo-ya. Rest well, I heard you can be discharged tomorrow." Haha adds, before noting the look in his fiancee's eyes.