'Note: I know nothing about medicine, hospitals and ailments so please understand the mistakes you might have come across while reading this update.' Chapter 12 Luminous fluorescent lights filtered through Jessica's closed eyelids, somewhere nearby, something metal clinked onto a tray. Low voices drifted into the room. For a moment, Jessica thought she was still in the hotel but the smells were all wrong. Instead of the soft Jasmine room fragrance scent, the harsh smell of disinfectant and something else assaulted her nose. 'What…? Where…?' She opened her eyes and squinted against the overhead light. After a moment, a tiled, sterile room swam into focus around her. Medical equipment surrounded her. 'A hospital.' She had to be in the hospital. Jessica remembered Taeyeon insisting that they go to the hospital, she remembered her body going limp, then nothing. When she lifted a hand, searching for a call button, she realized that she was hooked up to an IV, and a small device clipped to her finger connecting her to a monitor on the other side of the bed. Jessica's hands fluttered over her head. She looked down to realize her clothes were gone. Instead, she was wearing a polka dot hospital gown. Her head felt heavy and sore, but other than that, nothing hurt. “You’re awake.” A husky voice startled her, and then someone moved into her line of vision. A man in his early forties bent over her. His gaze went from her face to the monitor next to her and back, the monitor showed normal sinus rhythm, the QRS complexes looked great, and her pulse was stable. Jessica had to clear her dry throat before she could speak. "What happened to me? Where's Taeyeon?" She struggled to get up but a nurse by her side held her down gently. A faint smile curled the doctor's lips. "You need to relax, you underwent a head surgery, if you move too fast you'll feel dizzy, so stay calm." Jessica wanted to nod but her heavy weighted head couldn't let her, so she blinked instead, not that she understood what the doctor meant by 'she underwent a surgery', but she didn't want to work her brain right now, so she did as she was told, relaxing back. “Let's check your blood pressure.” The doctor said nodding at the nurse beside her. The nurse pressed a button to inflate the blood pressure cuff around Jessica's arm. “Ninety over sixty.” She reported. The doctor gestured to the IV, which thankfully hadn’t been ripped from Jessica's arm when she had tried getting up her cot. “Turn the fluids up a little.” the nurse did as she was instructed and they watched the drips speed. The doctor, after staring at the monitor for a while, inserted the earbuds of his stethoequally, warmed the bell between his fingers for a moment, and listened to Jessica's heart and lungs. Both lungs sounded clear, no heart murmur either. With a satisfied nod, he removed the earpieces and slung the stethoscope around his neck to have his hands free. Gently, he pulled back Jessica's right eyelid, then the left and shone a penlight into her eyes, one at a time. Both pupils constricted equally Finally, he ran his fingers over the back of her head, beneath the long, black hair, to the sides to make sure there was no post-operative haemorrhage, or swelling. He stepped back, stripped off his gloves, and took her chart in his hands. "Do you feel any pain other than your head area?" "No." Jessica muttered. "Do you see my face? hers?" He gestured to the nurse beside her. "Yes." She answered. The doctor nodded inscribing something on her chart. Jessica in a breath. "Please where's Taeyeon? I want to see her." She said weakly. "Don't worry we will let her know you are awake." He smiled in memory of how worried the other woman had been all day all night. "Everything looks good now but if you feel anything unusual, anything at all do not hesitate to press this button here." He said pointing towards her side. Jessica bobbed her head once gently, to let him know she understood. The doctor turned his attention to the nurse. "Pearl, you can get her friend now." He said, the Filipino nurse nodded, and turned to her task. "You shouldn't talk much and try to get some rest." He advised, and with a final glance at the monitor, the doctor walked out of the room, his opened white lab coat swishing behind him. Jessica stared after him, still not quite able to grasp what has really happened. The waiting room was empty thankfully, she doesn't need to search further, as the only person in the room, was the small woman pacing and when Pearl entered, Taeyeon froze and looked at her as if caught between the impulse to storm towards her to find out information about Jessica and the urge to run away because she didn’t want to hear the bad news the nurse might deliver. “Ms. Kim?” Pearl asked. Taeyeon nodded and swallowed audibly. “I’m Pearl, the nurse in charge of your friend." “Is she…?” Taeyeon wrung her hands, her eyes glassy with tears. “She’s stable at the moment.” The nurse said quickly. Taeyeon plopped down onto the chair as if her knees had buckled. “Oh thank God!” The nurse Pearl, sat next to her so they could talk eye to eye but kept a respectful distance. “Can I see her?” Taeyeon finally asked. “Of course, she's been asking for you." "She's awake?" Taeyeon jumped up from her seat in preparation to storm her way into Jessica's room but the nurse held her hand. "Wait..." Taeyeon looked at her confusingly. "Is she okay?" "Oh, yes she is. I just wanted to tell you to be careful and refrain from talking about things you know would cause her to think intensely. If she doesn't remember something, do not try to make her, right now we don't want her under any sort of stress, we will be monitoring her progress until she's fully recovered. Do you understand." Taeyeon nodded. "Do you have any other questions?” The nurse asked. "Is she going to be alright?" "I'm not a doctor, but by the look of things, yes." Taeyeon flashed her a grateful smile. "Thank you, I will go see her now." Taeyeon took off without waiting for the nurse's response. "Oh, careful the floors are slippery." Pearl hurled at the running Taeyeon, who didn't even turn to look at her let alone heed her warnings. Shaking her head at the woman's childishness, the nurse opted for the nurses station to take a rest, it has been hell of a long day. Taeyeon's heart pounded in her chest as she walked to Jessica's room. Every step felt as if she were walking on clouds, she looked in Jessica's direction and stopped as if lightning had hit her. Slowly, she moved towards the sick woman and stopped once again, but now four feet away. Jessica's body tingled and felt as if it were a magnet that was pulled towards Taeyeon, and she smiled seeing the face she'd missed so much. “Hi.” Taeyeon's voice shook. “Hi.” Jessica's ex