A blurry, nearly all white picture. A blinding light. That was the first thing she could see when she opened her eyes, which had taken what seemed like all of her strength.

“Hello?”

She could not tell where this voice came from. She might as well be imagining it. As she tried to turn her head to look for the source of this possibly-real noise, someone had stabbed a knife on the back of her head - at least that’s what it felt like. The girl let out an ugly cry of pain.

“Please don’t attempt to make any harsh movements, Miss.”

At that point, she felt a light touch on either side of her face – most likely hands, as if holding her head in place. The colors in her still very blurry field of vision started to shift slightly. The peachy-colored spot was moving, which led her to believe it was a person.

“Good morning, Miss. How are you feeling?”

Her vision was starting to clear up – she could now tell a woman was leaning over her. This woman had short hair and was wearing all white. Her face was painted in a beautiful, kind smile, staring right at her, waiting for her to answer.

“Where…?” That was the first thing the girl thought about to ask, and what worried her immediately. She completely ignored the woman’s initial question.

“You are at the Hospital, dear. My name is Lee Luda, and I’m the nurse who’s been watching you. Alright, can you start by telling me your name?”

…

…

…

Nothing.

“I…”

…

…

…

Still nothing. The nurse was still eagerly watching her, expecting a response. Nothing came to her head. Her name, the most basic part of her identity, and she couldn’t remember it. Her face muscles started to contort in deep thought and confusion, which must have been enough for Luda to understand the situation, since her smile wilted ever-so-slightly.

“That’s alright. We’ll get to that later. Now, how many fingers am I holding up?”

Three. Two? Three? And a half?

“Three?”

“Yes, that’s right!” The nurse said, enthusiastically. “Now, please do tell me how you feel.”

“Like a hammer hit the back of my skull…”

“I see. I will be going to call doctor Nam over and let her know you woke up, okay? We’ll be here in no time. If you need anything, use that button to your right and I will come rushing right away.” She pointed at the girl’s right, as she walked towards the door. “Remember, no harsh movements, yes? Very slowly!”

As nurse Luda closed the door behind her, it was as if her brain, which felt like it was shut down, had turned back on. She turned her head slowly, as instructed, and she started to analyze her surroundings.  She winced in pain with every little movement she made. She noticed the button the nurse had mentioned, the IV drip which she was tubed to by her hand, a table with medical devices and utensils, a large window, a couch, the door… and white. Stern, white, hospital room walls. She was also wearing white clothes, underneath white bed sheets, lying on the bed, with her head slightly elevated. Or suspended?

Thoughts started to stream in her head, and while it felt like too many, it also felt like not enough of them. That was because she was thinking about a lot of things – things she had no clue why she had no answer for. How did she end up in the hospital? How come she didn’t even know her own name? Where she was from? Where she lived? How old she was? Did she have any family? Friends? Who were they? She just had to think a little harder – much harder. If only she could focus, she would remember. She couldn’t have forgotten about her whole life forever. Thinking about how she seemed to have lost all memories of everything that made her who she was at this point of her life, it felt like her head started to physically hurt much more.

Thankfully, the door lock clicked right after, and the door opened. Nurse Luda had come back, but instead of entering the room right away, she stood to hold the door, and right after her entered a tall, slender woman, her hair long and brown, draped over her shoulders in light waves, half of it pinned at the back of her head. The way she carried herself made it clear she had a somewhat high authority around the hospital. She was also wearing all white and she looked stern and serious, somewhat intimidating – completely contrasting with cute, always-smiling, friendly and approachable Luda.

The two women were now standing beside the girl’s bed, talking in what seemed like medical jargon about her condition, none of which the patient could understand. As they stopped talking, they were both now looking at the girl in the bed attentively.

“Seems like you’ve gotten yourself in some trouble.” The taller woman chuckled as she said it, breaking whatever serious and stern image the girl had made of her. After all, she seemed to think she had some sense of humor. She was staring at the girl in the bed, fishing for a reaction, but her face did not change one bit. Luda was giggling sympathetically, but the patient did not see how the fact she was in a hospital bed was funny.

“I am Doctor Nam Dawon, neurosurgeon. I would ask you to introduce yourself, but a little birdie told me you can’t.” Again, the girl’s face did not change and the nurse seemed to have exhausted her sympathetic giggle for Doctor Nam’s lame “dad” jokes. That gave the cue for her to stop and get serious. She cleared . “Cheng Xiao Xiao. Does this name sound familiar to you?”

The girl in the bed stared into the doctor’s eyes with the same blank expression for a few seconds, and then suddenly, she was beaming at her, looking absolutely thrilled, showing a sign of emotion for the first time since she woke up.

“That’s my name! That’s me, right?”

Dawon smiled widely at her. “Good! Very good! Now, is Cheng Xiao okay? Your full name is very hard to pronounce for us.” The girl gave her a thumbs up in order to avoid nodding, and the doctor continued. “Great. Is there anything else you can tell us at this point about yourself?”

“I’m Chinese, and this is South Korea. I live in this country.”

Luda let out a quiet squeal of happiness and almost clapped her hands together. Doctor Nam was still smiling widely.

“Anything else, Cheng Xiao?”

She thought for a few seconds.

“No…”

“Don’t worry, you did really good for now!” Luda gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up.

“That’s right, you did!” Doctor Nam paused. “I’m surprised you haven’t asked what happened to you yet and why you seem to be suffering from amnesia, but I suppose you will soon. We have already performed a series of examinations on you, and concluded you have suffered a head trauma. In summary, you hit your head pretty badly.”

Cheng Xiao wrinkled her nose, still failing to find the doctor’s little humorous snippets funny in this situation. The fact she had no memory of hitting her head either added a lot to the frustration.

“Okay, it wasn’t THAT badly, you only required a few stitches. But it was bad enough to leave you unconscious for quite some time. We didn’t believe there was any chance of permanent damage occurring, but since you seem to have lost a pretty big chunk of your memory, we will need to watch you closely and regularly. But I wouldn’t worry too much if I was you. You seem like a tough girl, and most amnesia cases are temporary. A lot of memories are bound to come back as soon as you’re exposed to something that triggers them in your brain. Just like you remembered your name and your nationality as soon as I said your name. That’s already great progress.”

The patient finally smiled, having found out she would remember everything soon and her injury was not too serious. Knowing her name and her nationality had already provided a huge relief for her before. But she still had so many questions. Somehow, this was the first one she wanted to ask.

“Excuse me, Doctor Nam. But is there anyone here to see me? Someone that asked about me?” Her face shone with hope there was someone there who cared about her and would be able to help her remember a lot more. After all, “not having” any friends or family, even if it was just for a little while, felt incredibly lonely.

Dawon grinned. “Of course there is. It’s not like you were a loner. From what I heard, it’s quite the opposite.” She raised her eyebrows and chuckled. “Anyway, there is a girl who’s been waiting outside literally all night. She seems quite worried and eager to see you… She claims to be your neighbor. Do you remember any female neighbors?”

Cheng Xiao tried to shake her head no, but immediately regretted it as she grunted in pain. She clearly startled the doctor, who looked at her disapprovingly. She shrunk in embarrassment.

“No…”

“Would you feel comfortable with me inviting her in?”

“Yes, please.”

“Very well. Make sure to thank her. She’s the reason you’re here.”

Cheng Xiao threw her a puzzled look.

“I mean, if she hadn’t found you so quickly, you might have been in a lot more trouble than you are right now. Consider yourself lucky.”

Doctor Nam looked at Luda, who had just been observing quietly the whole time. The petite nurse nodded and her face turned into her signature welcoming smile. She walked towards the door, opened it, peeked outside, and jerked her head sideways, signaling someone to come in.

Cheng Xiao could now hear very quick, heavy footsteps, and then suddenly, a really loud…

“CHENG XIAO!!!!!”

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A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. As I've said, there are probably some outrageous medical inaccuracies happening here, but please overlook them for the sake of the story hehe :) Please feel free to comment what you think so far!