Chaerin's memory is a blur, and some of it isn't even there. Had she out? Maybe. After seeing the snowplow speeding towards them, everything went blank before she regained consciousness to bright hospital lights shining in her eyes and voices shouting around her. She couldn't tell what was even happening before she fell under again.

The room is blurry when Chaerin comes to again. She thinks she hears someone speaking, but she isn't sure. It isn't Dara, either, so she doesn't really care. But as her vision becomes more clear, she begins to realize that this isn't her room. Not her home. It's a hospital.

Then it all comes flooding back to her.

Chaerin tries to sit up in her panic, but a gentle hand on her shoulder and a soothing voice convinces her that maybe she shouldn't run off to look for Dara. Not just yet, anyway.

“Lee Chaerin?” The voice asks, causing Chaerin to finally focus in on the owner's face. It's a middle-aged woman dressed in scrubs. “I know you're distraught. You were in a car accident.”

Chaerin's throat is scratchy, making words difficult to form. “Sandara… where is Sandara?”

“The woman in the car with you?” The nurse asks, pursing her lips once Chaerin nods. “She's alive,” the woman says, hesitating a moment before continuing when she sees Chaerin relax her muscles in relief. “But she's in a coma in the ICU.”

It wasn't death, but it may as well have been. Chaerin stares straight ahead, tuning out the rest of the nurse's words as self-loathing thoughts fill her head. Somehow, she manages to convince herself that Dara ending up in a coma is her fault. “I want to see her.” Chaerin says suddenly, cutting off the woman.

The nurse looks at Chaerin with an odd, almost judging gaze. “Ma'am, you need to stay here and recover-”

“Did I stutter?” Chaerin finally looks at the woman, her eyes narrowed as her fingers curl into a fist then relax over and over again. “If you won't let me then I'll find her on my own.” She says, completely serious in her threat.

The nurse hesitates for another moment, thinking of what to say before she sighs. “I'll make a deal with you,” she says, attempting negotiation. “You sleep through the night and let some of your injuries heal up, and you can go see her in the morning.” Before Chaerin can argue with her, the woman holds up a hand to stop her. “I doubt they would allow anyone in there currently as it is. They may be doing surgery on her as well.”

Chaerin studies the woman for a moment, her eyes narrowing as she gives in. “Fine,” she says, accompanied by a sigh. The nurse nods, seemingly pleased with herself.

“I'm glad we could agree.” She says, standing up. “Is there anything I can get for you?”

Chaerin stays silent for a moment, keeping her gaze ahead as she speaks. “I want to know what happened. How it happened.”

The nurse is stunned into silence once again. She looks for the words to say, struggling for a moment before she settles on something. “Your doctor will inform you of that. Get some rest, Mrs. Lee.”

Chaerin watches as the nurse leaves the room, keeping her fists curled up tight. She hadn't even noticed. Glancing down as her hands, she relaxes them, studying the small cuts decorating them. Caused by glass shards, maybe. She sighs as she sinks back into the hard pillow, her mind drifting back to Dara.

The lack of information was infuriating to Chaerin. She had no idea what had happened to Dara. Why were her injuries so much worse? All Chaerin could do for now was wait and hope for the best. Hope that her wife wouldn't meet death. Her eyes slip shut as she tries not to think of the worst, but the feeling of guilt was boring into her very being.

Chaerin didn't even remember falling asleep. She feels stiff as she opens her eyes, her vision blurry as she stretches her arms. It takes a moment for her to notice the voices outside of the room. There was one that she recognized, but couldn't quite pin down in her grogginess.

She tries to sit up, but hisses in pain when she puts weight on her left hip. It felt like she was being stabbed in the leg. “,” she mutters, letting herself collapse back onto the bed. She doesn’t notice the voices outside going silent until she sees a different nurse look into the room, then gesture to someone outside of Chaerin’s view. It takes her a moment to recognize the woman with the long black bob and round face, but it clicks after a few moments.

“Minzy,” Chaerin says, trying to sit up again. A sharp pain shoots through her leg again, making her groan in frustration as she gives up once again.

Concern flashes over Minzy’s face as she hurries over to Chaerin’s side. “Hey, careful,” she says, grabbing the older woman’s hand. “You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

Chaerin takes a deep breath and releases it in a frustrated sigh. She hadn’t ever felt so irritated and vulnerable in her life, not even during her rough patch in YG. “I’m glad you’re here,” Chaerin says after a moment, opening her eyes and looking at Minzy once again.

Minzy nods, sitting in the chair beside the bed. “Your mom and Harin are on their way. Harin called Bom and I, said you and Dara were in an accident…” She says, trailing off as she wrings her hands together out of habit. Chaerin grimaces when she hears Dara's name, a wave of remorse washing over her again. “I was close by, so I came as soon as I could.”

Chaerin is silent for a moment, processing what Minzy said. “Thank you,” she finally says, her voice soft and hoarse.

Minzy smiles softly, keeping a hold of Chaerin's hand as she leans down to hug her. The older female didn't even realize how much she needed the comfort until Minzy embraces her. Closing her eyes tightly, Chaerin wraps her arms around her, trying to swallow the lump forming in . “They won't let me see her.” She finally says, pulling back. “It's driving me insane.”

“You need to keep asking,” Minzy says, the second-hand irritation visible on her face. She had come around quite a bit since she first found out about Chaerin and Dara. “You're Lee Chaerin, you don't stop until you get what you want. This is no different.”

Chaerin processes Minzy's words for a moment, then nods slowly. She was right. Dara is her wife. She has a damn right to see her.

The following days, Chaerin continues to demand to see Dara, but is turned down everytime. Her irritation festers, but she's good at hiding her feelings. Her family, Bom, and Minzy have no idea how frustrated she is when they visit her, but as soon as they leave, Chaerin gives into it.

She finally snaps a little over a week later when another nurse tells her she needs to stay in her room and rest yet again. Her leg was still very much broken, but by this time it didn't hurt as much anymore to sit up. Chaerin does so as she glares daggers at the nurse. “You're not giving me a damn reason. I've been resting for a week and I'm tired of it! My wife's in a coma and for all I know, she could be dying. I swear to god, if you don't let me see her, I'll get up and do it myself.”

The nurse is visibly startled by this, and stammers for words, before bowing once and muttering about retrieving a supervisor. Chaerin blinks as she the nurse leaves, processing for a moment what just came out of . She hadn't even thought about it. The words just sort of… happened.

Within a few moments, a familiar nurse enters the room with a pair of crutches and assists Chaerin in standing up. Using the crutches is uncomfortable, but it was nothing compared to the ache in her chest she'd been feeling for the past week. Getting to the ICU was aggravating and took way too long, but once they arrived, Chaerin felt her heart drop to her stomach.

She could barely recognize the woman laying on the bed as her wife. The bruises decorating her face, neck, and arms were a dark yellow color, but the stitched crimson cuts scabbing over were distracting enough. The fragile porcelain skin beneath was pale, and looked like it could shatter. It seemed as if the only thing holding Dara together were the multitude of machines hooked up to her, beeping at a constant beat.

Chaerin's breath hitches as she makes her way inside the room, collapsing into the chair set up by the bed. “Sandara…” She mutters, her voice hoarse. Without thinking, she reaches out to take hold of the bruised hand, closing it within both of her own. Chaerin drags her eyes back to look at the nurse still standing in the doorway. “May I speak with her doctor?” She asks.

The nurse nods, bowing before she leaves. Chaerin turns back towards Dara, simply taking in her broken appearance. She couldn’t even process it all. It was unnatural to see the “vampire queen”, as their fans called her, hooked up to IVs and breathing tubes. She always seemed so untouchable.

“Mrs. Lee?” A voice pulls Chaerin back as she looks up to see a middle-aged man in a white coat standing in the doorway. She bows in greeting as she turns towards him.

“I’m Dr. Jeon. It’s nice to meet you.” He says, returning the bow as he pulls up the other chair in the corner of the room. Chaerin simply nods in reply, unable to find her voice. “You wanted to speak with me?”

Chaerin clears and nods once again. “Yeah, I just…” She starts, then trails off as she sorts through her thoughts for a moment. Her gaze is drawn back to Dara as she finally speaks. “What all happened to her…?”
 

The doctor also looks towards Dara’s comatose figure. “Her initial CT scan showed intracranial hemorrhaging. When it comes to patients with traumatic brain injuries as serious as this, we purposely put them into a coma to calm their systems and allow the brain time to heal itself while the swelling goes down. Eventually, we’ll slowly wean her off of it. She also suffered external bruising and lacerations, as I’m sure you can tell, and a fractured radius. Those were easy to heal, but the injuries to her brain will take time.”

It was too much for Chaerin to take in all at once. She struggles for words, never once taking her eyes off of Dara before she decides that it’s fruitless. “What’s going to happen to her, then?”

“We aren’t sure,” Dr. Jeon admits. “Brain injuries are unpredictable. But we will continue to help her as much as we can.”

The silence is palpable until Chaerin finally nods. “Thank you…” She mutters, bowing to the doctor. Taking this as her stop to the conversation, the doctor returns her bow and leaves the room silently.

Chaerin is eventually discharged a week later due to her small amount of injuries. Throughout that entire week, she spent as much time with Dara as she could when Bom, Minzy, and her family weren't visiting. They were no different than the times they usually went out and caught up with one another, but there was one day when Bom was visiting that stuck out to Chaerin.

The two were talking about Bom’s comeback as a solo artist earlier that year when a knock on the door stopped them mid-conversation.

“My apologies,” the nurse said, bowing as she entered the room. She held a small cardboard box in both of her hands. “May I come in? I have some of Sandara Park’s possessions that were on her during the accident.”

Chaerin nodded, beckoning her in politely. “Of course,” she said, accepting the box when the nurse approaches her. She bowed in thanks, not looking into the box until the nurse leaves. Once she is gone, Chaerin immediately dug around the box, looking for one thing in particular.

“What are you looking for?” Bom asked curiously after a moment.

“Her ring,” Chaerin answered simply, pulling out the silver band when she finds it. It was still in almost-mint condition. She inspected it for a moment before clasping it in her fist and placing the box on the small table beside the bed.

Bom just smiled. “You should go take it to her.” She said, causing Chaerin to look back up at her.

“But she’s asleep,” Chaerin responded.

Bom simply shrugged, giving a soft smile. Later that night, Chaerin took the ring with her when she visited Dara and slipped the ring back onto her finger. Even though she was still under the coma, Chaerin would talk to her as much as she could, but that night she only said one thing as she leaned down to press a kiss to her slowly healing forehead. “I love you. I’m still here waiting for you.”

It was almost three weeks after Chaerin was discharged that she got the phone call from the hospital, telling her that they were going to wake Dara up. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to stay silent and out of the public eye about the situation, but with all of her concerts and appearances cancelled until further notice, it wasn’t as difficult as it would have been. Now that Dara would be alive to the world once again, it would be easier to slowly release the story to the public, if they chose to do so.

Chaerin wasted no time making her way to the hospital, finding herself trembling with eagerness. She wasn’t able to express how much she missed her wife.

It was almost an hour before she was standing at the foot of the bed beside Dr. Jeon. Most of the machines had been removed, and the bruises and cuts on Dara’s face were beginning to heal over. They would leave scars, but that didn’t mean a thing to Chaerin.

“Okay, she’ll be a bit groggy. Let’s give her some space.” Dr. Jeon says, watching as Dara’s muscles begin to tense as she slowly comes to. Chaerin grips the edge of the bed until her knuckles are white. Dara scowls as her eyes finally open and she blinks a few times until she’s able to focus on the people in front of her.

“Sandara, I know this is a lot to take in, but you’re in the hospital. You were in a car accident, but you’re okay. You’ve been asleep for a while.” Dr. Jeon explains, keeping his voice calm and steady to not alarm Dara. “How are you feeling?”

She’s silent for a long while, looking between Chaerin and Dr. Jeon with tired eyes. “My head hurts,” she finally says, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

Dr. Jeon nods. “That’s normal. I’ll get you something to help that.” He says, turning around and walking off to retrieve some pain medication.

“Sandara,” Chaerin says, overcoming her shock. “It’s so good to see you again… I’ve missed you.” She admits, not taking her eyes off of Dara.

Dara just stares at Chaerin with an unreadable gaze, flexing her hand into a fist and loosening it over and over again, as if testing her ability to use the muscles. Before she can say anything, Dr. Jeon returns with the medication.

“She’s been waiting a long time for you to come to.” The doctor says, coming around to Dara’s side to administer the medicine.

Dara just closes her eyes and shakes her head, seemingly confused now. “She has?”

Dr. Jeon nods, making Dara look back at Chaerin, studying her intently.

“But… who are you?”