Yongguk’s View

I sat in a hospital room, anxiously waiting for the nurses to leave. I had to get to Jeo Jeo’s room. “How’s Jeo Jeo?” I asked the nurse.

She looked towards me after pulling out bandages. “The doctors just finished on the emergency surgery. She’s in critical condition. They don’t think she will make it.” She replied.

“What do you mean she won’t make it?” I asked, there was worry in my voice.

The nurse avoided eye contact with me. “She’s in a coma right now. The doctors say she only has a thirty percent chance at making it through.”

“I have to see her.” I said jumping up to leave. I didn’t care if I wasn’t bandaged up; I had to be with her.

“You need to sit down.” The nurse with me said gently pushing me down onto the bed. “You have to be taken care of. You do know you are in bad condition?” She still avoided eye contact with me.

“Why wont you look me in the eye.” I said, but it came out sounding like a growl. The nurse was startled at my reaction, and the sound of my voice. She stepped back away from me. I sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I’m just really upset.” I said clenching my hands into fists.

The nurse stood there for a moment, and then said, “I know, you have been through a lot. It’s alright your apology is accepted.”

“But why won’t you look me in the eye?” I asked, this time without the growl.

She looked towards the door, and sighed. “Your eyes, they aren’t normal. They aren’t human like.” She said with fear in her voice.

I froze, “What do you mean?”

“Take a look in the mirror.” She said pointing to the bathroom.

I got up and walked over to it. I went inside of the bathroom, and looked at my reflection.

There was blood from the fight on my face. My wounds seemed to have healed, but the dried blood still remained. My eyes were the color of blood; I felt that my skin was burning hot. I dropped my head down, I didn’t want to see my reflection anymore, and I gripped the sides of the sink tightly. I breathed heavily, ‘why are they still like this?’ I asked myself. I closed the light and walked back out of the bathroom. The nurse stood there silently. 

“I understand now.” I said to her, she looked up at me without making eye contact.

“Let’s get you cleaned and patched up.” She said, “Remove your shirt.”

I did as she said. She began to clean off my skin, removing the dried blood. I tried to calm myself, but my heart continued to race. In the back of my mind I thought of Jeo Jeo. She began to cover some of the cuts on my body, cleaning them first. When she saw the gun shot wound she froze, her hands moved back quickly.

“That’s not possible.” She said, “When did you get shot?”

“Tonight…” was all I said.

She gasped, “H-h-how can this be? It looks as if it’s been healing for weeks.” She said, and I could hear the fear in her voice.

“It’s a long story…’ I said looking down at my wound. It did look like it was weeks old. I could see the bullet still lodged inside my body under my skin.

“I have to get the doctor. It’s worse than I expected.” She said rushing out of the room. I watched her leave, sitting in silence.

A few seconds later a doctor came running in with her and two more nurses. “How could we have missed the fact that you have been shot?” The doctor asked me.

“I don’t know. I thought you knew.” I said trying to keep my cool. I really didn’t care about the fact that I was shot. I just wanted to see Jeo Jeo.

“Well this is extremely odd.” The doctor said, “When did you get shot?”

“Tonight.” I said, and he looked surprised.

“This isn’t at all humanly possible. But how?” He said to me.

“My father was a biologist.” I said, and finished explaining the reasons my wounds healed a lot faster.

“Ah… That makes more sense not, but it still is something unusual. We are going to have to remove the bullet.” He said, “It wont take to long. But first I have to ask you. Do you feel any pain when I touch it?”

“No it’s just sore.” I said back to him.

“Okay, then lets get started.” He said, picking up a scalpel. He cut into my skin, and I flinched slightly. He took some surgical implement that looked like a large pair of tweezers, and stuck it into the wound. I began to feel some pain, and let out a grunt. He took notice in it, and quickly pulled out the bullet that was in my body. My blood spilled out of the wound. He quickly stitched it up, and asked the nurse to take my blood pressure.

She took my blood pressure, and looked up at me worried. “Doctor” She said, “Come take a look at this.”

The doctor looked down at the blood pressure gage, and looked back up at me. I saw that my blood pressure was high. Higher than normal, I felt my heart pounding against my rib cadge. It has been like that since the encounter with my enemy.

“According to this, your blood pressure is at an extremely high pressure. A normal person would have gone through cardiac arrest, but you are sitting here fine, with no pain.” The doctor said to me, “Are you not telling me anything?”

“No, I already told you the truth. I don’t know why I’m like this. I only know what I have found out.” I said, “Now can I please go.”

The doctor and the nurse looked at me worried. Then the doctor nodded, “but you need to be under our constant observation to make sure nothing happens.”

“That’s fine!” I said starting out of the room, “I have to go see someone.”

I ran down the hall trying to find the room Jeo Jeo was in. I came across a nurses’ station and decided to stop to ask where she was.

“Jung Jeo Jeo! What room is Jung Jeo Jeo in?” I asked frantically.

The nurse looked up at me, “Just a minute.” She said typing in the name.

“Please hurry.”

“She’s in room 440. It’s down the hall and to the right.” She said, and I ran off without saying thank you. I got to the room and her Eomma and Appa were inside. They looked up at me.

Mrs. Jung gasped when she saw me, “Yongguk sshi, are you alright?” She said standing up to see if I was okay.
“I’m fine,” I said and looked at Jeo Jeo. “How is she?”

Mr. Jung looked at me, he was in an arm sling, and had several cuts and bruises that covered his body. “She’s in a coma. The doctors don’t think she’ll make it.” He said and his voice broke.

“Please don’t be afraid of me.” I said to them, “I know I look like a monster.” And I looked away towards Jeo Jeo.

“Oh honey, we aren’t afraid. I decoded the file and read the whole thing,” Mrs. Jung said placing her hand on my shoulder, “I know that you can’t help it.”

I could see that she had been crying. Mr. Jung then put his arm around her, and the doctor came in to talk to them. They all left the room, and I walked over to Jeo Jeo. I saw the cuts and bruises that covered her beautiful face. Her eyes lay peacefully shut. The machine she was hooked up to, showed her heart beat making a sound every time it made a beat. I sat down in the chair next to her bed, placing her hand in mine. I brushed the hair from her face gently. 

“How could I let this happen to you?” I said to her, “It’s all my fault you got dragged into this. Please keep fighting, I need you to keep fighting.”

Himchan walked into the room, “Hyung, how are you holding up?”

“Fine.”

“Do you want to talk?”

“No!” I growled at him. I just wanted to spend time with Jeo Jeo.

“Hey,” Himchan said walking over to me, “I know it’s hard. I’m worried about her too.”
“You don’t know what it’s like, Himchan. You don’t know what it’s like to lose everything you love, and then lose yourself.”

“Explain it to me.” He said, taking a seat next to me.

“I lost everything ten years ago. I became an empty shell of a person, alive physically, but not emotionally. When I met Jeo Jeo, at first I wanted to keep her away, just like I did everyone else. I was use to being alone. Use to being the soulless human, but as time passed; I fell in love with her. She changed me, making me a better person. She saved me from being soulless.” I said, and he just sat and listened. Himchan is one of my closest friends, not just because we are the same age, but because he listens and understands. “I can’t lose her. I just can’t”

“Hyung, I understand what you are saying. Sometimes these things happen to amazing people. It shouldn’t, but it does every now and then. The world continues to keep spinning, and you cannot let the past hold you back. You have to move forward, just like you did when Jeo Jeo came into our lives. You can’t do anything now, and you can’t change the past. All we can do is wait and hope for the best.” He said, placing his hand on my shoulder blade. “We are all here for you and her.”

“Who? Who else is here?” I asked.

“CL, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, Daehyun, Yongjae, Jongup, and Zelo. Melia is on a flight coming in as we speak. We are all here to get though this together.”

I nodded, “I just need to be alone.” I said.

“Okay,” Himchan said standing up, “I’ll be outside in the hall if you need me.” He walked out of the room and I looked back at Jeo Jeo. I got to my feet, and bent over lightly pressing my lips on hers.

“Please come back to me.” I said to her, and kissed her again on the forehead. CL had come in to see Jeo Jeo. Her eyes were red, and swollen. I looked at her, and she started to cry. I never thought I would see such a tough girl cry. I walked over to her, and she threw herself in my arms. She began to cry uncontrollably. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to comfort her. I tried to hold back the tears, but couldn’t we both stood in the room crying.

Later that evening, Himchan took CL home. He told me he was going to stay with her for the night. The other boys had come in to visit Jeo Jeo bringing flowers for her. Daehyun and I had talked, and I knew he was scared. He was the closest with Jeo Jeo out of the all the boys. She was his best friend, his first friend of the opposite . I could tell he had been crying as well. He was the last to leave out of everyone, and he went to get Melia at the airport and take her to stay with him for the night. I stayed there with her parents. I sat there all night with her. I didn’t sleep, her parents nodded on and off throughout the night, but I stayed awake, watching, waiting for her to wake up and smile. I rubbed her hands, I kissed them, and I kissed her on the head. I prayed for her to wake up. I began to talk with her, while her parents slept. I talked about the happy times we had together.

“The first time I saw you, I knew you were special.” I said to her, “I know we had a rough beginning, but there was this feeling inside of me that I didn’t understand. I want you to know that I love you more than anything in this world. With out you, I’m nothing.” I felt her fingers twitch in my hand when I said that to her. I looked down, and saw them slightly moving.

“Doctor!” I yelled, and her parents woke up.

They ran to my side, “What? What’s she doing?” Mrs. Jung asked.

“She’s moving her fingers.” I said opening up my hands to reveal them.

He mother gasped, “My baby, Oh sweetheart, please keep fighting, come back to us.”

Mr. Jung ran out of the room to get the doctor, and seconds later they entered. The doctor and the nurse quickly check on her vitals.

The doctor sighed, “I’m afraid it’s not good news.” He said.

“What do you mean it’s not good news?” Mrs. Jung exclaimed.

“Its something we like to call, a last chance at survival. Whatever energy is left in her body is showing a slight increase in brain activity.”

“What does that mean?” Mr. Jung asked with worried eyes, “Will she make it?”

“In this case she most likely won’t, the evidence of her getting slightly better shows that she is near the end of her life. I’m afraid to say that she most likely wont make it till the weekend.” The doctor said, “And by law we cannot keep her on life support any longer if there isn’t a significant amount of improvement.”

“She moved her fingers!” I shouted, “She still has I fighting chance.” I said, and stood up in the doctor’s face.

“I’m afraid that only time will tell, the slight improvement is her body’s way of saying this is all I’ve got. At this point in time she has a forty percent chance of waking up.” He said and left the room with the nurse.

“!” I screamed kicking the chair across the room. I felt my blood begin to boil. My face got hot, and I knew my blood pressure was rising again. After how long it took it to go down, it shot up within seconds making my eyes turn red.

“Yongguk sshi, calm down.” Mr. Jung said, “We all feel the same way.”

Mrs. Jung looked at me with frightened eyes. I didn’t mean to frighten her. I was tired, and angry. I nodded and sat back down in the chair I was sitting in before. I ran my hands through my hair, and breathed heavily. My hands shook, and my emotions were filled with anger, grief, and depression. Mrs. Jung sat down next to me, placing her hand on my back. She began to rub it, trying to comfort me and calm me down. Tears formed in my eyes again, and I let them out silently.

Days had past, and it was almost the weekend. I hadn’t gone home, or slept in days. I stayed in the room with Jeo Jeo, praying that she would wake up like she use to when she slept over. In four hours from now they would be pulling the life support on her. The doctor said that there hadn’t been any improvement in her health. I held her hand, and spoke to her. I told her everything that had been going on the past few days. I told her that she needed to come back to me. Time passed, as the time grew nearer and nearer. She would be gone in a few minutes when they disconnect the life support. My heart sank, and I couldn’t breathe. My heart had shattered into pieces, this time no one could put it back together. I was kissing her forehead when the doctor came in.

“It’s time to say goodbye.” He said, looking at me. “I’m very sorry.” He went over to the machine, flipping switches off. Everyone he turned off killed me on the inside. It felt like I had lost apart of me every time. I looked back at Jeo Jeo’s motionless body. I held her hand in mine, when the tears began to fall from my eyes. The doctor had finally turned off the last switch. I stared at her for the longest time, but then there was movement. Her fingers twitched.

I saw her struggle to breathe, “She’s still alive!” I yelled, jumping to my feet.
She moved her head slightly, and her chest rose and fell quickly. It was more like a jerky motion then a smooth one. The breaths were short and quick, and I prayed to God that she would make it, as the tears from my eyes fell. The doctor reacted calling in the nurses, as I stood by her side saying, “Keep fighting! Come back to me!”