He could hear her sobbing at the back of the van, her head on her hands, her whole body shaking. Ever since they left the studio, she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. He watched her from the rearview mirror before focusing back on the road. He sighed, and then looked for an opportunity to make a U turn. He knew where she needed to be in order for her to feel better.

Some thirty minutes later, she looked up and noticed they were in an underground parking lot. “Where are we oppa?” she asked.

“At XX hospital.” Her eyes widened, hang slightly open. “You’re worried about her, right?” She nodded, and he smiled at her. “Now go wipe your tears. You never know when the cameras are taking pictures of you.” He handed her some tissues and waited for her outside the van. A few minutes later, she stepped out, looking a little bit better, but still couldn’t hide the redness in her eyes. He then handed her some shades which she gladly put on.They both walked to the nearest elevator and waited for it to open. In the corner of his eyes, he saw her almost tearing up again, but she tried her best not to cry. The elevator door opened, and they both stepped in, with him pushing the button to their destination and her leaning against the elevator walls. Exhaustion started to creep up on them, the past week gave them a lot of stress to deal with. They knew their problems were far from over and they both wanted it to end soon, but the solution laid with one girl, the girl they were on their way to visit. They soon reached the door to her room. He saw her hesitating; after all, last time she saw her was 3 days ago, right after she was transferred out from the ICU. She bit her lip and wondered if she could take the sight of her like that again. She took a deep breath and opened the door to the private hospital suite provided by their company. Two adults looked up from their seats but her eyes were focused on the girl lying in that hospital bed with lots of contraptions hooked up to her. She felt the tears welling up again. He put his hand on her shoulder, which brought her back to the task at hand. She took off her shades and they both greeted the elders in the room.

“Annyeong haseyo”, he bowed.

“Annyeong haseyo, Seo appa, Seo umma”, she smiled at them before bowing.

“Annyeong manager ssi, Yoona-ah, how are you guys?” Mrs. Seo asked while giving Yoona a hug. Mr. Seo gave their manager a handshake.

“We should be asking you that question, Seo umma”, Yoona replies, but her eyes focused again on the girl. Mrs. Seo let go of her and gestured for them to sit. Yoona took a seat beside the bed while their manager declined the offer.

“I still have to pick up the other girls, Mrs. Seo. They also want to see her. I just dropped Yoona off because her schedule was near here.” She nodded and he said goodbye to Yoona who smiled sadly at him. “I’ll see you later.” And he left, leaving her with the girl and her parents.

“Have you eaten yet, dear?” Mrs. Seo asked the girl looking worriedly at her daughter.

“Not yet, Seo umma.”

“We’re going to the hospital cafeteria. Would you like something?”

“Thank you, but I’m not hungry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes umma. I’ll watch her for you guys while you go eat.”

Mrs. Seo then went beside her daughter and gave her a kiss in the forehead. “We’ll just get something to eat, baby. But don’t worry, your Yoona unnie is here, and the others will come too.” She paused, expecting her to react in some way, but she didn’t. She smiled sadly at Yoona then left the room with her husband.

Yoona took a deep breath and looked at their maknae. “How are you, Hyunnie?” she asked and hoped for the girl to answer back. But, like earlier, the only sounds in the room were the hums and beeps of the machines that were keeping her alive. She looked at her face, and noticed the paleness of her skin. She lost the chubbiness of her cheeks and her lips are dry and cracked. Her hair wasn’t as luscious as before, but it also looked like her mom did her best to make her look as good as possible. If it wasn’t for the tube in , she looked so peaceful in her sleep, a sleep she hasn’t woken up from yet. She smiled at her, but slowly frowned again. She felt the tears fell, and let out a sob that has wanted to escape ever since she entered the room. She felt so powerless, knowing there wasn’t anything she could do to help her only dongseng in the group. She took her hand and gripped it tight. “Wake up Seobaby… please wake up”, she muttered under her breath. No response came again from the girl. She cried some more, until she felt so tired from crying. She took a deep breath and wiped her tears.

She remembered what the doctor said about coma patients being able to somewhat hear and sense the people around them, so she decided to get some things off her chest. Her dongseng had always been a good listener, and she was sure that if she was awake, she would easily lend an ear to her unnie. She looked at her sleeping dongseng and brushed some hair off her face.

“I’ve had the worst day today, Hyunnie”, she started, “other people don’t seem to remember that we’re human too.” She rested her head on the bed, using her arm as a pillow, while playing with the girl’s hand. “You know, the photographer today was a real . You wouldn’t know him, he never worked with us before. But he seems to think we can do everything. I tried my best to look happy for him, because I’m supposed to be enjoying this drink see, but I can’t help and worry about you. All of us are worried about you. I guess it showed in my photos and he started to get frustrated with me, and I soon got frustrated with him too,” she stopped and looked at her. No reaction. She sighed and continued, “I couldn’t help it, Hyunnie, the tears just started flowing. If it wasn’t for manager oppa cutting in, he would’ve started criticizing not just me but our group too.” She smiled. “I wonder what you would’ve done if you were there, Hyunnie. I bet if the others were there, they would’ve told me to hold it in, because I’m the ‘face’ of SNSD… well except one. She understands me better than anyone; maybe she would defend me in front of the others.” She closed her eyes and thought of that one member of her group that she could never hate, that one member that will always have a special place in her heart. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep…

… but it was cut short when she felt someone yanking her off the bed.

“YAH!” She shouted, annoyed that someone woke her up abruptly, but her annoyance disappeared  when she saw the doctors and nurses bursting into the room, crowding the bed and frantically moving about. She heard a lot of beeps from one of the machines, which could only mean one thing and it was not a good thing. Shocked, her hands covered , and she felt those never ending tears starting to form again. “N-no… S-seohyun…” she muttered.

“I’m right here, unnie.”

Yoona turned around and saw that it was Seohyun who pulled her from the bed, in fact Seohyun was still holding her arm, as if she was holding her back from something. But if Seohyun is right here behind me, who’s the one in the bed? She looked around the room and saw her other members: Taeyeon and Sunny were watching the scene with worried faces while holding hands, Tiffany is hugging Jessica who’s sobbing on her chest, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung both have their heads down and murmuring prayers for the patient the doctor is trying to save. Counting them all, Yoona realized who the patient is.

“No…”

Amidst the frenzy of hospital staff, she spotted a wave of jet black hair.

“N-no…”

“Clear!” One of the staff shouted and the rest removed their hands from the patient. Yoona got a glimpse of her face, eyes closed, mouth slightly open, as if she was just asleep, yet the annoying beeping machine said otherwise.

“N-NO...”

The nurse puts the defibrillator on her chest and sent a shock that made her back arched for a moment. The staff looked at the monitor, but it showed no change. The staff recharged the defibrillator and prepared to shock her again.

“NOOOO!!!” Yoona couldn’t hold it in anymore. She’s not dying, she couldn’t be. She wanted to run to the girl in the bed, wrap her arms around her and wake her up. But Seohyun held her back. She struggled against her, almost elbowing her in the process.”LET ME GO!!!”

“Unnies, help!”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon, who are standing next to them, helped Seohyun hold Yoona back, but Yoona is proving her title as the strongest.

“Yoona!”

“NOOO!!! LET ME GO!!!”

Even with the three of them exerting great effort into keeping her from rushing to the bed, she made it very difficult.

“Yoona!”

“I SAID LET ME GO!!! SHE NEEDS ME!!!”

Soon the other girls were forced to help stop Yoona while the doctors and nurses do their job. But suddenly, the commotion died down.

“YOONA!”

Every staff stepped away from the bed, heads hung low. The girls watched as the doctor cleared his throat and looked at his watch.

“Time of death: 5:02 PM.”

Finally, the other members removed their grip from Yoona as she slowly walked towards the bed. Tears streaming from her eyes blurred her vision of the girl lying in bed as the staff stepped away to give them room. She reached out her hand to touch her face, and felt it was still warm. She wiped her eyes to take a good look at the girl, and saw her face, looking like she was peacefully sleeping. She gives her a quick kiss on the lips, for it may be the last time she will be able to do so. She looked at her, and told her the words she was never able to say, regretting every moment that she wasn’t able to say it.

“Yuri, I love you.”

Everything then turned black.

“YOONA!!!”

Her eyes opened wide when she heard a voice that called her name. It wasn’t just any voice; it was the voice she has wanted to hear all day long. She lifted her head and saw deep brown eyes looking back at her.

“Yoongie, are you okay?”

Yoona stood up and looked around the room. Mr. and Mrs. Seo were watching her with worried faces, as do the other members of her group. She looked at the bed, and sees Seohyun still in a coma, sleeping peacefully. She touched Seohyun’s face; it was warm, and she can feel her breathing. She looked at the person behind her, who was wondering what happened. Yoona quickly hugged her and started sobbing on her chest.

“Y-yoongie? What happened baby?”

In between Yoona’s sobs, Yuri could only understand the words “…nightmare” and “…died”. She assumed that Yoona had a nightmare about Seohyun dying. After all, when they entered the room minutes ago, they saw Mr. and Mrs. Seo trying to wake Yoona who was shaking and mumbling and crying in her sleep. Never having seen her roommate like that, she quickly wrapped her arms around her and rubbed her back to calm her down, yet Yoona struggled while still asleep, so she called her name several times which did woke the younger girl up.

She pulled Yoona to the other side of the room away from the bed so they won’t be a bother to the other members who wanted to sit beside the bed. As they sit in the bench facing the bed Yoona slowly relaxed but is still crying. Yuri pulled her closer and comforted her.

“Don’t worry Yoongie…” she whispered to her ear,”…everything will be back to normal. Seohyun’s strong, she’ll wake up soon…” Yoona hugged her tighter as Yuri continued to whisper to Yoona that Seohyun’s going to be alright, not knowing that it was an image of her as the girl lying in that hospital bed that caused Yoona to cry.

A/N: This side chapter came to my mind right after I finished writing the last chapter. I wanted to make it like a separate one shot at first, but then I decided against it and included it here.

Epilogue will be up in a couple of days. :D