The siren of the ambulance, Ella’s deafening howls, Chaeyoung’s voice desperately calling out for her name with her hand clasped to hers, and alerted sounds of people around, these are just some of the noises that Jennie’s half-conscious state managed to register. Her vision either goes blurred or completely dark and her jaw is locked close together. The last thing she knew is that she’s laid on a bed, saw a quick glance of the white ceiling until she went back into a dark world of nothingness.

Jennie was taken to the nearest hospital and was immediately admitted to the emergency room. Chaeyoung and Ella followed quick as the panic and their horror are disorienting them. It happened so fast that Chaeyoung almost barely caught up and her hands never stopped from trembling since then, together with their tears which was once filled with joy, but now turned into tremor.

“I didn’t know what exactly happened. We were just having a good day at the park and suddenly she passed out in front of me. Then she started having seizure inside the ambulance and I don’t know even know why…” Chaeyoung breathlessly informed the nurse, frantic and jumbled, while keeping Ella around her arms.

“Please calm down and wait outside. We’ll come back to you later on for updates and please wait for your companions to arrive.” The nurse guided the frantic musician and Ella to a seat right in front of the busy emergency room.

Chaeyoung occupied a seat but her restless legs keep on shaking, rubbing her cold palms against her lap and turning pale. She just cannot keep her mind straight at all, especially right after she witnessed the person she loves helplessly falling down the ground without having a single idea on what’s going on around her.

Ella remained standing however. Though she’s as worried as Chaeyoung is, she’s surprisingly calmer than the musician. Though she cries as hard, her emotions are still organized and she used this composure she has to guard Chaeyoung who has lost it.

Few minutes later, Jisoo and Lisa, together with Chaeyoung’s manager and her worried friend Chanyeol came rushing inside the hospital and found the extremely anxious and uneasy Chaeyoung in front of the emergency room.

“Chaeyoung, what happened? Are you alright?” Chanyeol asked as he tried to comfort her.

Yet Chaeyoung’s jumbled emotions barked at him, “Do I look like alright to you? Jennie is in there and I don’t know what the hell is happening!”

“Keep it low, Chaeyoung. There are people around.” The manager closely warned.

The people passing by around the emergency room recognized the greatest musician and some can even be seen gossiping already, also sharing accounts online at this moment. She didn’t bother putting up any covers anymore for that’s not what matters to her. She cared not of these eyes any longer, even throwing daggers at them. Jennie, she’s all that matters.

Soon, a doctor present came out of the emergency room and approached them directly as he asked, “We found a signed consent from the patient’s pocket and it stated there that she has a benign brain tumor which she consented to be treated through a major operation. However, we don’t know the whole story yet so does anyone know Jennie Kim’s medical history?”

No one dared to talk for a moment as Jisoo and Lisa eyed on each other, asking each other through their expressive eyes on who’s going to talk and open up everything. Until Lisa gave her a nod, giving her a signal that it’s pointless to hide the truth by now, and all shall be exposed before matters go worse and Jennie ends up the one suffering the most.

Jisoo nervously stepped forward. She faced the doctor and with her clenched fists, she admitted terrified, “She was confined not long ago from a different hospital. She has a developing brain tumor, but non-malignant, and she has been taking medicines recently to avoid it from getting triggered. She was highly recommended to undergo an operation and get it removed as soon as possible. She did tell me that she already signed the consent so I can vouch that it’s her sign on that paper.”

“I see. Then that’s really alarming. Her body isn’t that strong to hold on for more days without the proper treatment which is the surgery. Considering her current situation, she’s still unconscious and the seizure is already a sign that the tumor is getting worse. It has to be removed as soon as possible.” The doctor worriedly stated and highly insisted for the surgery to proceed.

Jisoo asks with her voice shaking in fear, “W-What’s going to happen to her now?”

“We’ll have to perform the operation now to avoid it from getting worst. Since the consent form was from the previous hospital, we’ll have to contact her attending doctor back there still to inform them about this. Then, once approved, we’ll perform another scan and checking before we proceed with the surgery to ensure there won’t be complications during the operation.” The doctor thoroughly explained and quickly ordered the nurse to move.

“Please, do whatever you think is the best for Jennie at this point. We cannot afford to sacrifice for the worst case.” Lisa humbly bowed down.

“Leave it to us.” The doctor said.

The doctor excused himself and the heavy silence amongst them emerged. And in the midst of quiet, Lisa turned around, only to find her best friend completely staggered and immobile right on her spot. From the very first word that Jisoo said, until the last word that the doctor said before leaving, Chaeyoung heard all of it and nothing escaped from her understanding.

Everyone looked at her, and the most terrified one, Jisoo felt her fury right away even with the distance, the wrath that’s about to explode from her pumping chest and heavy breaths. Her eyes are darted straight towards her, as if her looks are killing her every second, and her vision darkening as she glared at her.

“Chaeng, let us—“

Lisa was about to talk and save the situation, but it was too late. Chaeyoung dashed towards Jisoo and grabbed her by the collar which shocked everyone they couldn’t react immediately. She pinned the older woman against the wall and gripped on her tight, trembling with so much anger overflowing inside her, her emotions that are raging and completely out of her right mind to be even stopping.

“Since when?” Chaeyoung groaned low at first, but then she roared right into Jisoo’s face, “Since when did this happen?”

“Hey! Chaeng! Stop that!” The manager attempted to detach her from Jisoo but he was shoved away.

Lisa grabbed Chaeyoung by the waist and with all of her force she pulled her away from the horrified Jisoo. “Calm down, will you? Let us explain!”

This time, Chaeyoung shifted her flaming gazes to her own best friend and it is her where these burning hands landed next as Chaeyoung gripped on her shoulders so tight that a whelp escaped from Lisa. “Us? You knew about this too? Who else knew about this, huh?” She grumbled, panting heavily.

“I found out about it recently from the higher-ups. I was strictly ordered not to say a thing to you. Sorry Chaeng.” The manager fearfully admitted while keeping a good distance from her.

“So, all of you then. All of you kept this secret and ganged up on me?” Chaeyoung sighed ultimately disappointed. “All of you knew about this but you never told me anything or even hinted me? I see all of you almost every day and none of you bothered to tell me or even given me a clue? If only I knew all of you were keeping this important matter from me behind my back, I should have forced it out of your mouths!” She thundered so loud that her voice echoed all over the building.

Lisa pushed Chaeyoung away and released herself from the tight grip when she found a chance. And as soon as she did, she landed a heavy slap right onto her cheeks, hoping to wake her up from her senses and put a stop into this rage at once. It earned a gasp from everyone and the pain did silenced the musician.

“It was hard for us too!” Lisa yelled back at her. And as there’s no one to stop the argument, she went on, “No matter how many times we wanted to tell you, we just can’t because that’s what Jennie wished for, that’s what she begged us to do!”

Jisoo also stepped up but in a calmer manner, “We’ve been convincing Jennie to tell you about it as soon as possible too. I was trying to find a way to convince her too without hurting her or even stressing her out from the pressure. But every time, she always tells me that she doesn’t want to add to your burdens anymore and that she’ll hold on until the day she can tell it to you herself. She also planned to tell you.”

“Jennie cares for you more than you think she does. She was considering a lot of things while she’s suffering. And never she wanted to blame you for anything that’s happening to her and this is what she’s scared of to happen, for you to be in this situation, this Chaeyoung who is out of control because of her and this Park Chaeyoung falling apart because of her. She doesn’t want any of this.” Lisa said with her tone eventually lowering down.

“If only I knew it was this important, I should have asked her sooner…” Chaeyoung broke down.

“Please, Chaeyoung. Take a deep breath. Calm down and put yourself together. You’re being overwhelmed with all this information right now so please, don’t lose it now. Jennie needs you to be composed at a time like this.” The manager carefully patted Chaeyoung’s back to ease her pants.

“Consider Ella’s feelings too…” Chanyeol spoke from the back as he’s the one holding onto Ella whose tears are endlessly flowing down in between her hard sobs as the young girl witnessed the worst out of Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung closed her eyes and cried it all out for there’s nothing better to do than to pour everything. She gripped onto her hair and stood there in her tears while everyone just helplessly watched her breakdown. There’s so many questions floating around, too many words she wants to scream out and too many concerns attacking all at the same time, as if she feels like she’s going insane any second now.

“Don’t follow me. Take care of Ella for a while.” Chaeyoung warned all of them as she began lifelessly marching away.

Lisa wanted to chase her but the manager held her back and said, “Give her some space and let her be alone for a while. I’m sure she’s not going anywhere far because she knows she has to be near Ella and Jennie too. She needs to calm herself down and organize her thoughts too. She just found out a lot of things and she’s not in her right state of mind.”

“I’ll look for her later on. She must be really shocked. Anyone would really feel agitated in such situation. Let’s understand her.” Jisoo said and noted the ways that Chaeyoung took until she disappeared from their sight.

The moment was seen and heard by a lot of nosy people and no way that it’s going to slip away. As expected, it was immediately leaked like a wildfire throughout the internet, that the great musician Park Chaeyoung has lost it, that she went on a rampage, on a berserk that she even hurt her friends, and how she has gone violent towards everyone.

“This is bad. Chaeyoung’s rampage is circulating online now.” Chanyeol sighed upon checking his phone wherein the musician is trending everywhere. “Nothing’s going right. They’ve also released Chaeyoung and Jennie’s photos already.” He added frantically.

Everyone checked their phones and adding to these photos taken secretly inside the hospital, indeed, their photos were unexpectedly released by the paparazzi to add to the fuel, adding fire worse than it is already, taking advantage of the situation as a perfect timing to blow it all up. It’s being feasted online, even the hottest entertainment news on television got it first hand and the media is going frenzy.

“Who is this Jennie girl anyway?”

“Who is Jennie in Chaeyoung’s life? Why is she doing much for her?”

“I saw this Jennie supporting Chaeyoung on a music show before. I thought she was just a staff there.”

“Park Chaeyoung is over. I can’t believe all of this is happening.”

All these comments are circulating, and more are being added every split second not just within the country but worldwide. It’s not going to stop now. It’s going to get worse and worst. The situation is going to escalate even farther, conflicts are going to arise sooner or later. And certainly, Chaeyoung isn’t going to face all of this chaos right now as her family is facing a great challenge.

“This is bad. They’re dragging Jennie too.” Jisoo said as the uneasiness built up.

“I’m being called back to the company. It seems like someone took a photo of us here as well and I got involved with some rumors somehow.” Chanyeol also worriedly spoke up.

The manager then also says, “The company is summoning me too. They’re asking me to drag Chaeyoung out of here but of course, she will just end up refusing. Maybe I’ll go back alone and cover up for her at least for tonight. She cannot leave Jennie here.”

“We’ll handle things here in the hospital while you guys go on your way and do what you can. The situation is getting a lot messier so we should act quickly. This shouldn’t go any worse than how it is already. Let’s try to protect them as much as we are capable of.” Lisa suggested fast and all agreed as they went on their way.

The exhausted and clueless Ella about the situation going on online dozed off on Lisa’s arms and she let the young girl rest while she waits for more information from the doctors. They were asked to wait inside a vacant room and so that they will be guarded from the eyes of nosy media, and insiders if any. And while they rest and wait together, Jisoo took this opportunity to sneak out to look for the musician.

Jisoo followed the way where Chaeyoung took earlier and asked few nurses if they recognized Chaeyoung walking around. Everyone pointed at the same direction, towards the stairs that nobody actually use as the elevator is just beside it which they’d rather take. Few steps down and there she found Chaeyoung curled, leaning against the wall.

“Hey…” Jisoo called her out but Chaeyoung bothered not to move. And so she decided to sit beside her as she insists on talking carefully, “Lisa is taking care of Ella. Aren’t you going to join your daughter at least?”

“It’s my fault.” Chaeyoung muttered and though there are no sobs to be heard, there are tears that aren’t ceasing from dripping down the floor. “I should have noticed it sooner. I should have watched over her better. I should have been there for her more. I should have asked the doctors before. I was careless because I thought it wasn’t this serious and I also troubled her with my own problems with my career. I got her involved with my messed up career.” She breathlessly went on as sobs formed later.

“None of this is your fault.” Jisoo corrected her as she raised her voice a little. “This is why Jennie was so hesitant to tell you about this, because she knew you’ll blame yourself and end up being like this.”

“Isn’t it really my fault though? She got worse because of me, because of my situation and because of how I’m taking too long to decide to solve the problem. Even though I haven’t checked it, I know people out there are feasting over Jennie already and perhaps she’s receiving a lot of hate because of me too. I don’t want to see any of those.” Chaeyoung glared at her with those swollen eyes. 

“Jennie was only loving you with the way she thought was right and it’s not your fault for loving her too. Let the world talk with the things they don’t know about and feel no guilt when you know you’re doing something right for yourself and for the people you care about.” Jisoo said and this successfully ended the musician’s tears.

“It’s just… I can’t help it.” Chaeyoung helplessly sighed.

“I have to admit, somehow I felt wrong for not telling you sooner and I can’t help but to partly blame ourselves why this mess is happening. We knew it was an important matter but we were so torn whether to grant Jennie’s wish or to tell you. If we only knew this would happen, we should have told you the first time I heard about it. But we were so uncertain, we were so confused and we let Jennie handle it on her own.” Jisoo further added.

“Did she really hide it because she cares for me and because she doesn’t want me to worry? Because she didn’t want the world to throw me under the bus?”

“Yeah. She wanted you to focus on your career and Ella before her. She doesn’t want your career to fall apart and put Ella’s adoption at risk.”

“Jennie has been always thinking about me and Ella and she puts us first before herself. I don’t know if I’ll love her for that or don’t like it because I also want her to look after herself too and stop being selfless.” Chaeyoung sighed deeper and once again buried her face onto her folded knees.

And Jisoo smirks at her remark, “You know, you really love each other so much that sometimes your views overlap. You want to care for her and she also wants to care for you, but both in different ways and so this happened. I guess you really have to talk about it with her once she wakes up.”

“You’re right.” Chaeyoung smiled a little as Jennie’s sweet smile came across her mind.

“What did you like about my best friend anyway?” Jisoo changed the subject to cheer the musician somehow and let the time pass by leisurely. “She’s not rich. She’s pretty but she’s kind of blunt at times and a fighter, which a lot of people see as a turn off because they’d rather have a soft and girly partner. She uses most of her salary from you on paying her debts.” She enumerated.

Chaeyoung relaxed her stiffed back as she breathes out, smiling thrilled, “That’s exactly why I love her, because she’s different from the others. She’s unique. She doesn’t follow the trend. I didn’t even think if she’s rich or not because she’s just so pure and genuine. She doesn’t pretend to be someone else to be liked by others. And by the way she takes care of me and Ella, I can see how she was properly raised by her parents. I can give you countless more of reasons but I bet you don’t want to listen forever about it.”

“And maybe I don’t want to hear more of that too because I’m not used of hearing someone pronouncing their love for my best friend.” Jisoo acted cringing and laugh, just so she can make Chaeyoung follow her mood. And when Chaeyoung showed a soft giggle, she then convinced, “If you feel like that, then go to her. I’m sure you’re the first one she wants to see once she wakes up, unless you’re mad at her for not telling you.”

“How can I be mad at her? I just want her to get better and be with us again, be a family.”

“Family, huh?” Jisoo exhaled as she looked up the ceiling. “Jennie sure is lucky to have a great musician like you accepting her as a family. She’s always been alone, you know.”

Chaeyoung corrects, “She has you. You’ve been there for her when her parents left her.”

“Yeah but, you see, we’re just best friends and even though we’re very close that we know each other inside and out, there are things we cannot do together. And those things, she found it with you and Ella while I can only keep supporting her. I’ve always been worried about her, if she’ll ever find someone who can love her the way she is, without demanding so much and just be real. Who would have thought she’ll find it from a great Park Chaeyoung?” Jisoo smiled as she looked at Chaeyoung blushing at her comment.

“It’s just… well…” Chaeyoung hardly uttered as she grew s