As soon as she opened her eyes even a little, the pounding ache in her skull forced her to pay attention to that. Besides, the light attacked her eyes as soon as she tried to open them. She clenched her eyes back shut and put her hand over her face, hoping the pain would subside. 
“Hey! She's awake!” she heard a familiar voice almost cry out. 
“Hey, do you hear me?” another voice called. 
Seolhyun opened her eyes, only to see her friends, Yuna and Jimin towering over her. She stared around in confusion at her surroundings; she didn't have the faintest clue where she was. And suddenly the realisation snapped her to full awareness right away, and she sat bolt upright despite her throbbing headache. She felt Yuna's hand on her shoulder. “Thanks God you're okay,” she heard Yuna sigh in relief. 
Seolhyun put her head in her hands, and ran her fingers through her hair in despair and confusion. 
“What happened?” she asked. 
“You fainted. Do you remember anything?” Jimin asked. 
Seolhyun rummaged through her fragmented memories, trying to piece together what happened before she 'fell asleep'. The first part came back to her pretty quickly: the scary escape that Hyejeong helped her in burned itself into her mind, and— wait, Hyejeong! What happened to her?! 
“Hyejeong,” she said, looking up at her friends, “Where is she? Is she alive?”
Jimin and Yuna looked at each other in confusion. Neither said anything as Seolhyun looked down and searched for more memories. She recalled the moment when she found herself outside, looking for Hyejeong. Then she saw the firefighters and heard the ambulance. She looked at those who were carried unconscious by the crew of emergency ambulances, and caught a brief image of Hyejeong among them. She ran to the stretcher, her heart throbbing in fear and the sound of her own pulse throbbing in her ears. As soon as she reached the stretcher and took the unconscious Hyejeong's hand, the fear thoughts looped around in her mind until there was no room for anything else. But her thoughts disappeared when Hyejeong subconsciously enfolded Seolhyun's hand and gripped it tightly. Seolhyun was hyperventilating, and she was hearing whimpers and shouts from everywhere, could see fire and smoke, but at the time, all she cared about was Hyejeong. The strong hold on her hand was enough to give her hope that everything would eventually be alright, and... and... 

And then Seolhyun didn't remember anything. Maybe that was when she fainted? 
“Where’s Hyejeong?” she repeated her question. 
“She’s alright,” Jimin assured, “In the next room, still asleep.” 
“I have to see her,” Seolhyun said as she attempted to get out of the bed, but Yuna stopped her. “Hey, you have to rest—“ 
“I’ve rested enough.” Seolhyun brushed Yuna’s hand aside and got up, “Show me the way to the room.” 

Once she was there in the next room, Hyejeong was indeed dead asleep. Seolhyun looked at the clock, realising that it was already four in the morning and reassured her friends and told them to go to sleep, as they had stayed with her for hours and didn’t have a blink’s sleep after all that happened. 
She then sat next to Hyejeong, softly grabbed her hand and held it in hers, gently massaging it. The taller girl looked so much kinder in her sleep. Images running through her head, Seolhyun wondered why had Hyejeong chosen to save her. She remembered being choked by the smoke and heat of the flames, straight after she felt like her head was going to explode and it got worse. She tried to think about why Hyejeong came back; not many students were inside the dormitory during the fire, and Hyejeong should have been in another campus. And with too many unanswered questions and assumptions, Seolhyun laid her head somewhere near Hyejeong’s hand, still holding it tightly, and fell asleep. 
A few hours later, already in the late morning, Hyejeong’s senses finally became more awake. Her eyes took in every ray of light and without a doubt she knew she had slept too long. As she became more awake, she began to notice more things about her present circumstance. She recalled the fire and yesterday’s events. 
That’s when she felt a strong grip on her hand, and turned to see the rear of Seolhyun’s head before she let a smile cover her face. They had woken up to find their hands somehow intertwined once; but this time it was not an accident, and Hyejeong was rather relieved to see Seolhyun. Her hands were frailty, shaking gently as she smoothed Seolhyun's hand. The latter gasped and nearly jumped in surprise, but her smile limited to and her eyes twinkled to the sight of Hyejeong finally awake. 
“You’re awake!” she whispered with joy. “How are you feeling?” 
Hyejeong chuckled. “Suddenly caring about me?” Her voice was hoarse and her eyes sore. 
“Don’t be silly. If it wasn’t you, I wouldn’t be here alive.” 
At that moment, the doctor came in to check Hyejeong’s condition. He informed that it would take at least a few days to recover, and that thankfully neither of them faced a serious danger. After he left, the two sat in silence for some time before Seolhyun broke it. 
“Hey um… I don’t know why you saved me despite all of our… rivalry, but thank you. Really.” 
“It’s ok.” Hyejeong replied without so much of an emotion. Her emotionlessness bothered Seolhyun. She was no different from the old-Hyejeong that Seolhyun used to know, and it was even offensive. Seolhyun sat back and crossed her arms in irritation.
“And forget about that hug. You’re still a disgusting freak.” Seolhyun said, annoyed. This time though, instead of countering and teasing, Hyejeong laughingly glared at her and both girls burst into a loud laughter. 
“Good note, Kim Seolhyun.” 

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