Chen woke up with a start in the hospital room. It was dark and quiet and he felt like he just woke up from a long nightmare. As soon as he moved, there was a buzzing coming from the side of the bed and that’s when he realized that he was in the hospital. Chen’s memory wasn’t fuzzy at all, he remembered exactly what happened and he hoped he didn’t.

            Soon, the door opened and Chen saw a doctor and nurse come into the room. “You’re finally awake,” the doctor said in relief as he looked at Chen who was blankly staring back at him. “Do you know why you’re here?”

            “Yes,” Chen said without blinking an eye.

            “Do you know your name?”

            “Kim Jongdae, or Chen is my nickname. I don’t suffer from any brain damage or brain injury, so there’s no need to test those things,” Chen said. “I’m sure you don’t have to test anything because I’m sure that I’m perfectly fine.”

            “It’s only a requirement,” the doctor explained. “Chen, do you know the reason why you’re here?”

            “I fell down the stairs,” Chen calmly said.

            “Did you really sustain those injuries by falling down the stairs?” the doctor asked in disbelief. “I highly doubt that anyone would get those injuries by simply falling down the stairs.”

            “I have a very long staircase,” Chen said shrugging his shoulders. “I was stupid and I fell down when I was in my drunken state.”

            “Of course,” the doctor said. “I won’t question you anymore, but it’s glad to see that you’re up.”

            “Wait a minute,” Chen said stopping the doctor before he was able to leave the room. “What day is it today?”

            “It’s Saturday,” the doctor simply said. “Today is Saturday. You were out for quite a while there. Now, rest, I’m sure you’ll need it and we’ll determine your release date later, right now it’s two in the morning, so those things can be dealt with later.” With that, the doctor left Chen sitting in the room alone.

In the morning, Ellie woke up and prepared herself to go to the hospital. She was going to visit Chen and see if that he woke up, secretly, somehow deep inside of her, she wondered if she would see Luhan again. Ellie would be lying if she said that he wasn’t cute, but she didn’t tell anyone about her meeting with him in the hospital, not even Kris, the one that she shared everything with. Somehow, it was a secret that she wanted to keep for herself.

            “Are you going to the hospital?” Kris asked as they were eating breakfast.

            “I thought that I’d stop by and see if anything changed,” Ellie said. At least that part was true.

            “I’ll drop you off again and you can call me when you’re finished,” Kris nonchalantly said. “I hope things get better with Chen. Do you know why he’s even in the hospital?”

            “If he’s sleeping, then how am I supposed to know?” Ellie asked.

            “Sorry,” Kris said laughing at his mistake. “But I was just wondering if the doctors knew anything.”

            “They don’t, they just know that it apparently looks like whatever happened to him got him good. I don’t know if it’s a fight or something, but he doesn’t seem like the type of kid that would fight,” Ellie said attempting to figure out what happened to Chen herself, but she knew that she probably wouldn’t be able to.

            After finishing up breakfast, Kris dropped Ellie off at the hospital. “Call me when you’re done,” Kris reminded her before he drove off to do whatever he wanted. It was a day off of classes and he was going to spend it to the fullest.

            “Ellie!” a voice said as they ran to catch up to her before she could even go in the hospital doors.

            “Luhan, hello,” Ellie said putting a smile on her face and politely greeting him.

            “You’re here again?”

            “Yeah, you are, too?”

            “Yup,” he said nodding his head. “It’s Saturday, I thought that I should spend some more time with my mother. The doctors actually don’t know how long she has left to live.”

            “I’m…I’m so sorry,” Ellie said.

            “That’s alright,” he said throwing a smile onto his face. “I’m sure she’ll pull out of it, she’s a strong woman, but I like spending time with her. I’m the best son out of all.”

            “Of course you are,” Ellie said rolling her eyes at Luhan’s statement as they entered the hospital and went towards the elevators.

            “So, anything new since you know…yesterday?”

            “Nope, nothing much,” Ellie said shrugging her shoulders. “I mean, what else could happen?”

            “I guess you’re right,” Luhan said as the elevator dinged on the ninth floor. “So, I guess we depart now.”

            “We do,” Ellie said. She was sad that she only had a short time spent with Luhan. She wished for it to last longer.

            “Listen, Ellie,” Luhan said turning around to face her before they could separate ways. “If you wouldn’t mind, could I perhaps…get your number?” Luhan scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he asked that question. He thought that it might’ve been strange, but he truly wanted to get to know Ellie some more. There was something about her that made him curious.

            “Oh, okay,” Ellie said taking out her phone. She and Luhan switched phones as they typed in their own numbers before returning it to the respective owner.

            “Okay,” Luhan said smiling in accomplishment at his phone. “I guess I’ll see you later? Possibly?”

            “Well, you have my number now,” Ellie said smiling at him. “You could probably see me whenever you wanted now.”

            “Ah, right,” Luhan said realizing how much of a bumbling idiot he’s become. “I should get to my mother.”

            “And I should get going to Chen, I’ll see you,” Ellie said waving to Luhan as she went her own way. After watching her turn the corner, Luhan did the same.

            This time around, Ellie was able to easily find Chen’s room and opened the door only to see him sitting up in bed. “Ellie?” Chen asked staring at her figure in the doorway. He didn’t know why Ellie would be coming to the hospital and he wondered how she would even know that he was in there.

            “Chen? You’re awake?”

            “But how did you know that I was in here?” he asked as he watched her pull up a chair next to his bed. “You seem to make yourself very comfortable in here.”

            “I got a call,” Ellie simply said.

            “A call?” Chen asked shock. “From who?” He was sure that he wasn’t the one that gave Ellie a call, how could he? If he wasn’t the one, then who was?

           “The hospital itself,” Ellie said. “The doctor said that I was the only contact that he was able to get a hold of. Speaking of, your clothes and phone and everything are over there in that bag. I had to go through it because I had to fill out the papers for you.”

            “Oh,” Chen said acting like he didn’t care on the outside when he was freaking out on the inside. Ellie had to go through his things which mean that she had a possibility to see what was inside of his wallet and anything. Of course there wasn’t anything of importance inside, but still, he didn’t like anyone seeing any of his personal things.

            “I didn’t do anything bad, don’t worry,” Ellie said recognizing the sudden worry in Chen’s eyes.  “I only looked at the material I needed and that was it.”

            “I wasn’t worried about that,” Chen said attempting to play it off. “So, did I miss anything important in school?” Chen was attempting to keep the subject off of him by asking about what he missed in school, but he wasn’t entirely sure of how long he would be able to divert the conversation off of him by simply talking about school.

            “You didn’t miss that much,” Ellie said thinking about it. “I mean, you missed a week, but kids in the school normally miss a week.”

            “They do?” Chen asked.

            “Yeah, they do,” Ellie said nodding her head. “Sometimes they go off with their parents to unexpected places and just miss long periods of time for no reason. I’m sure you’ll be able to catch up quickly.”

            “I’m sure I’ll be able to,” Chen said confident in his abilities. “Do we have any more semester projects?”

            “Nothing else you need to worry yourself with right now considering your state. Does it hurt to move?”

            “Not really,” he said shaking his head. Honestly, it hurt to move. It hurt to do anything, but he wasn’t going to let Ellie know that. Chen was sure that he had marks all over his body, not only that ones that Ellie could see, but also in other places, too. Chen was sure that he was going to be bruised for weeks after this and not sure if he was going to be able to do anything without hurting for quite a while, but he didn’t want Ellie to worry about him. He already thought that she was worrying about him enough already, more than he ever thought he would receive from anyone.

            “Okay,” Ellie said as the air between the both of them began getting awkward. She wanted to ask about how he got his injuries, but she was sure that Chen would probably lie and say something. Was he involved in something illegal that he shouldn’t be? Was he in a gang or had he gotten in a fight? Was he jumped on his way home? A thousand of possibilities were out there and Ellie knew that Chen would probably never give her the right answer and she would end up wasting her time on the boy that she didn’t even know why she was caring about in the first place. Did she take pity on him because he didn’t have anyone else with him in the hospital?

            “Have you told that girl how you actually felt yet?” Chen asked starting up the conversation again.

            “You mean Jiyeon?” Ellie asked as Chen had forgotten her name.

            “Yeah, that’s her name.”

            “No, I’m never going to, we’ve been friends for too long.”

            “I wouldn’t necessarily call your relationship friendship, it seems more like a one-sided friendship, is there even such a thing?”

            “Listen, Chen,” Ellie said. “What happened to you? Why are you in the hospital?”

            “I fell down the stairs,” Chen said shrugging his shoulders and going with the lie that he told the doctor earlier, but the doctor didn’t believe him. He was a doctor so he probably knew the different types of injuries when he saw them.

            “But your injuries…they seem severe.”

            “I’m alright, honest, it’s just a couple of bruises and scratches, see?” Chen asked showing Ellie his arm.

            “Chen, what are you doing in here?” a voice asked opening the door. Chen and Ellie immediately turned their heads to see the woman entering as she went up and hugged Chen. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were in the hospital?”

            Chen wanted to say something to her so badly, he wanted to say something but he knew that he couldn’t. He knew that he couldn’t say a thing and just had to go with it. After all, they were in a hospital and Ellie was in the room. Chen had words that could only be said in private.

            “Get off of me,” Chen said managing to push her away. “I’m still sore.”

            “I’m sorry my baby,” she said as she the top of his head. “Who are you?” she asked looking at Ellie.

            “My name is Ellie, I’m one of Chen’s friends,” Ellie said standing up and politely introducing herself. “If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

            “I’m his mother,” she said staring at Ellie.

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Who is Chen's mother? What happened to Chen? What words does Chen want to say to his mother? Will Luhan or Ellie ever contact each other?

Here is Chapter 7. Hope you enjoyed :D

Renzei27: Eh, I just think that it won't be that exciting. In actuality, I wasn't even planning on making the mystery a part of the story, haha. It just happened that way.