The fire in her leg has subsided down to a dull ache, the morphine given to her doing their job well. It’s also making her drowsy, but she resists it, wanting to stay awake until Nayeon is here. She wants to reassure the older girl that she’s okay, knowing that her girlfriend must be worried sick and rushing down here now, and god knows what she will think if she sees her lying out cold on a hospital bed.

She lets her gaze shift around the hospital ward, trying to distract herself from her drowsiness. The A&E department is buzzing with activity even in this late night, with many patients waiting for their turn, nurses and doctors running around trying to help all of them. But then there seems to be an emergency, because a few of the medical staff is running to the entrance.

“Please clear the way!” A nurse shouts as they begin to wheel a stretcher into the hospital, and people part for the stretcher obediently. Jeongyeon cannot see the face of the person on the stretcher with all the medical staff crowded around it, but even from this distance she can see red splattered all over the patient’s clothes and body.

“What’s the situation?” A doctor joins them, asking as he helps to push the stretcher.

“Four stab wounds, heart rate and blood pressure is dropping drastically.” One of the paramedic reports from the monitor that is strapped to the patient.

“Send her into the OT right now.”

They all move into the operating theatre, and Jeongyeon finds herself praying for the patient even though she doesn’t know her. What did that poor soul do to get stabbed four times? Her phone on the bedside table rings, and she picks it up to see that it’s an unknown number. But before she can pick the call up, her attention is drawn to the commotion at the nurse station.

“Hi where is Yoo Jeongyeon?!”

She turns to see a frazzled looking Nayeon still wearing their café apron, tear streaks on her face. She knows this is really not a funny situation, because she literally had a brush with death just about an hour ago, and Nayeon is crying because she’s worried for her, but she can’t help smiling at what a mess her girlfriend is. Her mess.

The nurse points in her direction, and she meets eyes with Nayeon. The older girl runs up to her, gives her a once over before bursting into tears again. Jeongyeon pulls her girlfriend into her embrace, patting her on the head.

“I’m sorry.”

It takes a while before Nayeon pulls away, hitting Jeongyeon on the shoulders. “You are not allowed to ride the bike from now on, you hear me? I’m not going to talk to you anymore if you ride your bike again.”

“Okay.” Jeongyeon smiles, this scene reminiscent of the last time she was in the hospital. It was this situation too, her getting hurt (from protecting Chaeyoung from the bullies) and Nayeon crying for her. She pulls Nayeon into her arms again, sighing as she relaxes in her girlfriend’s warmth. She can totally doze off like this, if not for her phone that rang once again. Nayeon huffs, irritated that the phone keeps ringing and interrupting their moment. She grabs the phone from Jeongyeon’s hand, answering the call for her, ready to give an earful to the caller.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Son Chaeyoung’s next of kin?”

Nayeon feels her heart speeding up. She literally just received a similar call 30 minutes ago, and the voice sounds strangely familiar to the person from before who called to inform her about Jeongyeon’s accident. “Yes, who is this?”

“We are calling from Myeongjeong Hospital to inform you that Ms Son is receiving emergency treatment at our hospital. Please make your way down to the hospital as soon as you can.”

The worst possible situation has occurred. Nayeon sighs, is this some sort of comradery between this pair of siblings to always end up in the hospital together? Jeongyeon looks curiously at her, and she repeats the information to her, causing Jeongyeon to furrow her eyebrows. They aren’t particularly worried since the kid frequents the hospital because of her occupation, but Jeongyeon still leans in, wanting to listen to the conversation too. “We are here already, is she okay? Which ward is she in?”

“She’s currently still in the operating theatre, and we will have to wait for the operation to be over before we know her condition.” They both turn to look at each other, realizing the situation is way worse than they thought. Jeongyeon’s mind goes to the patient on the stretcher, the one who was stained red with her own blood. She berates herself off mentally, there are so many patients at the hospital, and so many operating theatres, why would Chaeyoung be that patient?

She swallows the lump in and takes the phone from Nayeon. “We will be there in a minute.”

--

Drip. Drip. Drip. The IV liquid falls drop by drop. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Whir. Whir. Whir. The low, monotonous engine of the air condition. Whir. Whir. Whir.

Her head hurts, a dull ache that doesn’t scream for her attention, but the constant throbbing reminds her of its presence, that it’s there. That’s the first thing she notices as she comes to. She slowly opens her eyes, registering the white ceiling above her. The antiseptic smell invades her nose, and it vaguely registers in her head that she is in a hospital. Her mother appears from the corner of her vision, before she is fully looming over her and looking down at her warmly and she just blinks and stares back, not sure why she is here and what happened. How did she get here? Where was she before this? She closes her eyes and forces herself to remember, but it’s like her brain has turned into mush, refusing to cooperate with her.

“Shh, it’s okay, just sleep.” Her mother coaxes, running her fingers through her hair slowly.

She’s no longer able to fight the pain, letting it pull her back into the darkness. Sachiko notices her daughter’s breathing go even, indicating that she has fallen asleep before she stops her motion and pulls the blanket up around Mina. She sees how peaceful Mina is when she is asleep, and she finds herself tearing when she sees the big hand print on her cheek, a sign of what happened just now.

“I’m so sorry, baby.” She whispers to her comatose daughter, hoping that her daughter will find it in her to forgive her in the future. She thought she had made a right choice, for Mina to date someone of similar status to her. She thought monetary status was all that mattered, but now she knew that that is not true. What really matters is what’s on the inside, and she can’t believe it took an almost tragedy for her to realize this. She don’t think she will ever forgive herself if he did have his way with Mina.

No one messes with her daughter under her watch, and he has to pay for doing so. She would like to stay here beside Mina until she wakes up again, but she knows she has other more important things to do, like making sure Seo Jaekyung rots in jail for the rest of his life. She bends down to place a kiss on Mina’s forehead, before grabbing her bag and leaving with a steely look in her eyes.

--

She’s tired, but she can’t bring herself to close her eyes and sleep. How can she, when her younger sister is fighting for her life inside the operating theatre? The police were here a while ago, telling her what happened; how her little sister was so brave to stand up against a ual predator, but got hurt instead. She’s so brave, but so stupid at the same time. Who asked her to play hero? God, she’s totally going to give a good scolding to her when she wakes up. If she ever wakes up, that is.

She feels fingers entwining with hers, knowing that Nayeon is trying to comfort her. If she’s feeling anxious, scared and worried, Nayeon felt it doubled today, once with her and now with Chaeyoung. She squeezes Nayeon’s hands, wanting to comfort her girlfriend too. They both had a long day today. Jeongyeon rests her head on Nayeon’s shoulder, almost succumbing to the darkness when more medical staff begin to run into the operating theatre, causing her to jerk awake.

“What’s happening?” She asks, alert again.

“I don’t know.” Nayeon says, her voice shaking a little with nervousness. She shoots up, grabbing onto one of them before he enters the OT, “What happened? Is the patient okay?”

“We are doing our best.” The nurse gives a cryptic answer before bowing and rushing back into the theatre. It doesn’t bode well that more staff entered the OT, and the ambiguous answer only serves to heighten their worries, but they can do nothing but wait and pray. Jeongyeon closes her eyes, burying her face into her palms. “Please. Please let the idiot pull through, and I will never ask for anything else in my life ever again.”

--

The next time she wakes up, she feels slightly better and can finally hold some coherent thoughts. Her father is by her side this time, holding out a straw to her so that she can get some water into her system. She doesn’t even register her thirst until she takes the first sip of water, and she dutifully finishes the whole cup of water.

“How are you feeling?” He asks as he places the empty cup on the table, looking down at his daughter with care and concern in his eyes.

“Better.” She answers, her voice slightly scratchy from the lack of use. Taking a look at her surroundings, she confirms that she is in a hospital, and that she wasn’t hallucinating the first time round when she gained consciousness. She rubs her temple as a flurry of questions hits her. Why is she in a hospital? And how long has she been out for? Where is her mother? Who else visited her while she’s out? Momo? Sana? Her sunshine?

Her sunshine. Her eyes shoot open as her memory slowly comes back to her, and her tears well up as she clutches the clothes around her tightly, remembering how her clothes were torn away, and how wandering hands touched her, violated her everywhere. “Papa…”

One word was all it takes to express the fear, grievance she felt, and her father knows, immediately wrapping his arms around her gently, unlike the monster who touched her. “It’s okay penguin, you are safe now. The police have him now.”

“Did he…” She vaguely remembers seeing Chaeyoung there before she passed out, but she still wants to ask to be sure.

“No. No he didn’t.”

Mina cries on her dad’s shoulder for a while, glad that the nightmare is finally over, that she is safe and protected right now in her father’s embrace. She sniffs, wanting to confirm another thing. “Chaeyoung was there right? She saved me, right?”

She doesn’t know if she’s thinking too much but it feels like her father visibly stiffen at the mention of Chaeyoung. “Yeah. She did.”

“Where is she? I want to see her.” Hearing no response from her father, Mina pulls away to look at him, but he evades her gaze, looking down at his lap. The alarm bells go off in her head. Please, no. Don’t let anything happen to her sunshine, please. “Papa…?”

“You have to prepare yourself for the worst, Mina-yah.”

--

She has seen Chaeyoung hurt, injured, heck even asleep, but not like this. Not unconscious on a hospital bed in the ICU unit, with so many tubes stuck into her, fighting for her life. Mina lifts a trembling hand up to cover , tears falling as she screws her eyes shut, hoping that when she opens her eyes, Chaeyoung will be up, smiling at her and telling her that this is all a joke. But her sunshine is still lying motionlessly on the bed when she opens her eyes, the only indication that she is alive is the beeping of the machines that are strapped to her and the slight raise and fall of her chest.

She drops more than sits down on the chair beside Chaeyoung’s bed, her legs losing strength. She reaches for Chaeyoung’s hand, and it’s so cold it scares her so much. “What happened?” She barely manages to croak out.

“He stabbed her four times. Once in the back, and thrice in the front.” But he doesn’t tell her the full details; how one of the stabs hit her right lung, causing her lung to collapse, how it almost caused her heart to stop. He just stands behind Mina silently, knowing that his daughter needs a moment with Chaeyoung.

If she knew this is the consequence of Chaeyoung saving her, she would rather not be saved. In the past, it was Chaeyoung who felt that she wasn’t worthy of her, but now Mina feels the same. Who was she, that Chaeyoung wanted to protect her so desperately, even to the extent of nearly losing her life? She can barely see Chaeyoung’s face with all the medical apparatus on her, but she doesn’t complain because they are the ones keeping her alive, helping her to get better. You have to get better, you have to. She prays in her mind, thumb rubbing against the back of Chaeyoung’s cold, pale hand.

She doesn’t know how long she has been sitting there, just staring at the comatose fighter on the bed, as if doing so will wake her up from her slumber. Her reverie is only broken when her father places a hand on her shoulders, squeezing it lightly. “We have to go, Chaeyoung’s parents are here.”

The ICU unit limits only two visitors to one patient at one time, so they have to leave for Chaeyoung’s parents to enter. Mina brings their entwined hands up to her lips, gently placing a kiss on the fighter’s hand before finally letting go of Chaeyoung’s hand reluctantly. They step out of the room, and Akira shakes the two elder Yoo’s hand before starting a conversation with Changjun, evidently not the first time he has met them. Mrs Yoo reaches out for Mina, holding her hands tightly.

“Hi dear, how are you feeling?” Jinhee asks, and Mina finds herself tearing up again. She’s the reason why her own daughter is lying on the hospital bed unconscious, but the older woman doesn’t even blame her at all, and even worries about her wellbeing.

Jinhee coos, pulling Mina into a hug. No one should ever have to suffer such atrocities, and even though she was saved in the nick of time, she knows it must still be very traumatic for the girl. She runs her fingers through Mina’s hair gently, hoping that it comforts her. “It’s okay, you are safe now.”

“I’m sorry,” Mina sniffs, trying to speak through her tears, “it’s because of me that Chaeyoung is hurt.”

Jinhee pulls away, deep frown on her face. “Don’t ever say that. It’s the attacker’s fault, not yours. She did what anyone should have done when faced with such a situation. Okay?”

Mina nods, and the older woman pulls her into her embrace again. Her tears won’t stop falling, and she know she shouldn’t burden Mrs Yoo with her fears when she probably feels the same, but she can’t help but voice them out. “What if… what if she doesn’t wake up ever again?”

But Mrs Yoo is so confident answering her that Mina feels reassured. “She will. You have, no, we have to trust her. She’s a fighter, afterall.”

--

a/n: will our little fighter wake up? :D 

would like to do a q&a so ask me anything down in the comments or link to my curious cat