Chapter 4

Goodbye Autumn

Chapter 4

 

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. That's all I could hear when my eyes were slowly opening, other than a small snoring to the side of me. I was looking at a white ceiling when my eyes were fully opened. I knew I was somehow in a hospital or somewhere near a nurse. I took a deep breath, letting out a sigh of relief to know that I was alive and that I was safe before I turned my face to look to the side. Ji Min was sitting next to Jae Kyung in a chair and they were both asleep, her head leaning down over onto his shoulder. This was kind of normal for me to see every time something like this happened. I was used to it and it wasn't a good thing. I didn't want to be used to this kind of setting.

I sat up in my bed and looked around at my surroundings. Yep. I was in a hospital, but it definitely wasn't the hospital that I normally went to. I looked down at my arm to see that there were some IV's in me so I slowly took it out, knowing that I would probably get lectured for doing something like this when I didn't know if I was good enough to do so, and quietly got off the bed, trying to not make any sounds. I didn't want to wake Ji Min or Jae Kyung up since I've already caused them enough trouble. Before I headed out of the room, I took Ji Min's phone that was by the window sill. I closed the door behind me quietly and found a chair to sit in that was a few doors down.

After I sat down, I put his lock-code in and opened his phone. To my surprise, I realized that I was unconscious for almost five hours. It was already almost nine o'clock at night. This was the first time that I've been unconscious for that long and it made me wonder how that even happened.

*BOOM

My attention suddenly turned towards a door that was slammed opened. I looked to where the sound came from and saw Ji Min's head pop out of the doorway looking from left to right. When he spotted me, he looked like he had calmed down, but the way he was walking towards me didn't look like he was very happy to see me sitting out here like this. I knew this was going to happen.

"What the hell, Ga Eul!" Ji Min grabbed my arm and yanked me up to my feet. "What happened back there?!"

"Yah." I shrugged my arm off from him. "Can you not yell in a hospital like this?"

I looked around just in case there was anyone nearby and staring at us, but we were lucky; the coast was clear.

"Fine." Ji Min said as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back into my room and closed the door behind us.

"I told you she wouldn't leave us like that." Jae Kyung was sitting in her chair with her arms crossed; she looked a little more relaxed. "I heard you from the hallway, Park Ji Min. Can you please lower your voice?"

Ji Min pinched the bridge of his nose. "What is wrong with you two? Choi Ga Eul just freaking fainted in front of the whole school and was sent to the hospital. She disappeared to who knows where and now you two are acting like this is normal?"

"But it is..." I whispered a little more to myself than them.

"What? You think we should get used to this kind of thing?" Ji Min glared at me.

"I didn't mean it like that." I felt bad for what I had said. "I'm sorry."

"Ji Min, will you quit it?" Jae Kyung glared over at Ji Min. "She just got up and I'm sure she's tired; she doesn't have time for you to add more stress to her heart, alright?"

"I'm sorry." He sat down and crossed his arms.

Even though it seemed like he wasn't sincere about his apology and that he seemed stubborn, I knew he meant it; Ji Min was just really bad at showing his expression when it came down to things like this.

"Are you feeling better?" Jae Kyung asked as she stood up and walked towards me. "Did you not have your bottle with you?"

"I thought I did..." I bit my lip. "I swear, I had it in there yester-. Oh wait!"

"What? What happened?" Ji Min asked as he uncrossed his arms.

"It must have fallen out when I bumped into Chen yesterday!"

"What? Did he hit you that hard that your bottle fell out?" Ji Min raised his eyebrow.

"Uh... I guess." I shrugged.

"Get your things. We'll go with you to go find it." Jae Kyung said. "Ji Min, go sign her out."

"Alright." Ji Min got up from the chair that he was sitting on and walked out of the room.

"Wait. Jae Kyung." I held up a hand. "Don't go with me. It's late already and the two of you need to go home."

"No, we can go with you. It's no-"

"No. I'm serious, Jae Kyung." I shook my head. "The two of you are always with me and I always bring it upon you guys. Please, go home and rest and do some homework that I know you two won't do unless I tell you to do so."

"Choi Ga Eul, even if you tell us to go home and do our homework, we're not going to do it." Jae Kyung laughed. "It's okay. Ji Min and I can go-"

"No, Jae Kyung." I held up my hand in front of her again. "I'm serious. Please. Go home. The two of you."

"But-"

"I'm not five years old like you said." I gave her a stern look, hoping that she would finally just give in and let me go.

"Yah." She rolled her eyes at me, still smiling. "Fine. Fine. But if you can't find it, let us know, okay?"

 

 

On our way out of the hospital, the two of us talked about the homework that Ji Min and Jae Kyung both had to do. I knew that they weren't going to do it even though they had a lot to do. I'm sure they were going to find every excuse possible just like what I was going to do when I get home. Just as Ji Min got a taxi, I remembered that I don't even remember who had talked to me when I had fainted. I stopped Ji Min and Jae Kyung from getting into the taxi. They looked at me oddly because I kind of just stood there and said nothing for a few seconds. I was kind of scared to ask who was there when I had fainted. I didn't want anyone to know about my condition.

"Are you going to speak or what?" Ji Min asked, breaking the silence between the three of us. "Or did you want us to go with you?"

"No, I don't want you guys to go with me." I waved my hand at them. "I... I wanted to ask you guys something before the two of you left."

"What is it?" Jae Kyung asked.

"Who... Who was there when I fainted?" I asked.

"What do you mean? Everyone surrounded you when you fainted." Ji Min looked confused.

"No, I meant like... This is so frustrating." I pulled at my hair since I didn't know how to explain the situation well enough for them to get what I was trying to get at. "There was someone there right before I actually fainted. They asked me if I was okay, but I couldn't see their face."

"I don't know..." Jae Kyung shrugged. "There was a crowd surrounding you by the time we got to you."

"What is this...?" I shook my head and looked at the ground. "You two seriously didn't see anyone near me?"

"No, we didn't." Ji Min said. "Why? Does it matter?"

"No... I just wanted to know..." I blew out a sigh and waved them off. "Go. Go. Sorry for bothering you two."

"If you can't find it, don't forget to call and let us know!" Jae Kyung got into the taxi first.

"Don't stay out too late, Ga Eul." Ji Min patted my shoulders. "You know it's not good for your health."

I nodded and waved at them as the taxi left. When they were out of sight, I called for a taxi and got in. I had the taxi driver take me to the beach to where I had bumped into Chen. I was hoping that I'd find my medicine bottle there since that was pretty much the only place that I could find it. As soon as I got there, I immediately ran off to find where I had bumped into him. This was going to be harder than I thought because how the hell was I supposed to know where we exactly hit each other? What makes it even more complicated was the fact that it was dark out and it was getting colder. Maybe I shouldn't find it and just go get a new one at the hospital...?

"Are you... Are you looking for this?"

My soul nearly jumped out of my body from hearing a voice nearby. I turned around to see someone standing a few feet away. I could barely see them because of how dim the lights were around us and it looked like they were wearing a cap. The person was walking towards me, making me wonder if I should run and scream for help or stay and see what was going to happen. I decided to stay still and wait to see if I could recognize them since their voice, somehow, was a little familiar to my ears. Once they got closer, I literally froze in place. I wasn't expecting this person to be here at this time nor did I expect this person to be holding my medicine bottle.

Chen?

"Sorry... Did I scare you?" He asked as he took off his hat to reveal more of his face.

"No..." I lied even though the goosebumps on my body were still present.

"Here..." He held my bottle out in front of me. "This is what you're looking for, right?"

I grabbed the bottle from his hands and looked at it before looking back at him. "Did... Did you look inside?"

"No." He said a little dull.

"Oh..." I wrapped my hands around the bottle tightly, wondering if he was lying or not. 

"I really didn't." He said as if he heard my thoughts.

I looked down at my hands awkwardly to avoid his eyes. I didn't want to suspect him, but I kind of did because who wouldn't look inside something they were holding onto to? I was glad that I had the bottle changed out into a prettier designed bottle instead of the actual bottle, but I'm sure if you'd look inside, you could tell that it was medicine for a heart disease... Right? Okay. Maybe I was overthinking this, but it didn't look like regular vitamins or anything. 

"Are... Are you okay?" Chen broke my thoughts, making me look up at him.

"Wha-What?" I was confused to why he was asking me this.

"This afternoon... You... You fainted."

"Oh..." How was I going to explain this to him? "I'm... I'm fine."

We stood in silence after I answered. I had no clue if I should say anymore and I'm sure he had nothing to say anymore to me. A thought popped up into my mind when I was suddenly thinking about who was there when I fainted.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked abruptly.

He looked at me surprised but nodded anyways.

"Can... Can you please say 'Are you okay' again?" I knew this was not a good question to ask, but I had to hear it again.

"Wha-What?" His facial expression told me he was confused, which I didn't blame him.

"I... I want to hear it." I must have sounded a little weird.

Chen looked down at his hands before looking back up at me. For some reason, the way he looked at me made my heart suddenly flip. I held my chest and tried to contain myself from making any expressions, but my eyes grew.

"Are you okay?" Chen suddenly said it, bringing me back to him.

I looked at him, not sure if he was asking me if I was actually okay or if he was asking that because of how I was reacting just a few seconds earlier, but that's not what had caught me off guard either. The way he asked me if I was okay was somehow familiar to my ears.

"Were you... Were you the one who asked if I was okay before I fell unconscious?" I asked.

Was I being a little too straight-forward? No, I wasn't, right? I mean, I was just asking a general question, but he wasn't reacting to anything I said and he didn't look like he was going to respond either. I guess I wasn't going to get my answer.

"Nevermind." I shook my head. "Just forget I said anything. Good night Chen."

Before I had let him say anything, if he was going to say anything, I left quickly to avoid anything more awkward.

I mentally hit myself. How could I be so awkward and stupid?

 

 

Back at school, a lot of people had asked me if I was okay and if I should have been at school today. I was kind of surprised by how many people had asked me or talked to me about fainting. I wonder if everybody really did surround me when I had lost conscious. It was really too bad that I didn't know who was there right when it had happened. I had to find who it was. Every guy who came up to me, I asked them to say "Are you okay?", but I realized that it wouldn't work because their voices weren't even near to being familiar to me. I seriously was making it harder than it should be.

Seung Ho couldn't eat lunch with me today since he had to go help his friend study for their Stats again and I decided not to eat lunch today, but I headed to the cafeteria anyways since I had nowhere to really go. I rested my arms onto the table and rested my head on top as my eyes roamed around the room. The only area I could see were where the windows were and of course, where Chen was sitting. I had no idea why I was staring at him, but I just was. He was eating so delicately and I found it really cute. The way he looked at his friends made my heart squeeze a little; his gaze seemed to have some kind of aura, but I couldn't really explain what it was.

The only thing I was really waiting for was to see him smile like I did the first time I talked about him. I wonder if he ever will.

"Yah." Ji Min slammed the table, making me shot my head up into the air.

"YAH!" I groaned at him for scaring me.

"What? Why are you staring at Chen again? Do you secretly have a crush on him?" He raised his eyebrow at me.

"Where's Jae Kyung?" I asked to avoid his question since I realized that Jae Kyung was nowhere to be found.

"She had to stay behind to ask for help on a new lesson they're learning in class." Ji Min took a sip out of his water bottle. "Where's Yoo Seung Ho? Did he go help his friend out again?"

I nodded my head.

"Are you staring at Chen because Seung Ho's not here?" Ji Min chuckled.

"Yah. Don't make up things like that." I hissed at him even though I kind of realized I was turning pink from what he had said. "People might actually think of it."

"Actions speak louder than words, Choi Ga Eul." He shrugged as he eyed me down. "So why are you staring at him then?"

"Ji Min... He... He found my bottle yesterday." I whispered, afraid that someone would be eavesdropping.

"What?!" Ji Min said a little too loud, causing heads to turn and look at us.

"Yah, lower your voice." I snarled.

"Does he know?!"

"I don't know... He said he didn't look inside..."

"Just because he said he didn't look inside doesn't mean that he didn't!" Ji Min shook his head at me. "If I found that, I would have looked inside."

"Can you tell what it us just by looking at it?" I asked curiously. "I mean... You can't... Right?"

"Didn't I tell you he was smart?"

"Smart or not, Ji Min!"

"Well, who knows. I can't say. I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist."

I blew out a sigh, not knowing what to say anymore. Nothing was going to help me at this point-.

"Can you say something for me?" I looked at Ji Min with pleading eyes.

"What?" He arched his eyebrow as he put his food down to pay attention to what I was going to ask him.

"Can you say 'Are you okay?'?"

Ji Min raised his eyebrow at me.

"I'm serious." I gave him a stern look.

"Are you okay?" Ji Min finally said after a few seconds.

 

 


 

**A/N: Despite everything that's happening, I hope you will all understand my slow updates. Please keep Praying for South Korea :( I seriously am so heart-broken at all of the news that keeps coming in. I don't even know what to say anymore; my heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims. Also, I hope our boys are resting well since EXO-M kind of looked tired in their performance 3 I know it was yesterday, KST, but Happy Birthday Luhan <3 As for today, Happy Easter! I hope you guys will enjoy the update as much as possible! I'm trying my best to make it good. Please read and comment. I'd love to hear about your opinions, so please don't be a silent readerThank you and read with lots of love! Keke~! Muah

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1/1: Thank you all so much for getting me featured on the first day of the year. I love you all! I don't know how to express it well at all, so thank you!!!

Comments

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Michiko37 #1
Chapter 32: I just finished your story <3
And now I'm crying TT_TT
noonimm
#2
Chapter 32: Thank you to make it a happy ending ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
noonimm
#3
Chapter 23: oh my god oh my god oh my godddddddddd
I need a pillow, i need to scream
noonimm
#4
Chapter 17: I don't know how to explain my feeling in english .. but I could die from reading this and was biting my lip so hard to stop myself from smiling.
noonimm
#5
Chapter 15: I understand you Ga Eul T-T;;
noonimm
#6
Chapter 12: I was stupidly smiling when chen's teasing personality came out .. god that was so cute
imnotintokorean
#7
Chapter 32: Omg hi! It is by far is the most cute ans sweet story of Chen. Thank you for making this story! You made my day?
ettoiscy
#8
Chapter 32: OMG NOOO AAAAA I love imagine chen with his whining voice at the last chapter hahah well done.
I love this fic, super duper.
Thankyou authornim for the fic. Great.
Hashtagkpop #9
Chapter 32: I don’t understand why they haven’t kept in contact for 2.5 years
teaeri
#10
This was the first ff which made me cry :”)