When Hyeri slips back into consciousness, the only things she can register are a drawn out groan, a noisy shuffling, and a noticeable shifting of weight next to her. She slowly rouses from her slumber, struggling to open her eyes. During the automatic stretching of her arms and legs, she notices the pulsing ache present in most of her body.

“Ugh…” Hyeri grunts, angry at her body’s issues.

“Hyeri? Are you awake?” In response to her best friend’s questioning, Hyeri finally manages to open her eyes, only to close them again thanks to the harsh fluorescent lighting waiting for them.

“Yeah, I’m awake,” She responds. “Can you turn off the damn lights?”

“Sure, hang on.”

After some disgruntled muttering, Hyeri feels safe to open her eyes once more. She's greeted by the distinct squeaky clean, orderly appearance of a hospital room.

“Uh, Minah? Why am I here?”

“You ran into our teacher’s assistant’s car! Do you not remember?”

Hyeri closes her eyes in concentration as she tries to locate fuzzy memories that are hard to pinpoint. “Not really,” She replies, frustrated. “The last thing I remember is waking up and getting ready to go to school. Now I’m here.”

“Oh, well I can fill you in! First, we had another bike race to school—I won by the way—and we were late because you at waking up on time, and then you had googly eyes for Miss Park, the new teacher’s assistant. Finally, on our way home you rode your bike right into Miss Park’s car due to your extreme arrogance and the fact that you can’t resist a chance to brag.” Minah finishes, gasping for breath after her impromptu storytelling.

Hyeri was quite gullible, but she learned long ago that Minah had no qualms with creating ridiculous stories just to fool her.

“Are you lying? I don’t know which parts are embellished and which parts aren’t, and now there’s no way to fact check you!” She complains, a pout on her face. “I guess it’s plausible that you won the bike race, but there’s no way I was gawking at some teacher’s assistant. I would never be that pathetic!”

“Is it pathetic to gawk at teacher’s assistants these days? When I was in school it was a pretty common occurrence.” Comes an amused voice, vaguely familiar to Hyeri’s ears, from the doorway.

The attractive lilt captures Hyeri’s attention instantly. Her head snaps toward the direction of the voice, intending to give a reply, only to be shocked into silence by what she sees.

The most beautiful woman Hyeri ever had the pleasure of seeing—and Hyeri went to great lengths to look at beautiful women, if the poster-covered walls in her bedroom didn’t already make it obvious—is leaning against the doorframe, the bland white paint making her stand out even more.

Suddenly, disjointed memories flood back to her, although they don't make much sense. Hyeri only knows that she’d seen this woman before and had been just as enraptured by her then as she is now.

Seeing that Hyeri isn't going to respond anytime soon (and Minah isn't helping at all, just looking back and forth between them with a huge grin on her face), the older woman takes matters into her own hands.

“Anyway, I was only here to make sure you woke up so I could be safe in the knowledge that I don’t have a lawsuit on my hands,” She explains, appearing very bored. “Sorry for backing out in front of you, Hyeri, but you should really watch where you’re going.” And with that, she left.

“Uh oh,” Hyeri begins, dreading the answer to her impending question. “…Is that the teacher’s assistant?”

“Yep.” Minah actually sounds sorry for her.

---

“What do I do?” Hyeri asks dejectedly.

Hyeri’s mom had picked her and Minah up from the hospital about an hour after Hyeri woke up, but not without scolding Hyeri for her carelessness. The doctors said that she had a slight concussion and while she could still go to school, she was to take it easy and be carefully monitored in case her condition worsened.

Now, she and Minah are in Hyeri’s room (it wasn’t unusual for Minah to spend days at a time at Hyeri’s house), and hopefully Minah is about to give some good advice.

“How am I supposed to know? I’ve never had a crush on an old woman before.” Hyeri should’ve known not to expect much.

“First of all, she’s not old, she’s just older. Second of all, you never help!” She whines, shaking Minah by the shoulders. “I think I’m doomed no matter what I do. I don’t think she likes me.”

“Well you did drive your bike into her nice car. I’d be mad too.”

“So I should apologize? I can even give her money for any repairs!” Hyeri gets excited all of a sudden, as if she had a breakthrough.

Minah, however, is always a realist. “Don’t you only have like $45 in your lifesavings though? I think car repairs cost much more than that.”

“I have 47 dollars, not 45,” Hyeri mutters. “And it’s the thought that counts, you’ll see! When I give her my heartfelt apology along with my whole lifesavings, she’ll be touched!”

“We’ll just have to wait and see then.”

And Hyeri falls asleep with grand dreams of Park Sojin accepting her apology with a big kiss on the cheek.

A/N: Don’t even know if that small amount of retrograde amnesia is plausible, but I’m just going with it :P