Wendy heard the gun shot, but never felt the pain. Opening her eyes a little to peek, she saw the gun barrel still emitting smoke, and her blood ran cold when she noticed the direction it was pointing at. Immediately turning towards where the gun was pointing, she noticed Seulgi clutching her abdomen, her white collared shirt rapidly turning red. Seizing the moment to push the stunned guard away, she ran towards the girl, catching her, but only to tumble to the floor with their combined weight.

“Seul… Seulgi-yah…” Wendy called out, looking at the said girl’s eyes which were already losing focus.

She could feel Seulgi placing her hand on her cheek, which she reciprocated by placing her own hand over Seulgi’s. She watched as Seulgi forced a smile on her face and slid her thumb to wipe the tears on Wendy’s face. “Don’t… cry…”

Wendy could hear distant shouting in the background, but she didn’t want to look away, fearing that she would lose Seulgi once she did. Seulgi struggled to speak, but she gagged, and only a stream of warm blood trickled out from . Horrified, Wendy held on tighter to Seulgi’s hand, bringing her other hand to wipe the blood off Seulgi’s chin. “Stop talking!”

“I… love… you…” She watched Seulgi mouthed, and her eyes slowly closing, like she was too tired and had to take a nap there and then.

“Stay with me Seul! Don’t sleep damnit!” Wendy cried out, only to have Seulgi’s hand slip out of her own, falling limply by her side. She cradled Seulgi tightly, in hopes that it will bring the girl back to her conscious state. Her tears were blurring her vision, and when she felt someone trying to tug her off Seulgi, she only buried herself deeper into Seulgi’s hair, breathing in the familiar scent that she had grown to associate with the said girl.

They finally succeeded in prying her off Seulgi, but she thrashed around wildly, begging and screaming for them to give Seulgi back as she watched them put her on a stretcher, pushing her further and further away. She felt a sting on her forearm, before she herself succumbed to the darkness.

--

Seulgi had always wondered how it felt to be shot by a gun after watching countless dramas, but she never thought she would be on the receiving end of one. The pain radiated through her entire body, burning her, consuming her, eating her whole. She gasped while moving a hand up to clutch the wound where blood kept gushing out and she could feel her legs losing strength, falling to the ground.

She braced herself for the impact, only to fall into a pair of arms. Seulgi could feel a hand slip around her neck and she forced herself to focus on the person in front of her. She could slowly make out Wendy’s face and the girl’s eyes were already b with tears.

“Seul… Seulgi-yah…” She heard the other girl call out, and there were so many things she wanted to say, she wanted to tell Wendy to stop crying, that her hair was tickling her and it made her want to sneeze, but she couldn’t as she swallowed back the blood she felt rising up . Seulgi watched a lone tear roll down Wendy’s face, and she mustered up all her strength to move her hand up to wipe it off Wendy’s face, only to feel Wendy holding onto her hand tightly.

“Don’t… cry…” Seulgi could only croak out one sentence before stopping just in time to stop the blood from escaping . She still had so much she hasn’t said, but time is running out, and she knows it. But Seulgi still tries, because this might be her last chance. She struggled, blood coming out instead of words, and she could see the shock and horror on Wendy’s face, and she just wanted to hold the other tight, to assure her again and again that everything was going to be okay. But she couldn’t. Because everything wasn’t okay, because there was a gaping hole in the middle of her torso, and she’s pretty sure that she’s bleeding to death.

“Stop talking!” Seulgi heard the other girl said as she felt a hand swab the warm stream of blood flowing down her chin.

Seulgi could see black dots appearing in her vision, and she knew it’s not going to be long before everything turned black. Trying her best to concentrate on Wendy, she could only mumble out something, hoping it will be enough, hoping Wendy will understand. “I… love… you…”

Finally, she stopped resisting, losing to the pain, losing herself to the black abyss.

--

Seulgi was threading her fingers through her hair, curling loose strands behind her ears. She smiled at her, eyes disappearing into a line, hands dropping down to hold her by the waist. She watched as Seulgi turned back, waving at someone she couldn’t see. She felt Seulgi’s hands drop away, running away from her.

“Where are you going?” She asked, but is only met by Seulgi’s knowing smile as the latter gestured for her to follow her. She laughed and ran after Seulgi, but no matter how much she ran, Seulgi just got further and further away.

“Seul… wait up…”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

White ceilings greeted her the moment Wendy opened her eyes. Trying to blink away the weight that was weighing her eyelids down, she heard the incessant beeping of a machine and she hated it for waking her up from her dream, a dream where Seulgi was in. Seulgi. Wendy shot wide awake, sitting up, looking around to register herself to be in a hospital ward.

“Oh, unnie you are awake?” Joy asked, immediately standing up and clutching Wendy’s hand, even though she was just sitting right by her bedside.

“Seulgi… Joy, where is she?” Wendy grabbed onto the younger girl, startling her.

“Unnie, calm down, you are scaring me…” Joy tried to pry herself out of Wendy’s tight grip.

“TELL ME!”

“Wendy.” The two turned to see Irene walking in calmly, placing a basket of fruits on the table. “Seulgi is fine.”

“Then let me see her.”

--

Wendy wouldn’t use ‘fine’ to describe the condition Seulgi was in. If Seulgi was ‘fine’, she wouldn’t be in the ICU. If Seulgi was ‘fine’, she wouldn’t need the ventilator to help her breathe. She could see the monitors around the girl, the only signs telling her that the bear-like girl was indeed alive, just in a deep sleep, and not sleeping forever. She was glad Joy and Irene had insisted that she came in a wheelchair, because she was sure she had lost all the strength in her legs. Bowing her head down so that her hair fell forward to cover her face, Wendy could feel her tears running down.

“Unnie…” Joy called out as she squatted in front of Wendy, her own tears threatening to fall. The younger girl placed her hands on the latter’s, running her thumb past her knuckles.

“How… how is she fine, Joy-ah? She can’t even breathe without the ventilator!”

“But still alive and still breathing.” Irene said, bringing the two’s attention to her. Tearing her eyes away from Seulgi to stare at the two younger girls, the oldest squatted down beside Joy, reaching out to wipe the tears off Wendy’s face. “Seulgi’s a fighter, and you have to have faith in her that she will win this battle.”

Wendy could only nod after looking at the resolute look on Irene’s face. She believed Irene, and most importantly, she believed Seulgi.

--

Wendy walked down the hospital corridor, giving a slight bow to all the nurses and doctors she met on the way. Standing in front of room 20, she took a deep breath. She had always hoped to open the door to see Seulgi waving at her with the bear-like smile on her face, whining at her and asking her why she took so long. Opening the door, only the beeping of the ECG machine greeted her, with Seulgi still lying on the bed. She sighed inwardly, but still made her way to the chair beside Seulgi, settling herself in it comfortably.

This had been her life for the past few weeks, going to school and making her way here to see Seulgi, no matter how late it is. It was taking a toll on her health, her academics and her social life, but she didn’t care. Clutching Seulgi’s hand, Wendy chuckled as her free hand reached out to comb through Seulgi’s hair. “Good afternoon Kang Seulgi.”

“The choir teacher had threatened to kick me out of choir if I keep missing practices, so you should take responsibility for it and wake up, right?” Wendy’s question was met with silence, one that she had accustomed herself with. That didn’t deter Wendy as she continued to update Seulgi about things that were happening around her. She told Seulgi about how Jungok and the police came to rescue them in time the other day, and how Kang Seungyoon was in jail now while awaiting for his sentence.

“Oh! Did I mention that Irene proposed to Joy?! That couple really move fast haha. But Irene told Joy that she wanted to wait for you to wake up to be her best (wo)man, so they can’t get married because of you Kang Seulgi.” Wendy chortled while shaking her head. Wiping the tears away from her eyes, she rested her head on her and Seulgi’s entwined fingers.

“So when are you going to wake up? Everyone’s waiting for you. Everyone, including me.” Wendy choked on the last sentence, trying her best to keep her voice from wavering. She didn’t trust herself to speak anymore without bursting into tears, so she just stared at the comatose girl while drawing patterns on her arms and slowly she could feel her eyelids drooping, falling into a deep slumber that was much needed for her fatigue body. 

A/N: whoever said i was going to let wendy die?! /runs before i get bricked/ 

remember how in the last A/N i said there was foreshadowing where seul was bleeding because of the rose thorns? blood will be spilled, but it's not wendy's T_T

so after all the comments i realized you guys may not understand why seulgi ended up being shot instead of wendy, well let's just say that seungyoon didn't have any intentions of opening fire in the first place, but because he was frustrated with seulgi's taunting, he eventually did, but on the person who frustrated him. the 'seungyoon' i had painted in my head for this story is not someone necessarily bad, but just blinded in a moment of anger/frustration/fear (of his company being stolen therefore the entire kidnapping saga), and finally opening fire in a "shut up bij" way instead of the "you deserve to die" way. hope it makes sense! 

bye going back to my safety house in the forest, till the next update!