It felt pretty cold.

            At least that’s how Eunbi felt lying awake on that hospital bed.

            It felt cold, lonely and suffocating—though the last part was probably caused by the damn petals blocking her lungs—and she absolutely hated it. The dancer had already lost count of the hours she spent inside that room and the only thing she wished at the moment was to be out of that place.

            Eunbi wanted to see Yerin.

            She must’ve gone home by now, she thought, tiredly. Eunbi saw Yewon and her parents a few hours earlier, but she fell asleep before she could see Yerin.

            Eunbi knew that she had been there, though, and that somehow made her feel a little better, as well as guilty. Yewon had also explained superficially that Yerin had accepted her feelings, but they were having some trouble figuring out why the flowers weren’t going away.

            I must really be the luckiest girl on Earth, Eunbi huffed weakly inside the oxygen mask.

            If only she had her cell phone, she could try to contact Yerin. Just for a little bit, she wanted to talk to the older dancer, but, no, the doctors and her parents thought it’d be a great idea to just leave her there, isolated. Why couldn’t—

            Soft knocks on the door interrupted Eunbi’s train of thought.

            And she thought that if there weren’t a bunch of flowers inside her body, she would have gasped.

            Jung Yerin, wearing a jeans and a worn-out t-shirt, was there, carefully opening the door. The lights were off, but the lamp next to Eunbi’s bed provided enough light for the older girl to see that she was awake. Yerin seemed like she was hesitating when their eyes met, but it went away just as quick as it came.

            “Hey,” she called softly and Eunbi inhaled sharply. The flowers were still there, but suddenly it felt like she could finally breathe.

            Yerin closed the door behind her and slowly made her way to Eunbi’s bed. She stood next to her waist, looking a little uncomfortable, but what caught Eunbi’s attention were the dark circles beneath her eyes.

            Is she sleeping enough? Eunbi sighed while her hand weakly rose. She took the oxygen mask off and Yerin’s eyes widened.

            “Hey, can you do that? Won’t it be hard to breathe?”

            Eunbi swallowed dryly, a petal scrapping inside . “It’s… okay,” her voice was low, but with the hospital’s quietness surrounding them, Yerin could understand her. “I’m fine.”

            “Yeah, right,” Yerin scoffed lightly. “Are you aware of how you look right now? Seriously, Eunbi-ssi, I don’t think you’re in condition to be taking off the mask and all.”

            A playful smile came to Eunbi’s face. “I guess… I’ll just do it anyway.”

            Huffing, Yerin pouted. “You’re really a troublemaker, then?”

            “Warned you,” the younger girl smirked and felt something tug on her heart as Yerin’s lips curled up. “Yewon… Yewon said you…” she coughed, and the other dancer sat on the mattress, taking the oxygen mask from Eunbi’s hand and placing it gently over her face.

            “Yeah, I know. She told me that she told you,” Yerin mumbled, “I was, I don’t know, planning to tell you myself, but my parents wanted to see me right when you woke up and nobody went to get me.”

            Eunbi wrapped her fingers lightly around Yerin’s wrist, trying to convey that it was fine; Eunbi understood it, she didn’t need to feel bad. The other girl gave her a small smile.

            “It was very hard to convince doctor Ho to let me see you, but I was going insane. I didn’t know if you were awake or not, but I just really needed to come… I’m happy that I came.”

            Yeah, me too, Eunbi thought. She squeezed Yerin’s wrist and the dancer’s eyes focused on her hand; Yerin looked so lost that it was painful.

            “She doesn’t know what’s wrong, yet. Doctor Ho, I mean,” she commented quietly. “They are all working very hard, though, so…”

            Eunbi mustered her strength and tugged on Yerin’s arm. The dancer’s eyes met hers and Eunbi smiled.

            “Don’t worry about me, sunbae…”

            “How can I not?” Yerin pursed her lips out and Eunbi really wanted to coo at her. “You’re there, stuck in this bed even though I have already accepted your feelings and, really, I feel the same way, so this doesn’t make any sense, I just—”

            “Eonni.”

            Yerin lips snapped shut and Eunbi chuckled at her wide eyes.

            “This,” she swallowed, “this already feels like a dream coming true… feels like heaven to know that,” Eunbi coughed, but stopped Yerin’s hand from putting the mask over her face again. “No matter what happens… I’m happy, really.”

            The older dancer’s heart felt like it was being torn apart. Watching Eunbi say those words while being in such a dangerous state was no less than heartbreaking and she just wanted for it to stop. “Yah, you shouldn’t say something like that.”

            “Why not if it’s the truth?”

            Yerin shook her head. “It almost feels like you’ve given up.”

            The words sank in Eunbi’s mind slowly and the younger dancer swallowed dryly. It wasn’t like she had completely given up, she just… she just didn’t want for Yerin to suffer because of her. It wasn’t fair when Eunbi was the one who fell in love and was stuck in that situation.

            “Besides,” the older girl’s voice appeared, almost like a whisper, “you can’t do that. How can you give up when I haven’t even gotten the chance to kiss you?”

            At that, Eunbi coughed loudly and instead of the worried look from before, Yerin displayed a playful smile. The younger girl’s eyes focused on the ceiling, the mattress, her hands, anywhere but Yerin and Eunbi felt her whole body shiver with Yerin’s next words.

            “And I’m not kissing you, yet, Hwang Eunbi. It may seem stupid or silly, but I’m holding hostage all my kisses until you get better again, so… just, for the both of us, don’t stop trying.”

            No, Eunbi wasn’t looking at the other, but there was just so, so much emotion on Yerin’s voice that it was impossible to stop the burning on her eyes. The dancer blinked quickly, trying to drive away her tears and her breath hitched when she felt fingers wrap themselves around her hand.

            “Promise?”

            Ah, what was Eunbi supposed to do? Say no?

            Yerin giggled as she saw Eunbi’s small nod.

            “That’s all I need.”

            Four days.

            That’s how long Yerin hadn’t seen Eunbi. For some goddamn reason, the medical crew decided that they needed to isolate Eunbi after she saw the girl. Doctor Ho had noted an improvement in Eunbi’s clinical state and thought it’d be good to put her under intense observation.

            It was pure bull, Yerin saw it immediately. But nobody listened to her when she begged to see Eunbi; they dismissed her pleads as just whines since she wasn’t feeling any pain. And Yerin couldn’t handle it anymore.

            That’s why, at almost eleven pm of a Tuesday night she headed to the hospital. Yerin knew that only Eunbi’s parents would be there at that time and that they, together with the hospital’s staff, would try to make her leave. But, no. She wouldn’t budge until she saw Eunbi.

            Yerin headed straight to the floor Eunbi was located and, entering the waiting room, her eyes spotted the tired couple sitting on the hard chairs. They were talking to Doctor Ho, who bared an urgent look in her eyes. Yerin’s brow furrowed.

            Why her white coat was covered in dark petals?

            Yerin’s heart sank inside her chest.

            The petals were covered in blood.

            “Hey!”

            Her voice echoed, and all the silent murmuring stopped. Doctor Ho’s head snapped towards her and, with wide eyes, she took a step back. “Yerin-ssi… what are you doing here?”

            It was like Yerin couldn’t listen to them. The dancer walked in heavy steps, stopping right before the doctor. “Why are your clothes like this? What happened to Eunbi?”

            “I—”

            “Eunbi got worse, Yerin-ah,” Eunbi’s mother explained and Yerin looked at her terrified. The woman’s expression was all but exhausted and it seemed like she could collapse at any moment. “They decided there’s no other option, now. She’ll go through the surgery.”

            “, no.”

            “Excuse me?”

            Yerin’s face was burning and she was sure that her skin was the brightest shade of red. However, her mind wasn’t thinking right, and the words started spilling from before she could even realize.

            “You all are going to let me see her.”

            “Yerin-ssi,” Doctor Ho called her sternly. “She’s being prepared—”

            “ that! For ’s sake, she was getting better! I saw her, and she was getting better! You ers decided to keep us separated and this happened, are you really that ing stupid?! Didn’t it cross your mind for one little second that maybe this was what helped? Take your goddamn heads out of your asses!”

            Thick, hot tears streamed down her cheeks. The couple and the doctor looked at her dumbfounded; it was almost pathetic the way their eyes widened at every disrespectful word she let out. But that wasn’t going to stop her, not now.

            “I feel like I’m dying! I need to see her, and I ing know she needs to see me! So, you want it or not, I am going to see her. None of you will stop me.”

            She turned around, ready to start bursting all doors open when a hand firmly grabbed her wrist. Yerin let out a sound that resembled a growl when she turned her head to look at whoever was trying to stop her.

            “Y-Yerin-ssi, calm down, I’m,” Doctor Ho swallowed dryly, “fine, I’ll bring you to Eunbi.”

            Adrenaline was high on her blood and she tugged her arm out of the woman’s grip. “Then do it.”

            Doctor Ho nodded and quickly made her way towards the room. She opened the door and, ignoring the curious stares from the staff, she stepped aside to let Yerin enter.

            The dancer’s eyes fell on Eunbi and something crumbled inside of her. There were around three more people inside the white room, standing in a semi-circle around her bed. One of them was an anesthetist, Yerin had come to know him during her days on the hospital, and his eyes widened at the sight of Yerin.

            But that didn’t matter.

            Eunbi was awake and she was a wreck. Huge, dark bags under her eyes that ugly contrasted with the sick paleness of her skin. The corners of were stained with dry blood and sweat made her hair stick to her forehead.

            She was crying silently, unable to move while the man put the needle on her arm. Eunbi sobbed inside the oxygen mask and that was the final straw.

            “Get away from her.”

            Her voice was clean and loud. The younger dancer’s head slowly moved and with her puffy, red eyes, she stared surprised at Yerin. Somehow, the image of Yerin triggered another sob and she knew that she should’ve gone way earlier.

            The anesthetist exchanged a look with Doctor Ho and stepped back.

            Yerin didn’t even register that she was moving until she had Eunbi in her arms.

            Wrapping her arms, mindful of her strength, around Eunbi was like eating after weeks of starvation.

            Eunbi smelled like hospital antiseptics and her body was burning, but Yerin could feel how she immediately relaxed inside her arms. The younger dancer’s mask fell down and Yerin heard someone gasp and say that she had to let go, but Eunbi herself raised her arms weakly and gripped the back of Yerin’s shoulders.

            “It’s okay,” Yerin cooed, “I’m here.”

            “T-they were taking me...” Eunbi sobbed painfully and Yerin’s heart clenched. “They were g-going to t-take—”

            “They won’t take you anywhere, Eunbi-yah,” Yerin said firmly. “I won’t let them.”

            “Eo-eonni,” Eunbi wailed.

            “Eonni’s here, baby,” she promptly assured and tightened her embrace. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

            “That’s what we think at least,” the doctor finished explaining and looked to the ground. “We’re very sorry for how we dealt with the situation, ma’am.”

            Yerin and Eunbi were left alone after that and the medical crew reunited to discuss what the hell had happened. The specialist, upon listening to everything, came to one conclusion.

            The newly discovered hormone, which was found in great quantity inside Eunbi’s body induced changes in the illness. Apparently, instead of disappearing with the knowledge of Yerin’s reciprocate feelings, it’d need to be close to her to fully disappear.

            No one had ever heard about that and they profusely apologized to Eunbi’s parents as they told the situation since they didn’t link Yerin’s presence with Eunbi’s improvement, or, for that matter, Yerin’s absence and how worse Eunbi got.

            The couple was exhausted and they’re only happy to know their daughter was fine, so they just brushed off the apologies and asked to see Eunbi.

            They silently entered the room to find Eunbi curled against Yerin’s chest, hands together between them. Yerin was asleep, arm draped over Eunbi’s waist and chin touching the top of the younger’s head. They looked so peaceful that it was impossible for Eunbi’s mother to hold back her tears.

            The solution was so simple and, yet, it took them that long to realize.

            Guilt washed over everyone, but the asleep couple looked so tranquil that none had the courage to wake them up to proceed with examinations and etc.; they decided it was best to leave them be.

            They deserved it.