"Wait guys, she's waking up!" I heard Kevin's voice faintly. Some chairs shuffled and scrapped the ground. The bed I was laying on tilted a little to one side.
"Don't crowd her," Henry's voice said next. "When she completely wakes up, we don't wanna suffocate her."
"Yeah. She'd probably get creeped out if she opened her eyes to a bunch of faces all staring at her," Eric chimmed in. "I hope she's ok though."
"The doctor said she was fine," Jackson said. 
"They even took a CT scan bro," Peniel added. 

A CT scan?
Oh my gosh what happened to me that I needed a CT scan?

"Wait, wait, wait. She's opening her eyes!" Peniel almost yelled. Chairs shuffled against the floor again and the bed leaned even further. These guys clearly don't listen to their own advice.
Slowly I let my eyes open, bracing myself for the bright lights on the ceiling above me that were about to blind me. But honestly, I didn't even have to worry about that cause all their heads hovered over mine, blocking out any possible light from even reaching me.

So I basically woke up to their faces looking down on mine.
Fun.

"You guys need to like back up a couple steps," I mumbled, slowly starting to push myself up on the bed. Eric looped an arm around my shoulder and helped me.
All the while, 5 pairs of eyes were looking intently at me.
It was as if they wanted me to say something.
Or to explain what happened.
But I honestly don't know what happened. All I know is that my head is still kinda spinning. By reflex, I put my hand on my forehead as if that was going to steady everything.
"You still feeling woozy?" Peniel asked, putting a hand on my head. His brown puppy dog eyes looked into mine. "Is your vision blurry? Do you see zigzags or anything out of the ordinary?"

Doctor's intuition kicking in.
I bet the others were just dying to ask me those questions too.

I shook my head, "Nah. I just feel slightly dizzy but it's not too bad. I seriously don't know what happened to me back there though..."
"Neither do we," Kevin said, sitting down at the foot of my bed. "All we know is that Aron ran into the room and found us after you collapsed. He looked so scared."
"The guy should've checked your pulse and breathing first though," Jackson sighed out, "but I guess he was too scared and nervous to think properly."
"He was thinking properly smart ," Henry lightly hit the back of Jackson's head, "He came and got us. That's the smartest thing he could've done."

"I see you're awake," The door opened and the doctor walked in holding a clipboard. Mark and Aron trailed in behind him. "These guys were really worried about you."
My eyes automatically found Mark, who was staring right at me. His eyes focused on the IV line attached to my hand. Haylie stood next to him, her hand hovering next to his. It looked like she was about to grab onto it.

"So...what was wrong with me?" I asked. The doctor flipped through a couple sheets, his eyes quickly scanning the information on it. "You fainted due to a really bad tension headache. I think the culprit is that thing sitting on your table over there."

I followed where his finger was pointing and found the wreath headband I was wearing earlier laying on the table split into two pieces.

"The thing was on your head so tightly that the paramedics had to cut it off. And according to your ER tests," he flipped back to the first page then tucked the clipboard under his arm, "you were also extremely dehydrated."

I froze, feeling a cold sweat creeping onto my body.
Dehydrated.
The last time that happened to me, I had passed out. But it was because of my dad.
He was throwing a rage fit and had swung at me. I was too scared to go downstairs for the rest of the day and ended up passing out on my floor because I didn't eat or drink anything for the entire day.
I was only 7.

"I uhhhh heard you took a CT scan as well?" I asked him, quickly changing the topic. I didn't want to think about it anymore. The very thought of my dad makes my entire body suddenly ache. 
"We did. Just to make sure it wasn't anything internally. The results came out nicely so there's nothing major to worry about, but remember to drink more fluids and don't put too much pressure on your head. Your brain can only withstand so much." The doctor smiled, walking over to check my IV drip. "Everything looks fine so once this is done, you can go home."

"Thank you," I said as he left the room. There was a long pause before I finally broke the silence. It was actually suffocating me.
"So how much did it cost?" I looked at Aron, trying not to look at Mark too much. Every time I did, my heart would sink a little bit more watching him and Haylie whisper in the corner by themselves. Henry and Eric noticed where my attention was distracted towards and silently walked over, blocking the view with their bodies.

"How much did what cost?" Aron responded, kneeling down by the bed so that we were on the same level.
"The ER? The treatment?"
"Oh right," he looked away, a slight frown playing on his lips. "Mark paid for it already."
"WHAT!?"

Every head was turned in my direction.
Crap...I hate being a loud person sometimes.

"You paid for everything?" I finally turned to Mark and asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why would you do that?"
"Do I have to have a reason?" He shrugged.
"Uhhhh yeah! ER fee's are mad expensive!"
"I don't mind. I kinda only really had one thought in my head."
".......oh."

Oh?
Was that really all I had to say?
No. It wasn't.
I wanted to ask him what thought he had in his head, but a part of me already knew.
The other part of me was trying to convince myself to not get my hopes up.

"It's getting kind of late though," Kevin looked at his phone then looked up at the IV bag. The machine beeped, telling us that it had finally finished dripping itself into my veins.
Which means I could go home.
"We'll take you back _________________," Eric motioned at the other guys. All of them stood up from their seats around the hospital room and came over to my bed, arms extended and ready to catch my weight if I toppled over from wobbly feet.

"No," Mark walked over to me, his hand already closing around mine, "I'll take her back. You guys should go back and get some rest."
"But what about..." Jackson tilited his head slightly towards Haylie, who was standing by the window talking to Aron.

Both of them looked kind of defeated.

"Aron's gonna take her home. They live close to each other apparently," Mark responded, helping me out of the bed. One of his strong, lean arms was s around my waist, holding me up as I walked towards the door. His touch was so comforting, so familiar.
Like I've experienced it thousands of times before.
But I could only let myself enjoy it for so long. 
Cause while we were still in limbo, so many unsaid feelings hung in the air around us. So many uncertainties that made me question the extent of our relationship. I don't know if I was even allowed to enjoy him being so close to me.

Author's Note
chapter title: Give Love-Akdong Musician [x]
ok to explain some medical terms/symptoms just in case some readers don't know:
~CT scan-often called a CAT scan. it's basically like an x-ray of the cross sections of your body.
~seeing zigzags-a symptom of a migraine.
~tension headache-headache caused by pressure around your head

these are only brief and super simple explanations haha xD but they get the point across.
if i didn't explain anything that maybe confusing, let me know!

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DIMSUM IN THE WORLD: MARK TUAN!
keep flying bb ~ ❤