Waking up with a sudden jerk, you let out a groan. Your mouth felt like sandpaper while your eyes---well, you could barely even open them. You blindly fumbled around for a glass of water and miraculously found one. 

Nothing ever felt as heavenly as when the cold water washed away the sandpaper-like feeling in your mouth. You placed the glass down in its original spot after you finished drinking. It was then did you realize that everything felt completely different. You groggily rubbed the crust away from your eyes and forced them open. 

Once your eyes came into focus, you were completely confused. 

"Why am I in a hospital r---" 

You looked down at your arm. "An IV drip?" 

You reached for the nurse call button beside the bed and patiently waited for someone to come to give you a full explanation. Well, the nurse came quicke than you expected. 

"Ah, Miss Mi Ran-ssi. It seems like you've awoken. May I get you anything?" the nurse asked. 

Your eyes traveled to her name tag on her uniform. Nurse Kwak.

"What I want is an explanation as to why I'm---here," you said, indicating with your hands the whole room. 

Nurse Kwak smiled. "Don't you remember anything?" 

You shook your head. 

"Your body released cortisols. That must be why," she explained. 

You blinked at her. "Could it be---PTSD?" 

The nurse shook her head. "Ani. It's not that extreme. You were just too stressed. Even if you're stressed, you should have eaten something at least! Malnutrition, sleep deprivation, stress, anxiety, ect. ect. ect! You're a very well-known medical student also," Nurse Kwak exclaimed, shaking her head in shame. 

You guiltily looked down. The blanket looked newer than the bed sheets. "Was the blanket replaced recently?" you blurted out in curiousity. 

Nurse Kwak looked up from her clipboard and nodded. "You threw up and almost choked to death earlier this morning. If your boyfriend hadn't stayed all night, you would have been a goner!" 

"Boy---friend?" 

Nurse Kwak nodded. "Yeah. Shin Dongho. The famous one. Isn't he your boyfriend?" 

You slowly nodded. "But...he's supposed to be in Japan," you stated. 

"I guess he came rushing back after he heard you collapsed," the nurse shrugged. "Anyways, your memories of the past week or so will come back sooner or later if you try to recall it or ask someone to tell you what happened. Do you need anything else?" 

"The IV---will I---do I---" you trailed off, trying to think about what you were going to ask. 

Nurse Kwak impatiently tapped her feet as she waited for you to finish your question. 

"D-do I really need the IV drip?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Since you've woken up, not anymore!" Nurse Kwak snapped. 

"Then can you please remove it?" 

Without answering you, Nurse Kwak stormed out of the room in annoyance. 

You scoffed, laying back down again. "She must be single," you said to yourself. 

Your eyes traveled to the table by the window lined with 'Get Well Soon' cards, flowers, and gift baskets. Somehow, each gift was labeled with the name of the person that gave it to you. 

By the handwriting, you knew straight away how bored Minwoo had been while watching over you. 

Among the gifts were ones given by HyunA, Gina, Lindi, Minhyuk, Jongup, Kimchi, and some other acquintances of yours. 

You smiled. You looked around the room, trying to find your belongings in hopes that your phone would be among them. Unfortunately, your phone was nowhere to be seen.

With no other choice, you pressed the nurse call button once again. You were hoping that someone else other than that Nurse Kwak who seemed to be on her period would come. A different nurse did come in but she didn't seem all to happy to be there either. You were questioning how nurses could be like that. No wonder the patients were sick.

"May I help you---" she looked at the sign at the foot of the bed, "---Miss Mi Ran-ssi?" 

You nodded. "Could you please inform my family members that I have awoken?" you asked as politely as you could.

The nurse looked at you for a moment before nodding. She left the room as quickly as she had come. 

Satisfied, you leaned against the hospital bed headrest. 

You took this time to get familiarized with the atmosphere. After all, you would be spending most of your life here. As much as you hated the smell of blood and medicine, you had to cope with it. 

The time ticked away as you examined the room from corner to corner. There was absolutely nothing to do. You had tried clicking through the channels in hopes of finding a drama or something interesting to watch but it was the news time. No such luck for you, apparently. The only other thing that you could think of doing was watching the drops in the IV bag drip down.

Proof of boredom at its max. 

You didn't think you could ever be as happy as the moment you saw your family and your best friends piling into the room. 

The next thing you knew, you were being crushed by the arms of the greedy Chelsea. 

"Yah! Don't ever scare us like that ever again!" she chided. 

You rolled your eyes with a smile. "I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking!" you sarcastically replied. 

Chelsea smiled and pulled you into another hug. "I missed you also, buddy." 

The others took turns hugging you and exchanging questions here and there. 

After everyone was done, you looked around awkwardly. A question was itching on the tip of your tongue but you didn't want to sound greedy. You were appreciative of the people that were already there but you couldn't help but feel disappointed. 

"W-where's Dongho?" you blurted. 

Chun Hee was casually flipping through a magazine until he stopped after you asked the question. "Do you really want to know?"

******************************************************************************

I don't know.