"Oh God, where did she go?!" Ara asked, panting. Jinhwan put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
"I don't know, why would she just disappear like that?! I'm really worried about her, Ara, she's not picking up any of my calls. What if Sooyoung did something to her?" Jinhwan asked.
"That's what I'm thinking, too! Oh my God, we have to find her quick, she's not anywhere in this park. Should we go check the outdoor one?" Ara replied. Jinhwan nodded before rushing to the exit.
He was running across the bridge with Ara until he overheard a girl talking to her friend.
"Some people are just so idiotic, don't you think? How could she just shove through the crowd like that, I swear I could've broken my ankle or something because of her." he heard her say. He immediately bolted to a stop, making Ara lift a brow.
"Wait, follow me." Jinhwan said before running up to the girls.
"Excuse me, did something happen earlier? Not to be nosy or anything, but we're actually trying to find our friend, she suddenly disappeared and we're wondering if you saw her." Jinhwan said.
"Well, there was a girl who shoved me earlier. She was running for some reason with a backpack and she seemed to be running away from another girl because the other helped me up and apologized, telling me that she was trying to catch her or something." she said.
Jinhwan looked at Ara with wide eyes.
"Thank you so much, we'll be going to now." Jinhwan said as he quickly bowed and turned around to continue running.
"That was definitely Sooyoung." Ara said alongside him.
"Yeah, and I think she stole (Y/N)'s backpack." he replied.
"Didn't that girl say that she was chasing her? Wait, chasing-Oh my God, she was running! Jinhwan, we have to find her!" Ara gasped as she ran faster.
The two both ran across the bridge to the outdoor park, where they saw a huge crowd in front of the castle.
"What the Hell is that?!" Jinhwan said.
"I don't know, God, what if that's (Y/N)?!" Ara shrieked, making Jinhwan's eyes widen.
"Crap!" Jinhwan shouted. No, no, please. Jinhwan thought as he ran closer to the crowd. It only took him a second to find out that the girl he saw on the floor was you and in an instant, he full-speed sprinted over to the accident.
He pushed through the crowd hastily and crashed down to the floor next to you, grabbing your head. You were unconscious and Jinhwan started to panic. He lightly tapped your cheek with his hand.
"(Y/N), w-wake up, pull yourself together, please." Jinhwan said desperately. There was no response from you and the way your eyes remained shut made Jinhwan's heart shatter. Ara finally got through the crowd and saw you, her eyes widening. She furiously grabbed Sooyoung's collar.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER!" Ara shouted.
"Shut the Hell up, you're making my ears hurt-"
"I'm not going to ask you again." Ara snarled.
"I-I don't know! I took her bag and ran off so she was chasing me. She just fainted after that, I don't know what really happened!" Sooyoung said.
"WHAT!" Jinhwan yelled.
"Oh my God, you stupid piece of crap, she has Asthma!" Ara shrieked. Sooyoung looked flustered and had nothing to say.
"Where is her bag, WHERE THE HELL IS IT!" Jinhwan roared. Sumin was completely frozen with your bag in her arms. Eunji grabbed it, but Sumin suddenly yanked it back.
"What, no! What are you doing?!" Sumin said. Eunji suddenly flicked her on the forehead.
"Ow!" Sumin said, letting go of your bag. Eunji took it and gave it to Ara, who quickly took the inhaler out of your front pocket and gave it to Jinhwan. Jinhwan put the inhaler into your mouth and pressed it twice.
He put his ear to your chest but he couldn't hear any heartbeat. He checked your pulse again, but there was no pulse to begin with. His eyes widened.
"A-Ambulance, call an ambulance!" Jinhwan yelled in panic. Ara quickly took out her phone and dialed 911.
"Step back!" Jinhwan shouted to the crowd who was standing there, peering at you. He put his hand at the center of your chest with the other on top of it and started to give you chest compressions.
"1...2...3..." he counted as he gave you 30 compressions. He then pinched your nose, lifted your head, and put his lips on yours, giving you two large breaths of air. He checked your pulse afterwards, but it still wasn't there. Panic engulfed him again as he moved back to your chest to start over. Again, he put his hands at the center of your chest and started to give you 30 more compressions.
As soon as Ara called the ambulance, she demanded answers from Sooyoung.
"You told me that she suddenly fainted after chasing you, is that really what happened? Are you telling the freaking truth?" Ara asked with a glare. Sooyoung swallowed and couldn't seem to reply.
"Sh-She did fall to the floor, but after that she started to hyperventilate and she was coughing really hard." Eunji said. Ara's eyes widened.
"If she was having trouble breathing, didn't she ask you to give her bag back?!" Ara asked.
"Y-Yeah, but Sooyoung wouldn't give it to her because she wanted (Y/N) to apologize and beg for it." Eunji replied.
"YOU TOLD HER TO DO WHAT?!" Ara roared at Sooyoung.
"ARE YOU FREAKING RETARDED?! WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE IT BACK TO HER WHEN SHE WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT IN A GOOD STATE OF HEALTH?! WHY'D YOU EVEN THINK TO STEAL HER THINGS IN THE FIRST PLACE?! OH MY GOD, IT WAS HER INHALER, YOU DAMN IDIOT!" Ara shouted, making Sooyoung flinch.
"What the Hell is wrong with you?! If you gave her bag back, she could've used her inhaler to save herself, but oh no, she hurt your damn feelings and you couldn't accept the freaking fact that you freaking lost to her in this year-long fight you were in, so you stood there and watched as she literally suffocated on the floor instead of helping her?!" Ara exclaimed. Sooyoung and her friends only stared at the floor, unable to let out a single word.
As Jinhwan tried his hardest to revive you, tears began to form in his eyes. Why aren't you breathing.....why aren't you awake? Jinhwan thought. I need you, (Y/N), please don't leave me. I love you, please don't leave me, I'm sorry. Jinhwan gave you another mouth-to-mouth and then checked your breathing to find that you still didn't have a pulse. The tears in his eyes fell as fear surrounded him. It was fear that he came too late and that he had lost you already. It was fear that you would no longer look at him again and listen when he told you that he loved you with all his heart. Don't die......I can't live without you, don't die..... Jinhwan thought as he started over. I'm not going to give up on you, so please don't leave me.
"WAKE UP!" Jinhwan shouted, his voice breaking into a sob. Tears began to fall from his eyes as he helplessly whimpered in fear.
It was at that moment when your chest began to rise slowly that Jinhwan's eyes widened. Immediately, he grabbed your wrist and checked your pulse. Jinhwan's face lit up with hope. It wasn't as strong as it was supposed to be, but a pulse was there. You weren't completely gone yet.
"A-Ara.....Ara, she's breathing!" Jinhwan shouted.
"She is?!" Ara replied in surprise. Jinhwan wiped his tears quickly as he heard a siren in the distance. When the ambulance came over, you were put on a stretcher and an oxygen mask was put over your face. You were rushed into the ambulance while the police started to investigate the incident.
"What happened here?" One of the officers asked.
"Somebody fainted!"
"A girl was beaten up!"
"I think there was something wrong with the girl who fell!"
"Alright, what really happened?" the officer asked.
"Well, that is..." Sooyoung started, but was cut off when Eunji suddenly slapped her hand against her mouth and told the officer the truth. Sooyoung and Sumin only stared at her with wide eyes as she explained everything to the officer.
Jinhwan and Ara followed you into the ambulance. Ara took out her phone and called Bobby while the paramedic hooked you onto a heart monitor and managed with your oxygen mask.
"Briefly explain what happened." the paramedic said.
"She was chasing someone because her backpack was stolen and I think she had an Asthma Attack." Jinhwan said.
"How long was she unresponsive?"
"I-I'm not sure, she was with us for a while and then disappeared somewhere, so we looked for her for about ten minutes until we found her here. I've been doing CPR on her and she finally started to breathe right before you got here."
"She's breathing, but barely. She is still in a very unstable condition, so we're rushing her to the hospital before things get worse." the paramedic replied.
"I-Is something wrong?" Jinhwan asked in concern.
"She's having trouble breathing on her own and she's still unconscious, so we'll have to get her to safety quickly before things get any worse." the paramedic explained. Jinhwan put a hand on his forehead and huffed.
"I called Bobby. He said he's coming right away. It'll take him about half an hour to get here." Ara said. Jinhwan nodded. You were quickly rushed to the hospital where you were rolled away to another area. Jinhwan and Ara followed you as the doctor rushed over.
"The patient went through an Asthma Attack, she's been unresponsive for a while until she started to breathe after performing CPR. It seems that she is still unstable and is having trouble breathing." the nurse said.
"Hook her up to an IV and get the Oxygen Machine, we'll try to-"
Everyone was then silenced when the heart monitor suddenly blew up and began to sound off an alarm. The machine was getting louder as your heart rate severely increased in speed. Jinhwan's eyes widened.
"Doctor!" the nurse said in alarm.
"Get the defibrillator." the doctor said as he signaled to the other nurses. Panic engulfed Jinhwan's chest as the tension in the situation was getting worse. The nurse quickly started to perform CPR on you again and everything was beginning to get hectic just like before.
"W-Wait, what's going on, I-I thought she was breathing!" Ara said in alarm.
"It's Cardiac Arrest, we need to get her to breathe again or things will get difficult." the doctor said quickly before the nurses came in with the crash cart. Ara covered her mouth in fear and Jinhwan felt his heart shatter. The heart monitor was getting closer and closer to flatline.
Jinhwan couldn't believe what was happening. He was getting flooded with nothing but fear and guilt as he just watched as you were dying on the hospital bed. He felt completely helpless not being able to do anything for you. His heart was pounding rapidly and tears began to well up in his eyes. The only thing he was hearing in his head now were the words that Sooyoung had spoken the day before.
"Why don't you act your age and try to protect her, then? You've obviously failed at it the last few times I confronted your girlfriend."
Jinhwan couldn't hold back his tears and helplessly broke down next to Ara as the heart monitor showed no sign of life in you. I can't do it. Jinhwan thought as he fell into a crouch with his face buried in his hands. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to protect you at all. Sooyoung still managed to do this to you and there wasn't a single time when Jinhwan was there to prevent any of it from happening. He was pathetic. He couldn't even keep his own girlfriend safe and now you were about to die because of him. It was all his fault that you were dying and still, the thought of you leaving him made him want to scream.
Ara crouched down and brought Jinhwan into a comforting hug.
"Th-They'll bring her back, Jinhwan." Ara said. Jinhwan let out another sob as Ara rubbed his back.
"Th-They won't leave her to die. Don't worry, everything will be alright, I-I promise everything will be alright, (Y/N)'s a strong person. She won't leave us and the doctors won't let her leave either." Ara said, her own voice cracking as she held back her tears. Ara could feel the guilt and sadness radiating off of Jinhwan. She wanted to tell him that this wasn't his fault, but she wouldn't be the one to be able to stop him from blaming himself. Jinhwan's sobs were silent and only came out as small chokes and coughs, but his body shook violently as he continued to cry in fear and anguish.
"I-I can't do it, Ara." Jinhwan sobbed as hot tears streamed down his face. "She's not safe around me."
Ara only looked at him sadly before hugging him again.