Thunder trailed behind the nurse with a concerned look as she tucked the girl back into her bed, instructing her to go to sleep and no more wandering. As they shut the door, the nurse beckoned him with the flick of her wrist to follow him back up to the nurses desk. Although he looked composed, his thoughts said differently. OMG!!!!!!!! What am I gonna do. What's happened to Aeri? Who is this girl? Oh SHI....

His thoughts were interrupted by waving of a hand in front of his face. He focused back and realized the nurse had handed him forms that needed to be filled out. "Uhh... I'm not her guardian and I don't know her. Besides she's a foreigner." The nurse sighed as if she'd heard all this before. She handed him a pen, "Well if you won't take responsibility, we can call the police although you'll still need to do a statement for them." The nurse reached over to the phone when a big hand enveloped her own. Thunder smiled at her and replied, "That's not necessary, she's just a friend. You just need this one sheet right?"

Thunder walked back to the girl's room and lowered himself onto the seat next to the bed. She was already sleeping thanfully. If I tell the police, they'll want to know how she got hurt. I don't even know what happened but Aeri.... Thunder sighed and made a decision that would change MBLAQ's lives unbeknownst to them.

Aeri woke up with a groan, feeling the sore areas from last night. Her stepmother had beat her just for having come home like that. It would have been one thing to have come home drunk but it wasn't even that! As she stood up, her body twinged in places she didn't even realize existed. Pulling back the sleeves on her arms, she didnt' see any bruises. DAMN. That was one thing that her stepmother was good at - hiding her evilness. Suddenly the memories came back from last night - Joon brought her home! She smacked her forehead in embaressment. Oh yeah and Thunder was there..... and the girl...... THE GIRL! I must've killed her or something! she thought. She rushed over to her dresser and grabbed her purse. It was empty. She ran out to the kitchen to see her father and little step sister already finishing breakfast. "Where's my cellphone?" No one responded.

She walked over to the trash bin and lifted the lid..... GAH. There were her wallet, her cell phone, and Jesus! even her car keys. Her head snapped back to look at her stepmother who was ignoring her and remained hovering over the last crepe cooking on the stove. Aeri reached in and grabbed her items, ran her keys under the sink, and quickly tried to power up her cellphone.

"Don't you know its rude to stand around the breakfast table?"

Aeri stared at her father because of his cold statement. He wasn't even looking at her. It wasn't an invitation to sit down, why was she even suprised? Holding back a sigh, she bowed her head and apologized before heading back to her room. The clock said it was 8:42 am - she was late! Too late to even shower. With a quick change of clothes, she ran out the door without even saying goodby to the family who was calmly eating breakfast by themselves. As she rode the elevator down and walked outside to her car, she punched in Joon's number only to quickly hang up. Aeri noticed that her phone call last night wasn't to Joon. It was to Thunder! "Argh!!! Now what is going on?"

*brrring brrring*

"Yobosaeyo?"

"Ne? Thunder? It's me, Aeri..... ummm, thanks for callng Joon last night. Was....was......"

"Was what?"  Aeri wasn't sure how to respond. Did he know? Joon clearly was the one who took her home.

"Ani, its nothing," she replied. "I'm late and I just wanted to make sure you had your schedule for today."

Thunder's chuckled vibrated through the phone. "Yeh, I got it but I've cancelled it. Something came up." He started talking to someone off the phone for a second. "Hey listen, I'm gonna be at home later today. Come by, yeah? It's important. Like around 2 o'clock." Without even saying goodbye, the click indicating the call had eneded pinged into Aeri's ear. If this wasn't cause to hyperventilate last night, it sure was today! Her phone rang again, she answered "Thunder! Yeah I....."

"It's me, Joon."

"Oh.... yeah?"

"Sorry, how are you feeling? Are you coming into work? You're already late and cordi JaeEun is fuming!! Hurry....."

Aeri couldn't focus as Joon continued to ramble away, asking questions without even waiting for an answer. She cut in, "Yeah I'm on my way, be there in 20. See you!" She ended the call and stared at the phone. Looking up to the coloful sky and rising sun, the beautiful painted sky couldn't even distract her now. OH MAN I'M IN TROUBLE!!!

She glanced over at the man driving the car. The silence was welcome to the hospital noises - they scared her. No.... she scared herself. She thought back to what took place just a few hours ago.

.............

The nurse came in and took her hand, "Well SaeRi, I'm glad your friend was able to take care of everything. The doctor cleared you to go, do you need anything else?" She shook her head no while her mind was screaming YESSS!!!! Who is SaeRi? Why doesn't anyone understand?? Why don't I understand?!

The tall man with suspenders and skinny pants came into the room. She pulled her hand from the nurse and clutched this arm. She didn't know why but she felt safe. Secure. Even when the doctor was examining her, just the thought of his touch on her skin made her nervous. She was pulled back from her thoughts when the nurse chuckled, "Well I guess best friends will always be like family. Now Cheondung, you remember to bring her back in 1 week. The doctor said it may just be shock that is causing her not to talk but physically she's fine. Mentally she needs a quite place to think and calm down. We'll reevaluate how SaeRi is doinging next week. Make sure you come back!"

He flashed his huge smile and the girl almost smiled when she noticed that the nurse turned into a quiverring puddle at his nice manners. She was given her clothes back and when she walked outside, the man named Cheondung waved at her to follow and they exited the hospital. As they got to his car, she got nervous again. Her hands went clammy and a cold sweat on her brow immediately appeared. She stepped back, anxiiously trying to control the oncoming anxiety that was building when hands enveloped her arms and jerked her to the side. She looked up to see the man holding her quite close while he looked at a passing car muttering angrily after it.

"Are you okay? Didn't you notice the car coming?" He let go of her and walked over to the car, leaning on it. "My name is Cheondung but people call me Thunder. I don't konw what happened between you and Aeri but I feel partially at fault. Do you remember who you are?"

She shook her head, tears began to form at the realization that she knew nothing, knew no one. Thunder walked over and placed a calming hand on her shoulder, rubbing in comforting circles waiting for the tears to subside. She looked up, frustrated that she couldn't even voice anything. It wasn't like she didn't want to! Suddenly Thunder pulled away, opeend the back seat and grabbed something silver. He handed it to her, "Look I don't know your name but you need help. You aren't alone, okay?'

She nodded back.

"So here's a tablet, why don't you write down everything you can remember and we'll go from there. Do you remember my name?"

She looked down and touched the screen, scribbling Thunder in English.

"Ah...... so your're American?"

She shrugged her shoulders. She started writing some more and turned the screen to show in Hangul, I'm not sure. But I know English, Korean, and some Mandarin.  And she had written Cheondung in Chinese characters.

"Wow... okay well, don't worry. You're not alone, me and my friends will help you. Do you remember Aeri? The girl with the glasses?"

She shook her head no.

"Well no problem, you'll meet her today. But for now we need to have a name for you. My best friend had a dog that had a cute name that always got lost - she called it SaeRi. So until you remember some more, we'll do that, okay?"

With a slight upturn of her lips, she started writing on the tablet again. So I'm a dog?? Thunder laughed immediately after reading that. "No no no!! At least you've got a sense of humor. C'mon, let's go."

...................

SaeRi..... SaeRi..... She rolled the name around in her head.... well, an empty head. Nothing seemed familiar. She didn't recognize Thunder, she didn't even recognize streets as they drove to wherever they were going. But its not like she had a choice. Either this or possibly end up in the loony bin. She'd take her chances on someone that her instincts told her was good. Boy, did she hope she was right. She didn't like this feeling. It was like flying in the dark. She grabbed her blouse lining and clutched tightly as the anxiety started to build in her chest again. It's going to be okay. He said so....  SaeRi looked over at Thunder. He said so.....

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Just can't focus lately but thanks for sticking by. Hang in there, enjoy the reading & please comment!