A sharp pain in my side wakes me up, and causes my eyes flutter open. I groan sitting upright grabbing my side and looking around.
On the bed sleeping are the two kids and to the left of them is a woman I've seen before.
She lost her baby a year ago but still walks around with her stroller, she glances at me before gesturing at Mr. Han both of them looking at me.
I look for Hyunsu but when I don't see him, I get up panicked hurry towards the staring Mr. Han
"Hyunsu- where- what -why- wheres Hyunsu?" I finally manage to stutter out, still holding my wound standing.
"Whoa! Calm down you've been out for about a day, he's fine. A man started talking on the intercom. He said that the first floor was safe and to make our way down. Hysunsu and two others went down to check it out, you know, make sure it was safe." He says smoothly trying to calm my nerves, while eyeing my bandaged abdomen.
Fighting the urge to scratch at my scar, I bring my middle finger to my mouth and chew.
"Who uh, who did my wound?" I say scared of the scars they might have seen.
"Me and the baseball bat girl, what-what was her name?" he said, snapping his fingers trying to remember.
"Jisu." a soft unfamiliar voice states. I look over to the woman and automatically bow my head slightly.
"I'm sorry, My name is Jin Ae."
"Ah, my name is Myeong-ja," she says smiling warmly as my eyes widen, my brain processing the name the woman had just said.
"Jinsu? Does she have red in the back of her hair?" She nods her head. I glance back over toward the kids. "Did they eat?"
She nods again and I sigh relieved that everyone was ok, I look closer at the woman and notice a slight redness underneath her nose.
Mr. Han moves behind me and prepares some food.
"How long have you been getting nosebleeds?" I ask calmly, drinking the tea and holding the rice Mr. Han had given me. She visibly tenses and stares at me scared.
"It's fine, I'm not going to do anything I am simply asking." I smile reassuringly, and she relaxes slightly, still smiling warily.
"For a while now, um it started when a monster came into my apartment and um squished my stroller." She said smiling sadly, I grimace.
Her baby that she thought was still living in the stroller had just died and i wasn't the best at comforting sad people, i mean scared people for sure but sad? Nah not my thing, before i could ask her if she wanted some water she turns to the kids and i do the same.
"Did you find Hyunsu and the kids in the hall or?" I ask wanting to know what the heck happened.
"I was walking through the hallways when I saw some kids and a younger man pounding on a door. The younger man saw me and the next thing I know I'm being offered rice by Jayhun and being bombarded with questions." she explained.
"Whose uh Jayhun?" I inquired about taking a bite of my rice.
"Well he was here with jinsu before we came, they said they heard pounding and went to check it out and that's when they found Mr. Han. He was looking out for you and the young man, he let them come in, and that's when we came back," she smiled.
"And uh how long have they been gone?"
"About 5 hours," she says looking around. She tenses once more and stands to her feet.
"um I have to use the restroom excuse me," she said practically running to the bathroom.
she probably has to take a dump. i think nodding as I turned back towards the kids.
Finishing up my rice and tea I place the cup on the counter and sit on the end of the bed, resting my head on the wall behind me.
"Thank you." I say earnestly looking over at Mr. Han.
"Bah! it was nothing, you should get some rest, you're looking really pale and i don't want you dying just yet." He says without looking up from what he was working on at his desk.
Chuckling, my eyes wander over to the kids and then to the window. The sun was rising which meant this has been going on for a few days. Breathing deeply I close my eyes, letting my mind wander.
Where's hyunsu? How is Jinsu? Is that staring man still alive?
Because I really do want to ask him what his problem is, why he just walked past the apartment.
How he was mad fine, I mean, I wouldn't mind- Nah he's still a creep.
Maybe I reminded him of someone and he couldn't place his finger on it, or maybe I'm just really that hot I mean- Nah that could be it.
Sighing, I keep my eyes closed wanting to do more than just sleep, but almost like a spell sleep came for me.
——————————————————————————
(2 hours later)
(This is where the plot will kind of divert a little more. The medic will be a man instead of a woman, because um ✨ D R A M A ✨)
I awake to the door slamming shut and hushed whispers. Jumping to my feet I get into a defensive stance and glance around, still groggy.
The first thing I spot is that the woman isn't anywhere in sight, well that's worrying.
The kids are still in the bed but now awake and alert. Three men stand in front of Mr. Han glancing around, my heart leaps out of my chest as I see Hyunsu and he spots me.
He runs over and engulfs me into the tightest hug. I stand in shock at the sudden unfamiliar touch of human contact but soon hug back just as tight.
He lets me go with a goofy smile spread wide across his face before I punch him in the arm.
"Ow! what was that for?" He winces, I punch him again in the arm before saying
"That's for scaring me you- you asshole!" I hug him once more both turning and walking toward the new faces.
The man on the left had glasses and looked older, the man on the right had a beard and short hair.
"Hello, my name is Jin Ae," I say bowing my head but still looking at them suspiciously. The older man nods and the other man bows his head too.
"Hello my name is Dohun and this is-" he starts to say but gets interrupted by the older man.
"Seop Ahn pleased to meet you." He says holding his hand out, smiling I take his hand and give it a good firm shake.
"Dang almost broke my hand jeez." He smiles playfully.
I chuckle and offer them some food and water, to which Mr. Ahn refused. but Dohun said neither he nor Mr. Ahn hadn't eaten and they needed to eat something.
I hand Dohun two water bottles and put some hot water in the ramen. Both of the men go and sit at the table with their ramen next to the kids, I walk over to the bathroom where Hyunsu and Mr. Han are.
"Hey, guys where's Myeo-" I stop at the bathroom door in horror, a big red pocket hangs in the middle of the bathroom, A fetus looking monster inside of it.
"What the heck- who the heck is that?" I say warily staring at the thing in shock. Mr. Han and Hyunsu's heads bow in sadness.
"Myeong-Ja." I say gasping. They nod their heads as we all stare at the thing.
"She doesn't seem to be hurting anyone or trying to harm us." I say pursing my lips, "We should just leave her."
agreeing with me, Mr. Han slowly shuts the door and turns to the other two men. We all sit around the small table, Dohun glances at me before thanking me for the food.
"So is the first floor safe?" Mr. Han starts, Hyunsu nods.
"There is a group of people down there, and that man," Hyunsu says now turning to me, "The man that came up the stairs? He was down there, he tried to choke Dohun."
I fight the urge to snort because that was his first reaction to someone touching him. I look at Dohun fighting the growing smile that was on my face.
"Are you, are you ok?" I say covering my mouth to hide the grin, he looks at me upset that I found it funny.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He muttered, rolling my eyes, I turned back to Hyunsu.
"we have to get there before nightfall, so get ready all of you we leave in about ten minutes." He says timidly, everyone turns to look at me and I furrow my eyebrows.
"You heard him let's get ready," I said frustrated, they start moving, packing all the food and Mr. Han grabbed some basic tools.
I walk towards the kids, their eyes wide with anxiety.
"hey kids, I know you're scared but I promise you we will all be just fine! I will protect you and your sister ok? "I say smiling reassuringly and crouching, he nods and musters up a small smile.
Walking towards Hyunsu, I see him put Mr. Han on his back, i grab the wheelchair and head towards the entrance.
"Is everyone ready?" I ask standing in the front, I feel a small hand grab mine and once again I see Yeongsu holding my hand. "It's going to be fine ok? Now let's go"
Man I would kill for a cigarette.