“She’s asleep.” 

“Good.” Sana hummed through exhausted closed eyes, barely being able to raise her arms for Momo to snuggle into her side. She hadn’t even bothered to get under the covers, just plopped down on top of already crumbled white sheets still dressed. Momo curled into her side, letting her hair rest on Sana’s shoulder, her breath tickling her ear  “She seemed exhausted earlier, I didn’t think remembering was going to take so much out of her.”

“How much did he say was back? Thirty-Five percent?”

“Something like that.”

The old grey radio alarm clock flashed 4:43 AM, in blocky red numbers on the other side of Momo’s head. That meant they were at the hospital for no less than fourteen hours, no wonder all three of them were exhausted. Mina had spent the first two delirious in pain, cradling her head and crying as the nurses tried to get some of the tests the needed to do done and administer painkillers. That image stayed inside Sana’s brain, Mina curled up on the hospital bed, fingers threaded between her hair as she kicked and screamed or tried anything to alleviate some of the aches. It sent Sana’s gut-twisting as she tried to coo the younger girl, brushing her hands softly through her hair, alone. Momo couldn’t bear to bring herself to go in there or in the hall and listen to Mina’s wails, opting to wait in the waiting room and would text for updates. 

The pain seemed to fade after some time, and Mina was talking again a few hours later. An MRI revealed tremendous activity in the amygdala, the hippocampus, the cerebellum, and the prefrontal cortex. (Sana had no clue what any of them meant except as brain.) The doctor, an old withered man had sat and explained that while Mina’s memories were coming back, it often meant overworking certain parts of her brain, causing the girl tremendous amounts of pain. It wasn’t normal, but he didn’t seem to think that it would be dangerous or life-threatening. They left with a pain prescription and three exhausted bodies. 

The two were quiet as they laid in bed together, just the light taps of raindrops hitting the window and their electric fan sounded out through the room. The full moon stood proudly in the sky, sneaking in through windows to make the room a light blue. Judging by the deep and even breaths coming from Momo, she assumed that the woman had fallen asleep. She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes trailing the small lines and divots that the ceiling plaster formed. 

“You know,” Momo’s said, voice heavy and laced with sleep, “Maybe it was a good thing she forgot in the first place.”

“What?”

“She was always so sad. I hadn’t seen her smile in a long time before the accident.” Momo’s lips tickled Sana’s neck every time she spoke, “But now, she smiles all the time. And she’s happy. What if that goes away as she remembers more and more?” 

Sana paused. She had never thought about that before, she just brought a hand up to Momo's back and started rubbing gentle patterns. She had been so fixated on the fact that this wasn't her Mina, that this woman who looked at her and didn't remember everything Sana gave up for her couldn't possibly be the same person. But what if Mina was better this way?

"I don't know."

"Yeah, she can't remember the good things, but she also can't remember the bad things. So I don't know if I really want her to remember. I was thinking about this in the waiting room." Momo explained, her tone dipping as she got closer and closer to sleep. "Maybe I'm just being silly."

"How are you doing?" Sana asked, "I know it was a lot earlier, and with everything that happened- you know-  in the past."

"I’m fine, I just felt really bad earlier because I couldn't be there for you two." 

"It's okay."

“I know.”  She laid a gentle kiss on Sana’s neck, “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“I don’t know. Just for everything.” 

“I should be saying that to you.” 

They said nothing more after that, Momo had fallen asleep. Sana just held her close as she slept, her weight felt comforting against her, grounding her. Carefully, she reached for her phone on her nightstand, squinting when she turned it on, before adjusting the brightness. A click on the green text icon and her thumb was hesitating over the keyboard. She sighed and typed. 

Sana

Thank you. 

[4:51AM]

Kim Dahyun

Go to sleep, what are you doing up?

[4:51AM]

Sana closed her phone and put it back on the nightstand, not even bothering to respond. She didn’t need to, she said what she had to. Momo put an arm around her waist and squeezed her tighter, Sana chuckled and closed her eyes. 

…

“Knock, knock.” Dahyun looked up from her desk as Joohyun peaked in the door, her body half in as she held onto the door handle. Work was a nightmare right now, her cases were piling up and she had no one to help her because everyone else was just as busy. It surprised her that Joohyun was still there, usually, she would set a limit to herself and only work until 5:30 so she could go home and eat dinner with her girlfriend and her kids. Dahyun found herself envying Joohyun in that regard, the little pit turning inside her stomach every time the woman would take out her phone to show her a new video of little Yeri and her favorite stuffie, or Sooyoung playing with these two big white dogs as Joohyun called for her to get away. She was glad the woman was