People. People everywhere.

I had opened my eyes. Above me and all around me there seemed to be an enormous crowd. Everyone moved around, trying to get closer. I couldn’t focus on anyone, they moved around too much. It made me dizzy and nauseous.

They began moving faster, making me close my eyes again. I was not prepared for this. Was this death?

If it was, it didn’t seem as peaceful as it had felt before.

When I finally opened my eyes again, I was lying in a hospital bed. My body hurt everywhere and my eyes felt extremely tired, despite the fact that I had clearly just awoken. Above me was a very boring, very white celling. Was this the room from before? I looked to my right, where my mother was standing beside my bed, looking at me intensely.

This had to be a new dream. My mom was in New York, not in Seoul. How could she be here?

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked and my hair softly.

“… I think so?” I said, confused, “but my head hurts a lot.”

A furrow appeared on my mom’s forehead and she almost looked like she was going to cry. She bit her lower lip, obviously fighting an intense fight against her tears. She knew I didn’t like seeing her cry.

We sat in silence for a while. My body felt completely different from when I had been in that complete darkness. I was sure this wasn’t a dream, but I still couldn’t quite figure out why my mom was here.

“What happened? Why are you here?” I finally asked, looking at my mother who seemed to have finally calmed down a bit. She took a deep breath.

“You were hit by a truck” she said, almost choking on the words. Forget what I just said, she hadn’t calmed down. Tears began streaming down her cheeks.

It took a minute or two before I understood the meaning of what she had just said – I had been too focused on her tears.

Hit by a truck…. Well, it definitely explained the pain I felt in every inch of my body. And it explained the needles and tubes in my arm.

“You didn’t tell me why you’re here” Another moment of silence had passed before I remembered my other question which still needed an answer.

“When I heard about the accident, I took the first flight from New York. I’ve been in Seoul for a few weeks now, waiting for you to wake up” She told me and took my hand with both of hers.

Wait, what?

“W-weeks?” I blurted out. Had I been sleeping for that long? What about school? I almost sat up in bed, but my mom quickly stopped me and made me lie down again.

My mother just looked at me and nodded slowly.

It made stressed to think about how much I had missed, so after a while we began talking about other things. Apparently my mother was doing really well with his journalist boyfriend in New York, and they were soon going to another big city, somewhere in Europe. I didn’t really catch the name of the city though. She really wanted me to come back with her and I could feel the sincerity in her words. I guess she just really didn’t know how lonely I had been with her.

Eventually, I could feel my eyelids grow heavy. I tried to stay awake, because there were still much I wanted to talk about with my mom, but it was impossible. Within a few minutes I was sleeping soundly.

When I awoke, I was alone in the hospital room. Outside the sun was shining and I could hear birds chirping. The door to my room opened and a nurse entered.

“Oh, you’re already awake, Ms. Ahn?” She asked in a very bright voice.

“Ah.. Yes” I said, not really knowing what she meant by ‘already’.

“Do you want me to bring you some breakfast?” She pointed to the door, signaling that she would have to go out and come back again.

I just nodded and the nurse left the room. My stomach really felt empty. Well, I hadn’t gotten a proper meal in weeks. Everything had just been fed to me in a tube. I looked at my bruised arm. A single tube thing was placed in it, with tape covering the needle, which was stuck into my arm. Funnily enough, I couldn’t really feel the needle.

The nurse entered once more with a tray filled with what looked like some kind of porridge.

I ate the porridge slowly, hoping I wouldn’t get a stomach-ache.

Seulgi and Taeyoon were sitting on either side of my bed in the hospital, talking about all the things that had happened during my coma. When they had arrived at noon they had immediately gone to me and given me a big hug. They only stopped when I told them it hurt, both looking very nervous, probably thinking they had worsened my condition or something.

“That band you like released a new song” Seulgi mused, taking out her phone.

“Really? Can I hear it? Although I don’t know if I’m allowed to play music aloud in here…”

“It’s alright, it’s your V.I.P. room after all~” Seulgi grinned, leaning back against Taeyoon in the bed. It was true; I had been placed in a V.I.P. room, which meant I had a pretty big room all to myself. It was probably something my dad had arranged.

Soon, an upbeat song filled the room. I tried to distinguish the different instruments that were in use. It had simply become a habit. This band often used a lot of different instruments, which also meant that their live performances were very interesting to watch.

That right there was certainly a guitar... That one had to be a.. cello?  And that… that was most definitely bongo drums. Hmmm. Bongo drums? Out of nowhere I remembered the dream I had had in my coma. I remembered Namjoon sitting there in the middle of that blur, smiling at me while playing those drums… and wearing that hat. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Guys” I said, when the song had stopped playing, “I had this strange dream…”

“Not about some idols killing people approaching their hideout in some sort of sewer, right? Because that was hella creepy....” Taeyoon said, raising an eyebrow. Well… My dream might not be that interesting.

“No no... this was fun... and kinda random....” Laughter escaped my lips even though I had tried hard to not laugh out loud because of-Ouch! Because of that; the pain.

Seulgi mumbled something about some dancing flamingos, but I didn’t really hear it as I tried to stop myself from laughing.

“What did you dream then...?” Taeyoon asked after a while, trying to look serious – she probably hoped I wouldn’t begin laughing again.

“I dreamt that guy... called Namjoon I think, you remember him, don't you? I think he's friends with Seulgi?” I tried to sound like I didn’t remember him too well, despite the fact that I definitely remembered him. I just found it quite embarrassing that when I had been in coma, almost dying, I had dreamt about a person I had only met twice.

Both of them nodded.

“Continue, we know him......” Seulgi said dryly.

“Well... I dreamt he was wearing this big mexican hat thingy.... and wait for it.... he was playing drums. You know, those bongo drums...?” I said, while trying hard not to laugh at the memory.

Instead of the reaction I had been expecting, they just stared at me, either shocked or confused, I couldn’t really see what it was.

“I know it's strange... but it's quite funny too, right?” I didn’t really know what else to say.

“Wow..” Seulgi just whispered, exchanging a look with Taeyoon and then looking at me again.

“Namjoon have been here, he even went here yesterday and was present when you woke up... don't you remember?” Taeyoon asked, looking slightly worried.

“He was? I just saw people everywhere...” I mumbled. I did remember a lot of people, but I had not been able to identify a single one of them. It had just been a big blur.

“Yeah.... one of the days, while waiting for you to wake up, he actually tried playing on some bongo drums, GD knows where he found them....But he actually played them.....” Taeyoon added. Seulgi began laughing. It had apparently been entertaining to watch him play those drums. Well, it had definitely been so in my dream.

“He looked quite funny and misplaced” Seulgi smiled. I imagined Namjoon sitting beside my hospital bed, playing the same drums as in my dream… Very misplaced indeed. I suddenly couldn’t help but wonder why he had even been here in the first place. Why would he, he had only met me twice after all.

“Oh.... but why was he here?” I asked, hoping Seulgi or Taeyoon could give me an answer.

“He was worried I suppose....” Seulgi answered, obviously as confused as me. She looked like she was also trying to find the reason why Namjoon had been here in the first place.

“Nonsense.... he likes you Mali! Believe me, he does!” Taeyoon sighed and looked at both me and Seulgi as if we were completely dumb.

Like? No, he couldn’t like me, he had only met me twice. Things like that just didn’t happen. Both Taeyoon and Seulgi were looking at me now and I could feel my awkwardness show. Time to change the subject!

“Anyway... Taeyoon... what exactly happened to you and that guy.. Taehyung was it?” I asked. The last time I had seen them at the party, had been when they sat in the couch, looking very absorbed in each other.

Taeyoon looked away and bit her lip. Oh. Was this a touchy subject?

“Don't avoid it, tell us or we won't be able to help....” Seulgi said. Yup. Definitely a touchy subject.

At that moment, Taeyoon looked like she would burst out crying, but she didn’t.

“I've found out... the girl he talked to... she's apparently his old high school sweetheart...” Taeyoon mumbled. A love-triangle. Poor Taeyoon.

“So?” Seulgi said, looking very confused. Seulgi might be beautiful and a badass fighter, but sometimes she was just a bit too clueless – not that those three things couldn’t be combined, because they obviously could.

“So, he still has feelings for her... probably...” I ended up replying for Taeyoon, as she didn’t really look like she had quite gotten over the shock that was Seulgi’s cluelessness. I added the probably, since we really didn’t know and I didn’t want to hurt Taeyoon more than necessary by my words.

“Probably? There's not probably. He still likes her.” Taeyoon corrected me, looking like she had already given up on the possibility that Taehyung might just be friends with his former girlfriend.

“How would you know?” Seulgi asked. I knew she just tried to help, but it was obvious it didn’t help at all.

“Because he was obviously flirting with her, and... she...” Taeyoon said, actually looking sad again, but not on the edge of crying.

“Oh..” Seulgi mumbled “She’s younger as well”. Oh god, why Seulgi? I might not be the best at social skills, but Seulgi was on a whole other level.

I looked at Taeyoon, who had begun crying, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Screw age. She's probably a .” I said, trying to sound confident. I looked at Seulgi, who quickly nodded in agreement.

“Let's wait and see, it might be nothing....” Seulgi tried. I looked at her and nodded. Finally she said something, which wouldn’t make Taeyoon cry harder… hopefully.

“Seulgi is actually sort of right. It might be nothing... and if it is, then...” I said, while staring blankly into space. I couldn’t help but smile, if I knew Seulgi well, she would be able to do something about this old high school sweetheart.

“If it is, then we'll change it somehow... This Taehyung guy seems like a good guy... at least what I've experienced” I said, this time looking at Taeyoon, sending her a reassuring smile.

Seulgi nodded and made a ‘fighting’ gesture. She looked very determined.

“You're dorks... do you know that?” Taeyoon laughed and wiped her tears.

“Why? We just want to help you” I was just about to laugh, but quickly remembered the pain laughter would cause.

“And the only thing we know how to do is giving a proper beating” Seulgi grinned.

“Losers...” Taeyoon laughed.

Taeyoon hit Seulgi’s shoulder. She was just about to hit me too, but stopped mid-motion, looking extremely funny. This time I couldn’t hold back my laughter and the three of us all started laughing.

After the laughter died down, which it did quickly since it was quite painful to me, we sat in silence for a long while, just looking at each other and the things around us. All three of us were thinking our own thoughts.

After what felt like a long time, someone knocked on the door. Huh, more visitors?