for Soowon_Guardian2ev3r

The Cafeteria Lady

~flow19~

                Amidst all the gunfire, the shouting and the raging flames, a soldier ran as fast yet as carefully as he could; a fragile body of a slim woman enclosed in his arms. Military encounters were usually never without casualties and he would be damned if the girl in his arms would be a permanent inclusion of that list. The communist had clearly outdone themselves with how they tore the small village apart and she was the lone survivor and the soldier was going to do everything he could to keep her alive.

                Behind them, two soldiers followed closely; their guns held out and ready to shoot anyone that would hinder them from reaching the base. It was a more logical option to drive back but with all the vehicles being used in the fight, they couldn’t afford to waste time waiting for one. It was better to move than to wait, especially when someone’s life was on the line.

“Over here! Over here!”

                The three soldiers came to a screeching halt; their eyes finding a 4x4 driven by one of their closer friends in the military. Without bothering to waste time, they made a mad dash for the vehicle; one of them sliding into the passenger’s seat and the two others and the victim were in the back seat.

“Where the hell did you get this?” Park Jungsu questioned the man in the driver’s seat as the 4x4 drove off quickly.

“Well, them bastards decided to ditch it by the trees and I thought you guys needed help.” The grin on Jung Yunho’s face was disappeared quickly. “How is she?”

“She’s barely holding on.” Kim Youngwoon said grimly. “You gotta go faster, Yunho.”

“I’m doing everything I can without crashing this thing, hyung.” He replied. “Siwon, how are you holding up there?”

“I’m holding up… I think.”

                Choi Siwon’s face remained a picture of concern and fear as he gazed at the bruised and battered woman he gingerly held in his arms. He and Jungsu had arrived in the scene just as one of the communist rebels was about to finish her off; Jungsu’s sharpshooter skills quickly killing the enemy with a single shot. She had been barely awake when they rescued her and now that she lost consciousness, the more he feared that she wouldn’t make it.

                The soon as the 4x4 had reached inside the base and was safely parked, Siwon carefully ran into the infirmary with the woman still in his arms and the three other soldiers hot on his heels. The two nurses manning the reception quickly jumped off their seats; Seo Joohyun hurriedly calling for a doctor while Im Yoona helped the soldier load the victim onto the stretcher.

“What’s going on?” One of the doctors on duty, Wu Fan, came to a screeching halt, still in the midst of putting on his glasses. “What happened?”

“You gotta save her, Wu Fan.” Siwon pleaded. “Do everything you can.”

One of the two doctors behind him, Kim Heechul, nodded before turning his attention to the two nurses. “Get everything ready.”

“We’ll do everything we can, hyung. I promise.” Shim Changmin reassured the distraught solider before the stretcher was wheeled away by the doctors and nurses.

Youngwoon let out a sigh as the four soldiers dispersed themselves in the waiting room. “If she survives this, what’s going to happen to her? She has no one and nothing left.”

“I don’t know.” Jungsu ran a hand through his hair. “I honestly don’t know.”

o-o-o-o-o

                Her head was pounding mercilessly and she tried in vain to open her eyes, only to close them when the light blinded her sight. She tried once more, carefully opening her chocolate brown orbs and letting them readjust to the light. The first thing she realized was that she was staring at white curtains; pain soon shooting through her body before she could think anymore.

“You’re awake.”

                She turned her head, finding a soldier standing in the doorway of the room. He had a gentle yet unsure smile on his face as he held his helmet in his hands; a look of pure relief in his eyes. She tried to sit up but her body shook as she tried, leading the soldier to rush to her side and help her, fluffing the pillows for her before she settled against them.

“I know you…”

“Yeah, I was the one who saved you from the rebel.” He easily noticed how her face paled in fear. “But you’re alright now. You’re safe. He’s gone.”

The brunette nodded slowly. “Who are you?”

“I’m Choi Siwon.” A smile crossed his face – his handsome face, she realized. “What’s your name?”

“Choi Sooyoung.” She said at first but her eyes soon widened as the reality hit her like a truck. “What happened to everyone else? Where am I? What happened to our village?”

The smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a grim expression. “I’m so sorry…”

                Tears trickled down her bruised face as she grieved for everything and everyone she lost at the hands of the communist rebels; Siwon sighing helplessly by the side of the bed. Not knowing what to do, he merely sat on the chair by her bedside and took her hand, rubbing his thumb against it as soothingly as he could.

                Wu Fan stopped in the doorway, causing Heechul to run into his back. But before he could complain about the blonde doctor becoming one with the door, Changmin silenced him with a look, gesturing at the scene they were met with. The three doctors simply stood there to give the two their space until Sooyoung’s haunted eyes wandered over to them; Kris clearing his throat to alert Siwon of their presence.

“You’re here.” Siwon gently let go of Sooyoung’s hand as he stood and bowed.

“We just want to give you an update on your situation.” Heechul sent a kind smile to their patient before his eyes fell on Siwon. “It’s good you’re here because you need to hear it anyway.”

“By the way, I’m Doctor Wu… Wu Fan.” The tallest of the three medical experts introduced himself before introducing his two other partners. “Sooyoung, how are you feeling?”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a dozen trucks before being thrown off a forty-storey building.” She said honestly and Siwon couldn’t help but wince at the imagery.

Changmin frowned. “We’ll give you a couple of painkillers later. They should help.”

“What’s wrong with me, Doctor?” Sooyoung asked no one in particular before she hissed in pain when she tried to move.

The trio of doctors exchanged a look; the youngest taking it upon himself to be the one to tell her. “You broke three ribs and bruised your left lung. There’s also a crack on one of the bones in your right wrist. As you probably noticed, you’re black and blue in many parts of your body. We’ve also stitched up the wound on your forehead and right cheek.”

Siwon blinked, cursing the communist rebels to the pits of hell. “That’s a mouthful…”

“What’s going to happen to me now?” The question came out before she could stop it; tears soon forming in her eyes. “I know everyone’s probably dead and I have nothing to go back to. What’s going to happen to me now?”

                The gentlemen all exchanged helpless looks; Changmin patiently telling the distressed woman that what was important was her recovery. Everything else could be decided on after. Sooyoung accepted the reply easy enough, lying back down to rest once more. It was when her eyes closed that all four men left the room; Siwon vowing to visit her once more in the afternoon. They were all silent as they walked down the hall of the infirmary, knowing that neither of them could fully understand how it was like to having nothing and no one left.

o-o-o-o-o

                It took two and a half weeks for Sooyoung to make a full recovery; her progress nearly being dampened when she was allowed to attend the mass funeral for her family and the rest of the village. She had grieved hard but she knew she had to continue living for everyone who no longer could. In the two and a half weeks she spent in the infirmary, she had befriended the three doctors attending to her as well as the two nurses, Yoona and Joohyun. She had met Yunho, Youngwoon and Jungsu when they came occasionally with Siwon to visit her and Sooyoung couldn’t thank all of them enough for saving her life.

                But just as Changmin had said back then, it was now time to figure out what was going to happen to her next now that she was all healed up. It was a problem that she didn’t know any other relative outside those who resided in the same village. As it was, the three doctors, two nurses and four soldier found themselves in Sooyoung’s room on her last day; the brunette in clothes that Yoona had kindly lent to her.

“What are we going to do now?” Yunho asked no one in particular. “We can’t just let her go somewhere and live on her own. It’s going to be hard to start living from scratch.”

Sooyoung looked at them with wide eyes. “You’re going to send me away?”

“Unnie, we won’t do that to you. We know you’re scared.” Joohyun squeezed the older woman’s hand reassuringly before looking at everyone else pointedly. “Is there any better idea?”

Heechul paused thoughtfully.