you're annoying | ryeji

SEVENTEEN

chp. 17

With the beeping of the monitors, the rush of people around her, and the constant ringing in her ears, Yeji had never felt worse. Regret was pulling at her mind, causing the words to stop at her throat, not allowing her to speak. Her friends were surrounding her, trying to catch her attention as her eyes trailed the sight of a girl on a hospital bed being pushed into the operating room. But the most impactful thing about it was that the girl wasn't just any girl.

It was Ryujin.

Yeji swore she was about to vomit when she caught a glimpse of the blood running down Ryujin's poor head, and the way her right leg was limp and twisted in the wrongest way it could ever twist. Nothing would have prepared her for this moment. Nothing.

Multiple horrifying possibilities darted from left to right in her mind, causing her to shrink visibly into herself, feeling small. She could feel her sinus raging, a lump forming in her throat within the words, and her eyes suddenly burning. Yeji was frozen.

Hyunjin was right by her side, trying to get her to move away from the middle of the busy corridors so she wouldn't get hurt as well, but Yeji couldn't find the energy within her to even move an inch. The image of Ryujin's state kept flashing in her mind, reminding her that everything will not be okay no matter what anyone said around her.

"Yeji, come on, let's sit down," Hyunjin insisted softly, holding her arms ever so gently as if she was the one that was hurt. Yeji's bottom lip trembled.

"H-Hyunjin..." she stammered, lifting an arm to point at the doors of the OR. "She's... R-Ryujin is.."

The boy only stared at her with a tender gaze before forcefully turning her, and then he pulled her in for a tight hug. "Yeji, it's okay."

"It's not okay!" Yeji mumbled into his shoulder, finally allowing the stinging tears to roll down her cheeks. "Hyunjin, she's—"

"Don't." Hyunjin rubbed her back. "Don't think the worst, Yeji," Hyunjin whispered, his voice filled with a mixture of concern and determination. "We don't know what the outcome will be. Let's hope for the best."

Yeji clutched onto Hyunjin, her grip tightening as she tried to steady herself. The weight of the situation pressed down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. The tears continued to stream down her face, dampening Hyunjin's shirt.

As the minutes passed by, she managed to sit down. Yeji took a second to look around her, only to notice the depressed looks on her friends' faces. She wasn't the only one that was affected by this accident, and it was only in that moment when she had finally realized that.

Hyunjin had his arm around her, occasionally rubbing her left arm with his hand in attempts of comforting the shocked girl. And because of his actions, Yeji couldn't even dare imagine how difficult this situation would've been if her brother hadn't been present.

Her thoughts began to wander back to the events before the accident, and regrets started piling in.

Yeji had awoke to a dead cellphone, which automatically destroyed her mood because that meant her call with Ryujin had forcefully end. She had a nice breakfast with her family and even went on a little walk with her mom. But that quickly came to an end when the clock struck 9, because her mother had an important meeting at around 12 so they had to leave early. However, when she got home and charged her phone, she was hit with the news that her dear friend Ryujin, who was just on a call with her less than 24 hours ago, got into a car/motorcycle accident.

The timing was like a cruel twist of fate, and she regretted everything she didn't say. What if Ryujin died today? What if she lost her memory? What if—