2:53 am

Cursing under her breath, the silver-haired woman jolted up and clutched her head, succumbing into the developing migraine from the sudden action. It's the third night of the week that she's woken up from a nightmare and it's starting to frustrate her because she knew she had to find ways to sleep again. She forced herself to stand up on her feet and walk aimlessly to the light switch, only guided by the dimmed light from her window. Flicking the lights open, she made her way out to fetch herself a glass of water and after her successful travel, she was able to take sleeping pills and made it back to her bed. 

Staring at the ceiling, the scenario from her nightmare replay, a groan escaping . Why do I keep having these nightmares? 

Brushing the thought off her mind, she closed her eyes and tried to empty her thoughts, hoping the medicine would finally take effect.

***

"How many of these did you take?!"

"..."

"Are you trying to take your own life, Yeji-unnie?"

Avoiding her bestfriend's stare that almost felt like drilling into her soul, Hwang Yeji kept mum and fiddled with the white blanket hovering above her lower body, her eyes landing at the back of her hand which is currently cannulated. Everything is still a blur. She wasn't able to remember because of how fast it all happened and yet she finds herself confined, along with other patients that seems like in a much worse condition than her. 

Hearing a heavy sigh, she looks up and sees the change of expression on her friend's face. The girl sat at the edge of the bed and reached for Yeji's hand.

"Ryujin-ah, I'm sorry," Yeji squeezed the short-haired woman's hand, in hopes of expressing that she didn't mean for it all to happen.

Ryujin shook her head and tries to smile. "No, I'm sorry for bursting like that. I'm just..." she purses her lips, trying to comprehend the situation. "This is unexpected. If there's anything wrong, I should know because I'm your bestfriend, right?"

The older woman could only sigh, knowing how the incident must have affected and caused a misunderstanding between their relationship.

"I should know if you're bothered but I feel really clueless right now. I should've done something--"

"Please, don't blame yourself," Yeji says, squeezing Ryujin's hand tighter. "It wasn't my intention at all. I wasn't trying to take my own life."

Surprised, Ryujin showed her the bottle of sleeping pills once again. "But you took half of these, what are you trying to do?"

"I was having recurring nightmares..." Yeji explains. "It has been going on for countless nights and every time I wake up in the middle of the night, it became a habit that I take sleeping pills to go back to sleep. Out of frustration, maybe I took too many that one night and I wasn't really fully conscious to remember what I did--"

She felt a sharp pain on her forehead, realizing that her bestfriend had just flicked her forehead and went back to her nagging self. "Ouch, that hurts!"

"That's for making me worry," Ryujin huffed. "I really thought you intentionally tried to do something bad, I thought I wasn't being a good friend for not knowing!"

Yeji giggled at the sight of her worried bestfriend. "You're not a good friend because you're my best friend," she launched for a hug as Ryujin scoffs and tries to return the hug back, making sure not to nudge Yeji's cannulated hand.

"Don't think I'm letting you off this easily."

The two pulled away from each other when they heard a deep voice behind. 

"Good afternoon," the doctor peered, showing a genuine smile at Yeji. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel alright, Doc."

Ryujin stood up and paved way for the doctor for him to check up on Yeji and run a few tests. It didn't take long as the doctor finally delivered them the good news, telling them that Yeji doesn't have to stay in the hospital for long as her condition seems to be back to normal. Fortunately, they were able to clean the pills she took before it could take effect, all thanks to Ryujin for rushing Yeji to the hospital as soon as she can. She's just glad she passes by at her apartment that morning. She knew something was wrong when the Yeji didn't respond to her calls, or a bestfriend's instinct, maybe.

"Does that mean I could go home today?" Yeji asks the doctor.

"Yes, but we referred you to the toxicology and also with a psychiatrist. You can come back tomorrow for the remaining tests."

Yeji and Ryujin looks at each other, worry painted on their faces. The doctor read the two girls expression and gave a reassuring smile. "The psychiatrist only wants to know your reason why you took the pills. It wasn't prescripted, so we just want to make sure it won't happen again."

Yeji nods in agreement as both girls sigh in relief.

It was Saturday the next day and Yeji already did some tests the doctor advised her to take. She finally has to do one last check up, which has to deal with a psychiatrist. Yeji is still unsure as to why the doctor said she has to talk to a psychiatrist after already explaining that her intention was clean, yet he insisted that she might need at least one or two sessions. He explained that maybe a psychiatrist would help her about her nightmares too and for Yeji, she isn't really the type to go counselling. After thinking about the doctor's advice thoroughly, she ended up with a thought that it wouldn't harm her to try, anyway. She was sure her first session would be her last, though.

The whole afternoon, Ryujin accompanied her around the hospital. The younger woman even took care of the forms she has to fill up and paid half of the expense. Yeji is thankful just to have her bestfriend with her. Although they argued for a bit about letting Yeji's parents know about what happened, the older woman was able to persuade Ryujin not to tell them yet because she didn't want them to worry and come all the way from Jeonju, especially that they're pretty old for their age to be travelling by themselves.

"But make sure to tell them sooner," Ryujin says.

She knows Ryujin can be a worrywart sometimes but that's her bestfriend. Although a year younger, she admits the girl is more mature than her.

"Yeddeong, I think it's better if I just wait outside," Ryujin said as she sat down on one of the rows of chairs in front of the room they're instructed to. Yeji nodded as she went near the door and read the name written beside it to make sure if they got it right.

"Dr. Choi... Jisu," Yeji read, looking at her phone then back to the door. "Yep, this is it."

Yeji knocked at least three times before pushing the door open. To her surprise, no one's there. There's another door though, which she assumes as the doctor's main office and she contemplated whether she should wait inside or with Ryujin outside but after hearing a few noise coming from the room, she assumed the doctor's already there. Not wanting to waste time, she decided to close the door behind her and go inside the other room. Peeking inside, she made her way to sit on the chair in front of what seems to be the doctor's table. Yeji just sat there, feeling anxious. She didn't know why but there's just something about being isolated and having to wait for someone. Nevertheless, she wanted everything to finally be over with.

"Chaeryeong-ah, have you seen--"

The moment Yeji turned around, she heard a scream, which also shocked her to the core and made her jump out of her chair. The woman is almost topless, wearing an open laboratory coat and only a bra underneath it. Yeji felt the heat rise up to her cheeks as she spun around, burrying her face to her hands.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't see anything, I swear!" Yeji tries to reason out, embarrassed.

The person hid herself to a near pillar, closing her laboratory coat in the process. "It's okay, it's okay!"

"I'm really sorry, I didn't know!" Yeji kept explaining, her back still facing the other girl. She just kept spouting words when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her around to face her.

"It's okay now," the girl says, her coat finally buttoned, much to Yeji's relief. "I shouldn't be walking around like that..."

"What's happening here?"

They heard a voice coming from the door as both of them looked at the source. A tall brunette is standing at the frame just looking at them, holding a piece of clothing in her hand. She gasped after realizing what might have been the situation and immediately went to drag the other woman to another room, leaving the bewildered Yeji.

"Jisu-unnie, what happened there?"

The petite woman sighed as she wore her new blouse and changed into a new laboratory coat, getting rid of the coffee-stained one.

"She saw me only wearing my coat and my bra," Jisu says as she handed her clothes to her assistant. She rummaged through her bag for her perfume and fixed her makeup a bit, seeing herself still flushed from what just happened.

"I thought you knew I was going out to take your change of clothes?"

"It's just me being stupid not to lock the door and walking around shamelessly..." Jisu sighs once more. "Plus, I thought it was you."

Her assistant, Chaeryeong, who she's also friends with, gave out a hearty laugh, making her more embarrassed.

"Oh, shut it."

They finally walked out of the small room and saw Yeji sitting on the same chair Jisu saw her earlier. The woman looks up at her and immediately turns away after meeting Jisu's eyes, which once again made the atmosphere awkward.

"I'll be back on my place, Doc," Chaeryeong excused herself, bowing at both of them before making her way out.

Jisu made her way to the other side of the table and sat down on her black, leather swivel chair. She opened the file in front of her, which was prepared by her assistant earlier in the morning.

"So, uhm..." Jisu trailed off, biting down her lip. She mentally wants to slap herself for suddenly feeling nervous towards the girl in front of her. "You're Ms. Hwang Yeji?"

The silver-haired girl only nodded.

"I'm Dr. Choi Jisu, but you can just call me Dr. Jisu," Jisu says and starts explaining about how she was informed to give out tests for Yeji and before she continues, she noticed that the other girl just keeps looking at her lap. She cleared , hoping to get her attention.

Of course, this has something to do about what happened. She has to do something to clear up the little misunderstanding they had earlier to get rid of the awkwardness.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Yeji-ssi," Jisu says, finally making the girl face her. For a moment, Jisu was taken aback about how unique her eyes were and the way she stares right into her, it felt like a chill just ran down her spine. She had to shake that thought before she continued.

"That was very unprofessional of me, I hope I could make it up over a cup of coffee?

***

It was already 5 pm when Yeji got back to her apartment. She and Ryujin decided to stop by for ramyun before they went home. She didn't know why but she felt really exhausted about how her day went.

Kicking off her shoes, she went straight to her room to change into a much comfortable clothes and went back to the living room to turn on the tv and plop down at her couch. She sat there in silence as the events earlier flashed back in her mind, the tv being a mere background noise.

"What?" Yeji asks, surprised by the doctor's sudden invitation. 

"Uhh, is it not okay for you?" Jisu says, her face looking like it's gonna explode out of embarrassment. She didn't know as well why s