##; | january 29th,, 2019.
the eight boys arrived at the hospital in record time. they sat in the waiting room, which was jam-packed with other people. some were rushing through the doors, either to check in on loved ones or to get over a simple cold.
they were informed that rosey had been admitted to the hospital at approximately 2:47 in the morning. there was no explanation given as to what happened, who was with her, or if this was the fault of someone else.
nurses informed the leader, chan, that rosey was settled in a room and shortly after rosey began describing her pain as dizziness.
"wait. . . she was brought here in the middle of the night?" chan asked.
"technically, yes." the nurse said, reassuringly.
chan returned his attention to the others who were listening in on the conversation. his expression was befuddled.
"what was she doing out past midnight?"
jisung, who was looking at the oldest, shrugged his shoulders. jisung's initial thoughts were that she was out with a few of the twice members to have fun and walk around when no one was looking.
"was she by herself?" hyunjin raised his voice.
"i'm not completely sure," the nurse spoke to the younger boy, "but we were told that when the police arrived, she was the only one at the scene."
the boy's heart sank into an indescribable state of panic. it was terrifying to think that rosey had stepped outside of her normal self and was walking around alone and even more terrifying to think that someone had left her there alone.
the nurse looked back up at chan and placed her hand gently on his arm, "why don't you follow me."
after telling the others to stay put, chan began to follow the nurse as she turned around. the king corridor leading to rosey's room felt like it was closing in on him.
"could you give a rundown of what you believe happened?" chan inquired, from behind the women.
the two came to a halt in front of the closed door, the nurse's hand on the silver knob. she sighed as she looked at chan again before opening the door.
"if you really want to know what i think happened," the nurse let out a long sigh, "i think she was attacked."
chan was perplexed. why would she have been attacked in the first place. his thought were racing faster than they had been before he learned she was in the hospital.
"attacked? by who?"
"the police are trying to figure it all out, if it was an attack. however, based on the bruising and minor cuts she has, it is not something she would have acquired from a fall or similar incident."
he couldn't think of anything to say.
the nurse patted his shoulder, indicating that everything was fine and she understood how he felt. her hand twisted the doorknob and she led him inside.
"she's sleeping right now." the nurse said quietly.
when he looked up from the floor, his gaze was drawn to rosey and then to a familiar figure across the room. sana had been sitting alone in the corner, on her phone, waiting for the next steps to take.
"your here?"
"i arrived a little after i spoke with you on the phone." sana said quietly.
the nurse had left since the two began talking and the door had closed, leaving them to keep an eye on rosey. as he returned his gaze to the young girl, he noticed the bruises on her arms and legs, which had to be the result of someone's force. his eyes were drawn to the bandages wrapped around the minor cuts on her body.
"i just want to know what happened." chan said to sana, his eyes fixed on the bed.
the door swung open harshly just as sana opened her mouth to inform the boy. two tall boys, seungmin and jisung, walked in. jisung's mouth dropped open when he saw the bruises on his same-aged friend and seungmin simply sat with her on the end of the bed.
seungmin had repeated the question chan wanted the answer to, "what happened to her?"
sana paused for a few seconds, hoping for no further disruptions.
"she was attacked by something. . . someone?"
jisung gasped loudly at her words, unable to believe what he was hearing. he had no idea why someone would ever put their hands on such a sweet girl. what would make someone want to do this if she never did anything wrong, was always nice, and cared so much about others.
"what else?" chan asked, his face blank.
"what exactly do you mean?"
he turned to face sana, "it's unusual for rosey to leave after midnight, especially alone. what got into her? she isn't a fan of the dark or being alone outside at night. why did she suddenly decide to do that? simply tell me!"
sana took out her phone and opened the messages between her and rosey. she turned her phone screen to face the boy who was enraged.
"she said she wanted to go to the market," sana said, her fingers swiping the screen to the left as she spoke, "at around 1:28 in the morning."
"and you let her do it?" seungmin asked calmly.
sana shook her head, turning off her phone and placing it on the table next to her.
"when she entered the living room, she asked if she could go and i told her that it wasn't a good idea because it was so late. she asked again, perhaps ten minutes later, and this time she stated she had a friend waiting outside to accompany her." sana explained.
the boys gave her an odd look. what type of friend agrees to meet with you after midnight?
"who was the friend?" jisung asked.
"that's the thing," sana shrugged, "i thought she got one of you guys to go with her because we're in the same building."
"but none of us knew. . ." chan said.
"exactly. . . i don't believe she had anyone waiting for her."
jisung and seungmin exchanged glances, while chan held his head in his hands, which rested in his knees and sana comforted him by placing her hand on his back. the many questions that followed was overwhelming and everything about the situation was dreadful.
"i started to feel bad after about twenty minutes of her absence, as if something was wrong. i called her and she didn't answer; i tried again after two minutes and she still didn't answer."
seungmin was paying close attention as it appeared that chan had tapped into his own world and jisung was busy whispering to rosey at the head of her bed.
"i dashed outside to go to the small market she mentioned and i could see the police lights flashing in the distance. when i saw those lights outside of that store, it gave me a horrible feeling. as i got closer, rosey was shaking, panicking, and balled up crying on the sidewalk as they tried to talk to her."
seungmin was uneasy as he listened to the horrifying story that had him shifting around on the end of the bed.
"her clothes were messy and she refused to stand, as if they were about to hurt her again. after a few minutes, they finally got her into an ambulance and that's when they told me she'd been attacked."
more members of stray kids had entered the room, this time it was felix, minho, and hyunjin, changbin and jeongin, the last two, didn't want to walk in knowing how heavy it would make them feel.
the story was told to the three newcomers once more, this time by seungmin while sana comforted chan on the couch.
there were three knocks on the door and the nurse from earlier entered. she came to see if the bandages were tight enough or if they needed to be changed on her patient.
as the evening progressed, the nurse had to inform that group that only two people were permitted to remain in the room.
sana had ushered the others out of the room and spoke with changbin outside when they returned to the waiting room, minho and chan were the two who chose to stay.
it felt like the longest night either of them had ever experienced. they discussed the incident, the story, and their predictions for what would happen next.
they watched as the girl spelt peacefully through the night, her being completely unaware that she was causing them to panic with each passing moment.
rosey's current condition was communicated to the company and they quickly issued a statement informing fans that rosey would be on hiatus due to "health problems." the company did not want the fans to be concerned, so they didn't tell them the whole truth.
fans wished rosey a speedy recovery from what they assumed was a simple cold or minor injury. if only they had known that it would take more than a wish to alleviate her pain.