프니엘: To say that Sungjae is shocked, would only be an understatement.

As soon as we are in the room and a good pace from the patient-bed, we all have to stop when we see the person almost impossible to be here. I have to blink—hard, again and again, to see if my eyes are fooling me or if my mind is just playing tricks on me. This is impossible. This is not right. What’s he doing here?

Finally, Hyunsik-hyung utters the words that are hanging onto our minds, but are too shocked to say. “F-Father Hong…?”

He gapes at us too; he mouths, with a slight tilt of the torso. “Hyunsik? Sungjae? Peniel? What are you doing here?”

With my last ounce of sanity I manage to nudge Sungjae. “Say something,” I whisper.

Sungjae blinks, now having gathered his bearings. His eyes close and open several times, and he stutters, “F-Father…b-but…” as far as I’m concerned and judging from what I could hear, maknae is close to sobbing. He struggles in reining himself and I could see he’s confused.

Presently Father Hong looks at the lying patient on the bed. There the figure is—a brace around the neck and one leg bandaged thickly. Part of her face is occupied by her hair so her mien is quite obscured from my view.

Sungjae quickly takes steps towards it and falls on his knees as soon as he’s on the bedside. Now his tears are falling. Something inside me is squeezed; wow, I actually feel bad for him. He takes the patient’s hand in two of his own and kisses it. For the first time, I could see the mature side of Sungjae. I’ve never seen him like this before. He looks really, really caring. Sure, he cares for all of us, but this is the first time he’s this worried, to the point that he’s crying.

The patient budges slightly in her position, sweeping the hair off her face with her free hand. That is when I recognize her. My eyes flicker in surprise, but I do good at containing it. I guess I’ve recovered pretty well from the shock now that I realize this is not the time for this. Other than me recognizing her, there is one more important matter.

Miss Fire Tooth got into an accident.

Father Hong approaches Sungjae and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Sungjae-goon. It will be fine,”

“But Father…”

“It’s okay. She’s okay. The doctor said she’s fine.”

He looks up at him helplessly. “What…what happened?”

He smiles. “You should know that your friend here is a heroine,”

Sungjae manages to crack up a smile, which greatly eases the atmosphere even just a little. “What did she do?”

“Well, you see,” the older man clears his throat. “I was out for today and I was carrying along some very important company files. I also had with me quite an amount of money, and saw your friend here, while we were at the pedestrian lane, waiting for the green light to signal us to cross the street. She helped me in putting in my files, but that wasn’t it…” a little pause. “There was this guy that snatched my bag; with, of course, having the intention to rob me. And then, faster than anything…this girl here chased him and got my files back,”

Sungjae looks at her, and his lips stretch in a tender, loving smile. “I’m very proud,”

“But Sungjae…I wasn’t there when the accident happened. By the time the police and I got to the scene, this girl was already lying on the ground; they said she got hit by a car.” He looks like he still wants to tell the story in a more detailed manner but he refrains. The general ideas have been said.

A very silent minute passes, “May I talk to the doctor personally?”

“I’m not very sure about it,” Father answers. “But maybe you can. Also, the police are here to give the criminal some medical treatment. She pummeled him so hard they had to bring him to the hospital too,”

And that, yes, despite of the very depressing situation, makes us laugh.

“I’ll go with you,” Father guides Sungjae out of the room along with Hyunsik-hyung. I tell them I’ll just stay.

Contrary to my thoughts of her waking a little later though, Miss Fire Tooth wakes up a little sooner than I expected. Slowly her eyes open, only a quarter, but I know she sees me. She closes them again and reopens them, and I remain rooted in my position, waiting for her to react. After doing this thrice I hear her groan, and she covers her face with one of the pillows. “I’m having hallucinations,” I hear the definite sound of the muffled sentence, which causes me to laugh. I hear her mumble some more about her hitting her head that hard that she’s seeing me. As much as I want to tell her that I’m really here though, I respect the patient’s space and merely settle myself on a chair. After all, it’s  Sungjae that came for her here, not me. Haply later, I’ll have my time to introduce myself.

It takes a long round of fifteen minutes for them to return. I ask them, or more like it’s directed to maknae, “What’s the news?”

“I wasn’t able to talk to the doctors,” but he seems happy nonetheless. “I talked to the police and they told me the whole story. That punk pushed Se Na onto the center of the road and that’s when she got hit.” There’s a vestige of anger in his voice, but it’s overshadowed by the pride he has for…wait, Se Na? Se Na? Se Na? “So how’s she?” he queries, connecting a line between me and the patient with his eyes.

“I-I…I uh…I think she’s awake,” I smile.

Sungjae walks forth and removes the pillow to avoid the patient from suffocating herself. “How many times do I have to tell you not to cover your face when you sleep?” he mumbles, and pulls the pillow. He settles it on one free space on the bed and puts his hand on her forehead, soothing it. Getting one of her hands and stooping down, eventually placing his lips near her forehead, he says softly some words that coax her into waking up. The rest of us watch in suspense.

“You know if I hadn’t known better, I dare say those two are together,” Hyunsik-hyung mutters near my ear, too smooth for the rest of the room to hear.

Soon enough, the boy’s persistent cajoling pays off. The patient wakes up, confused at first, and when she fully adjusts to the light she tilts away from Sungjae in an abrupt jerk. “W-who are you?”

This is bad.

“S-Se Na…” Sungjae’s world crumbles down into irreversible billion pieces. At one second his face drains out of its color and makes these pathetic gestures that would possibly bring any memory of his friend back to life. “Y-you don’t remember me?”

The girl recoils, and her expression is too troubled to be ignored. Her lower lip is trembling violently and her eyes widen in obvious horror.

Even I, Hyunsik-hyung and Father Hong are shocked with this.

“B-but Se Na…you don’t…” Sungjae is once again on the brink of crying again. “…remember me?”

“I…” the girl stutters, and drops her gaze. But she looks up at him again, in a sudden lifting of the head, and says with a smile, “Of course I remember you. Hey-hey-hey don’t cry!” she laughs hysterically at her friend’s reaction. Her laugh is so loud, so happy, so boisterous that all other stresses are ignored.

There’s a collective amount of audible sighs on our side of the room.

Sungjae gapes at her and his face reddens, and I am confused whether it’s of anger, or embarrassment. He slaps the bedsheet and yells, adorably, “I can’t believe you!”

Se Na doesn’t stop laughing. “Oh my goodness, your reaction was just so priceless. I should think of some other time to do it again!”

Sungjae whines, repeatedly stomping his feet on the floor. “Don’t you know how worried I was?! You—you—you—you BRAT! Don’t you do that again! I swear if you do that next time—“

“—you’ll what?” Se Na folds her arms and taunts him. “You’ll what, Yook Sungjae?”

Sungjae just purses his lips in frustration, realizing he actually has nothing to say. And, in a movement that has us all gasping, he embraces Se Na in a swift moment.

Silence.

I realize that I’m not the only one with the mouth open. I look at Hyunsik-hyung and Father Hong, whom I sit in between, and their lips are parted, their jaws dangling open. Looking back at the couple in front Sungjae’s friend puts her hand on his back.

“You worry too much, old man. Of course I’m alright,” she laughs sweetly, on his ear.

“Eeeeeeeee but you look like you were hurt so bad!” he feigns sobbing. “Look at you!”

And they hold each other like that, and I find myself wishing I had a friend with relation as close as that too.

Eventually she draws out and cups his cheeks in her hands. “You look like you’ve been mauled by an animal,” she fixes his hair, expertly knowing how to make him feel better.

“Says you,” he chuckles, and soothes the scratch on her cheek with a thumb. “I was really worried. You didn’t reply to my message!”

“Let’s just say I was…busy with something,” her gaze drops to the sheets of her bed. “I told you I could take care of myself,”

“True, true.” He nods. “That guy clearly had a taste on what you learnt from pro-wrestling,” and they laugh, that anyone who sees, would surely have not the heart to break the moment but nonetheless Hyunsik-hyung—

“Ahem,” he clears his throat, and casually rises from his seat. “How are you, Se Na-ssi?”

She looks at him and then back at Sungjae with an inquiring rise of the brows.

“Oh,” maknae straightens himself. “Hyunsik-hyung, this is Se Na, my best friend. Se Na, this is Hyunsik-hyung. I presume you already know him?”

Se Na nods, and sits up in her bed. “Hello,” she even holds out her hand for him to shake.

“Best friends? You? Really?” he points them while he handshakes.

“I know. Unbelievable, right?” Se Na laughs. “I know you’re already thinking that we’re together,”

Here beside me President Hong stands up from his seat and I follow his example.

“And here, Se Na, is our company’s president,” he allures to the man beside me.

“Ah, hello, sir!” she bows several times, but carefully, because of the brace around her neck. “Are you alright?”

The older man nods politely. “Yes. Thanks to you. How are you?”

“I’m okay, sir,” she smiles.

“That’s good to hear,” the gratitude is overflowing in his words. “Please, Se Na-ssi, if there is anything I can ever do—“ but he’s cut off.

“Ah, ani, ani!” she waves her hands frantically. “Nothing at all, sir! It was my pleasure to help!”

“And what, getting yourself hurt? Dear, I won’t let anyone do me a favor and get away with it!”

She pouts.

President Hong fatherly puts his hand on the top of her head, like she’s his child. “If you were my daughter I would’ve been very proud,” of course the sentence is vague, but I don’t know which word in the sentence makes Sungjae’s face wear and unnamed expression, and his eyes dart from Father to his friend’s face. Se Na’s face turns into something really soft, like she’s about to cry.

“W-what’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?” the old man queries, troubled.

 She shakes her head and sniffs. “I would’ve been very happy if I had a father, myself,”

I get what she means.

It takes a long moment for father to respond, but he eventually does, speaking, “I will be, then. That is, if you don’t mind,”

“That would be cool!” Sungjae tries to cheer up. “Can she be a part of the Cube Family now? Father? Please?”

President just laughs. “And what would she do there?”

Se Na shrugs. “Uh…I’m gonna Beast’s muse?” and we laugh.

“Nah!” Sungjae disagrees. “Our muse!”

“Well, that would depend on what Se Na-ssi wants,” the older guy says. “What would you want, child?”

Se Na thinks hard. “Can I just be a PA?”

“PA?”

She shrugs. “Well I’m not interested in becoming an artist or a trainee. You can put me under Beast,”

Father laughs. “So you like them?”

Her brows bounce with a smug smile. “Specifically Dongwoon-oppa,”

This apparently sends Sungjae into a fit of jealousy that he protests vehemently, “Ya-ya-ya! I’m the only maknae you should love!”

“I’d beg to differ!”

“You love me more!”

“He’s hotter than you!”

I don’t know which I should laugh at, whether at the two’s childish bickering, Hyunsik-hyung’s suppressing of his laughter that it makes him look retarded, or President Hong’s flustered expression like he’s watching an intense tennis match.

“Alright, alright,” he soon puts the argument into a stop. “We’ll talk about that later. Why wouldn’t you want to become a trainee, Se Na-ssi? You could really be one. I can see your potential,”

“My only talent is writing.” She states blankly. “Actually, good sir. I consider myself a freelance.”

“Freelance? Wait. You and Sungjae are of the same age, right? Do you not go to school?”

She shakes her head.

A silent while passes. Before it gets too long I step forward and say, “She writes for a living, Father,” with a smile. “She’s a web content writer.”

Se Na widens her eyes and looks at me in horror, now confirming that what she saw was not a hallucination a while ago.

Sungjae gasps. “Y-you know each other?!”