The Missing Piece

Chapter 31

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi Everyone, 

Firstly, for anyone who's been asking, my name on AO3 is the same as here, Leodragonpublishing, and you can find some additional chapters of this fic if you head there. Although it's still not finished on that site either. 

I'm so sorry I temporarily fell off of the grid! I had a baby and it came a little earlier than I thought, so I didn't make my deadline. And then, you know, they keep you quite busy new babies, so sorry about that. I'll be trying to publish a as regularly as I can. In the meantime, why not read my other COMPLETED story? 

I don't often write an A/N on here, but I just wanted to say, thanks so much for all your support and readership, it means a great deal! 

Leo x 

Narae became aware of being awake slowly. Like after a night of fantastic sleep, she came round easily and gently. And then she slipped off again.

There were voices all around her, sometimes silence, sometimes just little movements here and there. She kept quiet and still and let small dreams punctuate the moments when she briefly though she might be awake.

At one point, she felt a dragging nausea pull at her. Not quite sickness, but something like regret or shame or something that twisted at her stomach. She didn't like it but found it was manageable. What was happening to her, she wondered for the first time. Consciousness came in waves, little by little.

It occurred to her, after she realised she was fully awake for the first time, to open her eyes, but even as she did, she realised she wasn't alone.

"Ah, there she is." One unknown voice said gently, happily.

"Yes, you stay here, I'll go and let everyone know." Replied another. She didn't know either of these people.

When she'd blinked enough to be able to focus, she found she was on her back but with her head turned to the side, looking towards a dull wall with a bright window in the middle. The blinds were mostly down so just enough light came in to make it peasant but not blinding.

A hospital. She realised immediately, by the muted colour of everything she could see. I'm in a hospital. She tried to cast her mind back, but it was all a little fuzzy.

"Narae." The first of the two voices again. She turned her head, finding her neck a little stiff and her eyes needing to blink a little more to get used to a different part of the room.

"Hello. Can you hear me alright?" He was a man, maybe 50 and she thought that she might have recognised him for a second. But she was confused. She nodded anyway to show that she could hear him.

"You're in hospital, but you're safe and doing really well." He told her comfortingly. He didn't seem like a doctor, he was sat down for one thing. More like a kindly visitor. She nodded a little trying to give context in her memory to his words.

"Do you remember me? My name is Professor Choi and I work for the University of Tokyo."

Narae squinted again, wondering why that name even sounded familiar. Then it came tumbling back to her.

"Professor Choi." She tried to say but found that her voice was barely more than a croak. He immediately got out of his chair, taking a jug and a cup from the end of the bed and pouring her out some water. She reached forward with a shaky hand and took it. The professor picked up a remote control and began to raise the head of the bed, allowing Narae to sit up a little more easily.