"Female, 25, two gunshot wounds are in the upper part of the body, one is in the abdomen. A knife wound on the neck, no major artery was cut. Was said to be found underwater. Needs emergency assistance immediately."

It was a peaceful morning. Well, at least it started that way. Dr Myoui just ended her rounds, and her boss let her off the hook since she spent a whole night prior assisting an extensively gruesome operation as a result of a car accident caused by two drunk drivers, one of whom has died on the spot and the second driver being crushed between two nearly exploding cars. Mina should've been used to it by now, but recently she's been feeling how all the sleepless night spent in a hospital either hunched over clinical records or in surgeries were affecting her body, and she was barely standing on her own legs. Seeing that, her boss decided to let the girl have some rest because no one wanted to have her faint during another surgery.

It doesn't explain how Mina found herself standing at the nurse's station, immersed in a conversation regarding recent hospital news (aka rumours).

"Did you know that Dr Ito had a one night stand with Dr Nakamura? They act so awkwardly around each other. And everyone thinks they just fought about that one patient."

"How did you know that?"

"I have my sources, okay?"

"Have you been snaking around again?"

"How dare you, Nako! I just want to be informed, okay?"

"Didn't you walk in on them that one time under the pretence of some case of emergency?"

"Not you too, Mina! How can you out me like that? I trusted you!"

"I trusted you too, but you decided to sleep when you clearly promised to help me organize the records."

"I was wasted, okay? Like, try staying up all night getting all those calls from a bar where the massacre took place? Although, by the looks of it, you haven't slept in years. What are you even doing standing there? Go sleep! We don't need another patient to take care of!"

"I will, Sana-chan. I just feel like I won't get any sleep if I lie down. It was so long ago since I had a decent sleep."

"You won't, Mina-chan, not if you continue standing there like a fool!"

"Hey!"

"She's right, Mina-chan, we don't want you dying on us. You're a doctor, and you should know not to neglect sleep."

"Not you too, Nako!"

"She's a dumb doctor, Nako. She won't understand!"

"Yah! I can hear you!"

"Great! Now go until we force you."

"You can't force me into-"

Just as she was about to retort, her pager went off. Then the nurses heard a distinct sound of their pagers too. As they exchanged glances, a voice called out as a stretcher was rolled into the emergency room, "Over here! All ER Department's doctors available, we need your assistant."

The stretcher was surrounded by medical staff. A small woman crying with anguish was hurrying just behind it. Mina rushed to the stretcher as well, forgetting about her supposedly rest time. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the woman wore a light blue police uniform, her face was obscured by her long messy dark hair. She was continuously blubbering and crying, but something seemed off in her appearance.

She was speaking... Korean?

Indeed, her uniform looked foreign, and she didn't seem to understand whatever the doctors were saying, asking her about the patient's condition.

When Mina looked down, she saw a big oxygen mask put on the woman's face. Half of her face was bloodied, dirtying her short blond hair. A deep gush was spotted on the left side of her neck, stretching all the way from the tattoo under her ear to the clavicle. Her blue t-shirt was tattered and covered in blood. Her chest was not moving at first sight. The skin was bluish and cold to the touch.

The doctors kept asking another woman questions, but they could barely get an intelligible response out of her. She was still crying in Korean.

Mina decided to be useful for once, turning on her Korean mode, "Hey, ma'am, can you hear me? Please, cooperate with us. We need to know-"

But she expected everything but that when she saw the woman's face, "Dahyun?"

"Myoui?" Suddenly the world started spinning around her, she felt sick to her stomach. She held her breath in and looked down. Of course.

She should've known. She should've known when she saw that tattoo. She should've known when she noticed a mole in the corner of . She should've known when she saw that face. Yet, she still refused to believe.

It can't be. It can't be her. Oh God, please, not her.

"Got a weak pulse, lost a lot of blood. Was found unconscious underwater and spent there for about two to three minutes. The chance of survival is extremely low. Needs surgery right now. Dr Myoui, relay the stats right now."

Mina was not moving. If it wasn't for the stretcher, she would fall down. Everything seemed blurry.

"Dr Myoui? Dr Myoui! Do you hear me? Snap out of it! We have a dying person here."

A quick push from the nearest nurse helped her regain a little bit of consciousness. She looked around. Half the crew were exchanging heated words in Japanese while the rest were trying to aid the patient. Dahyun, who she recognized earlier, was still blubbering something under her nose. Mina only now noticed that her hands were tightly clenching the patient's right hand.

"Myoui, the stats!"

"Y-yeah, um, sorry, I just-"

"The stats! Now!" 

"S-sure, yes." Okay, be professional, Mina. You are a doctor. You still can save her. You must save her. She gently put her hand on the patient's neck in order to feel the pulse. The skin was abnormally cold. "The pulse is hardly there, can't tell for sure," she looked at the attached machine, "BP is gradually falling. I don't- I don't feel her breathing."

"Okay, everyone, get ready. We've got a tough case."

While the stretcher disappeared behind the wide doors of the operating theatre, the woman, Dahyun, fell to her knees, pulling her hair.

"Please, I beg you, save her," looking at bewildered staff around, she continued chanting, "Please, I don't know Japanese, but please, everyone, please, save her. Please, God, just this once, let the idiot live. I won't ask for anything ever again, I swear. Just let her get through it this time."

"Ma'am? Ma'am, it's okay, please, get up from the floor." A nurse walked up to the tormented woman and kneeled by her.

"You know Korean? You understand me?"

"Yes, I do, please, get up from the floor, ma'am. It's all dirty."

"Please, I beg you, save my friend, please." She grasped the nurse's shirt and started shaking her.

"Calm down, ma'am, our crew is doing everything they can to save her, but it'll take time, so please, get up from the floor."

"I just- Please, I can't lose her, please, she can't die. No! She cannot die! I beg you, please, save her life, please."

"Ma'am, please, calm down. You're making a scene. Come on, don't make it any harder for of us, miss, I-"

"You don't understand-"

"Ma'am, please-"

"Officer Kim?" A hoarse voice made both of them look up.

"Mina-, I mean, Dr Myoui."

"Dahyun-ssi, please come with me. I believe we need to talk. Sana-chan, I'll take it from here, don't worry, please go back to your work."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, they need all capable hands in the operating theatre."

"What about you?"

"I- I have some business to settle. It's okay, I'll join you later. Officer Kim, please follow me."

A sudden reunion which no one expected brought them anxiousness and a tiny sense of excitement amid every other morbid thought that loomed above them due to the events currently taking place.

Once they came inside the cosy decorated room with a small table and a neat bookshelf across the large window, no one knew what to say.

Mina stood beside her table, clenching fists and looking outside the window. Dahyun was left near the door, still shaking and unable to control small weeps racking her body.

What seemed like an eternity was only a couple of minutes of silence. Mina decided to take the first step. Still facing the window, she said, “Dahyun-ssi, I need your statement regarding the incident. Please, it's very important.”

"I- Will she live?"

"...I can't tell for sure, but there's a chance-"

"No, you don't understand! She must live! You can't let her die there, she-"

"Please, Officer Kim, calm down-"

"-I won't calm down until you tell me she's alright! You can't just tell me that!"

"Dahyun! Stop it! We are all on edge right now, and your tantrum isn't helping!"

"I- I just want her to be alright. Mina, you don't understand..."

"I do, Dahyun, I want her to live just as much as you do, but there's nothing we can do but wait."

"No, you don't. You weren't there, Mina. When she got shot, I-I was too late. When that bastard was there- When she fell down that bridge, I-"

"Dahyun-ah, breathe, please."

"When I hauled her out of that lake, she wasn't breathing... she literally was dead, I-"

"I do understand you, Dahyun, I do. Believe me. I was there when the ambulance arrived. I saw her wearing that oxygen mask, and there was blood everywhere. God, there was so much blood. She was as cold as a corpse, and I just- God, I see worse things every day, but it's just, it was so much harder to see..."

"...Because it's her, Mina-unnie, it's Chaeyoung."

Yes, because it's her. And because it's her right now fighting for her life, that's why it's so painful for them.

"...Just tell me what happened. Please. I need to know".

"I can't tell you, unnie, I'm sorry."

"Dahyun, you don't understand. The chief scolded me because I was acting unprofessional, but I got petrified. I couldn't move or speak. It's the first time I see her in three years, and she's barely alive. I knew I wouldn't be able to help even if I tried, so I opted out. I can't bear to even see her in surgery. Because I-" she stammered and looked away, trying to keep her tears at bay, refusing to look even more useless and pathetic than she already was. "We have the best staff here, and right now, they are doing whatever they can, but you saw her, Dahyun, you saw her. The chances are low, terrifyingly low, so we can only wait for now. I wish I could say something more, anything, anything but this. I can't. I just can't."

The room fell into silence. There was only the sound of the clocks ticking and Dahyun's barely restricted sobs.

"Why are you here? Dahyun, why are the two of you here in Japan? Just what happened?"

"It's confidential information, Mina-unnie, you know I can't tell..."

"Dahyun," her eyes were glazed with tears, and she was ready to beg on her knees, and she would if she had to, "Please, just tell me what happened. I need to know."

"Unnie, I can't..." She seemed hesitant. Her rational side was telling her to keep shut, to keep an innocent life from whatever mess they found themselves into. But she also realized that it was Mina. Myoui Mina. The same Mina who was there when time got tough. The same Mina who was there for Chaeyoung, who cared for her and loved her unconditionally. The same Mina who Dahyun knew she could trust. Myoui Mina who wanted Chaeyoung to live and was as desperate as Dahyun, Chaeyoung's closest friend. She was simply Mina. And Dahyun made up her mind.

"In Seoul, we've got a lead on the case. All traces were pointing to Japan. A new murder was planned to be staged there. But we didn't know for sure. What time, what day, what city. So against our better judgment, we decided to make a move. Well, Chaeyoung did, but I couldn't let her go alone, it was too dangerous. And I'm glad I didn't. We've been following this particular case for over a year now, and I can't tell what's it about, as I said confidential information. Just you should know that we were hot on his tail, but happened, and I-I needed to go away for a while to placate our boss. Let's say our little trip wasn't agreed with the chief. And, Chaeyoung, oh God, Chaeyoung decided to take him down on her own, and I wasn't there, and God, she almost died, and I wasn't there... Mina, I wasn't there." She rasped as another wave of tears came crashing down on her.

Mina was speechless. She didn't know what to feel, what to say. There was an emptiness inside her. She wasn't sure how to deal with it. One moment she was chatting with the nurses, discussing the latest gossips about the hospital's renowned staff, the next thing she knew, she's sitting in her office, gripping her desk for dear life and praying to whoever was out there that Chaeyoung would be alright.

Chaeyoung. Her Chaeyoung. 

It's been years since they last saw each other, spoke to each other. Once having an unbreakable bond, they had to part ways from each other in need to find their own true calling in life. They went about their lives with no hard feelings left. The separation was amicable. But they promised to see each other again one day. And Mina waited. Heaven knows how Mina wished for this moment to happen, imagined all the words she would say once they reunited again. But not like this. God, not like this. With one of them currently dying and the other trying to hold onto what was left of her sanity while comforting the woman that Chaeyoung deemed as her only family. It all seemed like a cruel joke.

"Mina?"

"Yes, Dahyun?"

"If she won't make it-"

"Don't say it, please..."

"If it happens, can I take her back to Korea? I'm sure she'd love to be with her parents..."

"Don’t say that! The surgery is still going and there's a chance-"

"Mina, you're a doctor, you know the stakes."

"But I'm also not just a doctor, Dahyun. I know the chances are low. , I know that. But there's still hope. I'm not a doctor right now, Dahyun, I'm a human, and goddammit, she better be living. Because otherwise, I'll make sure to haunt her in the afterlife."

"That makes two of us, actually."

The first little smile broke out on her face, it was barely there, but it was sincere. Mina couldn't help but return the action. "Glad we're on the same page then."

Silence engulfed the room again. However, this time it wasn't tense. The emotions of both women were still high wired, and the damn well full of them seemed to break anytime soon again, but in a way it was comforting. Even after all these years, they knew they could rely on each other. And that was the only thing keeping them somewhat sane.

"So, Myoui Mina-ssi, it's been a while. I see you're doing well, Dr Myoui. Seeing you're working in one of the most prestigious hospitals in Japan. I guess you acing all your exams in college proved to be beneficial."

Mina blushed, still not used to all the compliments she often heard from other people. While she would usually smile politely and say her thanks in gratitude, this time it was different. In front of her stood an old friend whose words weren't spoken out of politeness or something else artificial. She was always honest, and her words seemed to hit close to home. It was like a breath of fresh air. And so she smiled a little bit wider.

"Well, the job is hard, but it's nice. The hospital is nice. I'm grateful to be working here. And I'm also glad we got to meet here, not in that feeble place I used to take my internship in. Plus, it's Osaka, it does offer a good scale of medical services, and we're glad to deliver."

"Oh yes, Japan is great so far. We actually came here a week earlier than we were supposed to. I've had a vacation, and I don't regret coming here."

"Why Osaka?"

"We-, um, we didn't have a specific destination in mind, we were just following the trace and looking for evidence, but Chaeyoung said it'd be nice to take some time for ourselves. She even brought a camera, you know how she's like."

"Of course."

"About that, unnie... We didn't know you'd be here... She didn't know you'd be here. It is a mere coincidence."

"I believe you. I-I never told her where I was heading. And I wasn't sure whether she'd stay in Seoul after that."

"Why, if you don't mind me asking? Weren't you going to keep in touch?"

"She said we needed time to find ourselves. I was afraid to leave, but she assured me that spending time apart wouldn't be that bad. We both needed it. It was terrifying for both of us, and the idea of not continuing what we had seemed impossible. I still remember what she said. If we succeed in what we're trying to achieve, and if we both manage to stand proud on our feet, and the universe decides we're worth a shot, we'll meet again, and we won't be afraid anymore. All the years we will have spent apart will be nothing because by then, we will have each other again."

"That glorious idiot, of course, she'd say something as cheesy. I should've known..."

"Know what?"

"Um, nothing, just... it's nothing really. But I'm glad you managed to find yourself. I'm proud of you, really, and I know she'll be proud too."

"How about you, Officer Kim? You don't look bad yourself. Quite beaten up but not that bad, I must say."

"It's actually Senior Officer Kim, and, um, yeah. It's okay, I guess. The work keeps me pretty busy all the time. I like it though. Usually, it's mostly paperwork, but now that we're working in the crime field, it's exciting. Pretty dangerous too, as you may see. Anyways, yeah, doing well for myself. Recently, bought a small condo. I guess all those night shifts finally paid off. Got an idiot as a partner, often gets us in trouble, but you know me, can't leave the damn child out of sight. Tzuyu says it's my mother hen complex, but she's the one spoiling the idiot with strawberry milk all the time."

"Tzuyu? Chou Tzuyu? You guys still talk?"

"Oh yeah, of course, School Meal Club's membership is for life, duh. She works with us, by the way. Although, she went into forensics and spends more time hanging out with corpses than with us. It does make her even more unapproachable. We're used to it, but others walk on eggshells around her. You two would bond over weird medical stuff. At least she'd be bothering us less then."

"And Chaeyoung?..."

"Oh, of course, the main dish. You weren't actually interested in my story, were you?" Dahyun's tone of voice held a touch of teasing to it. Mina was avoiding eye contact, and she was blushing to the top of her ears.

"It's not true, I just, ahem, want to know how all of you been. Don't look at me like that!"

"Why are you blushing then?"

"I'm not..."

"If you want to know if she's in a relationship, then no."

"I didn't-! Yah, stop it!" It was a sight for sore eyes, thought Dahyun, seeing a cool and collected Dr Myoui all flustered and red like a schoolgirl. However, Mina always has been shy and quiet, so it wasn't that hard to unnerve her. Some things never change.

"She's been good. Great, actually. You know, until today..." not wanting to delve deeper into the topic, she hastily continued, "She's been promoted recently. She's now a Senior Inspector, not quite a detective yet, but she's given more complex cases. She's technically my boss now, even if we usually work together as partners. Can you believe it? It's so humiliating! I beat her in all evaluation tests, but she beat me in hand to hand combat, and she's now a senior! I can't believe that all it took was for her to be reckless and bust some street gang, really..."

While Dahyun continued her whining about the unfairness of the police system, Mina couldn't help but bite her lip, trying to control her expression and not to smile. She felt pride inside of her, knowing and seeing with her own eyes how much the small girl pushed herself to be better, to be worthy of where she is right now. Then came another feeling. A heavy one, reminding her of how she could lose it all any moment, of how she was out there, fighting for her life. And neither Mina nor Dahyun could help her. Dr Myoui sensed another rush of fresh tears in the corners of her eyes but willed herself to keep her composure. It would do no good crying like a baby. She needed to stay strong. For herself, for Dahyun, and, most importantly, for Chaeyoung.

She will stay there, talking to an old friend, and if, no, when Chaeyoung wakes up, she'll be there for her. Just like always.

"Thank you, Mina-unnie. I missed you."

"I missed you too, Dahyun-ah, both of you."

And so they waited.