Present Day.

The hearty laughter emitting from the group of nine on the rooftop of the Asan Medical Center is harmonious. None of them ever thought that they’d experience such genuine exuberance when it feels as if their lives are slowly but surely falling apart. Positivity and Hope are among the many things that are genuinely hard to come across for the girls that are residents in the pediatrics ward, but with the company of each other—their futures suddenly seem as if they’ll be immensely bright.

Sana can feel tears welling up in her eyes as she looks around at everyone, and the pure joy plastered on their faces. If someone had told her when she was admitted into the hospital just a week prior, that she’d be this happy in the company of then strangers, she would’ve laughed. For some reason, though she still hardly knows some of the patients and nurses that are with her on the roof, she feels safe, as if she belongs. Part of her can feel based on the happiness vibrating throughout the moment, that they all feel the same too, that maybe all of the hardships they’ve endured throughout their lives was to lead them to this moment, to each other.

She feels a hand rest on top of hers, causing her to blink twice and follow in the direction in which the hand came from. A wide smile overtakes Sana’s features when she realizes just who’s hand is on hers, and she feels extremely overwhelmed at all of the immensely differentiating emotions that she’s feeling right now.

“Are you okay?” Dahyun asks softly, having noticed how abruptly quiet Sana became, “Do you want to go back inside?”

“I’m better than I’ve been in a long time,” She pauses, flipping her hand over and interlacing her fingers with Dahyun’s, “Do you?”

A faint blush overtakes Dahyun’s fluffy cheeks, making her appear far more red due to the contrast between her dark hair and pale skin, “I’d like to stay with you for as long as you’re out here, if that’s okay.”

Mirroring Dahyun’s blush, Sana gives her hand a gentle squeeze and attempts focusing her attention on some crude joke that one of the nurses, Jeongyeon makes, only to be scolded by one of the other nurses, Jihyo.

“I wish we could stay up here forever.” Tzuyu says just loud enough for everyone to hear over the bickering between the three nurses: Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo.

Chaeyoung pushes her sunglasses up on the bridge of her nose, thanking the moonlight for illuminating the beauty next to her, “Who says we can’t?”

“It’s technically against the hospital policy to even be up here in the first place…” Jeongyeon chimes in, receiving a slap simultaneously from both Nayeon and Jihyo.

“That’s very sweet, Tzuyu,” Jihyo encourages, hoping that Jeongyeon didn’t just make the youngest regret opening up. In the year that she’s known Tzuyu while working at the hospital, Jihyo has never heard the girl speak about her feelings often, “And it’s fine,” She shoots Jeongyeon a threatening side eye, “that we’re up here. You all can come up here anytime you’d like, as long as you let Jeong, Nayeon or I know beforehand.”

For the second time that night, Tzuyu smiles genuinely.

“It really is cool up here, huh?” Nayeon adds, attention moving towards the small rooftop cabana that they’re all huddled underneath.

The rooftop view faces the Han River, placed right by the Jamsil Bridge, giving an incredible view of the Seoul skyline in the distance. There are a few other cabanas on the rooftop, scattered, constructed specifically for the hospital staff, but are rarely used due to the overwhelming amount of patients always coming in and out of the hospital. Taking refuge in the break rooms near patients was the more logical route for most of the hospital staff.

It’s a breezy night, the wind being especially intense due to their altitude, and Jihyo is glad that she brought piles of blankets up with them when showing the patients their new safe-haven. She takes a moment to observe who’s cuddled up comfortably with who underneath each blanket, or who’s sharing a blanket awkwardly.

Mina and Momo seem to be the most comfortable with their close proximity seating arrangement as they’re the closest out of everyone, due to sharing the same sickness, as well as arriving at Asan around the same time. Tzuyu and Chaeyoung might be more comfortable if the latter wasn’t so consistently nervous around the youngest of the bunch. Sana and Dahyun would most definitely be cuddled up together if it weren’t for Dahyun’s wheelchair, but they somehow manage to still be sharing a blanket. Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo are huddled together underneath multiple blankets.

When they first arrived on the rooftop, Jeongyeon made it a point to pull Jihyo down to sit between her and Nayeon on the small outdoor loveseat. The young nurse still isn’t quite sure why Jeongyeon behaves so standoffishly around the new nurse. Nayeon fit so naturally into the mold of doctors and nurses working at Asan, becoming especially close to Jihyo very quickly. She thought that since they’re the three youngest nurses at the hospital, that Jeongyeon would be thrilled for a newcomer close in age, but instead found her attitude towards the new, cheerful nurse disheartening. In the coming days if they happened to have the same shift off, Jihyo knew she’d have to ask Jeongyeon about it.

“It’s nice to get away from the noise.” Mina adds, leaning over to rest her head on Momo’s shoulder.

They can all resonate with that statement. With Asan being the largest hospital in South Korea, it’s increasingly stressful for the staff that work there, along with the patients that are admitted. There’s hardly moments when the environment isn't fully hustle and bustle. Luckily for the group of nine, they were somewhat placed away from the chaos, all working or being admitted in the pediatrics wing for residents.

There’s something bittersweet for the patients about the rooftop view. It’s most certainly breathtaking, showcasing the most beautiful structures and views of Seoul right before their eyes, but it makes them all feel so secluded. They might be in the largest hospital, in the largest city in South Korea, but all they’re able to know until they get better is the confines of the pediatric wing. The Han River between them and being in the heart of Seoul feels more like a wall than a body of water, leaving an uneasy feeling in Mina, but she feels alright with Momo and the others by her side.

“We mean it,” Jeongyeon’s playful, sarcastic mood has changed upon noticing the eventual shift in their environment, “You guys can come up here whenever you want.”

Once again, Sana can feel tears beginning to pool in the brim of her eyes. She shakes her head, attempting to stop herself from crying, “Could I say something?”

All eyes move towards Sana curiously, words of support and motivation coming from Nayeon and Jihyo. She then gets to her feet steadily, keeping her fingers intertwined with Dahyun’s underneath the blanket.

“I know that I’ve only been here for a week now,” She starts, maintaining eye contact with everyone as she speaks, “But I’ve been shown that a week is all it takes to feel so at home. I came here scared… scared because I wasn’t sure what was happening to me, and scared that I wouldn’t be able to get better. Being around all of you has shown me that even if it takes time to get better, I’m so happy that you’re all by my side. There’s hope in me—hope for not only myself, but for all of us.”

Dahyun watches Sana speak in awe, genuinely wondering if she’s an angel sent from the heavens above. Just when she was losing hope in her ability to ever walk again, Sana was rushed through the doors of the pediatric wing, immediately sparking a new sense of purpose within Dahyun. She hopes that she’ll get a moment alone with Sana soon to tell her that.

“That was beautiful, Sana.” Jihyo says, dabbing her watery eyes with the back of her hand.

“That’s… that’s exactly how I feel.” Momo speaks at last, giving Sana a small smile. She’s elated to see her classmate once again, though hates the circumstances in which they’ve reunited.

“I think you were our missing piece.” Dahyun pulls herself from daydreaming about the beauty standing before her, wide smile meeting her eyes.

With everyone’s agreements and sweet words towards Sana, she can’t help the eventual flood of tears that flow down her cheeks. She’s crying due to the substantial amounts of happiness and sadness that she feels. Happy to have met and know such a wonderful group of girls, but tremendously sad due to the circumstances in which they’ve met in. Maybe in another life, or an alternate universe, they’re all living healthily, and managed to somehow cross paths.

Taking a seat again, Sana falls into laughter with the other girls, all amused at how they’ve been so easily moved to tears by her affection words. She wonders what things might’ve been like had she been at a different location when she collapsed just a week before while at a dance practice. If she’d been practicing at home instead of at school, she likely would’ve been taken to a different hospital, thus potentially meeting a different group entirely.

Suddenly, while drowning out the conversations bustling around her, Sana thinks back to the day that completely changed her life just a week before—and how all of these moments and friendships formed transpired from one single event, thus leading her to where she is currently.

-

One Week Ago.

After wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead, Sana jogged back to her marked position in the middle of the dance room, thanking Joy for the bottle of water that she’d just given her. Joy moved over, taking a seat on the hardwood floor next to Sana, using her phone to pause the loud music emitting from the bluetooth speaker.

A majority of the other dance team members ran towards the front of the dance room, crowding around focusing their attention on the video camera that was just used to record the dance number that they’d finished performing a few moments before.

“How do you think you did?” Joy asked, gladly accepting a sip from bottle of water when Sana offered it to her.

“That dance kicked my , so I think I did pretty well.” Sana giggled, her breathing still rapid as they’ve only just finished the dance.

“You’re looking good, Sana!” Lisa said from across the room, watching the Japanese member dancing on camera.

“We’re all looking good.” Jennie and Rosè spat in unison, earning a laugh from Jisoo and Irene.

“I’m proud of you guys!” Seulgi finally says after studying each members dancing, eyes peeling away from the video camera as she paced over to Joy and Sana, sitting down across from them, “I think this show is going to be our best of the year.”

“It sure as hell better be,” Yeri complained, sitting down next to Seulgi, snatching her bottle of water, “I didn’t sprain my ankle for nothing.”

Sana couldn’t help but laugh at the sisterly dynamic between the two.

“At least it’s one less sprain than Jisoo.” Lisa started to laugh, already running away as Jisoo began to chase her.

The aura in the dance room was fun and light-spirited as always, and Sana continuing to laugh at the various activities happening between of the members as they rested briefly, knowing they’d have to rehearse their dance once more before leaving practice for the day.

About ten minutes later, Seulgi got to her feet, clapping loudly a few times to amass everyone’s attention. The chatter died down as everyone got up, gathering around the leader of their dance team.

“Alright girls, you’ve all done so well today,” Seulgi started, her expression somewhat somber despite the uplifting energy around the room, “I really want us to work our hardest with this dance, okay? For Momo.”

The other members nodded in agreement, clapping as they thought of the former leader of the dance team. Sana didn’t really know Momo all too well, the only thing the two noticeably having in common being their Japanese heritage. From what the other dance team members had told her of the former leader, she was a force to be reckoned with on the dance floor. Sadly, Sana was only recruited onto the dance team after Momo’s leg injury, to keep the number of members even, so they never really had the chance to interact much, aside from seeing each other occasionally on campus.

Whenever the other members would go to visit Momo at the hospital, Sana would opt to stay behind, feeling as if she wouldn’t belong due to all members having an already established friendship with Momo.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

Joy took her phone, restarting the song, setting the device on the floor in the back of the room, and then rushed to get into position between Lisa and Rosè.

Seventeen’s Thanks filled the dance room as the introduction plays loudly through the bluetooth speaker. The task that Seulgi had given herself for the many upcoming dance competitions in Seoul, was taking the dance from any boy group and transforming it into her own. That was what she and Momo had done together for years before Momo’s leg injury just a couple years before, and Sana respected Seulgi for keeping the tradition and technique alive.

Sana began to sway with the music as it picked up, moving in unison with Joy when their shared parts came.

Perhaps it was the heat in the room, or the fact that Sana hadn’t been feeling very well for most of the day, but her legs felt heavier and heavier as she executed each dance move. As they all usually felt more fatigued near the end of the dances practices, Sana didn’t think too much of it.

When the end of the song began to near, a part came where all of the girls would have to sit on the floor. Sana did as she had learned, falling into her spot a bit less gracefully than usual and her breathing shallowed. Her chest felt as if it was about to explode, and this didn’t go unnoticed by the other girls, since she was supposed to have gotten by up by a certain lyric in the song.

“Sana!” Lisa started to laugh, like everyone else, under the assumption that Sana was just done with practicing for the day.

Seulgi however, was unamused, because she’d just given a short speech towards Momo, and knew that Sana wouldn’t make jokes when they were supposed to be rehearsing vigorously.

“Sana?” Seulgi glanced at Joy, eyes informing her to turn off the music.

All of the girls noticed how Sana then clutched her chest, her struggles for breath finally audible because the loud music was finally turned off.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Irene questioned, kneeling down next to Sana, motherly instincts kicking in as she was the oldest within the team.

“I—I can’t, b-breathe.” Sana was finally able to muster up.

“Okay, that’s okay,” Irene motioned quickly with her hand, telling Yeri to call an ambulance, “Focus on me, Sana.”

Sana shook her head, noticing that she was beginning to bob in and out of consciousness. Most of the girls began to freak out around her, while Irene remained calm.

“Fingers, how many am I holding up?” Four? At least it looked like four.

“F…” Sana started, then falling onto her back.

“They’re on their way!” Sana faintly heard Yeri yell, returning into the dance room.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Irene attempted pulling Sana back upright with the help of Wendy and Jisoo, “Sana, let’s sit up.”

“Come on guys, let’s sit her up!” Jennie panicked, also helping out.

She wasn’t quite sure what was occurring, but she could feel members sitting around her, ensuring that she remained upright.

Everything that happened next was a complete blur to Sana. Hours passed, but it felt like just minutes to her due to slipping in and out of consciousness. One minute, she felt a nebulizer mask being strapped around her head, and breathing felt easier, but she still wasn’t able keep her eyes open. The next minute, her eyes burned due to fluorescent hospital lighting. She opened her eyes for a brief moment to see a pretty, dark haired girl wheeling herself around in a chair, and wondered for a moment why her surroundings didn’t at all look familiar to her.

Then, she woke up.

Slowly, but surely. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dimmed lighting of the room, and she glanced out the window from the hospital bed. The daylight was gone, and Sana panicked because she had no clue where she was, let alone how she got there in the first place.

Sitting up abruptly, her head begins to spin as she slowly pieced together the last memories that she had. Not being able to breathe during dance practice. That wasn’t fun. Her chest felt heavy, but not nearly as awful as it had hours prior. Breathing was much easier now. Her eyes widened in panic as she noticed that an IV was connected to her arm. What the hell was she doing in the hospital? Where was a pager to ask for a doctor or for someone that could tell her what the hell was going on?

Her oncoming panic attack was interrupted when a familiar, pretty girl wheeled herself into the hospital room, squinting to see if she’d gotten the room number right. Reaching up to touch the light-switch, the stranger brightened the lights slowly, stopping when Sana began to squint and her eyes widen.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” The girl apologized, head hanging low as she gave her best attempt to bow towards Sana despite being in a wheelchair.

“It’s… it’s okay,” Sana remained squinting, curious on where she’d seen this girl before. From a dream, perhaps? “Might you be able to tell me where I am?”

The girl brought her head up, wheeling herself more into the room nervously while studying the expression and features on Sana’s face, “You’re at Asan Medical Center.”

“Medical Center?” She glanced out the window, looking for a sign, but they’re quite a few floors up, “As in hospital?”

“Yes,” Finally stopping next to Sana’s bed, the stranger offered a shy but friendly smile, extending her hand, “I’m Dahyun. Kim Dahyun. What’s your name?”

Dahyun. Kim Dahyun. A pretty name for a pretty girl. Her voice was soft, but smooth.

“Sana.” She took Dahyun’s hand into hers, all of her anxiety receding slowly but surely. How the company of a complete stranger could be comforting to her, she wasn’t sure, “Minatozaki Sana.”

Dahyun’s smile grew immensely, her eyes disappearing into her smile, “It’s very nice to meet you, Sana. Would you like me to get one of the nurses for you?”

She almost frowned upon remembering where she was, but instead smiled groggily, “Please and thank you.”

Sana expected Dahyun to leave the room fully, but the girl instead reached over to a small call button on the table next to Sana’s bed and pressed it.

“Thanks.” She felt a bit embarrassed on how openly placed the button was, and how she hadn’t been observant enough to notice it.

“Of course!” Leaning back in her wheelchair, Dahyun let out a huff jokingly, “It was grueling, but anything for a fellow patient.”

Sana couldn’t help but laugh at the dramatic sarcasm of the girl before her. She wanted to ask Dahyun a million questions, like where she recognized her from, but the two were interrupted when a stunning doe-eyed nurse came striding quickly into the room.

“Ah, Miss Minatozaki,” The nurse said, taking a clipboard that hung from the foot of the bed and looking over it, “My name is Jihyo, and I’ll be one of your nurses. Your doctor should be coming out of surgery in just a few moments, after which he’ll come see you to inform you on what’s been going on. Is that okay?”

Sana simply nodded, a sense of comfort coming from the words of nurse Jihyo.

“We have the same nurse!” Dahyun enthused, her hair getting ruffled by Jihyo.

“I’m everyone’s nurse,” Jihyo stated, smiling lovingly at Dahyun, “You should let Sana get some rest, Dahyunnie.”

“Oh! Right,” A shy smile played upon Dahyun’s lips again as she allowed Jihyo to take her wheelchair handles, “I hope to see you around, Sana! Get better!”

“Thank you, Dahyun,” Sana waved toward the girl, who waved back spastically, “It was nice to me you, too, by the way.”

“Are you all comfortable?” Jihyo asked, lingering in the doorway, halting Dahyun’s wheelchair along with her, “Would you like for me to get you anything before your doctor comes?”

“Uh, no, I’m alright. Thank you so much though.”

“I’ll see you soon, then.” Jihyo gave her a small nod, along with a friendly smile before wheeling Dahyun away.

Sana was left alone again, but didn’t feel as empty and scared as she did when she woke up just minutes before. She’s about to begin looking for any of her belongings within a reachable vicinity when light knocking raps on the open door.

“Hello there, Sana,” A middle-aged man entered, carrying himself well despite looking completely exhausted, “I’m Doctor Park Jinyoung, and I’ll be in charge of your care while you’re admitted here at Asan Medical Center. I’m sure you have many questions regarding your health, and how you ended up here.”

“Yes.” She nodded, remaining short so that he could fill her in.

Dr. Park grabs the same clipboard that nurse Jihyo had examined when first entering the room, and looked over it, potentially to jog his memory, since Sana assumed that he had many other patients to tend to.

“Ah, so earlier this afternoon, you collapsed at dance practice due to shortness of breath,” Dr. Park began, “Your friends were very brave and remained by your side until an ambulance brought you here to the hospital. After extensive x-rays and rests, we discovered that you have cardiomegaly which—”

“Cardio… what?” Sana interrupted, the panic seeping into her once again.

“Cardiomegaly is an enlarged heart, which can stem from a variety of medical conditions, though we’re not sure how it stumbled upon you. We’re still going to be running a variety of tests to decipher how someone with your health could be diagnosed. I have a couple of questions for you though Sana, if that’s okay.”

Sure, as if she wanted to answer his questions when she so many of her own, “That’s fine.”

“On your medical files, you don’t have anyone listed in case of an emergency. Given the circumstances, would you like for us to contact any of your loved ones?”

Goodness, Sana regretted not updating her medical files upon arriving in South Korea for college. Since she was technically an adult, she saw no reason for her family to be listed on her medical files. That, plus they were in Japan, and while she was from a financially well family, she was sure that her parents couldn’t just drop work to come care for her in a foreign country.

“I’d like to do that myself, actually. Thank you though.”

“Of course,” Dr. Park continued, still viewing her medical file on the clipboard, “Do you know if there’s been any heart diseases within your family from either of your parents, or further down your family line?”

Sana had to think for a moment, vaguely remembering hearing the story of how her Grandpa on her Dad’s side passed away due to a heart attack.

“My Grandpa on my Dad’s side had a heart attack years ago, when I was a baby. I’m not sure what it was, though.”

“I see, we’ll make note of that,” The doctor said, treading lightly with his next words, “While we’ll remain running tests to further the initial diagnosis… based on what we’ve seen from the previous tests and your x-rays, you’ll likely be needing a heart transplant.”

Her eyes grew wide, “What?”

“I’m aware that it sounds scary, but don’t fret too much, Sana. Our earlier tests while you were unconscious showed no signs of drug or substance abuse, which is great. As you’ve taken great care of your body and health, you’ll be quite high on the list to get a heart transplant.”

“There’s a list?” She suddenly wished that the patient she’d met earlier, Dahyun was in the room with her. Her hand from what Sana could recall was soft, warm.

“Yes, there is, unfortunately. Given the variety of heart diseases that there are, heart transplants, along with other organ transplants are in high demand. Transplants for a hear