Chapter 19

Sungmin was holding her. She smiled, and buried herself deeper into his arms. She was at peace, nothing could go wrong.

She looked up at him and smiled again, but felt her vision blurring. She was surrounded by heat, and she couldn’t escape it.

She saw herself falling into a deep black hole…she cried out, reaching for something to grab onto.

Yesung caught hold of her hand, and she held on, but he couldn’t save her. He let out an agonized shout as she slipped from his fingers, and she countinued to fall into blackness.

Siwon was there, but he was too far away to help her.

She fell to the bottom on all fours, and then felt someone help her up. She took his hand and allowed him to pull her into his embrace, but when she looked up, she saw Donghae grinning at her, pulling her closer and closer towards him…

Sara woke up with a shock. She looked around in panic. She was lying on a bed, in an unfamiliar room. She glanced down at her left hand, and saw that she had been injected with an IV drip. She realised that she must be in a hospital. She couldn’t remember what had happened to her. She was scared, and gasped out in fear. “What…whats going on?” “Where am I?” “Is anybody there?” she called out anxiously.

She heard footsteps running towards her. The curtains where roughly pushed aside, and behind them was Yesung.

“Oppa…” she said weakly. That was all she could say, because in the next second, he was holding her, telling her that everything was allright.

She could feel his body shaking against hers, as he told her how scared he had been, and that he was glad she was finally awake. She cried out in relief with him, but when they parted, she said: “I still don’t understand, what happened to me?”

“You had a fever” he said while feeling her forehead.

“Sungmin called me and said that you were sick. You must have worked too hard today. We couldn’t bring your fever down by ourselves, and it was too dangerous to just wait at home, so we brought you here.”

He moved his hand from her forehead to her neck. “Thank God its finally gone down now. I should call the nurse to check for sure”.

Before he could head out to call the nurses, he said “I should call Sungmin too, he’d want to know that you’re awake now”.

Sara sat up straighter in her bed. “Sungmin is here?” she asked.

“He’s been here the entire time. I sent him downstairs to get snacks for us. I’ll be back in a few minutes, don’t worry”. Yesung waved at her and rushed off again.

While he was gone, Sara slowly got out of bed, and made her way to the bathroom, pulling the IV stand along with her.

She was shaking, and it was difficult to walk with her injured leg, but she made it somehow. She washed her face, and looked at herself in the mirror. At first, she thought she saw a ghost. Her skin was completely pale, as if all the blood had drained from her body, and her hair fell down to her waist in messy waves. The white hospital robe didn’t help to improve her appearance either.

“I must have been really sick…” she thought.

 Being independent was important to her, but not at the risk of her own health. She had been really foolish lately. She wanted to be healthy again. To look the same way as when she had first arrived in Seoul. It had only been two weeks so far, but she had already lost weight. She missed her old appearance. She had been pretty, and happy as well. She shook her head in frustration.

“This wont do Sara. You have to take better care of yourself from now on”. She clenched her fist in determination, and slowly walked back to her bed. However, before she got there, she saw Sungmin walking through the door with a bunch of packets in his hands.

A shocked expression crossed his face upon seeing her out of bed and walking about. He quickly dumped the packets on a nearby couch and ran towards her.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her all over. His eyes full of concern.

“You woke up? When? How are you feeling? Is your fever gone?”

Sara was taken aback by the sudden closeness, and blinked a few times before answering. “I’m…I’m allright.” She stammerd.

Sungmin felt her forehead and then let out a sigh of relief. He lowered his head as if defeated, then looked at her.

 “I was worried”, he said. “You out, and your fever wouldn’t go down. I didn’t know what to do, I was so scared…”

Sara reached out and brushed her hand against his face reassuringly. “Its over, I’m allright now.” She said while forcing a smile. “Can you help me to the bed? This stand is difficult to pull along”, she said.

Once she was sitting up in bed, Yesung walked in, accompanied by the nurse. They werent the only visitors though.

 Just behind them came Ryeowook and Kyuhyun. They both looked worried at first, but once they saw that Sara was awake, they  started grinning from ear to ear.

They rushed over and began fussing over her.

“Why is it so cold in here?”

“Where are the extra blankets?”

“How could you stick so many needles into her arms?”

“Can we take her home now?”

The nurse seemed irritated, and brushed off all of their questions while she attended to Sara. Finally she said “Her fever is gone down now, but she will need to stay the night for observation. I suggest you young men leave her now to rest”.

“Cant we stay with her?” Ryeowook asked.

“Are any one of you her husband, or brother?” the nurse asked.

They all shifted about uncomfortably. Ryeowook seemed like he was about to claim one of those titles, but Kyuhyun elbowed him in the ribs before he could.

The nurse smiled knowingly, and said “I’m sorry, but if none of you are related to her in any way, then I’m afraid you cant stay. You can see her tomorrow if you want.”

They all nodded, and then said their goodbyes to Sara, one by one.

Yesung kissed her on the forehead, and told her to be strong.

Both Ryeowook and Kyuhyun held her hand, arguing with each other and making her laugh.

Last was Sungmin. He didn’t say much. All he did was lay his hand on her head and wish her a good nights sleep. He didn’t need to say anything though. There was already a deeper understanding between them. Sara grabbed his hand before he could leave and said softly. “You too, don’t feel bad about what happened today ok? None of it was your fault.”

Sungmin nodded, and then followed the rest of the boys out.

After they were gone, the nurse helped her change into a nightgown.

“So, which one of them is your boyfriend?” she asked Sara.

Sara laughed and said “None of them.”

The nurse looked at her in surprise, and then said “You’re one lucky girl. They all seem to really care for you. How did you manage that?”

Sara shook her head in wonder. “I honestly don’t know” she said quietly. She didn’t think that she deserved all the good treatment she had been receiving, but she was grateful for it.

Before she fell asleep, she felt once again Yesung’s kiss upon her forehead, Kyuhyun and Ryeowook’s reassuring hands in hers, and Sungmin’s soft touch upon her head.

She smiled, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.