Chapter 05: Yugyeom

The light blinded me as I sat up from the couch, my head still pounding from the vision I had earlier. Looking around, I realised that I wasn’t at my own home and I got up to search for the owner. I looked around; admiring the framed photos that rested around the living room and the beautiful paintings of nature which helped emphasized the lavender scent that floated around the house. The front door opened and there was her, dressed in casual clothes with a plastic bag in hand.

“Finally, you’re up.” She said as she locked the door and went into the kitchen to put away the groceries, “Why’d you pass out like that? You gave me a scare you know.”

I rubbed the nape of my neck and gave her a small smile, “Sorry, I guess I was kind of drunk.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, “don’t lie to me Kim Yugyeom, that café doesn’t even sell alcoholic drinks.”

“Fine,” I sighed and told another lie (The same one I used to convince the boys) in hopes of convincing the younger female, “I’ve been a sick child for a while. I usually get light headed but rarely faint. I guess the both of us had bad luck that night. Me fainting and you needing to drag me to your house.”

She looked at me skeptically and shrugged, “Whatever. I expect you to be out of the house by tonight though.” She reached over and stuck her hand in a little box and pulled out my vibrating phone, “It’s been ringing ever since last night. Please make it stop.”

I took it from her and looked at the caller ID.

Incoming call…

Im Jaebum

.

I picked it up and he started yelling at me. Before I knew it, I was putting on my shoes and ran out the door in hopes to find a taxi to take me to the hospital.

“Hey, Kim Yugyeom,” I turned around, facing the angry girl. “I didn’t get my thanks.” Ignoring her, I continued to yell down the road and I could feel her presence getting closer. Her hand wrapped around my wrist and she started dragging me back to her place.

“What’s wrong with you,” I shouted, “I need to get to the freaking hospital. Let. Me. Go!”

From there, she slapped me. Hard. “Get yourself together you giant pole! I have a car, I can drive you there!”

I felt stupid while she shoved me into the passenger seat, ranting about how stupid I was and how much of a jerk I was. I rolled my eyes but on the inside, I was really grateful for her being there for me. In all honesty, if she wasn’t there with me, I would have probably flipped .

“Thanks… short stack.”

“It’s Kang Sora you idiot.”

By the time we arrived at the hospital, both my cheeks were burning red with hand prints on the side. Running in, I met up with the others in the ER where everyone looked realistically dead. 

Mark had his hands clasped together, fingers interlaced with his head down while Jinyoung  rubbed his back. Bam Bam’s blood shot eyes and dried lips were quivering as he looked around with Youngjae right beside him, who chanted incomprehensive words. JB leaned away from the wall and walked up to me, his cheeks flushed red.

“Where were you?” he growled.

“Sorry,” I replied, “I passed out on the streets. My head’s still pounding.”

His eyes immediately softened and let out a sigh, “Jackson was stabbed in bed. No one was with him when the paramedics arrived.”

”How long has he been in there?”

“Well, it wasn’t that serious so the doctors just gave him a room and told him to rest up but something must have happened over night after we left. Mark was the first to visit him this morning and man was it not pretty. I don’t know what happened, but Jackson’s in critical condition. They’ve been operating on him for two hours now.”

“Do you think it was one of the cheerleaders?”

“No,” he shook his head, “Jackson said himself that no one was with him before the event. He genuinely wasn’t feeling well last night.”

It didn’t make sense. I curled and uncurled my hands as I sat down. Looking over, I stared at Mark and noticed his hands were tainted red. “Will he be alright?”

JB stared at them as well, “Who knows… You should have seen his face when he ran out of Jackson’s room earlier this morning. It’s safe to say that our oldest is traumatized.”

I was about to say something when a doctor and a pair of nurses came out of the operating room. He talked to us, telling us that Jackson was alright but what I found strange was that they found chloroform in his lungs. Someone must have drugged him but why didn't they kill Jackson? They had him right where they wanted him to be.

"Jackson will be alright with rest. I believe he'll be able to recover from the operation today. He will be released tomorrow but someone needs to be with him at all times," Dr. Yoo said, scribbling down some notes on his clipboard.

"Wait, why tomorrow? He just came out of surgery!" Jinyoung stood up and stormed up towards the man. 

"You have to understand that I was previously Mr. Wang's family doctor. Mr. Wang prefers to be released early, no matter what the case is. Besides, our hospital is small. We need to open up more rooms for other patients." He dismissed the nurses and walked away from us, leaving Jinyoung and everybody else scoffing. 

"Family doctor my ," JB muttered, "that guy was fired by Mama Wang after his first day." 

"I hope he trips and falls face first," I growled and as of Karma got him, he fell and his clipboard skidded down the hall. We all giggled and went to go find Jackson's room. 

By the time we arrived, we could hear the male's voice being projected. His loud hyena laughter and sarcastic scowls all made us roll our eyes as we slid open the door. He greeted us as if nothing happened and started whining about being hungry. 

"I want kimbap, samgyeopsal, tteokbokki- wait no, I dont even like tteokbokki- bibimbap, galbitang, oh hell just give me everything that you can find at that street market," he laughed and Mark slapped his shoulder, causing Jackson to cry out in pain.

"You idiot," started Mark, "I was freaking worried and here you are, as if nothing happened, ordering us around. I'm older than you for pete sakes." We could tell that he was on the brink of tears and by the time he let go, all of us were giving him a group hug. 

"GOT7 forever," I muttered and we cheered.

I was grateful that Jackson wasn't dead.

The next day, Jackson was at school, laughing away with Bam Bam. I rolled my eyes and started heading towards my English class. When I entered the room, I stifled a laugh as I approached the sleeping figure. Her head was on the desk with her face facing away from me and towards the wall. Her novel comfortably rested on her face, keeping the sun from blinding her as she slept. Rummaging through my bag, I took out a banana milk bottle and placed it beside her head. Sleep well... short stack.

Lunch came rolling along and I found myself sitting at our usual lunch table. The plot twist: my sister was sitting in front of me. No one knew of course. We agreed on the first day of classes that we wouldn't tell anyone we were siblings. It was just too much of a hassle to deal with people. Sae Hee started at me but I looked away and down at my meal. Why was she even here in the first place?

JB cleared his throat, "So... Bam, who's the new girl?"

The Thai male brightened and slung his arm around her, "This is Kim Sae Hee, she's in my social and math class. We've been paired up to do some project so you'll be seeing her around me often."

My sister rolled her eyes, "He's lying. Your friend here forced me to eat with you guys or else he wouldn't have given back my notes."

"Bam," glared JB, "that wasn't nice." He turned his gaze towards Sae, "Anyways, I appreciate your efforts trying to deal with him. He can... be a brat sometimes."

Before Bam Bam could protest, she gave us a smile and shook her head, "No it's fine. Bam Bam's pretty cool. I just need to be careful of 'Mr. Wild and y' over there." 

Jackson's mouth hung open wide in shock.

Changing the subject, Jinyoung spoke up, "Where's Mark? I haven't seen him since this morning."

"He's substituting for my math teacher," Bam piped up. "That guy's trying to rub his four-point-oh average in our faces. I mean, all the girls were ogling at him while he was trying to explain this weird rule call the 'Factoring Rule'. I barely understood anything and our homework is due tomorrow. Thirteen pages of homework--ow!"

"I don't appreciate the complaining Mr. Bhuwakul," Mark stood above him with a grin.

I looked at my sister who was staring at the red head. Her eyebrows furrowed and sweat started forming. 

"I have to go," she abruptly stood up and grabbed her things, running out of the cafeteria in a hurry.

"Was there something on my face?" Mark asked. Ignoring him, I ran out to chase her.

I found her minutes later in the girls washroom, cleaning her face with water. I turned off the tap and grabbed her wrists. "What did you see?" 

She was startled and started to pull her wrists out of grip, "Let me go Gyeom, and what the hell are you doing in the girls washroom! Get out!"

"Stop changing the subject! What. Did. You. See?!"

"Nothing, "she screamed, "I saw nothing!"

"Why do you keep lying to me?" I hissed and she slapped me. 

"I saw nothing Kim Yugyeom. His timer was blank."

And she walked away, leaving me hanging.