"Come on, Chaer. Hang on." Ryujin repeated in her mind like a mantra. A silent prayer for her friend.
She rushed through the hallway of dead bodies, carefully carrying Chaeryeong's limp body in her arms. Each step she took seemed to stretch the corridor infinitely as if she was trapped in a never-ending nightmare. Yeji followed closely behind, Lia slumped on her back as her steps echoed behind the hitman.
Ryujin's heart raced, and her chest began to sting with each sharp breath she took. She glanced down at Chaeryeong; the harsh, fluorescent lights overhead bounced off the blood dripping off her mutilated face.
"I can't lose you."
As Ryujin stopped at the elevator, a vivid memory from their childhood flashed before her eyes.
"Hey, Ryujin and Yuna." Chaeryeong's mother greeted the small girls as she opened her door. "Did your parents leave you at home again?"
The little dark-haired girl nodded, holding her younger sister's hand tightly.
"Chaeryeong is in her room, why don't you play with her while I make Yuna some food." She said with a heartfelt smile, stepping aside to let the children in.
Ryujin cautiously walked into the apartment while Chaeryeong's mother took care of the youngest. Her steps were quiet as she made her way to Chaeryeong's bedroom. A backpack with her usual sleepover essentials slung over her small shoulder, and her eyes held a hint of solemn.
As she pushed the door open, she found her friend sitting on the floor, drawing small cartoon animals in her notepad. The room was cozy, filled with soft toys and posters of her favourite girl group on her walls.
"Ryu!" Chaeryeong placed her crayons on the floor and gestured for her friend to sit beside her. Ryujin placed her bag in the corner of the room and sat on the floor next to her friend, staring at the space in front of her blankly. "I didn't know you were coming over today."
The young dark dark-haired girl nodded slightly with her lips pursed together. Her friend shuffled closer to her, closely observing her face. "Did your dad hurt you again?"
Ryujin didn't answer and wiped the stray tear from her cheek before burying her face into her arms. Chaeryeong knew that her dad was abusive but no matter how many times she had notified her mother of Ryujin's mistreatment, she turned the other cheek.
Chaeryeong placed her hand on her friend's back, which caused Ryujin to wince in pain. "Does your back hurt?"
She nodded, her bruised arms covering her eyes from her friend. Chaeryeong sighed and got off the floor and walked to her desk drawer, retrieving a pack of monkey-themed bandaids before sitting back down.
"Lift your shirt, Ryu."
"No." Ryujin croaked out, shaking her head.
"I need to put bandaids on it." She said firmly, rattling the box of bandaids in front of her. "I'll be gentle."
After a moment of hesitation, she lifted up her shirt revealing lacerations scattered along her skin. Chaeryeong carefully unwrapped her bandaids and placed them carefully onto the wounds. The band-aids were too small to fit over the large cuts on her back, but it was the best that she could do.
"Ryujin?"
She hummed, her face clenching as Chaeryeong applied the bandage on her skin.
"I am going to study really hard in school so I can study in the medical field." The young girl said softly, carefully pulling her shirt down and moving to face her friend. "One day, I will become a doctor and take care of you."
She looked up to have Chaeryeong's arms wrapped around her in a heartfelt hug. It was the first time Ryujin had ever experienced such physical affection from her. Hugs were foreign to her, something that she hadn't encountered much in her life. It was warm, and comforting; is this what love felt like? Slowly and hesitantly, she raised her arms and returned the hug.
"When you're in pain, I'll be there to heal you."
From that moment on, she vowed herself that she wouldn't let her get in harm's way.
She was relieved to see the ambulance's red and blue flashing lights speeding towards the entrance. Yuna ran out of the car and immediately placed her hand on Chaeryeong's chest, crying relentlessly as the paramedics pulled out the stretcher.
"Save her, please." Ryujin breathed out as she regretfully let Chaeryeong go, passing her over to the professionals. "Please."
Sitting in the car across the road, a devilish grin formed on the Japanese's face as she watched the ambulances pull away from the curb. Her leader's hand gripped the wheel harshly, closely observing the hitman and her friends bolt into their car and closely tail the vehicle.
"That was so much fun!" Giselle cheered with joy, clapping her hands as she looked over to Karina. "I want to do it again."
"Tell me again, what did you do?" Karina asked slowly, leaning into her seat.
"Beat them up till I felt their bones crack beneath my shoes."
"But did you kill them?" The leader said seriously, looking over at Giselle with a stern look. "None of this matters unless you ended their lives."
Giselle placed her hand on her shoulder, "When I left them, they were bleeding out fast. There is no way they'd survive." She looked back at the bobbed-haired woman in the backseat, sitting beside the hacker. "Can't let them live after what Ryujin did to Winter."
Minjeong looked down at her hand, rubbing the stub where she was injured. There was no doubt that she wanted to hurt Ryujin, but she felt a lingering sense of guilt building up inside her. Her friends were just pawns in the game that they created, collateral damage that was uncalled for.
-
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-
They rushed into the emergency room, their hearts pounding with fear and desperation. The sterile, cold atmosphere of the hospital only intensified their anxiety. The harsh smell of the hospital made Ryujin's skin crawl. The sight of gleaming white hallways and the low hum of medical equipments sent shivers down her spine- a haunting reminder of the darkness she fought in her nightmares.
Panic took control over their bodies as they ran to the nurses' station, Yeji's voice quivering as she inquired about the condition of their friends.
"As they are in critical condition, they would require to undergo emergency surgery." The nurses, accustomed to dealing with worried loved ones, wore unsympathetic expressions due to their long and strenuous shifts.
"How long would the surgery take?" The cat-eyed woman raised her voice with tears dripping down her chin.
"We don't know-"
"What do you mean you don't know?!" Yeji slammed her hand on the counter, catching the attention of everyone in the room. "Those are our friends in there. I need to know!"
"Ma'am, please. We are going to try our hardest to save your friends. Please wait." The nurse stood up, her eyes widened by the sudden aggression.
Ryujin and Yuna immediately held Yeji in their arms, guiding her to a nearby set of seats in the waiting room. The photographer buried her face into her girlfriend's chest, heaving as she sobbed and soaked her shirt.
"Why them?" She yelled into her body, choking on her words. "Why is this happening?!"
The dark-haired woman placed a hand on her back, rubbing it in soothing circles as her expression remained blank. She wanted to cry, to relieve the intense emotions inside her- she can't. She needed to stay strong, even then, she couldn't cry or sob. Tears were non-existent for the sociopath.
Ryujin shut her eyes tightly, resting her head against the wall as she pleaded with some higher being to save them.
-
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-
Hours drifted by unbearably slow. Each time the door behind the nurses' station opened, their heads whipped to the sound in hopes of someone bringing news about their friends, but each time it wasn't for them.
Exhaustion washed over Yeji as she fell asleep on Ryujin's shoulder. The hitman's heart ached each time she would twitch, or mumble something relating to the events that had occurred. Every time her eyebrows creased in fear, Ryujin would squeeze her hand, hoping to ground her and keep her safe.
Yuna, on the other hand, clasped her hands together and whispered to herself. She knew that her younger sister wasn't religious by any means, and never stepped foot in church or a temple once in her life. But perhaps she was desperate to see her friends alive.
Maybe she should do the same, seek help from any celestial being. Maybe she should sell her soul to the Devil in exchange for her friend's safety which was easy for her since her actions already broke a few of the Commandments. She was already had a nice warm spot in Hell.
Was this the consequence of her wrongdoings? Damnation from God for all her sins? Or was it the universe punishing her for what she had done in her previous life?
No.
It was all her.
She loved living her life recklessly, not giving a shit of the repercussions of her decisions. Eventually, it all caught up with her.
What if she had driven her friends to the venue instead of allowing them to enter Death's carriage? What if she had accepted Yongsun's offer to join him? What if she hadn't rejected Karina's love?
All the what-ifs flooded her mind, eating away at her thoughts. But it all was useless, it was too late to change the past.
The door swung open again as a doctor stepped into the waiting room. "Friends of Jisu and Chaeryeong?"
Yuna immediately got up and nodded repeatedly as Ryujin gently woke up her girlfriend.
"Please follow me." The doctor said as he turned back to the door.
Yeji's weary eyes opened, swollen from all the tears she had shed. "Are they alive?"
Ryujin shrugged softly, her lips forming a line. "We are going to go find out."
The trio followed the doctor into a private room with a large table and chairs all around. He gestured the trio to take a seat, as he pulled a chair out in front of them.
"I'm the trauma surgeon who is in charge of treating Choi Jisu and Lee Chaeryeong. Is there anyone else that needs to be in the room at the moment?" The doctor asked, making direct eye contact with each of them.
Yeji looked down at the table, her fingers scratching the back of her wrist. "No, I don't think so."
"Any family?"
She shook her head, "Jisu's parents are on a business trip in Canada-"
"Chaeryeong only has us." Ryujin spoke up, her voice hoarse. Yeji shot a glance at her, confused. "Her mother died a year ago and her father is a deadbeat."
The doctor nodded understandably and looked through his clipboard. "Well, I'll begin then."
"Lia's injuries are severe. Lacerations along her shoulders and her knees shattered from heavy blunt force trauma. We managed to salvage some parts of the bone but we had to replace her kneecaps with metal." He explained slowly and carefully, compartmentalising his emotions. "She'll have a slow recovery with physical therapy but she'll be okay."
"How about Chaeryeong?" Ryujin asked, her fist clenching hard beneath the table. "Is she okay?"
The doctor let out a sigh, placing the clipboard on the table and taking off his glasses. "In the ambulance, the paramedics were able to get a weak pulse back. When we got her on the operating table..."
God...
"One of her ribs was nearly puncturing her heart..."
Please don't say it...
"She was losing too much blood so we had given her blood transfusions and everything was going according to plan... However-"
No.
"Her injuries to her head; we weren't aware that one of the blood vessels in her brain burst, causing an internal bleed."
Chaeryeong, please don't...
"There was too much bleeding, causing her heart to stop." The doctor sighed, taking a deep breath as he looked up momentarily. It was never easy for him. "No matter how hard we tried to resuscitate her. It wouldn't beat again."
He stood up beside his chair, bowing his head down as a single tear that he couldn't hold back fell into the group beside his feet. "I'm sorry."
Everything was silent.
The whole world stood still as she looked to her left to see her girlfriend unleash a pained scream with her hand on her chest. Opposite Yeji, Yuna's eyes were red, swollen from the endless tears being shed for her best friend, the other sister who cared for her when Ryujin couldn't.
It was unbearable.
She abruptly got up from her seat and made a mad dash out of the room. Her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, there was no way for her to fight, so she ran and ran with no escape. She bumped into nurses wandering in the hallways.
It was as if she was trapped in the labyrinth of her nightmares all over again. Every hallway was all the time, people were visiting their loved ones, smiles plastered on their faces, people hugging each other; they were all alive.
Eventually, she made it to a flight of stairs and ran up. The pain in her chest hindered her, pleading with her to slow down. She couldn't.
Soon, the door swung open to the rooftop. A garden surrounded her as the moonlight illuminated the flowers and bushes around her. Her legs finally gave out as she fell to the ground, she clenched her eyes tightly.
"Chaeryeong... You promised me." Ryujin screamed out loud, looking up into the stars. "You said that you'll stay with me, you'll look after me. Why are you gone?!"
Ryujin endured every kind of physical pain in her lifetime and each time, Chaeryeong was there to treat her wounds- made her feel safe, cared for and loved. Now, she was left with an emotional wound that Chaeryeong couldn't heal.
"I'm sorry, Chaeryeong." She whispered out into the darkness of the night.
Note:
i'm sorry too :[