So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter.
- Gordon W. Allport

The meaning of her thoughts drifted away from Taeyeon like dried leaves swept away by the august wind. She stared blankly outside their hospital's room window, watching silently the cars that sped by on the highways. It was early in the afternoon, the birds danced, the leaves swayed, the sun touched. On the glassed window, Taeyeon could see the reflection of Tiffany's sleeping figure.

Five days have passed since her first blood transfusion. Five days have passed since they stopped looking for angels. Five days have passed since she felt truly alive.

Taeyeon spun around and walked towards her, watched the white sheets breathe when she breathed. The sight comforted her.

“Ah, Taeyeon-unnie” someone called in a low whisper.

She turned and spotted Yoona stepping inside the room. The younger girl closed the door behind her as she gave Taeyeon a polite smile.

“Tiffany-unnie sleeping?” Yoona asked while she took her jacket off and propped it on the wooden coat hanger.

“Yeah, I told her to get some rest since she looks pretty exhausted” Taeyeon replied. She pulled a chair beside the wall next to Tiffany's bed and sat down. “Anyways, how's Seohyun?”

Yoona and her were on the same boat; a small wooden plank that kept them afloat while they endured the storm. In the younger girl's case though, she wasn't fighting for more time, she was fighting for more memories; to not be forgotten. On the first night they were here, Yoona had told her story to Taeyeon; about their engagement, about Seohyun and the head on collision with a vehicle, about how almost every bone in her body broke upon impact, and about permanent anterograde amnesia. The doctors said it was a miracle that she was alive.

Seohyun had been admitted to this hospital several months ago to get numerous surgeries done. Physiotherapy was the last on their list.

“Seohyun?” Yoona asked, “She's fine. I just took her to see her therapist on the seventh floor half an hour ago. She'll be done soon. The doctors say that she's recuperating well and that we can leave in nine days, though we'll have to come back regularly for checkups.”

“You guys can get to leave next week? That's great!” Taeyeon said with a forced smile, she couldn't help but feel envious.

“I know right? I can finally eat real food!” Yoona cheered with a wide grin. People say that those who experienced tremendous pain and sorrow were the ones who cherished the little things in life the most; Yoona was the perfect example of it.

“Ugh,” the older girl replied with a scoff, “I know what you mean”

“No TaeTae, I don't know what you mean” a third voice broke through. It sounded much more lively than before which reassured Taeyeon that she had made the right decision.

She turned her head and found Tiffany staring at her with a smile.

“I'm sorry unnie, did we wake you?” Yoona asked guiltily with her eyebrows furrowed.

“Yes,” Tiffany answered playfully before propping herself up to a seating position, “but it's okay. And seriously, I don't get what you girls mean; the food here isn't THAT bad.”

“You're just used to it,” Taeyeon said “you ate so much that it completely destroyed all your taste buds”

“Ha ha ha, very funny” Tiffany mocked.

The older girl shrugged, “It's true”

“Very true” Yoona blurted as she took a chair and dragged it beside Tiffany's bed, facing Taeyeon. “So unnies... I've scouted the perimeters of this hospital and there won't be any security 5-O's near the back entrance of the building. At thirteen-hundred hours, we -”

“Yoona, why are you talking like that?” Tiffany asked with a confused look, “We're not on mission impossible, okay? - Talk human.”

Yoona was just like Taeyeon, though much, much, much more childish. She was the kind of girl who would stand up with a smile on her face after having the world beat the hell out of her. Optimism was Yoona's forte complimented by a 'you-live-only-once-so-you-might-as-well-be-happy' philosophy.



“Yoona, may I ask you a question?” Taeyeon asked as the two girls strolled through the hospital's halls with coffee in hand.

“Sure unnie, what is it?”

“Seohyun's state. I'm confused, but isn't amnesia when you can't remember your memories? She seems to remember you quite well though”

Yoona smiled, “Her long-term memory is unaffected. She could recollect the memories before the accident. It's her short term that is affected.”

“Short, as in?”

“Short meaning, she can't keep the memories she has made after the accident.” Yoona answered. Her eyes softened and just for a second Taeyeon could see the pain in her eyes.

“I'm confused now. She seems to remember me and-”

“For now,” the younger girl interjected, “we don't know when the amnesia will kick back again. She can remember newly made memories for days and then without notice, poof, she's back to where she first began. The new memories she had collected is simply gone when she lapses back.”

“Do you know when her amnesia will kick back again?”

Yoona shook her head, “Nope. The doctors tried checking to see if there's a pattern, but there isn't. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day, maybe the day after that, I don't know. The longest time she'd been able to keep her memories was a week and a half, after that, the amnesia kicked in again.”

“I'm sorry.”

“No need. She's alive and that's all that matters, everything else isn't important. She might forget the new memories she has made with me but I haven't, so in a way, I can be her new memory bank. There's always a silver lining to everything, right?”

“How can you be so optimistic?”

“We're not long-term beings unnie. Not heroes with bullet proof skin. We each live by taking one step, and then another, and then another. We all make a great effort for one word, one gesture, one thought. We aren't excused from heartache and whatever we make is only temporary, so it should be safe to say that life is cruel, but it's not, there's something beautiful buried beneath the rubble; ashes that become fertilizer for life. I know so, and you know why? Because if there isn't then we should have already been lining up to jump from a bridge a long time ago."

Yoona smiled.

"I wish I could smile as easily as you" Taeyeon complimented.

The younger girl shrugged, "Tell me, what's so hard about smiling? It's easy unnie. Just smile. No matter what happens, continue to smile because I find that life's too short not to. You'll have forever to cry once you pass away, but you only have a short time to smile and laugh; don't waste it drowning in your own ocean."

Inside the childlike shell dwelt a mature and wise pearl.



“Agh, fine” Yoona conceded but not before pouting. “You guys are kill joys you know that?”

Tiffany laughed before asking, “So, what did you want to tell us again?”

“Seohyun's therapist said that she should exercise her legs more so she could build the muscles she lost. So, I, the great Im Yoona, have come up with an awesome idea.”

“I don't like where this is going” Taeyeon muttered.

“Biking!” the younger girl cheered.

Taeyeon placed her palm on her forehead before groaning. “I knew it”

“Yoona, what is up with you and these crazy ideas?” Tiffany asked incredulously. “First it was you blackmailing the cafeteria lady to make Seohyun her favourite bowl of soup, next you persuaded one of the elderly patients to have a wheelchair race with you around the sixth floor of the building, after that, you sneaked into customer service and used their microphone to play that kerero song all over the hospital.”

“In my defense,” Yoona countered, “I didn't go to customer service alone. Who was the one who wanted to yell 'DJ, put it back on' after the kerero song ended?”

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