"It hurts."

The nurse smiles sadly, and pats Hyejeong on the head as she continues to stick a needle in her arm – her chemotherapy for the day. After months of the same treatment, Hyejeong expects to have gotten used to the pain of the needles, the sickening effects of the medicine, but it simply gets worse everyday. As the medicine begins to kick in, Hyejeong breathes in and out slowly, reminded that she will be okay by the nurse.

"We have to keep the IV in you for twenty minutes, then you're free to go home. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Hyejeong whispers feebly.

She knew that when she went home she would be anything but free. Instead, she would be confined to her bed – sick, tired, and useless – and connected to a thousand different machines. Nothing like her old self – vibrant, jubilant, and always alive. As much as the medicine and the cancer hurt, the fact that she was only a shadow of her old self hurt even more. All she wanted was a taste of real life, of real happiness. But who doesn't want what they don't have?

"Hyejeong, I'll leave you alone until we have to take the IV out, alright? Call for help if anything happens."

Hyejeong nods and the nurse leaves the room. All alone, Hyejeong hears her own heartbeat go thump, thump, thump. It skips a beat when someone bangs loudly on the already open door.

"Hello Miss Shin. My name is Kim Seolhyun, and I am a nursing student – you can just call me Seolhyun. Anyways, I'm here