The Rejected

Scene 8: Alone

You must have fallen asleep, because you wake up when someone touches your shoulder. Your body is freezing cold, and you can’t feel anything, not even your toes. It scares you. Your mind is not working properly and all you can think of is that the world seems to be fading. Everything is misty.

“, are you alight?” A deep voice asks you.

You look up at the person but your vision is muddled and you can’t see his face. A gasp leaves your lips: someone actually came. Relief washes over you at this, and a weak smile spread on your now dry lips. Before you know it, you´re in his arms, and he’s walking hurriedly down the stairs.

He’s warm, is all you can think of, as you´re slipping in and out of consciousness. Squinting, you see that the sun has started to rise, coloring the sky in an orange color.

“I’ll take you to the hospital. Hang in there!” He tells you firmly.

And that’s the last thing you remember.

The first thought that enters your mind when you wake up is that your body fells very heavy and so, so, so…cold. A deep groan leaves your dry lips, voicing your complaints. Eyelashes flutter open and you face a snow white room. It’s almost blinding you. It takes you a while to understand that you´re in a …

… hospital.

Eyes snap open, and you quickly check yourself for injuries. You slowly remember how some girls tricked you that Min was in trouble, and locked you out on the roof of the school. You could have frozen to death…

No, that´s an exaggeration… you try to calm yourself down.

“How do you feel, hun?” A nurse asks you with a sweet smile on her lips.

If you had the energy to, you know you´d had flinched at her sudden voice. She surprised you. You look at her: she seems to be a kind lady.

“Like an ice-cube.” You answer bluntly, as you sigh, letting your body fall back into your bed as you relax.

The nurse check some monitors by your bed, and the IV connected to your arm. It seems as if you also got oxygen through a mask before. Was it really that…bad? You ask yourself as you try to stop shivering.

“We´re slowly working on making you warm again.” She looks a bit concerned. “Just relax, ok?”

“How long do I need to stay?” You ask her.

You now you don’t have much money on you at the moment, and that your parents won’t be happy to pay your hospital bill. You don´t want them to know about you being bullied at school. They´d force you to move back to your hometown again if they knew. You can’t tell them about this.

“At least one more night.” She tells you gently. “Your body temperature was really low when you got here. We need to get you back to normal and make sure you´re fine.”

“Ok.” You understand perfectly.

“You live alone too, right? That´s why we want to keep you here a little longer, just in case.”

You smile at her, she´s so kind.

“Who brought me here?” You finally dare to ask.

“Oh, a very tall good-looking man.” The nurse comments with a cheeky grin. “He never told his name though. Your boyfriend?”

“I don´t have a boyfriend.” You can´t hide the bitterness n your voice.

“What a pity.”

A sigh leaves your lips. That description of your savior doesn’t help you one bit. “Tall and good-looking” is a very broad description. Maybe you were lucky enough that a good-hearted, apparently good-looking, stranger found you, so none of your friends would worry. The person must be a student, or teacher, since he had access to the roof. You´ll only miss one day of school too. It’s not too bad. No one will realize what happened to you, and everything will be the same when you go back…

 “Just press the red button on the wall if you feel sick. Dinner is in an hour.”

“Okay.” You whisper.

The nurse gives you one last smile before she exits your room.

…It´s so silent.

The only source of sound is the rhythmical ticking of the clock on the wall. Then it hits you: you´re all alone. No one knows you´re here, of course that´s what you want, but you can’t stop the tears from falling down your cheeks.

Gina left you on that roof, to your fate.

Your body starts trembling. You´re cold and hurt in a hospital and nobody but your savior, who you don’t know, is aware of that. No one worries, or will come to see you to make you feel better. You wipe away your tears as you scold yourself mentally. You want someone to worry and to care. You need someone to come rushing for your aid, holding your hand tightly while saying everything will be fine.

You shouldn´t feel like this, because you did decide to make sure no one even gets to know you were here in the first place. You can’t be egoistic enough to ask for attention now. It´d only bother your friends.

Wrapped tightly in a blanket, you were allowed to sit and watch TV in the hospital´s common room on your floor. The nurse gave you a cup of warm tea, and the warmth from the cup seems to warm your whole body. It’s a nice feeling. You´ve gotten a lot better since you got here but your temperature is still a bit lower than usual.

I wonder if my lips are still purple…?

At first, you were alone in the room, but after a few minutes a young man probably a bit younger than you walks into the room on a pair of crutches. He must have broken his leg. A pair of small, but curious, eyes looks at you for a moment. He has a very round face, with a bit baby-fat under those cute hamster-like cheeks. It seems like he didn’t expect anyone to be here at this hour.

“Hey.” He greets you with a wave of his hand.

“…Hi.” You answer, shyly glancing up at him. Your tea cup suddenly becomes very interesting.

“Is it alright if I switch channel? My favorite show starts any time now.” He asks you, using polite language.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t really watching anyway.”

The guy takes the remote and changes channel before he sits down. You were about to ask if he needed help, since it looked so troublesome with the crutches, but he managed to do it himself after a while. It seems as if he has gotten used to it.

“You came here today, right?” He asks you after a moment of silent TV watching.

“Yeah.”

“I’m Xiumin, nice to meet you.” He grins friendly.

Your eyes widen. I´ve heard that name before somewhere. You give him your name as you shake his hand. He seems like a nice guy. His eyes widen for a moment, and then he smiles broadly at you for some reason.

“My friend Lay and I have been in this hospital for ages. It´s so boring. Glad new people came. I don’t mean …I’m glad you got hurt!!!”

You can’t help but laugh at him. He´s hilarious, or just a bit clumsy with words.  Once again, you feel that you´ve heard about him and the friend he mentioned: Lay.

“What happened to you?” You ask kindly.

Xiumin laughs awkwardly as he scratches his head, he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it.

“You don´t have to tell me if you don´t want to.” You laugh awkwardly as well.

Xiumin seems to think about it for a while. “We were in a fight that went wrong.” Xiumin tells you, telling you parts of the truth, it seems.  “We´re not bad guys though!”

 “I believe you.” You laugh at his panicked expression. “I was left on a roof over the night.”

“That explains the blanket.” Xiumin nods to himself, but he´s not amused.

“I´ll probably be allowed to leave tomorrow, or the day after.”

“Awww.” He pouts but feels the need to explain himself once again. “I mean, it´s good that you can go home, it´s just that it would have been fun to hang out more.”

You wonder why he suddenly wants to get to know you like that. Maybe he´s just friendly? “What school do you go to?” You change topic.

Your eyes widen as he says your university´s name. “Me too!” You beam. “I haven’t seen you around though…”

“Ah, Lay and me were accepted, but we ended up here at the start of school.” Xiumin scratches his head in embarrassment.

Then you remember the rumor Min told you about.  Tao, Chen and Luhan had two more friends in their ….gang… and if you´re not wrong, Tao did mention that two of their friends were at a hospital because of a fight.

“Xiumin, do you know…” You´re about to ask him about Tao, Chen and Luhan but is interrupted by him getting excited over the show on TV.

“Look! It´s so funny!”

The next morning, you were told you could leave after lunch. It pleased you, and for a bit you even wondered if you should attend your afternoon class at university. You decided against it when you realize how tired you really are. If someone decided to pull another trick on you, you might not have the energy to fight back.

You think about Xiumin for a moment and dread fills your system. Every day, you worry more and more about Tao and the others. Seeing just how badly Xiumin was hurt makes you realize that the fights are serious and cruel.

“Don´t get hurt.” You murmur, thinking of Tao, Luhan and Chen.

You´re also slowly realizing that the reason why Tao pushed you away might be that he don´t want to risk that you´d be sent to hospital in bandages as well. You can’t stay mad at him. A deep sigh fills the silence of your room. You put on your regular clothes after breakfast, and then you head out to the living room.

“Morning!” Xiumin waves at you with one of his crutches.

You smile his way. There´s another guy there with him, and you nod his way as well. He has dyed short blond hair and a quite mature looking face covered in a lot of band aid. It seems like he also hurt his right arm.

“This is Lay.” Xiumin introduces his friend.

“Nice to meet you.” You greet him.

“I heard about you from Xiumin. Nice to meet you.” Lay answers, eying you a bit suspiciously. “I´d shake your hand, if my arm wasn’t broken. Leaving today?”

“Yes, it was a quick visit.” You nod.

Lay won’t stop staring at you, and it makes you a bit uncomfortable. Xiumin looks at his friend, nodding his head, silently. Did they have some kind of silent agreement? You pout to yourself.

 “So…do you know…Tao?”  Lay asks suddenly.

Xiumin looks at you curiously as both of them wait for an answer. Your eyes widen: Lay realized it, but how? I didn´t even get the chance to talk to Xiumin about it yesterday! This must mean that the two of them are indeed Tao´s friends.

“Yes, Chen and Luhan too.” You answer in defeat. “So, you´re the two last members of their... crew?”

That´s the first time you see Lay smile. Xiumin smiles as well, his eyes growing big as he nods at Lay, as if he´s proud he was right about something. Maybe it was Xiumin who guessed you were friends with their friends? How, I have no clue.

“So, you are the girl they talked about.” Lay comments while grinning.

“They talked about…me?” You can’t believe this.

It all feels so strange to you. By coincidence, you ended up at the same hospital, at the same floor, as your friends. Is this good luck or? Lay eyes you, while Xiumin nods eagerly.

“Luhan wouldn´t stop talking about you when they visit.” Xiumin laughs. “I realized it was you the moment you introduced yourself.”

It makes you wonder just what the three of them said about you. Lay shakes his head with a smile on his lips. Both of them seem amused by the fact you´re here, and you´re quite surprised about it as well. You shake your head: you´re not important.

“I´m worried about them.” You tell Lay in a sincere voice. “They… asked me to stay away and I haven´t seen them for days. I think something big is happening. I´m afraid they´ll get hurt…”

Lay´s smile fades and he looks deadly serious. “Do they know you´re here?” He asks you.

“I…” You swallow hard. “I decided not to tell them because they ... seemed so...so…” You can’t find your words.

“They didn´t hurt you, did they?” Lay asks, his friendly smile is long gone.

“Who?” You´re confused, he can’t know Gina, can he?

“No, Lay, that´s not what happened.” Xiumin shakes his head.

Lay exhales in relief. “You should probably stay away for now.” Lay tells you.

You look at the ground, you´ve realized this too.

“You have realized that they´re fighting the guys who sent me and Xiumin to hospital right? We´ve been here for months.” Lay tells you. “They´re dangerous.”

“I know but… I want to help them.”

There´s a hint of a smile on Lay´s lips, but it´s gone just as fast as it appeared and you´re not sure it was actually there in the first place. “Right now, the only way you can help, is to stay away.” Lay tells you.

You feel completely defeated as you realize they´re right. You can’t fight so you can’t protect yourself.  That´d mean you´d have to be protected by them which would put them in danger. And, if you shelter them, take care of the hurt, you might be used as bait somehow, by the other team.  You nod to yourself. The only thing you can do is to wait for them.

“He will come for you.” Lay breaks the silence.

“What?” Eyes widen.

“Tao hasn´t let anyone get as close to him as he let you in ages.” Lay explains, his lips twitching into a smile as he watches you. “He won’t let you go that easily.”

What does that mean?

A blush covers your pale cheeks and you can feel how your whole body turns a bit warmer. It´s a nice feeling, since you have been so cold since yesterday. You have no idea about what the others mentioned about you to Lay and Xiumin to make them think you mean that much to them. You don´t think you do. It makes you happy though, that these two guys whom you just met seem to believe in you for some reason.

“So cute!” Xiumin comments at your blush.

You shake your head. “I´m happy I met you two.” You smile at Xiumin and Lay. “I have no clue what´s going on, why you are fighting or who you´re fighting, but you all seem to be great guys. Take care and… don’t get this hurt again.”

“We’ll never get this hurt again.” Lay promises.

“Please tell Tao and the others that… I´ll be waiting for them.”

You didn´t see the two of during lunch, and then you were free.

School is like usual. You walk through the corridors the next day, and is greeted by surprised stares from many students. They´re probably Gina´s fangirls, or something. You can feel yourself getting smaller under their stares but you try to ignore it. You bet some nasty rumors about you spread around yesterday since you didn’t show up.

“Min, g´morning!!” You greet your friend as you see her in the hallway.

The girl hugs you.“I was worried when you didn’t show up yesterday! A cold?”

“Yes, something like that.” You smile wryly, hugging her back.

Although you´re by Min’s side and she´s talking eagerly with you like always you still feel very alone. Maybe, it´s because you no longer have anyone to talk with about your fears, because you don´t want them to worry? Somehow, talking with Lay and Xiumin felt easier than this.

For some reason, it feels like you´re a part of this big secret, and you´re not allowed telling anyone.

Another thought crosses your mind: who saved you, there, on the roof?

Unlucky as you are, you run into Gina as well. The girl looks at you wide-eyed for a moment and to your surprise you see something close to relief flash by in her eyes for a short second. Why´d she be relieved to see me? You frown.

Kris stands there with his arms around her. They look like a perfect couple. Seeing them makes you feel nothing. It seems as you have indeed fallen out of love with Kris completely. It makes you a bit happy. Although you´re no longer jealous of Gina, you´re worried about Kris. Is Gina really the girl he thinks she is?

“Hello.” You greet Gina and Kris, with a fake, vibrant smile.

You can’t show her that you´re scared. You simply can’t. If Tao and the others risk their lives fighting for what they think is important, simple bullying won´t bring you down. Your gaze turns cold as you stare at Gina.

It’s a war now.

She hurts you if you meet Kris, she hurts you if you don´t, so your actions doesn´t change anything. Then you´d gain more if you actually met him. You won´t say you want your best friend back, but you want him to know what kind of girl he´s dating, although it might make you look bad.

“Kris, I need to speak with you. Let´s talk over coffee when you´re free.” You tell him with a smile, in front of his girlfriend. “Text me.”

And you turn your back to them, walking to class with your head held high.

You walk through the school gates together with Min. The two of you thought of eating dinner together before heading home. That´s when you spot him again. The guy with an eerily familiar face, the guy you once ran into. He stands by the gates together with a two friends. One with a really broad and kind of creepy smile, and another with a boy-ish face and plump lips.  If you remember correctly, you think you heard someone call him Suho last time. It seems like he´s looking for someone. Thinking it´s not your business, you think of leaving.  

As you´re about to leave, he turns around and meets your eye.

“Hello.” You say out of courtesy.

Min seems a bit surprised over that you greeted him, but she doesn´t complain. It seems as if she´s a bit stunned by how handsome Suho and his friends are. He nods back, a bit surprised over your greeting. It doesn´t take long until he seems to recognize you as well though. A smile grows on his face at the realization that you´ve met before.

“We meet again.” He greets you, surprising his friends.

“Are you looking for someone?” You ask with a kind smile. “…Maybe, ...we can help?”