I woke to the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor i was oh so familiar with. This isn't the first time I've ended up in a hospital because of my spontaneous fainting spells. However, this is the first time I've woken up surrounded by people who cared about me enough to stay in a hospital for me. 

"She's waking up." Someone murmered. I opened my eyes and saw Lisa and Jisoo. 

The first thought I had was who told them about me. Then I remembered. Rosie. She was probably so panicked she called them as well. She's never dealt with one of my fainting spells before. Damn, she must've thought she killed me with the intensity of her love or something. To be honest, that sounds like something that'd happen to me. Cause of death: Extreme euphoria due to feeling loved. 

The thought elicited a small giggle out of me and the others looked at me in concern. Great, now they think I'm insane on top of everything else. 

"Sorry, this is just a very amusing situation." I said to them while rubbing my face with the hand that wasn't connected to the IV. 

"Well, you almost gave us all a heart attack." Lisa spoke up. 

"Yeah, when Chaeyoung called and told us to come to the hospital? That was so scary. What if something horrible had happened?" Jisoo said in a chiding tone. 

I gave her a guilty look and mumbled an apology. 

"No need for that. Tell us what happened. Chaeyoung told us you fainted? Why?" She continued. Count on her to always get to the point. 

I remembered what happened and I could feel my heart rate going up. My lips were still tingling from the kiss and I tried to get the thought of her soft lips on mine out of my mind because at this point--

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud alarm going off from my heart monitor and a nurse frantically ran into my room immediately afterwards. 

"Oh my gosh, what happened, are you alright, why is your heart rate that fast?" The nurse asked me rapid-fire questions and all i could do was hide my face behind my hand and hope none of them noticed how red i was. 

"It's nothing! I was just--I just...thinking." I ended lamely. They were all giving me incredulous looks and I felt my blush deepening. 

"I promise I'm fine. Thank you." I addressed the nurse and she gave me a sceptical look as she left. 

Well, that just happened. Even thinking about the kiss made my heart beat shoot up to that extent, I was afraid of what will happen when I see her again. Oh boy.

"Oooookay.....What the hell was that?" Lisa asked. 

"I--well-- me and rosie-- rosie and i--we umm" I began to stutter and my face was getting redder by the second and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. 

"Go on, spit it out. Rosie and you what?" Jisoo urged me on. 

Right at that moment, there was a bit of a commotion outside my ward door. 

"Oh come on! This isn't even unhealthy food. It's just a chicken burger and look! There's even a salad!" I heard Rosie's insistent voice most probably arguing with the nurse stationed outside for me. 

"Oh oh no no no no, guys please, dont let her in, please please." I begged them. Not for the first time since I woke up, they gave me similar looks of bewilderment. But I didn't care. If I saw her right now, I would definitely become overwhelmed and oh gosh my heart monitor would go nuts and I'd have to explain to everyone that I'm just that whipped for Roseanne Park. Pathetic. 

My pleads fell onto deaf ears as Rosie came in holding a McDonald's bag. She paused a bit at the door and we just stared at each other for a second. Then she smiled her brilliant, breath taking smile and I was forced to close my eyes and will my heart beat to calm down. I put my hand over my eyes to prevent the urge of looking at her perfect face win me over. 

"Hey." She was suddenly right next to me. Her familiar scent was overwhelming me and I felt tears b beneath my eyelids. 

I felt her hand brush a few hairs out of my face and then I felt her lips on my forehead, giving me a light kiss. 

That's when it happened. The stupid alarm went off again and I was so embarrassed I almost burst out crying right then and there. 

The same nurse's panicked voice reached my ears but I just sat there with my hand over my eyes. 

"Miss Kim. I'm gonna need you to explain what just happened." The nurse said in an authoritative voice. 

I finally took my hands away from my eyes and opened them to see panicked looks on every face in the room. I carefully managed not to linger too long on Rosie's face. 

Before I had the chance to say anything, Lisa exclaimed. 

"Oh my god! It's Chaeyoung! She's doing this to Jennie-unnie!" 

Well. At least I didn't have to say it myself. 

"What! What did I do?" 

I didn't know if I felt more bad for myself or for Rosie, for getting her into such an uncomfortable situation. 

"Last time when the alarm went off, we were talking about you and unnie got all flustered and stuff. What else could be the reason?" 

"Hmm I don't know. Maybe she smelled the burger inside the McDonald's bag." Jisoo said and an unexpected laugh made its way out of me. Jisoo had an amazing talent at diffusing the tension in a room just like that. It was one of the many traits I admired about her. 

"We didn't mention anything about food last time though." Lisa said, staring at me suspiciously. 

"Guys, it's no big deal. Look, my heart rate is.......somewhat normal now. Please stop worrying about this okay? I'm fine." I said to them.

"Please try not to get too excited Miss Kim. Its not good for your heart. There may be severe consequences." The nurse told me in a serious tone and I nodded solemnly. I knew all too well what severe consequence there were. 

"You know, maybe it's just the anaesthesia that's messing with my heart?" I said. 

"We didn't give you any anaesthesia though." The nurse replied. I pleaded her with my eyes to just let me get away with that excuse but it seemed she didn't understand. 

"Oh. Then maybe it's the IV. Yeah, I'm sure it was just the IV, right?" I tried again.

"Actually, the IV doesn't affect your circulatory system much, it's just for ene--"

"Oh my gosh please just say yes!" I groaned exasperatedly.

Everyone in the room chuckled at my childish behaviour and the nurse left, giving me another warning about not exciting myself. Well, it's not like I could control my mess of a heart. 

"Okay guys, spill the beans. What the hell happened for you to end up in the hospital?" Jisoo asked again. 

I looked at Rosie and she smiled and nodded subtly at me. Assuring me that she's gonna take care of it. 

"Well, Jennie had a panic attack and I arrived at the dorm to see her crying in her closet. I tried to calm her down and I guess I succeeded somewhat but then....." Rosie trailed off and they all looked at me but I was too busy stuffing my face with the chicken burger Rosie brought me. 

"She kished meh." I said with a mouth full of food. I didn't care about my dignity at the moment. I just wanted to get this all over with. 

"Excuse me? She kissed you? Why? How?" Lisa fired off. Jisoo had a knowing grin on her face and pat Rosie's head, as if to congratulate her. 

"Yeah. I kinda confessed my undying love for her because my brain was all messed up then and I just kept talking and talking so yeah. She shut me up." I winked at Rosie and was satisfied to see her cheeks turn slightly pink. I don't know where all this confidence was coming from but I guess this is how people with no self dignity felt.

Oh well. 

"ing finally. It was about time. Honestly, we were all tired of seeing you both giving each other heart eyes and longing looks. One time I think I actually vomited in the back of my mouth." Lisa said, patting my hand. 

"Language, please." Rosie muttered, still a bit red. 

I was sitting there, looking at the girls laughing and joking around and suddenly felt an overwhelming rush of gratitude towards them. They've been with me through thick and thin and I honestly could not have asked for better people to love and cherish. Even if the whole world was against me, I was certain that these girls would stand besides me and give me courage to move on and prosper. 

"I love you guys." I said, tears in my eyes. 

All eyes turned to me and they were filled with nothing but affection. 

"We love you too, Jendeukie." Jisoo said, my hair. 

Lisa and Chaeyoung hummed their confirmation, putting a pause on their bickering for a while. 

In that moment, with the people I loved most with me, I wasn't afraid of anything. 

Because they would protect me. 

And with Chaeyoung looking at me like she wanted to take all my sufferings away, I truly felt no pain.

Because she would heal me.