Chapter 7

Keunsuk tried his best to shake the raging female off of his back without hurting her. Siwon, on the other hand, tried unsuccessfully to remove both of her grips on his & Keunsuk’s ear. The woman glared at Siwon & at the stare, he stopped trying to pull away & stood still like an obedient little boy. Keunsuk was trying to walk this way & that way to get the woman off of him which resulted with her pulling his & Siwon’s ear harder. He finally stopped & gave up. He bent over so that she would have a firmer grip on his back & raised his arms in defeat.

“Okay, Soo, what gives?” Choi Sooyoung glared at him & pulled his ear down even harder, making Keunsuk tear up a bit as he winced in excruciating pain. She put next to the ear she was stretching, her mid-back length, black hair falling over her oval-shaped face, yelling inside it, “You have the nerve to ask me what’s wrong?! I can’t believe you! I would think that my boyfriend would have more sense & be smart then that!” Keunsuk tried to pull away & grimaced at her yelling, “Soo, honey, you are shattering my eardrums.” Sooyoung finally jumped off her boyfriend’s back but her hold on her brother & his ear remained. She pulled them over to the couch in the waiting area by the ear.

It was a sight to see for many people. Two grown, tall men were being forced to lean over as they walked alongside a tall, skinny woman who was pulling them by their ear. Sooyoung finally sat down on one of the couches & took her hands off of the two guys’ ear. Both, Keunsuk & Siwon sighed in relief at the release & promptly rubbed their sore, red ears that seemed to have been stretched a foot. Sooyoung smiled for the first time at her success in hurting them, ‘They deserved it.’ She thought, but she reached over to softly rub Keunsuk’s ear & then her brother’s, trying to help them soothe it. Keunsuk smiled at his girlfriend’s much more loving touch & took her hand to kiss the back of it.

Sooyoung moved her hand away & folded her arms. Siwon looked over & saw her expression & finally asked the question that he had been wanting to ask since she first jumped Keunsuk, “Come on sis, tell me why you came charging in here to jump us & pull our ear?” Sooyoung smirked & glared at him. She smacked him in the back of the head. Keunsuk laughed at that & got a smack himself, “I can’t believe that you guys would even ask me that question.” She looked at Keunsuk & started crying, “All you said when you called me earlier was that you & Siwon were going to the hospital. I didn’t know what to think about that.” Keunsuk lowered his head & felt bad. He then reached over & enveloped Sooyoung in a hug. She cried on his shoulder.

“I thought that you two were going to the hospital because you guys got into an accident or were hurt. You didn’t give me fair warning when you said that you couldn’t come meet me today.” She blew her wide, bulbous nose on Keunsuk’s blue izod saltwater windowpane plaid shirt & Keunsuk smiled while Siwon tried hard not to laugh at what his emotional sister just did.

“I’m sorry. Next time, I will be more thoughtful & tell you more about where I’m going & why.” He hugged her tighter to him, “Don’t cry anymore, please? My heart just tears up inside when I see you like this.” Siwon gagged at that remark but looked up to see the doctors who checked on Sunny & Tiffany walking towards them. He stood up to shake the doctors’ hands, “Are the girls okay?” The two doctors didn’t hear them as they were staring at Sooyoung & Keunsuk in a passionate embrace, kissing like there was no tomorrow. One of the doctors cleared his throat & the couple broke apart immediately, embarrassed. They smiled sheepishly while Siwon rolled his eyes.

The doctors turned their attention back to Siwon. Doctor Wang, who cleared his throat said, “They appear to be fine. They just had a short bout of fever but appear to be alright now but we would like to keep them overnight before they could go home to make sure that the fever doesn’t come back.” Siwon & Keunsuk thanked the two good doctors & Keunsuk put his arm around Sooyoung’s shoulders to walk with her & Siwon to see Tiffany & Sunny. Four volunteers wheeled their stretchers & they followed them to the room they were placed in.

Tiffany woke up to an unfamiliar surrounding. She raised herself up with a start but relaxed as the day’s events came back to her. She knew that she had fainted & was in the hospital but whoever had taken her there, she didn’t know. One moment she was hugging Sunny & the next she out. She laughed inside at the possible prospect that Sunny was the one that had carried her over with her skinny small petite frame. She shook her head & knew that that would never happen. Tiffany looked around the room & saw that it was already night out. Over on the bed next to hers, she saw Sunny & let out a quiet gasps, ‘What is she doing in the hospital, too?’ She thought. Sitting in the chair in the room were Siwon & a woman & man that she had never seen before. They were sleeping soundly.

Careful not to wake the people in the room, she got up to get a glass of water. When she got up, she felt something missing & started to panic. Her rose pouch must have been taken away as she was changed into the hospital gown. Tears started to form in her eyes at the prospect of having paid the consequences of her fainting by losing her most precious belonging. She got up & started looking around the bed & in her clothes folded neatly on the dresser. Not finding it, she sadly walked outside of the room & quietly shut the door behind her. Tiffany walked up to the reception desk on the floor, “Excuse me. Have you seen my little bag anywhere? It is made of pink & white silk with dried rose petals inside?” The nurse shook her head, “I’m sorry, I haven’t seen it.” Another nurse at the station looked up at Tiffany when she heard her inquiry, “Was it about this big?” She asked, as she formed an estimate of how big the pouch was with her hands. Tiffany nodded her head enthusiastically, “Yeah, it is. Have you seen it?” The nurse smiled sadly & said, “One of the orderlies threw it away in the trash when you were unconscious in the ER.” Tiffany took a step back & almost fell, “What?” She asked, her heart stopping, “Someone threw it away?” Before the nurse could reply though, Tiffany rushed out of the area & got into the elevator to press level eight where the ER was located. She looked all around the ER, searching every trashcan she could possibly find.

After about an hour, she finally landed herself outside in the cold to where the huge dumpsters were. She climbed into one of them despite the smell & started digging around the trash bags since the red & clear ones were biohazard waste & she shouldn’t touch those even though they had been autoclaved. Tiffany cried as she looked from one bag to another. She was about to start digging through the biohazard waste bags despite how there could be dangerous chemicals in them. She was that desperate. She finally got to last bag & made the decision that if she couldn’t find it in there, she would start going through the red & clear bags. After pulling away some scraps of paper, she finally found the pink & white silk bag way down on the bottom of the bag. Tiffany clasped it to her chest & sobbed uncontrollably with relief.

She hugged it to her chest & didn’t even notice the four people who had just banged the back door & rushed to the trash bins, “Tiffany!” Sunny cried, as she saw her friend in the midst of the trash bags in the trash bin. She made a move to climb up onto the trash bin to go in after her when a hand on her slim waist stopped her. It was Siwon. He shook his head, indicating that she shouldn’t go in. Sooyoung & Keunsuk stare after Siwon in shock as he climb into the trash bin & looked at the girl in the trash bags sadly.

Siwon walked among the trashbags & wrinkled his high, straight nose in disgusts at the terrible smell but when he saw Tiffany, he reached out a hand to her to help her up. Her face, tear-stained, Tiffany’s expression was one of complete anguish as she let Siwon help her up. With her rose pouch still clutched tightly within her fist, she got up only to have Siwon envelope her in a hug, “Just cry it out, Tiffany. My shoulder is here for you.” Tiffany just stared into his face once before collapsing into him & tremors shook through her body at her pain filled sobs. Siwon just stood there & let her cry on him, not caring about the smell & where they were at anymore.

Down below, Sooyoung was crying on Keunsuk’s shoulder at the sight. It was so depressing. Sunny was also crying at the sight of her friend who had suffered so much. It was just so unfair. Why did Tiffany’s life always have to be filled with so pain? It was a long while before Siwon took Tiffany into his arms to lift her up & then hand her over to Keunsuk. When Keunsuk had a firm grip on Tiffany’s body, Siwon jumped out of the dumpster as Sunny ran into his arms. Siwon was so shocked that he widened his eyes in shock but then he put his arms around her to hug her back & assure her that all would be fine.

Tiffany continued to hug her pouch to her chest & had it wrapped completely within the confines of her hand. Keunsuk carried her back to her room where a bunch of worried nurses & doctors were waiting.