25th February
That morning, Ae Ri was making herself a cup of hot coffee since it was freezing cold in the office. She put down her coffee on her desk and went out of the office.
She saw the new waitress, her name was Rose, her school junior. She's really beautiful.
"Rose! Is everything okay?" Rose turned to her, she smiled and nodded. Ae Ri smiled back. She walked towards the barista station.
"Minhyuk ah~ busy?" Minhyuk turned around, he grinned.
"Wae? Miss me?" Ae Ri chuckled.
"Kind of!" Minhyuk came closer to her and put his elbows on the counter.
"Yah, what if someday I'm gone? I mean, I died? Would you be lonely?" Ae Ri's sudden question made Minhyuk frowned.
"Why are you asking that? It's weird. Of course I will be lonely. Then I don't have anyone to flirt with me everyday," Ae Ri glared at him and he laughed.
"Aniya, I'm just thinking how it would be if I left this world, how many of my friends would be sad and grieve for me..." Minhyuk shook his head.
"Yah yah enough of that weird thoughts of yours. Your brain must be frozen and broken because of the winter, right? Don't you dare think of committing suicide," He teased. Ae Ri let out a small laugh.
"Museun sori-ya~~" Ae Ri then walked away, and went to Wonho's office.
She knocked on the door. Seconds later she heard Wonho's voice asking her to come in.
"Sajang-nim~ mwohae-yo?" Ae Ri took a seat on the sofa. She looked at Wonho who seemed busy with his paperworks. Wonho looked up to her and smiled.
"Dealing with paperworks. Why?"
"Aniya. I just feel like I want to visit and talk to everybody today~" Wonho giggled.
"Why are you being weird today?" Ae Ri shrugged her shoulders.
"This might be our last conversation, who knows!" Wonho stopped looking at his paperworks and he put it down. He stared at Ae Ri who was looking down to her feet.
"What nonsense is that, Ae Ri? Don't even think about it! How to end our game if this would be our last time talking to each other?"
Ae Ri lift her face up to look at Wonho. She smiled.
"Aniya~ It is just my thought. I was thinking what would it be if I'm gone forever, something like that..." Wonho got up from his chair and walked towards Ae Ri. He then took a spot, sitting next to Ae Ri.
"Please, don't think of that. It's too scary to even imagine it happens,"
Ae Ri looked at her boss' face with a sweet smile on her face. Wonho put his fingers on Ae Ri's cheek.
"Look, who's gonna cheer me up when I'm down? Who's gonna disturb me in the office? Everybody in this cafe would be lonely without you. And we can't let the game ends without a winner!" Ae Ri giggled.
"Arasseo, arasseo. I won't talk about it anymore~"
"If you talk like this to your brother, he will be upset!" Ae Ri flashed out a slight smile.
"He did.." Wonho let out a slow sigh.
"Is there something bothering you that makes you have that kind of thoughts?" Ae Ri shook her head slowly.
"No... I'm just, curious," She then stood up.
"I'm gonna get back to work. My coffee surely had turned cold by now," Wonho smiled and nodded.
Ae Ri walked out of the office and went back to hers. Inside, there was Ye Eun who's busy printing documents.
"Oh, Ae Ri yah! Where have you been just now?" Ae Ri smiled.
"Walking around, disturbing people," Ye Eun let out a small laugh.
"And why is that?" Ae Ri took a sip of her coffee before answering.
"Geunyang... I feel like I'm missing everybody so much!" Ye Eun chuckled.
"Omo, that's cheesy,"
"Not as cheesy as you and your Honey Oppa~" Ae Ri teased. Ye Eun glared at her then she laughed.
.
.
"Jooheon-ah? All clear?" Ae Ri asked before locking the cafe's door. All of them were outside after their business hours ended. Ae Ri looked around and saw Kihyun's car parked not far away. She saw her brother, waving from his car. Ae Ri smiled.
"My brother's here~" Ae Ri walked, with her bag hung on her left shoulder.
"Yah, be careful on your way home!" Wonho shouted. Ae Ri turned around, smiling and she nodded to Wonho. All of them were still there, still talking to each other.
Ae Ri was walking towards her brother's car which was about 500 metres away when suddenly two guys with motorcycles came to her and snatched her bag. She held her bag tightly but the guys were stronger. Kihyun quickly got out of his car and ran to help his sister.
"Ae Ri yah!!!"
"HELP!!!" She screamed.
Wonho, Jooheon, Minhyuk, Ye Eun and Rose ran to the scene and became really panicked.
Ae Ri was being dragged onto the road by the motorcycle. She finally let go of her bag and the guys went away so fast. Unfortunately, she stumbled to the opposite way of the road.
"AE RI!!!!!!!!" Kihyun screamed. Ye Eun shouted in shock. She covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.
A car with full speed didn't manage to brake.
BAMMMMM! A loud crash was heard.
Ae Ri was lying down on the road. Crazy amount of blood came out from her head. She seemed to be very weak. Her eyes were half opened.
All of them ran to her. Kihyun kneeled down and held up his sister on his laps. He cried.
"Ae Ri yah! Ireona! Somebody!! Call the ambulance!!!"
Minhyuk quickly took out his phone. His hand was shaking when he dialed the emergency number. Ye Eun hid her face on Jooheon's shoulder, not willing to see Ae Ri in that condition. She cried hard.
Wonho still can't believe what had just happened.
This can't be.. She can't die!
The car driver came out, he walked towards Ae Ri. He covered his mouth, shocked to see the person he just hit with his car.
Wonho went to him and snatched his shirt's collar.
"Are you crazy?! Can't you even see her?!" He was so angry.
"Sajang-nim! C-calm down.." Jooheon persuaded, he held Wonho's arm. Wonho let go of the car's driver and took a deep breath.
"M-mianhae. It was too.. Too sudden. She was suddenly in front of my car when I noticed... I-I'll pay for the treatment!!" He bowed. His whole body was trembling.
"Oppa..." Ae Ri uttered the word slowly. Kihyun who was crying so hard looked at her in the eyes. He held her hand.
"Don't talk. You're not in a good condition, Ae Ri yah. We're waiting for the ambulance to take you to the hospital. You'll be safe, arasseo?" Kihyun sobbed. Ae Ri cried.
"It hurts.. Manhi.. Apayo..." She was getting weak. She coughed out blood.
Minutes later, a siren was heard. The ambulance arrived.
"PLEASE!! PLEASE!! Save my sister!!!" Kihyun let the medic team took her sister into the ambulance. They checked her pulse rate, her blood pressure and pressed the wound on her head and body to prevent more blood loss.
Kihyun got into tha ambulance with her sister and told Jooheon to help him bring his car to the hospital.
"Let's follow them!" Minhyuk ran to his motorbike and started the engine.
"Yah! Let me go with you," Wonho hopped on behind. Meanwhile, Jooheon drove Kihyun's car, following him were Rose and Ye Eun.
"Eottohke, Jooheon-ssi? Will she be fine?" Ye Eun was extremely worried.
"Just pray for her. Hope she'll survives," Jooheon held Ye Eun's hand to calm her down. Her hand was so cold and her face looked really pale. Too scared that she might lose her bestfriend.
They all arrived at the hospital. Ae Ri was brought into the emergency unit.
Kihyun was waiting outside of the emergency unit, his body was still shaking from what he had witnessed. He took out his phone and called for Hyungwon.
"H-hyungwon ah...." He burst into tears. He couldn't speak properly.
"C-come to the hospital please. Ae Ri was... Ae Ri!!" He still couldn't finish his words.
"Bring I.M... See you later," He hung up.
The rest of them waited with Kihyun. Ye Eun rubbed her hands together, hoping for a miracle for Ae Ri. Jooheon hugged her tight.
Wonho sat down and let out a slow sigh.
"Could this be the reason why she was being weird this whole day? She talked to me something about.. Death. What if she really felt her death was near," Minhyuk took a seat next to Wonho. He leaned back onto the seat. His eyes were teary.
"No way. She's gonna be fine!" Wonho cried.
.
.
Minutes later, the doctor came out.
"Who's the family of this victim?" Kihyun stood up straight and ran to the doctor.
"It's me. I'm her brother,"
"We need to undergo an operation on her. The injury on her head is severe, there are some damages on her brain. She's losing so much blood, so we need to transfer some to her. There's also an injury on her ribs, few of them are broken and that's affecting her lungs. She's very critical,"
Kihyun rubbed his face. Then, he nodded.
"Proceed with anything you can do. Just please, save her. I'll settle the documents later," The doctor nodded and signed his nurses who assisted him to bring Ae Ri to the Operation Hall.
A moment later, Hyungwon arrived with I.M. Kihyun saw him and hugged him. He cried so hard.
Hyungwon rubbed his back.
"Don't cry... We're here. Just pray for the best for her... May she survives," He felt pity for his bestfriend, Kihyun was surely not ready to face another lost in his life.
I.M was with the Bebe team to ask what happened as he was sure Kihyun wouldn't want to talk.
"Where's the car's owner?" I.M asked after he heard the whole story. Rose pointed to the seat at the corner. He sat there, looking down to his feet.
"He said he would take all the responsibilities. The two guys were nowhere to be found. They went away too fast with their motorcycle," Minhyuk explained.
Hyungwon came to them. He let out a small sigh.
"Do you have CCTV around your cafe? There might be some proofs of the incident,"
"We do. But I'm not sure if the cameras cover those areas," Wonho rubbed his hair.
"We need to see the footages first. Let's wait until we get to know Ae Ri's condition," Wonho nodded.
.
.
After three hours of waiting, the door of the Operation Hall was slide opened. The doctor came out. He pulled his mask from his face.
All of them gathered in front of the doctor to know the result.
"Ae Ri-ssi is...."
To be continued...
What happened next?
Don't forget to vote and comment, thanks ^^