Thank God Sookyung left, otherwise Emma would’ve had a really hard time.  The fact that Baekhyun actually let her harass him like that made her feel sick. 

What if this is all just a dream…

Or a nightmare?

“Oh!” Chanyeol bumped into Emma as she walked out of the hospital and into the small garden.  “Hey, Em!” he smiled.

She smiled back, trying to fight back her tears.  “Did you come to visit-?”

He sheepishly nodded.  “Yeah.  We need to catch up on some things…”

“That’s good,” Emma smiled and turned to go when Chanyeol grabbed her thin wrist. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked as his caring, brown eyes looked into hers, brimmed with tears.

“Nothing-,” she sniffed.

“Don’t you dare say that nothing’s wrong,” he ordered. 

She sighed and hastily wiped her streaming tears. 

“Come on,” he tugged on her wrist.  “Let’s go take a walk.”

--

Emma and Chanyeol finally settled and sat on a bench under a shady tree.  She looked down at her feet, drawing small patterns in the gravel.

“Is Baek okay?” Chanyeol asked quietly.

“I guess,” Emma tried to crack a smile.  “He’s constantly complaining, so he’s probably doing okay.  The doctor said that he should stay here for a couple more days, just in case something goes wrong with his ‘concussion condition’ or whatever.”

Chanyeol nodded.  “That’s good.  We all miss him back at home.”  He touched her hand lightly.  “So what’s wrong?”

Emma’s lower lip trembled.  Should she really tell him?

“Was it Sookyung?” he asked suddenly.

Emma’s eyes widened tremendously.  “H-how did you-?”

He shrugged.  “I saw her stalk out of the hospital as I was driving in.  She didn’t see me, thank God, because then she would’ve been all over me.”

Emma nodded and bit her lip.

“What happened?” Chanyeol asked.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes again.  “I never knew…that she and Baek…”

“Hush,” Chanyeol breathed and pulled her into a warm hug.

“It was just so awkward,” she continued.  “Sookyung was basically harassing him, and he didn’t seem to care…”

“Park Emma,” Chanyeol squeezed her shoulders.  “Baekhyun likes you, okay?  He likes you a lot.”

“I used to believe that,” she cried.  “But now I’m not so sure.”

Chanyeol felt her shudder.  “Baekhyun can be a jerk sometimes.”

“But Chanyeol, I can’t help but feel-,” she started…

Only to be stopped by his lips.

He was kissing her yet again.

It was a quick peck, which made things less awkward.

“Chanyeol, I-,” she tried.

He pecked her again.

“Don’t say another word,” he said in his low, robust voice.  “Don’t cry.”

She opened to protest, but he pecked her again.

“Aish, Park Chanyeol,” she said as she lightly pinched his arm. 

“What?” he pulled back and pouted.  “I can’t help it; you’re so sweet.”

“Not helping here,” she reminded him.

He nodded.  “You’re right.”  He cleared his throat.  “What I’m trying to say is…well, don’t worry about it, okay?  Cut Baek a little bit of slack.”

“I’ve cut plenty,” she protested.

Peck.

“Too much even,” she continued.

Another peck.

“Gosh darn it, Chanyeol,” she laughed.  “Do I really taste that good?”

He smirked and nodded.

“You’re hopeless,” she sighed and smiled.

--

Just as Baekhyun was growing restless enough to climb out of his hospital bed to look for Emma, she and Chanyeol came in silently.

“Hey, Yeol,” Baekhyun smiled.

Chanyeol smiled back.  “How’s your head?”

“Fine,” Baekhyun shrugged.  “It hurts like heck, to be honest, but the doctor said I can leave soon.”

“That’s good,” Chanyeol said, his eyes filled with relief.  “Sehun’s being a pain.”

Baekhyun laughed.  He noticed Emma’s slightly lost expression as she sat at the edge of his bed.  “You okay?”

She looked up, started.  “Y-yeah.  Why, do you need something?”

“No,” he said and shook his head.  He sighed.  “Look, Emma, I’m sorry about-,” he started.

“It’s fine, Baekhyun, honestly,” she smiled nervously.  In her mind, nothing was fine.

“What happened?” Chanyeol asked, being clueless.

“It’s nothing, Chanyeol,” Emma said and elbowed him.

Baekhyun eyed the two.  “Have you two done something…?”

“No!” Emma and Chanyeol exclaimed at the same time.

The injured boy raised his eyebrows.  “I was just asking, jeez.”

Emma went back to looking at her hands.  She tried so desperately to contain her anger over his complete cluelessness.  It wasn’t a problem, because that was her usual expression, lost and emotionless.

But she couldn’t take it anymore.

“You stupid puppy!” she yelled, causing Baekhyun to cower slightly.  “Don’t you understand the pain I’m in?  Are you that clueless?  Should I hit you over the head to get your senses straight?”

“Whoa,” Chanyeol breathed and touched her hand.  “Calm down.”

“How can you expect me to calm-?”

Chanyeol covered .  “Shut up, okay?  They’ll think you’re murdering him,” he joked lightly.

She slapped his hand away.  “If you were mad-!”

He put his index finger over her lips.  “Trust me, if I were mad, the entire world would’ve ended a long time ago.”

She glared at him, and then at Baekhyun.  “You guys are so clueless!” she screamed to herself.

“Emma,” Chanyeol started.

“I don’t care, okay?” she shouted, her voice choking back tears.

“Emma, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun said with his head down.

“You better be!” she cried.  “Don’t you know how much it breaks-?”

“It breaks my heart to see you like this,” Baekhyun interrupted.  “Trust me, it hurts a lot, and I’m sorry, okay?  There are some things in my life that you can’t know about.  They’re memories that are just too ugly to share.”

Emma sat there, balling her fists up with frustration.  Suddenly, something inside her snapped.

“You probably don’t even care about me!” she shouted.  “You both just feel bad for me!  Your hearts pity me!  A stupid, helpless transfer from America!”

Before they could stop her, she ran out of the hospital room and to the elevator.  Her fingers slammed the elevator button.  It opened obediently, and her legs trembled as she walked in and pressed the button for the ground floor.

“Emma, wait!” Chanyeol called as he ran out of Baekhyun’s room.  Behind him, Baekhyun stood at his doorway holding his pained head.

It honestly broke Emma’s heart even more to see Baekhyun struggle down the hall after Chanyeol.  Before she could react, the elevator door slipped closed just as Chanyeol was a few strides away.

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she felt the elevator descending.  The constant beeping of numbers over the door kept her calm, in a way.

At last, the door opened, and Emma barged out into the lobby.  She received all kinds of stares from different people, but she didn’t care.  She hurriedly made her way to the door, which zoomed open automatically. 

The night street was shiny and wet with rain.  As disgusting as it was, she found herself walking down the street.  She cringed as her clothes stuck to her wet body.

She only stopped to pause at a stoplight.  Cars were zooming by. 

I need to be careful.

The light finally turned green, and she began to walk across.

“Emma!” Chanyeol screamed from the other side. 

She turned around…

And saw a car zoom towards her…

She was immobile.  Her muscles froze with fear.

All of a sudden, a mass rammed into her side.  She rolled with it on the hard cement.  Her eyes stared blankly at the sky as she stopped.

Then, she remembered to breathe.  Her lungs gasped for air.

“Emma.”  A voice called out.  It sounded like…

“Chanyeol,” she murmured.

Then her world went dark.

--

Hello everyone!

Sorry I haven't updated in basically forever...I've been having to get ready for all my summer camps...

I'll try to update more often, so please anticipate!  Thank you for your support!

♥ Emmy