Chapter 3
As Time Passesanyeong againn ~ this is a bit longer of a chapter than i intented....i hope you enjoy! and thank you so much for reading and subscribing >.< luffff you alllll <333
I actually go to PT that day, surprisingly. I was thirty minutes late, though. My regular doctor smiles at me, his eyes crinkling upwards. “I’m so happy you came, Ji Eun” He ruffles my hair and I look away, annoyed at his gestures. “
Just tell me what to do,” I say coldly, looking around the room.
“Ah…okay, um, let’s start with getting you out of the chair,” He says brightly, as I start to stand up with two feet. “Good! Now, hold onto this rail with your right hand and the other one with your left hand,” The doctor guides me through all the steps, his face showing different reactions. Grimacing, I finally take a few steps, the process of walking becoming more comfortable for me by the end of the hour.
“Ji Eun! You learn so quickly! I’m so proud of you,” With a comfortable smile, my doctor pats my back, letting me go back into my chair. “You’re probably exhausted, hmm? Why don’t you go to sleep when you go back to the room?” I nod, when I hear deep sounds coming from somewhere. Ah, not somewhere: from my stomach. I hadn’t eaten at all, since I had skipped lunch and come to PT until four.
“Have you not eaten? Ah, that was why you were so pale – come on, let’s go to the cafeteria together!” My doctor starts pushing me towards the door while I widen my eyes. I was going to eat with him?
As I come into the main cafeteria, I wrinkle my nose at the smell. It was so…plastic, fake. Seeing my reaction, my doctor smiles knowingly. “Horrible, right? Why don’t we get some real food?”
“Real food? Where?” I scoff, thinking that there was no possible way anything could taste good in this prison.
“You’ll see,” My doctor chuckles, suddenly turning to the right and going down the hall. He stops near the elevator, looking up at the ceiling. “In this hallway, the camera only comes on every five minutes…” He looks a bit more than grins. “It’s off now…let’s go!” He races out the backdoor of the hospital, exposing me to the bright sunlight of summer. Shading my eyes with my hand, I wince slightly as my doctor keeps on going.
“There’s a great Vietnamese place just down the corner,” He says heavily, panting a little. My wheelchair is pretty heavy. “It’s okay, I can wheel myself for the rest of the way,” I move my hands to the wheel, stopping the chair.
“No, I…can do it,” He says with another pant, continuing to push me. I smirk lightly, looking up when he stops in front of a small restaurant.
Pushing me through the doors, the waiter looks up, his eyes moving from my wheel chair to my doctor. “Oh, Hunter! Great to see you, man!” Hunter? Was that his name? I look up to my doctor, seeing the both of them have a handshake/hug thing. The male sign of greeting, whatever you call it. The waiter seats us at a table, one of those half-booth, half-chair. I obviously replace the chair with mine while my doctor – no, Dr. Hunter – makes himself comfortable across of me.
“So…what’s good?” I asks casually, briefly glancing at each page of the menu.
My doctor – Dr. Hunter – thinks for a moment, looking at the lunch special page. “Well, pho is always a must. You can never go wrong with that,” He says after a while, looking up at me.
“Hmm…Guess I’ll do that then,” I say with a quick smile, closing my menu and crossing my arms. “Can…I…call you by your name?” I ask after a few minutes of silence.
He looks up, a surprised look on his face. “What else would you call me by?” He breaks into a wide grin, seeing that our food had arrived.
Nodding, I look down at my plate, smiling at the warm scent. Taking up my chopsticks, I try a few bites and grin. “Wah, this is really good! It is actual real food,” Laughing, I continue to eat and drink the soup while Dr. Hunter stared at me for a moment before continuing to eat as well.
“That’s…the first time I ever heard you laugh,” He says with a chuckle, an amused expression on his face. We finish up our meal, and Dr. Hunter wheels me back into the hospital quickly, waiting outside for the camera to turn off before he goes back in.
“If you do well, I’ll make sure to treat you with real food again sometime,” Winking, he leaves my room as I just stare at his back, not sure what the fluttery feeling in my stomach was. Dr. Hunter was so warm, nice – nothing like me.
And the weeks go on, me asking the doctor every morning about whether the kpop group was coming, him responding with a wry smile, and a disappointed Suzy that would work even harder to try to recover so that she could meet with her dream kpop group. However, with all the extra work that she put in, Suzy was exhausted. After a month, her immune system went a low which made her contract the flu which was going around. Since it was spreadable, I couldn’t visit her for days, and a few weeks too. During those days, I would try to spend as much time as I could with Dr. Hunter, for he lifted my spirits and made me smile.
Finally, three months had passed without seeing Suzy. I was desperate, annoyed that I wasn’t allowed to see her face. Approaching Dr. Hunter, I asked him, “What happened to Suzy? A flu shouldn’t stay as long as three months,” Furrowing my eyebrows, I look at him critically.
Dr. Hunter bites his lip, looking around. “Ji Eun….the truth is, she doesn’t have a flu, cold, anything like that. However, her condition has reached a new low. At this point, she may not survive past this week…” He says the horrid words softly, carefully looking into my glazed over eyes.
“What? Why…why haven’t you let anyone see her then? Isn’t it worse for her to die in loneliness?” I raise my voice, wanting to hit every single doctor in this hospital. Were they crazy?
“Well, Ji Eun, we aren’t sure about all the details about her condition and the board has concluded it is unsafe for visitors to see her. I know you’re her dearest friend, but, I’m sorry…”
I clench my fist, gritting my teeth hard. “I don’t care what you say, I’m going to go visit Suzy!” Shouting, I wheel my way out of the room, not caring about any stupid regulation or board. All I wanted to do was visit Suzy. Finding her room, I slide open the door quickly and wheel my way to her bed, the nurses trying to drag me out softly, in case they hurt me.
“Suzy!” I shout to the sleeping girl, who had even more plugs through her than the last time I had seen. Her eyes flutter open and she turns her head, her eyes widening when she sees me. Shooting straight up, Suzy opens to greet me. As soon as she sits up, a few plugs are yanked out of her, which I know isn't a good thing. Suzy falls straight back onto the bed, her lips partly open and her eyes wide. All of a sudden, a yellow screen appears on the monitor, signifying that her death was coming soon.
“What is going on?!” A doctor comes through the crowd of nurses and rushes to Suzy’s side, rapidly putting in the plugs again.
Should would survive, right?
I watch as the doctor stays by her side for a long time, his shoulders slumping downwards. Turning he looks at me.
She’s dead.
Dead.
Not alive.
Dead.
My breath comes to a stop. My eyes widen. This couldn’t be happening.
Suzy.
Was.
Dead?
No….no….
"NO!” I shout aloud, panting as I could feel my heart rate increasing rapidly.
“She’s not dead…” Tears spill out of my eyes, as I shut them tight, shaking my head. “Suzy’s…only sleeping, right? Only sleeping,” I say with a shaky voice, my mouth tasting the salty tears running down my cheeks.
Dr. Hunter suddenly comes into view, his chocolate eyes at level with mine.
“Lee Ji Eun, come with me,” He says quickly, rolling me out the room and back into mine while I continued to cry silent, hot tears.
Dr. Hunter quickly moves me to my bed, placing the sheets over my body. “You need to rest right now. If your heart rate goes up anymore, you could become unconscious,” He says worriedly, his soft tone a bit more aggressive.
“How do you expect me to sleep? I killed her. Suzy, Suzy…I-I killed her,” Shouting, I sit up again with wide eyes, probably looking like a maniac at the moment.
“How…would you expect me to peacefully sleep, now? Hmm?” Scoffing, I look at Dr. Hunter again with a glare. “I’m a murderer.”
Swallowing, he sits down on the chair next to me. “Ji Eun…you’re not a murderer,” He says in a kind tone, taking my hand. I swat it away, shocking myself at the same time.
“Don’t touch me. I’m a horrible person,” I say lowly, looking away so that he wouldn’t see the new tears forming in my eye.
“No you’re not. You just wanted to see your friend, it wasn’t your fault at all that she died…” He trails off, and I look back at him, hardness creeping into my tone.
“It is my fault, and don’t try to comfort me,” I pull the sheet over my head, turning the other direction. I hear Dr. Hunter’s footsteps walk further and further away, and when he closes the door, I start to really cry. The pain, the hurt, the suffering, it was all coming to me now. Her smile, the way she laughed, I heard it in my mind. Everything about Suzy…I had destroyed it. Crying harder, I sit up and curl myself into a ball. Who would I talk to now? Who would I smile with? Who would I – My thoughts are interrupted by a warm hand on my back. Looking up, I see Dr. Hunter next to me again. His eyes, they had the same pain that I was feeling. I continue to cry, not even caring why he was here. Dr. Hunter, though, just rubs my back, giving me the warmth that I needed.
I stay that way for almost an hour, finally crying myself to sleep.
Comments