“If you still love me, you’d pull yourself together and realize that I won’t ever let you be paralyzed… the same way you wouldn’t let me come to harm.” 

Yuri couldn't get those words out of her mind; Yoona had spoken those words as if they were still together and good friends at that. She has been lying here for almost a week now, too stubborn to move - wait, she can't move. Though anyway, her friends did visit but neither of them could get her out of this state. Yuri didn't even want to try moving, honestly, she didn't think her heart could take the disappointment. 

How could Yoona spit those words out so confidently? 

There was a sting in her chest when Yoona mentioned that, and it made Yuri wonder if Yoona already knew the reason behind her unreasonable departure years ago. No, Yoona couldn't have known about it because only one person knew the reason and that person would never divulge it, especially when it concerned Yoona's wellbeing.

“Yuri?”

Turning towards the door, Yuri saw her most trusted person, “Hey, Fany…” Yuri couldn’t put a smile on her face when she saw how disappointed the latter was, so she waited for Tiffany to come closer to her bed. “Why the black face, Fany?” Yuri couldn’t say anything else when Tiffany’s fist landed straight on her head, “OW!”

Tiffany glared at her, “good. It was meant to hurt you.”

Yuri pouted and brought her hand up, rubbing her forehead that was turning slightly red; Tiffany was still the only one among them that could set her straight, together with Yoona. 

“Do you know how much she’s been crying over the past one week?” Tiffany asked, sitting on the chair beside Yuri’s bed, “we’ve been spending the entire week in the dorms here and I’ve been hearing her cry every night.” Tiffany grabbed hold of Yuri’s hand and looked straight into Yuri’s eyes, “I don’t want to hear it anymore, Kwon. I’ve heard it a few years ago and I absolutely do not want a repeat of that.”

It took Yuri a few deep breaths and a huge amount of courage to look at Tiffany back in the eye, “I don’t want that either… but what do you want me to do, Fany?” Yuri’s eyes were telling Tiffany a lot more than what she bargained for, but Tiffany needed to let Yuri know this, “you should start going for physiotherapy, Yul. It’s for your own good and it would do everyone some good.”

That shut Yuri up; she knew Yoona was disappointed that day when she shut her words off but Yuri couldn’t think straight – she couldn’t walk; she couldn’t do anything worthy of being alive. Yoona was hurt, but Yuri knew that the payment for physiotherapy was going to take its toll on her parents; she wasn’t going to put her parents through that.

“Look,” Tiffany sighed, “if you’re worried about money, I’ll pay for it. If you’re worried about not walking again, do not even go there because none of us are going to let you be paralyzed. What you’re having right now is the after effect of an infection, not a consequence of what happened from the accident.”  

Yuri couldn't bear the thought of burdening Tiffany with the expensive cost of the treatment, neither could she bear the thought of giving Yoona the pressure of making her walk again.

“Think it over, Yul. Yoona still doesn’t know the truth behind your break up and she deserves to know. If you’re not going to buck up and get your together, the two of you don’t have a single chance at getting back together. And with what I currently know about the both of you, I’m going to tell you that you’ll regret not being truthful about what you feel.”

Tiffany's words scared her, but Yuri wanted to know what she meant. 

---

“Good morning, Yuri-ssi.” Naeun greeted, not looking up from the clipboard, “I hope your back is better and it’s easier to move around. According to the specialist, you will take a bit more time to adjust to the metal plates. As for your legs feeling numb and the lack of strength to move… we will have to bring you to the specialist in order to check on the status of the plates as well as the wound itself.

When there was no response, Naeun looked up and her jaw dropped in shock.

“Yuri-ssi!” Naeun put down her clipboard and checked the toilet, “Yuri-ssi! Where are you?!”

Naeun knew instantly that she had to report this and so she ran out of the ward without anything else, rushing towards the reception counter when she bumped into Yoona who was on her way to her locker. Yoona steadied the bustling nurse and looked at her, “what is it, Naeun? Why are you running along the hallways?” Naeun pointed at the ward in front and Yoona’s eyes widened, “what’s wrong?”

“Yuri-ssi… she’s missing!”

Yoona felt her limbs weaken when she heard Naeun’s words; she wondered if her advice to Yuri was too shocking that Yuri escaped from the hospital.

“Yoona-unnie!” Naeun cried out, shaking the older one out of her little trance, “we need to find Yuri-ssi right now, Unnie! Get your mind together please!” Yoona nodded and let herself be dragged by the noisy nurse, the two running around the hospital like hungry dogs, “has anyone seen Yuri-ssi? No? Nevermind, thank you!”

It was only when Yunho and Seohyun saw Yoona running with tears rolling down her cheeks unconsciously did they finally step in. Seohyun grabbed ahold of her best friend while Yunho brought Naeun away, “Yoong! What’s wrong?” Yoona turned to Seohyun and sniffled, “Yuri’s missing, Hyunnie… w-what if she's gone because of me?” Seohyun cocked an eyebrow and cupped Yoona's face, “what in the world are you saying, Yoona? Yuri-unnie is in the therapy room like all of you wanted.”

“W-What?” Yoona’s tears immediately stopped, “w-where is