When the memories that kept my side of me
Collapsed one by one
I thought everything around me
Was going to disappear
- My Way, Ateez
The crowd in front of the hospital made it almost impossible to get into the building. Chan took Rory's hand, knowing she wasn't focusing on her surroundings ever since he had told her about the return of the boys.
Cameras were filming the entrance. Suddenly someone shouted "That's her!" and all cameras turned to Rory. The flashing lights blinded her and the only comfort she felt was her brother's warmth. Chan pulled the hood of her jacked over her head and pulled her to the entrance where their mother already stood, arguing with a police officer.
"-she's the other survivor and has a right to know how her friends are.", Ms. Bang yelled over the noise so the officer could hear her. "Please. Otherwise she'll be crushed by these damn cameras!"
Hesitant the police officer opened the door and the three of them slid through it. The moment the familiar hospital smell hit Rory's nose she shivered. Her eyes wandered around the hallways, trying to find someone she knew.
The police officer lead them to a hallway where many people in small groups waited. They held each other in their arms, trying to comfort each other and suddenly Rory felt out of place. With her family she sat down at the side, watching in silence.
Opposite of her was a blonde woman, holding hands with a black haired woman. The blonde held a baby in her arms and tried to calm it down, but it was no use since the loud noises from outside made it cry. Rory looked at the other woman. She seemed oddly familiar but she couldn't get where she had seen her before.
Then a nurse came into the hallway and the black haired woman jumped up, ignoring the calls of the other. "Where is he? Please, let me see him." Tears streamed down her face as she yelled these words. After her outburst the woman broke down, burying her face into her hands.
A sudden realization hit Rory and her eyes widened. "Yeosang's sister?" Before anyone could stop her, Rory jumped up and ran towards the woman. The nurse, who was trying to calm everyone down, turned to Eunjoo.
"Somehow your brother has almost no injuries. His friend clung onto him, but he was covered in bruises and an injury on his stomach. The weird thing is, they were covered by a pile of chicken."
The woman gasped, not understanding the latter part. But knowing her brother was fine lifted a huge weight of her shoulders.
Eunjoo followed the directions the nurse had given her to Yeosang's room. Taking a deep breath she pushed down the handle and stepped into the room.
The moment her eyes fell onto Yeosang's sleeping figure, tears blurred her vision. He looked healthy, almost as if he was just taking a nap. Eunjoo sat down on his bed and took his hand. He was real. Months ago she had imagined how they would reunite but it never happened. Now that this moment was finally here, Eunjoo couldn't believe it.
The door was opened once again and her wife went into the room, the baby secure in her arms. Eunjoo took her son and caressed his hair.
"Shhh. This is uncle Yeosang.", Eunjoo said, her voice cracking due to her tears. Her wife smiled sadly and continued.
"He's going to spend loads of time with you. He already loves you, I'm sure of it."
Eunjoo looked at her wife, glad she had someone like her. "Thanks."
As a response the blonde kissed her.
None of them noticed Yeosang's mouth twitching at the touch of his sister.
Eunjoo spotted another person, laying still on the other side of the room. "Jongho?" With fast steps she reached his bed and caressed his hair, remembering how Yeosang had bragged about Jongho's good acting. Eunjoo thought back to the day Yeosang had told her, Jongho lived with his grandma, his parents dead. She couldn't help but wonder where said grandma was. Maybe she just had troubles getting here.
"Oh Jongho.", Eunjoo whispered one last time, happy Jongho only had a few cuts and burns on his face. "You're not alone."
On the other side of the hallway Rory stood, trying to process what was going on. Then a guy walked around the corner, a dog happily following him, and a parrot on his shoulder. The nurse immediately started scolding him.
"Animals are not allowed in here."
The guy avoided her eyes. "But they won't let me take them away. They were the ones who brought help and now they don't want to leave the victims alone."
With a sigh the nurse nodded. "I think I know who the parrot belongs to. The dog, no idea."
But the nurse didn't have to know. The dog already ran towards a certain room, the parrot flying after him. Together they stormed into the room and while the parrot sat down on Hongjoong's head, the dog jumped onto San's bed, scaring both their families.
San's younger sister screamed and held onto her parents while Hongjoong's parents stared at the parrot in shock. The guy, who was supposed to look after them, ran into the room and smiled at the families in embarrassment.
"Uhm, these are the animals that saved your boys' lives. Kinda. So, uhm, have fun." With these words he ran out of the room, leaving the animals inside. If they were so eager to stay with them, he wouldn't complain.
The guy ran past Rory who had watched this happen. Confused she looked around, trying to see if anyone had an idea what the hell just happened. The hallway got emptier and Rory saw a lonely woman sitting at the end, waiting for a doctor. A tissue was in her hands, already completely wet. Rory wanted to go to her, comfort her, but stopped when she heard a familiar name.
"Your son, Seonghwa is completely fine. At least he will be. We managed to get the water out of his lungs and he will wake up soon."
Seonghwa's father spoke up. "What about the others? Will they make it?"
The doctor sighed. "One of them is still getting operated. Mr. Jung had the worst injuries of them all. But the chance of survival is very high. Is there any way to contact his parents? Relatives?"
Seonghwa's father sighed and Rory tried to not seem like she was obviously eavesdropping. "Wooyoung's parents are never here. Work keeps them away but I'm sure they're coming in a few hours."
The doctor thanked them and before he could turn and run directly into Rory she quickly acted as if she was just passing by. Now making her way towards the still crying woman she pulled out a dry tissue and silently handed it to her, making her look up.
"Thanks.", she whispered, her voice hoarse thanks to crying. Then she looked once more at Rory. "You're Rory, right?"
Rory nodded, scared of what was about to come. The woman smiled. "I remember seeing you play. Mingi always told me about how much he'd like to be friends with you but he was always too shy to approach people."
"Are you his mother? Ms. Song?"
The woman shook her head. "Aunt. My sister died at his birth and his father left her even before it was revealed that she was pregnant."
"How- how is he?"
"A nurse told me he's fine. In a coma but he has no severe injuries. He's gonna wake up, he will.", she explained. Then she pulled out something from her bag and Rory immediately recognized the flag Ra had given them. "This was in his hands when they brought him here. Didn't want to let go of it." She sighed. "Do you have any idea what this is?"
Before Rory could blurt out 'a flag', a nurse came towards them and a few moments later Mingi's Aunt said goodbye to her and followed the nurse to her nephew's room. With a relieved smile Rory sank down on the floor, trying to control her emotions.
Someone tapped her shoulder and when Rory looked up she looked into a boys' face, not older than ten. He held a paper in his hands and smiled at her. "Could you help me find Room Nr. 127, please? I'm lost."
Rory immediately stood up and ruffled the boys' hair, his face seeming oddly familiar. "Let's go, I think I passed it earlier."
When she saw how happy the boy got when he heard that, Rory's heart melted. She clearly had a soft spot for kids of any age. They reached the room after a few minutes and when Rory wanted to go, the boy grabbed her hand.
"Could-could you please come with me? I don't think I can do it alone.", he asked, almost scared. Rory nodded almost immediately and grabbed the boys' hand. Together they stepped into the room and when Rory saw who was laying there, she thought her heart was going to stop.
"Yunho.", the boy yelled happily and sat down on a chair next to the bed. He then put the paper onto the table beside it and Rory could see a drawing of a boat with many people on it. He turned to Rory again. "This is my brother! I've wanted him to see the drawing when he'd wake up."
"That's very cute of you.", Rory managed to say. Yunho's face was pale and Rory could see the scars on his body. With tears in her eyes she went closer, ignoring his brothers confused face and took his hand.
"Are you okay?", the boy asked worried and ran over to her side to hug her. Rory smiled, the happiness taking over her body. He was alive and was going to get better.
"Would you mind me waiting with you for him to wake up?"
The boy nodded. "It's too boring alone."
"Aren't your parents going to come?"
"Dad can't come, Yunho Hyung told me he would have to spend a few years in a special building because he hurt people. And I've never met my mother." The boy talked about it as if it was as normal as the weather but Rory suddenly felt like she was hit.
"So Yunho had taken care of you all this time?"
The boy nodded proudly. "He's the best. When I'm getting older I want to be like him."
Rory smiled sadly, her eyes lingering on Yunho's sleeping figure. She couldn't help but think about the possibility he wouldn't wake up and leave her alone. Who would take care of his brother then?
A few hours later Rory woke up laying on the uncomfortable couches in the waiting room. Yunho's brother, Wonbin, in her arms. Her mother had to go to work but at least Chan was still there. Of course Rory had wanted to wait in Yunho's room but when Wonbin fell asleep she didn't want him to sleep on a chair. At least Rory overheard the doctors talking to each other about the boys. Like that she found out Wooyoung had a succsesfull operation and Seonghwa's parents had asked them to move him next to their Son's bed so they could watch over both of them.
With a sigh Rory sat up, trying not to accidentally wake up Wonbin. She turned to Chan who was playing with his phone.
"Can you watch him for a while? I need to pee."
Chan nodded and scooted closer to the small boy. Relieved Rory made her way to the bathroom. It felt good to be alone in a room at least for one moment. Rory didn't want to listen to the yelling from outside or the nurses whispering in worry to each other about the unlikely coincidence of the boys getting found at the ocean at the same time.
For a few seconds Rory enjoyed the silence but it only made it harder to ignore the thoughts in her head. Once again she sighed as she exited the bathroom and almost ran into a person. She already wanted to apologize when she recognized the guy.
"Yeosang?", she asked shocked. Yeosang seemed a bit ill and definitely not like a guy who was found three months after drowning in the sea. He watched Rory in confusion and had trouble collecting his thoughts, Rory saw that. "I'm so glad you're alright."
Relieved Rory hugged him but when she felt him stiffen under her touch she immediately let go of him, confused now as well. "Yeo?"
Yeosang shook his head as if he wanted to shake a fly off. "I'm happy you survived as well. Rory, right?"
Speechless Rory nodded, not sure what to say. Yeosang awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "It's good to know there's still someone from our original club. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you to cope with all of that alone. But now you have us. We can be friends if you want."
"But aren't we already friends?", Rory asked, her voice shaking. Yeosang raised an eyebrow.
"We didn't really talk before, right?"
"Right.", Rory said quietly, slowly realizing what was going on. Scared she looked into Yeosang's eyes which weren't looking at her with a comfortable warm tone but with coldness. "Don't you remember Wonderland?"
Yeosang laughed, but it was obviously fake. Before the incident Rory wouldn't have heard that but after getting to know him more she could hear it clearly. And it hurt. "You mean Neverland probably. The Peter Pan play was awesome. So sad we couldn't convince Hongjoong to play it."
Rory didn't say anything, too scared she would burst out in tears. The awkward silence only grew when Yeosang opened his mouth. "Uhm. I should probably go. Was nice meeting you, hehe."
With these words Yeosang turned around, his brows still furrowed in confusion, wondering why the girl had been so weird. Not wanting to think about it anymore, Yeosang threw away the thought, thinking it didn't matter much and that Rory was just a bit shy.
At the same time Rory held onto the wall, her legs shaking and then finally giving up under her weight. Nobody paid attention to her. Nobody saw how she slowly started crying and burying her face in her hands. Nobody knew how hurt she really was, nobody could.
She was the only one who knew the truth. But she wished she didn't.
They didn't remember her.