Bom woke up again to the sound of the machines beeping.  She groggily opened her eyes, trying her best to keep them open.  Her body felt weird, it was hot and tingling all over.  The touch of the fabric on her skin was painful.  She did not know why but she was still sore, and it hurts when she tried to swallow.  Looking to her side, a male’s body was sitting slouched against the chair.  Bom reached out to wake him.

        “Teddy-oppa, wake up,” Bom croaked out as she tried to wake the slumbering man.  Her lips were chapped and cracking from the extreme dryness.  Even her voice sounded foreign to her ears.

        “Huh… uh.. what? Huh?” Teddy mumbled as he started at the sound of his name.  Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he sat up to look at the frail looking woman laying in the hospital bed.  His eyes opening wide when he realized she was awake, and was the one calling his name.

        “Bomi-ah, you’re awake.  How are you feeling?  Would you like some water?”  Teddy asked as he went ahead and poured her a cup.  He handed it to her, as she nodded her head in appreciation.

        “What happened, oppa?  Why am I here again?  Do I have a fever?” Bom asked her voice raspy.  Teddy looked at her with sad eyes, the look of concern made Bom more alert.

        “How about I go get Hyung in here to tell you.  He’s with the doctors right now.  I’ll be right back,” Teddy said awkwardly as he got up and left.

        A few minutes later, a knock came at her door and it opened as Yang Hyun Suk and a man in a white coat walked in.  Bom assumed he was the doctor taking care of her.

        “Annyeong haseyo,” Bom bowed her head down as she greeted the two men.  YG sat down at the chair that Teddy had just occupied.

        “Bomi-ah, the doctor will explain to you what’s happening.  Afterwards, I want you to call your parents, ok?” Bom nodded her head hesitantly; fear had completely taken her over now.

        “Park Bom-sshi I have good news for you and bad news.  The bad news is that you have a chronic throat inflammation and that it will continue to persist causing fever, and cough.  If it continues your throat could also close up making it difficult to breathe.  The good news is that this condition can be minimized with surgery.  The only side effects would be an occasional swelling of your lymph nodes when you over stress your vocal cords or throat.  As long as you take care of your throat you should be able to continue singing, if you do not go through with the surgery you would most likely not be able to sing again.”

        Bom’s face went pale as the doctor finished his explanation.  As the door closed behind both men, the tears she was holding back came streaming down her face.  Her hands shook even as she held it tightly in her lap; the shock and fear of the unknown took over her mind and silent sobs racked her body as the reality of it all smacked her right across her face.  She knew she did not have a choice.  As scary as surgery sounds to her, the idea of never being able to sing again was much more frightening.

        A few days had passed since she found out about her condition.  That night after hearing the news, Bom had called her parents and her mother and sister both flew out to Korea, catching the first plane available.  They arrived 2 days ago and had been at her bedside since.  Hours before her surgery Bom reached for her phone to call the only one person whose voice she wanted to hear.  It rung and rung.  As Jiyong’s voicemail prompted, Bom couldn’t contain her sob as she closed her phone.  He was still angry with her.  He had not called her once, or even texted her since he left almost 2 months ago.  She laid back, no longer able to sit up from the intense pain she felt in her heart.  All she wanted was to hear his voice before going into surgery.  All she wanted was to speak to her best friend one last time before it was too late.

        Bom wiped the tears from her eyes, as she flipped her phone open and sent a quick message.  She had just placed her phone down when a knock came at the door.  Her mom and doctor came in as the nurses who followed begun to prep her for surgery.  Never once did her phone ring or beep, as she was carted out of her hospital bed towards the operation room.  Her eyes drifted close, as a lone tear fell from her lashes, succumbing to the anesthetics that would take her pain away.

*~

        Jiyong had heard his phone ring, and got up from his bed to retrieve it.  BigBang was on a 3-day break, and everyone was out shopping except for him.  The name that flashed across the screen caused a sudden intake of breath.  His heart raced and he started to feel lightheaded as the ringing continued.  It rung and rung, and then it stopped.  His phone blinked indicating that he had a missed called.  Jiyong did not know why but he did not want to pick up.  Even though it was the one thing he has been waiting for and wishing for each and every day. 

        “If she calls again, I’ll pick up then,” Jiyong thought, the bitterness of rejection causing him to act petty and immature.  He did not want to give in too soon to her; if she wanted to apologize she would have to make an effort to do so.  He held his phone tightly and waited for it to ring again.  As the minutes ticked by, Jiyong got worried.  Maybe she wouldn’t call again, did he miss his chance to make up with her?  He beat himself mentally, regretting his childish actions right away.  As he flipped his phone open getting ready to call her back, his phone beeped.  Opening the text message quickly Jiyong glanced over its content.  He read it once more slowly.

        “Hi, Jiyong.  It’s me Bom.  I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for hurting you.  It was never my intentions to do so.  Please believe me when I tell you that I have my reasons, and it was done for your own good.  Please don’t hate me too much.  There’s so much I want to tell you, but I am not sure if I will ever be able to.  You are my best friend, the first friend I made since returning to Korea and you are very important to me.  Right now I am very scared, I do not know what my future is going to be like and I wish you were here.  Jiyong, please take care of yourself.  I miss you.”

        Jiyong read the message over and over again.  The words that he needed so badly where finally right there, in front of him.  The impact of finally receiving her apology and heartfelt words brought tears to his eyes.

        “No noona, there is no way I could ever hate you.  No way,” Jiyong cried.  He scanned the message again, memorizing each word.  Jiyong stopped in confusion.  There was one part of the message that did not make any sense.  Why was she afraid? Scared of what? And her future?  A sudden realization came to Jiyong and he quickly dialed her number.  The phone rang and quickly went to voicemail.  He hung up and called again.  Once more voicemail, this time he left a message.

        “Bom, its me Ji.  Call me back when you get this. Please.”  Jiyong hung up.  There was something wrong he could sense it.  Bom would never write something that she did not mean, if she was scared then there was something seriously wrong.  He called the next person he knew he could speak to to find out what was going on.

        “Please pick up, please pick up Hyung!” Jiyong prayed as the phone rang.  An audible click came over the receiver.

        “Hyung!  It’s me, Jiyong.  I know this is sudden but did something happen recently in Korea?  Did something happen to Bom-noona?  Is she ok?  Where is Bom-noona right now?”  The questions flew out of his mouth and color drained from his entire face as Teddy filled Jiyong in on Bom’s current condition.  He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

        “No… No!  No, Hyung!  You’re lying to me!!  How could she be that sick?  Wouldn't she have known?” He shouted in denial into the phone.  As Teddy continued to explain, Jiyong fell to his knees.  His strength left him completely as the truth finally registered.  Tears continued to stream down his face as he hung up.

        “She was trying to reach me, and I ignored her.  She needed me, and I abandoned her.  What kind of friend am I?” Jiyong cried out in anguish, the images of Bom alone and scared in the hospital flashed through his mind.  After several minutes of resentment towards himself, Jiyong finally regained his composure.  He got up and went straight to his closet.  As he threw clothes into a small carry-on, Jiyong made another call.

        “Manager-nim, I need plane tickets for Korea.  The next flight out, I don’t care how I get there but please get me a seat!”  Jiyong zipped up his bag, and walked out of room.  He stopped only to scribble a quick note to the boys.

        "Bom wait for me, I'm coming."