You awoke to the sound of slow, steady beeping. You immediately reached for the bedside table on instinct for your glasses, but you couldn't find it there. You flinched when you felt someone grab your hand and placed what you recognized were your glasses. You put it on and squinted at Kai.
"Kai?" you muttered in confusion and considered for a while if you were dreaming.
"Good morning," he said, wearing his usual Kai smile.
"Why are you here?" You asked. "Why am I here?" You asked more surprised, when you realized you were not on your bed.
Kai laughed and answered, "Lu Han-hyung and the others brought you here. You passed out."
You just stared at him in confusion. Your mind was a haze and trying to remember was giving you a headache.
You looked around you and finally realized you were on one of the clinic beds. There was no one else there but the two of you. The room was a little dim and the window didn't invite any lights behind the curtains to suggest that it was still day time.
"For how long have I been here?" You asked.
"Well, you've been unconscious for ten hours now," Kai told you.
"Ten hours?!" You exclaimed and immediately squinted at the wall clock. It was a few minutes past three. "Is that three in the..."
"Morning," Kai finished for you.
"Omo," you muttered. You checked yourself and realized that you had a needle on one of your hands which was connected to what you guessed was dextrose. Your other hand had a rubber-ish bracelet attached to your wrist. You realized it was causing all the beeping. It had a small digital screen which read 137.
"And this?" You asked, showing Kai the bracelet.
"That's some kind of heart rate monitor according to Doctor Jung. It will send him a warning if you palpitate again," he told you.
"Palpitate?"
"You palpitated when you passed out. Your heart rate was thrice the normal human heart rate, according to Doctor Jung. Normally, most monsters have a higher heart rate than humans but in your case, you were in human form and most of your body is human," he informed you.
You blinked blankly at him and absent-mindedly placed your hand to your heart. Thankfully, it seemed to be beating normally. You have no clue what could have happened to you earlier, since you have not experienced it before, as far as you can remember.
"Did Doctor Jung find out what's wrong?"
"I don't know. He didn't tell us yet. He said he was gonna look into it further."
"Oh. Why are you here by the way? Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"I couldn't sleep. It's not like I have class tomorrow anyway," he shrugged. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay, I guess. A little groggy," You answered.
"Want me to make you feel better?" He teased. You automatically scowled at him in response.
"What?" He laughed. "I guarantee you're gonna like it. And it's for free," he smiled seductively.
"Not interested! Aish! Why are you such a pervert?" You grouched but he just laughed at you. You eventually laughed along, and gave a long sigh right after.
Why are we even laughing like this as though everything is fine?
"Ya," he called.
"Hmm?"
"What's with the sigh?"
"Tomorrow – I mean later, you and Chanyeol, are they really gonna...," you struggled for the right words to say.
"I guess they will," Kai said, his expression never changing as though it was no big deal.
"But...," you sighed helplessly. "I won't allow it!"
Kai laughed and pinched your nose gently. "Babo. It's already decided."
You didn't answer and just looked at your hands dejectedly.
"It's not that bad. If you think about it, I don't have to cut classes anymore. It will also save me the trouble of sitting through demon king's class," Kai said and flopped himself on your bed beside you.
"Y-ya!" You yelled as you almost fell off your bed.
"Ahhh...," he contentedly sighed, ignoring you, and lay comfortably on your bed, with legs crossed and eyes closed.
"What about your studies?"
"There's Busan. Besides, it's not like I want to study anyway," he answered without opening his eyes.
"And the soccer team?" You asked, but he didn't answer. You sighed and looked away from him. "Mianhe."
"Wae?"
"I got yo into trouble. And I didn't even help during the testimony. In fact I think I only made things worse," you said as you stared at your hands.
Kai opened one of his eyes and stared at your grim expression.
"Mweoya," he said as he closed his eyes again. "What Chanyeol and I did was our decision, it had nothing to do with you. Whether he bullied you or not, that bastard would still have gotten a beating from us one way or another. So stop sulking. The world doesn't revolve around you, you know."
"I didn't say that," you scowled at him but he just laughed.
"And stop doing anything reckless," he told you. "I heard about what happened at the infirmary. Nothing's gonna make them change their decision at this point. So don't get into anymore trouble." He sat up and lifted your chin up so you can face him, "Araso?"
You frowned at him and moved your chin away from his hand. No matter what he says, you just can't sit around while your friends are getting expelled over an incident that involved you.
"Ya," Kai said as he let you face him again. "If you don't answer," he softly said and moved his face closer to yours, "I'm gonna kiss you."
"Ya! Get off here you byuntae!" You yelled and pushed him off the bed. He fell off laughing. "Ah jinjja." You grumbled.
"Now that's better. Sulking doesn't suit you," Kai said as he stood up and dusted his hands. "Well then, see you when I see you," he ruffled your bangs and headed for the door. That's when you realized that he came to say goodbye.
"Kai," you called when he was about to leave.
Kai stopped by the door and waited for you to say something, but you just stared at him, not knowing what to say. All you know is that when he walks out the door, you might not see him again.
"You finally called me by my name," he smiled.
Don't leave, you wanted to tell him. But you couldn't and the words remained at the tips of your lips, unspoken. You just stared at him, your chest tightening.
"Be a good girl while I'm gone," he winked before finally leaving the room.
The door closed behind Kai with a gentle click. The room was silent except for the steady ticking of the clock. But the silence didn't give you any sense of peace, but rather it was just a reflection of the emptiness you feel in your heart.
Chanyeol and Kai were probably the two people you were most annoyed with when you came to Monster Academy. They were noisy, rowdy, and spell nothing but trouble. You remembered how you always grumbled about having them around. You didn't realize just how much they started to mean to you, them and all of the soccer team. You can't imagine your life at MA without Kai's teasing and oftentimes perverted jokes, or Chanyeol's loud voice and stupid outbursts, or how they would always get you into trouble just by sitting near them. But if you're feeling this bad about everything, you were sure that the soccer team must be feeling worse.
"Chanyeol...Kai...ottoke?" You sobbed and cried yourself to sleep.
- - - - - - - - -
"You're finally awake," Doctor Jung greeted you as you squinted your eyes open. You fumbled for your glasses and found them on the bedside table.
"Mmm," you grunted at the sudden headache you got when you moved around. It felt like a drum was steadily thumping inside your head. Your eyes felt heavy and dry.
Doctor Jung disappeared behind the curtain partition which separated the beds from the rest of the clinic.
"About time you woke up," you heard him say. "It's past lunchtime but you should eat. You haven't eaten anything – whoa!" He exclaimed when he went back in and saw your red, puffy eyes. "Not quite a pretty sight you have there."
You felt your eyes behind your glasses with one of your hands, though you really didn't have to do it to guess just how puffy they were. Your eyes felt heavy you feel like your eyeballs are going to fall off their sockets.
"How many rivers did you cry to torture your eyes like that?" Doctor Jung asked while placing a tray of food on your bedside table. "Let me guess," he said as he dragged a chair near your bed and sat on it, "it's about your friends."
That finally brought you to your senses and you immediately checked on the time. It was already more than thirty minutes past one, and you knew it was afternoon since the scene outside the window is as bright as the day. You panicked that it was already this late.
"Kai and Chanyeol! Are they already...," you trailed off at your sentence. You couldn't bring yourself to say the word that you have been dreading most for days.
"Not yet. But they're in the middle of the final hearing right now. Their families also arrived early today to hear the final announcement," Doctor Jung informed you.
You bit your lip. Tears were starting to form at the corner of your eyes. You didn't want to start crying again in front of Doctor Jung.
"I'm sorry about your friends," he told you sincerely. "I know everyone's having a hard time. But you know, there's always something good out of everything. And I guess for you, there's one good lesson you can learn from all this."
"That I shouldn't lie," you said, your voice cracking.
"Well, not really. Lying in itself is not all that bad, at least for me. I know you had your reason for lying to me, and I don't think you had bad intentions."
"No," you agreed, and a tear uncontrollably fell no matter how much you tried to hold it in.
I didn't mean for Chanyeol and Kai to get expelled. I didn't mean to give the soccer team all this trouble.
"It's not really the lying, but rather, the reason that you lied. We had not known each other that long so I don't know what kind of social life you had back home, but what I do know is that you're a bit introverted, so you must not have been popular among the kids. I wouldn't say you're anti-social, maybe more like a social embicile."
"Mweoya," you grumbled at his term in between soft sobs. Doctor Jung laughed.
"But joking aside, and I've told you this before, don't act like you don't have friends. You always have this attitude that you have to carry all your problems alone," he said.
"I just don't want to give other people any more trouble," you explained.
"Which, ironically, got you into more trouble," he said. "Whether you meant it or not," he added when you were about to argue again. "Joo Ri, it's okay to ask help from other people sometimes. It does not necessarily mean you are giving them trouble. It just means you trust them. No man is ever strong enough to live alone."
You sighed because you know that somehow, he was right. If you hadn't kept Lee Hee Jun's bullying to yourself, things wouldn't have gotten this worse.
"Speaking of strong, you have to regain your strength, young lady. So here," he said as he moved your lunch into a bed table and placed it in front of you. "Aren't you gonna ask me what happened to you?" He asked.
"What happened?" You asked for the sake of asking. The truth is, it's the least of your worries as of the moment. Your mind was only filled with Kai and Chanyeol and the hopeless reality of what's gonna happen to them today.
Doctor Jung sighed. "You released your core."
"What?" You asked as what he told you finally tore your thoughts away from your friends.
"It was just a weak one, but then your body was not ready for it, that's why it reacted the way it did. As I've explained before, most of your body is human, and the fact that you are not yet used to having your core awakened, your whole body couldn't handle that much energy yet so you passed out," he explained.
"Oh," you muttered as you considered what he just told you. "Guess I'm a monster after all."
"What?" Doctor Jung asked, laughing.
You were starting to wonder that everything regarding your being a monster had been nothing but a sick joke since were not able to use any Core no matter how much you tried.
"I'm still looking further into it," he said when you didn't answer. "In the meantime, you need to regain your strength. Call me when you're done eating. Bon appétit," he said as he placed a dented can of coke on the tray, which you realized was the same coke the Chairman gave you yesterday. One of the guys must have left it there.
Doctor Jung disappeared behind the curtain partition into the clinic's receiving area, leaving you to enjoy your lunch, but you just stared blankly at the food. The sound of the wall clock seemed to grow louder with every passing second. You could not bring yourself to eat while any minute now you won't be seeing your friends again.
You wiped another tear as you glanced at the wall clock for the nth time. You wished there was something you could do. Anything.
Not even the chairman can help us, you thought bitterly as your eyes landed on the can of coke that he gave you.
'Remember, nothing is ever too late,' what he said flashed back on your mind.
But we already did everything we can, you sighed desperately.
'More often than not, it's not a question of what they want to believe, but who they choose to believe...'
Your eyes slowly widened at the sudden realization. You pushed your food away and literally jumped out of bed. You were about to dash away when you felt a stinging pain on your hand. That's when you remembered the needle. You hesitated before quickly pulling it off. You hissed at the sudden pain and pressed your other hand on the spot where the needle had been.
"Ya, where are you going?!" Doctor Jung yelled when you dashed across the room towards the door.
"To save my friends!" You yelled back as you bolted outside.
Doctor Jung gave a knowing smile. "Guess she finally figured it out."
You ran across the hallways. You didn't care if you were in a hospital gown or if you were not wearing anything on your feet. You were still feeling dizzy, and you nearly toppled to the ground a couple of times but you didn't dare stop.
Why didn't I think about it before? Babo! You mentally scolded yourself.
You didn't know what time the hearing started or how long it was going to last. You ran harder. Every second was too important to lose.
Chanyeol! Kai! Oh God please let this work and let me get there on time!