Dara

 

I drove behind Chaerin like a mad man. We were driving way beyond the speed limit, weaving in between cars, and
passing red lights. We drove by a total of seven police cars and none of them came trailing behind us with their flashing red,
white, and blue lights on. The officers seemed to have just turned their cheeks to the other side.

 

 

Every one in a while, when my turns were too sharp, I'd glance at Jiyong's grandma. She had dozed off in the middle seats during all the action. Making one last final turn, we arrived at the hospital. Wasting no time for parking. Chaerin's car stopped right at the entrance and I was behind her.

 

 

"We got to move the cars," I said as I hopped out, "This is the ambulance lane."

 

 

"Tae, park the car. Eric, take Dara's car," Chaerin said, shooting around orders.

 

"Top, would you hurry up?"

 

"I'm trying!" Top said. He was struggling with getting Jiyong onto his back. "He's heavy and the blood is making him slippery."

 

 

I ran into the hospital, pasting patients that were waiting for their turns. At the front desk, I urgently asked the lady, "Can we get a stretcher out?"

 

The nurse began to speak in Italian. I couldn't understand what she was saying. She was shaking her head as she was talking and that told me we weren't going to get a stretcher wheeled out to the front.

 

"It's urgent," I raised my voice as I motioned for the stretcher nearby, "We need to get a patient on that!"

 

 

Top finally came into the hospital with Jiyong on his back. He quickly ran to the stretcher I was pointing at and laid him down. The lady I was speaking to looked behind me and saw. Her eyes grew wide as she understood the situation and called her colleagues to help.

 

 

My eyes scanned his body as he laid on the rolling medical bed. It was the first good look I had of Jiyong and I observed his injuries. His skin was wildly discolored, covered with bruises from broken blood vessels, burns, and cuts. His clothes were stained with both new and dried blood. He was pained, in serious discomfort.

 

 

Seeing Jiyong at this state made me switch places from being an emotional girlfriend to a serious doctor. I joined the team of nurses that began to push the stretcher.

 

 

Knowing where it's where Jiyong and I were going to part, I separated from him before the doors that divided the surgical
area from the general area. As soon as the double doors shut, and Jiyong was out of my sight, I reverted back to being the
emotional girlfriend.

 

 

The world around me started to spin. I walked slowly to the
wall and put my back against it. Sliding down to a squat, my hit the back of my ankles. Eventually my legs gave up and I ended up sitting on the floor as I wept. I heard people running towards me. I looked up and down the hall to see Chaerin and Taeyang.

 

"Jesus," Taeyang muttered, out of breath.

 

 

He bent over with his hand on his knees to support him. "Do they require doctors to take track and field?"

 

 

"You could have gone with them," Chaerin said, ignoring Taeyang.

 

"I know. I couldn't bring myself to," I swallowed as I wiped my face. I noticed that someone was missing and I asked, "Where's Top?"

 

 

"Changing," she answered. "We should go to him. He's in Jiyong's suite room."

 

We went up fifteen floors and entered the suite. I was familiar with hospital suite rooms. The lush space guaranteed privacy
and comfort in which those of the rich and the importants could afford.

 

 

Top had changed out of his blood-covered shirt and was watching the Italian news. I joined him on the couch and watched along with him. Seeing that I couldn't understand, Top added English subtitles on. A picture of Kyesang suddenly
appeared.

 

Translated into English, the news anchor said, "Around 1:45 in the morning, Kyesang was found dead at one of his estates in Triste. Inside the house, about 155 other of his acquaintances
were pronounced dead at the scene. Officers are currently looking into this and claiming that they'll host an investigation regarding this mass homicide. More questions were asked but no further ones were answered. We will keep you guys updated on our news website."

 

 

I looked at the time. The clock read two minutes away from 2:00 am. News definitely traveled fast.

 

 

"Police are investigating?" I asked everyone in the room, wondering if they were concerned.

 

 

"They always say that. Don't worry, it'll blow over." Taeyang said, heading inside the bathroom."What happened back there? I didn't hear you talking to Kyesang." I questioned Chaerin.

 

 

"I saw Kyesang's smiling face and I lost all thought of talking with that bastard," Chaerin said, looking up from her phone.

 

 

Then, she paused and scrunched her eyebrows as she thought. "Wait, did the news say Kyesang's dead?"

 

 

"Yeah," I said. "He's dead."

 

 

"How do you know?" Top asked.

 

"I decided to drive closer to you guys after I heard the gunshots from the house. Then, Nonna and I saw a figure limping down. When we got closer, we realized it was Kyesang. He saw us and he started firing his gun at us and I," I paused. I wasn't sure how to phrase what I was going to say next.

 

"And you?" Tae asked, urging me to finish my sentence. He must have heard me from inside the restroom.

 

"And I hit him with the car. He didn't die instantly. Jiyong's grandmother got out and shot him to death."

 

 

They looked at each other nervously. Chaerin laid down her hand on my shoulder and asked me, "Are you okay?"

 

 

I nodded my head, slowly, "I'm still shaken up but I guess you can say I'm fine."

 

"Hey, you know what they say, right? The second murder isn't as bad as the first. Nor will the third be, you get used to it as it occurs," Top smiled, patting my back.

 

 

Taeyang hit him in the gut to shut him up.

 

 

"What's the plan now?" I asked.

 

"We got Jiyong back and now all we have to do is wait for the doctor to bring him to us," Chaerin said. "All we got to do now is
wait."

 

--

 

I woke up to people filling in the room. Immediately, I jumped up from the couch and quickly fixed my hair. I walked up to the group to see it was just nurses that brought Jiyong in.

 

 

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked Top, embarrassed.

 

 

"We thought you'd like to catch more than five hours of sleep," he said, casually pointing at the clock.

 

 

It was currently eight in the morning. Just as fast as the nurses came in, they went out after hooking Jiyong up to the machinery. We all surround him. I was on his left side, Chaerin and Taeyang were on his right, and Top was at his feet.

 

 

Jiyong had gotten some color back to his skin. Instead of having a twisted expression, he was sleeping peacefully.

 

 

"Did the doctor say anything?" I asked. Chaerin nodded and she reported to me, "His arm is broken as well as some of his ribs. He's got some internal bleeding going on around the spleen area. The doctor says he suffered a lot of trauma just about everywhere. Those little ers touched every inch of him. He
also said something about his breathing, he's going to need an inhaler. He's going to be fine. Right now, Jiyong is sleeping
off his anesthesia."

 

"That's good," I sighed with relief.

 

Taeyang giggled as he lifted the blanket that Jiyong was under. He revealed Jiyong's cast on his right hand. It was neon pink. Top burst out laughing and Tae explained, "I told them it was his
favorite color."

 

 

Top ran to the hang out space and grabbed a marker. I watched as they signed his cast.

 

 

'Get well soon, Papi. Your right hand was the best in my opinion ;) -Taebaby'

 

 

'you look silly and you can't grab your willy :P- Top'

 

 

 

I heard the sound of keys getting picking up. I turned around to see it was Chaerin grabbing her car keys.

 

"Where are you going?" I asked.

 

"We're in Italy, where the mafia life here is busy. We got a few things to check up on. Tell the hospital to give us a call when
he wakes up," Chaerin said.

 

 

"Top, stop. We have to go talk to your dad."

 

 

Top capped the marker that he was going to use to draw on Jiyong's face, "Fine."

 

Taeyang also left with Chaerin and Top, leaving me alone with Jiyong. I moved one of the chairs next to his bedside and sat there. I stared at him as he slept, waiting for him to wake up. I
knew it was going to take awhile. I leaned deeper into my chair until I found a comfortable position and snoozed away.

 

 

Hunger woke me up. I glanced at Jiyong with one eye as I rubbed the other. He was still asleep. Getting impatient, I
looked at the time. It five minutes past three in the afternoon. I got up from the chair to stretch and my thigh hit a trolley.

 

 

On the trolley, breakfast foods laid on top and on the shelve under was lunch foods. A nurse must have came in and left here
while we were both sleeping. Feeling uncomfortable with eating
beside an unconscious Jiyong, I rolled it to the living room section. I sat on the couch where I could see Jiyong in my
peripheral vision and began munching on a sandwich. I grabbed the remote to the tv and turned it on.

 

 

Jumping from channel to channel, of which all were in Italian
but the subtitles were left on from the last time, I settled for a romance movie. I was nearing the end of the movie when the lead lady screamed in horror as her lover got shot by her ex-fiance. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Jiyong moving in his sleep. The volume must have been too loud. I muted the TV and got up from the couch, dusting the crumbs off of my chest. I stepped closer to Jiyong as he stirred awake.

 

 

Jiyong

 

My two swollen eyes opened and I awoke feeling like I'd gone through hell and back. What I saw, after fluttering my eyes, pained me. It wasn't the light that hurt. The light fixtures in the hospital suite were off. The room was relying onwestern exposure, shown through the windows, to keep it lit. Standing in front of the glass that looked upon Italy, being kissed by the sun, was Dara.

 

I stared at her, the beautiful ghost that came to haunt me. Dara was staring back, wide eye. Seeing her hit me emotionally. I changed my gaze to the right, looking at the door that allowed people to enter and leave the suite.

 

 

"Jiyong," her ghost called out for me. 

 

 

Upon hearing her voice, my eyes instantly watered. I didn't turn to her. I kept my eyes on the door as I wept. My whole body shook as I cried. I recalled all the horrible things Kyesang said he did to her.  Just as if she had floated to the edge of my bed, Dara's jean-covered thighs blocked my view. I looked up to face her and saw she was looking over me, concerned. Dara asked, "Are you crying?"

 

"I'm so sorry," I apologized and repeated over and over again, "I'm so sorry, Dara. I'm so sorry." 

 

 

"Shhh, it's okay," Dara cooed.

 

 

She placed her hand on my bruised up cheek and wiped
away the tears that rolled down. Dara's touch was warm and my muscles relaxed under her gentle contact. She pulled awayand started to walk towards the direction of the door.

 

 

"Don't leave," I begged.

 

 

God, please let this not be goodbye. Please, let my selfish self see her every day. Don't take her away from me, not my angel. Dara turned around and came back to me. She grabbed my hand and said, "Jiyong, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying."

 

 

She leaned down and kissed me. As our lips touched, realization struck me and I cried harder. I wasn't imagining her touch, it was real. She began to pull away and I gently shook my head. My okay hand went up to hold her neck as I softly urged her to stay
connected, "No, kiss me again." 

 

 

She kissed me once more, harder that time. I let go of her neck to use my hand to reach the bottom hem of Dara's shirt. Dara retreated back and placed her hands on mine to stop me from lifting it up.

 

"Jiyong, we can't do it here, not when you're in this condition," Dara said.

 

I shook my head, "No, I just need to see something."

 

 

Dara hesitantly let go and I lifted her shirtup, enough to see her flat stomach. I let out a shaky sigh of relief. There weren't
any cuts, scarring, or stitches. 

 

 

"He told me he killed you," I hoarsely whispered.

 

 

"I'm here. I'm okay," Dara softened as she shook her head. She was starting to get emotional. I could see her eyes watering.

 

 

 

"Jiyong, I meant it when I said I wasn't going to go anywhere. I decided that I want to be with you and the mafia."

 

 

A minute of silence passed as I took the moment to feel the joy. We were both feeling it and as we cried together, I whispered, "Sandara Park, I love you." 

 

"I love you, too, Kwon Jiyong." Dara replied back, telling me the words I wanted to hear. 

 

 

 

 

--

Andddd that's it! 😊