Chapter 5

Lisa sat in the empty hospital room, the room quiet except for the occasional beeps of the machinery that were the sole reason Jisoo was alive. Just barely.

It seemed like everyone was convinced Jisoo was dead.

Lisa rested her ear against her girlfriend’s frigid chest. And there it was: the faint, thump of Jisoo’s heart against her chest. That was all Lisa needed to keep living; the hope that Jisoo would somehow revive from her comatose state and hold Lisa in her arms, and tell Lisa how proud she was of her.

Really, that was all Lisa needed.

Lisa felt a vibration in her jean pocket. It was probably Jennie. In the beginning, Jennie and Chaeyoung had accompanied her to visit Lisa everyday. But for some reason the rarity of the visits increased over time, and all at once Lisa found herself visiting Jisoo all on her own.

Facing her girlfriend’s increasingly likely death by her own.

But it was all Lisa could do to have faith in Jisoo.

Lisa pulled out her phone to read Jennie’s text: you still at the hospital? wna grab dinner?

She pushed her phone back into the deep recesses of her knapsack. Lisa wasn’t in the mood to eat dinner with anyone but Jisoo.

By habit, Lisa grabbed two packets of ramen.

“ this,” Lisa whispered, sinking to her knees on the grimy kitchen floor, “I don’t know how long I can do this for, Jisoo.”

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Jisoo was ready to try to scream raw and let Lisa know that she was here, that she understood her pain when the two silhouettes of her best friends materialised once again before her.

“Where were you guys? And why can’t I talk…” Jisoo found that her voice was back again.

“Sorry,” Jennie apologised, “we had an urgent matter to see to.” Jennie was referring to checking up on Lisa, but what Jisoo didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

Jisoo squeezed her exhausted, dry eyes shut, wishing Lisa was here to offer her the eye drops she always brought around just for the older girl.

“By the way,” Jisoo said, her weariness seeping out in her words, “Why are you guys able to go back and forth between our worlds?”

Jennie and Chaeyoung exchanged a wordless discussion, before coming to an answer. “We’re world-hoppers, people who can go to and fro between different worlds at will.” Chaeyoung offered.

Jennie hurriedly addressed the question that had manifested itself in Jisoo’s mind, “We’re not familiar with the specificities of what happens when someone stays in another world.”

“It could be dangerous,” Jennie whispered.

“But it could happen?” Jisoo asked, the small glimmer of hope lighting up the dark days she had spent awaiting the day she would be back at Lisa’s side again.

Chaeyoung affirmed it with a nod.

“Then that’s all I need.”