The slow rhythmic drips of the IV filled the silent room. The silence wasn’t suffocating, and instead, it was nice.

It gave Nari time to watch him. Bruises bloomed across his slender face, chapped lips busted open from a hard fist. She was sure even more wounds littered his body underneath the loose hospital gown. Even in his sleep, his breathing was unsteady, breaths coming out forced and ragged.

He looked broken.

Not just on the outside, but on the inside too. Nari could just tell.

She sat on a small uncomfortable stool on the side of his bed, her arms perched up on the mattress. She had been watching him for the past hour, anxiously waiting for him to wake up...for him to be okay.

If the other times that her heart went crazy was due to a strange attraction towards Jungkook, this time, it was out of pure fear. It was strange how scared she was for him. She barely knew the boy, but she felt more scared than she had been before her heart transplant.

When she found him lying at the entrance of an alley, his body limp and unresponsive, she thought that she would pass out along with him. In desperation, she had cradled his head to her chest, as if her heartbeat could somehow revive him.

With shaking fingers, she managed to call an ambulance, and before she knew it, she had signed him in as his guardian. She hadn’t been to the hospital since her surgery, and that had been a year ago. The smell of antiseptic and alcohol was never a pleasant memory.

Now three hours later, she was still waiting. Her heart rate had relatively calmed down to slightly faster than her usual rate, but it wasn’t overwhelming enough to make her squirm.

“J-Jaein.” A barely audible whisper caused Nari to jump off her stool and hover over Jungkook, desperately searching for any signs of consciousness.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

A deep crease formed between Jungkook’s eyebrows, his eyes squeezing shut even tighter. Is he in pain?  Nari thought, her palms getting sweaty.

“No, please. She’s right there.” Jungkook strained his neck, digging his head into the pillow. His voice, laced with immense pain, quivered. “ Don’t shoot, please, you’ll hurt her. I’ll do anything, please. I love her.” The last sentence came out in a sob as he thrashed around in the small bed.

What is he talking about? Nari panicked, and without thinking, she placed her hand onto his creased forehead. She felt the heat of his body radiating through his long bangs. Closing her eyes, she felt herself channeling her energy to him.

“It’s just a bad dream Jungkook.” Nari slowly lowered herself back onto her stool, her hand still on his forehead.

Gently, she his bangs back and placed her index in between his eyebrows, pressing down ever-so-slightly. Slowly, his grimace came undone as his face straightened back out. He let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Jaein.” Nari whispered, letting the name roll off her tongue. It wasn’t a name that she’d heard before, yet there was an eerie familiarity to it.

Who is this girl that’s causing this lost boy so much pain? And more importantly, where is she?

“JUNGKOOK!” The door slammed open as a hysterical group of boys shoved through, nearly toppling over each other as they fought to enter first.

Nari swiftly lifted her hand off of Jungkook’s forehead, clearing to signal that she was present. The six boys worked to compose themselves but failed as they rushed to Jungkook’s hospital bed. Nari was swept aside with a few grunts of acknowledgment.

“Hey man, you good?” Jimin lightly squeezed Jungkook’s frail arm in concern, his eyes glazed over with worry.

Hoseok pushed Jimin to the side, his usual bubbly persona gone. In its place was an extremely concerned brother that wanted nothing more than his brother to wake up. “Damn it Jungkook.” Hoseok sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Who did this to you?”

A tense atmosphere filled the room as the boys racked their brains to figure out who beat their little brother to a pulp.

Finally remembering Nari’s presence, Namjoon quickly bent down into a respectful bow. Nari returned the bow awkwardly. The room full of boys wasn’t exactly the most comfortable, you see.

“How...How did you find him? Do you know who did this?” Namjoon asked through clenched teeth.

“I was walking home after class and I felt this sudden weird gut feeling, you know?” Nari looked down at Jungkook’s unconscious body, shivering at the image of his limp body. “And he was just laying on the ground, not moving...He was alone when I found him.”

“Why didn’t he fight back?” Taehyung buried his head into his large hands, anger evident in his strained voice. “He’s perfectly capable of fighting back. The Jungkook we know couldn’t have gotten this injured by a fight.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to fight back.” Jimin whispered, his eyes trailing onto the ground. “You know how he’s been lately…”

“Does Jaein-ssi have anything to do with it,” Nari blurted out. She immediately regretted her decision when six pairs of shocked eyes snapped up to look at her.

“How do you know Jaein?” Yoongi questioned, suspicion arising towards the lone girl.

“He talked about her. In his sleep. Can she...can she come?” She needs to come, Nari thought. He needs her.

The suspicion disappeared off of Yoongi’s tired face, and was replaced by a type of sorrow that even pained Nari to see.

“Jaein can’t come Nari-ssi.” Yoongi whispered. “She’s dead.”