The next morning Jisoo awoke with a pounding headache and with the feeling that her stomach was trying to exit her body. She spilled the glass of water on the floor as she scrambled to get to the bathroom, but the toilet was already occupied by an equally as hungover Lisa.
"Lisa, I'm going to vomit." Jisoo said hurriedly. "Either you move or I'm going to puke on you."
Lisa pushed a bowl towards her and muttered a few curses. "Fuck off. Stop yelling."
Jisoo threw a scowl towards her, but the next second her insides came out and she ignored everything else as she heaved everything out of her body into the bowl in her hands. Once she was done, she laid down onto the cold tiles and shut her eyes to try and ignore the throbbing pain in her head.
"God..."
"Shh..."
"What the fuck did we drink last night?" Jisoo groaned. "Everything hurts. Are we even alive?"
Lisa swatted at her face to try and get her to shut up. "Shush."
"My head hurts too so shush to you." Jisoo muttered. "This is your fault. I'm dead because of you."
"You're the one who invited me for drinks."
"You're the one who insisted we do shots of vodka."
"Your fault entirely. Should've spilled your guts earlier."
"Well I'm sorry I was busy—" Jisoo was interrupted as Lisa heaved into the toilet again, and she crawled over to hold her hair gently. Even though she was mad at her, she still knew life was much easier to deal with when someone else was holding your hair while you spewed out your insides.
"This is still your fault."
"I'm dying, Jisoo, spare me your cruel words and soothe my pained soul." Lisa cried melodramatically as she flopped down onto Jisoo, casting them both onto the floor.
Jisoo groaned as the movement made her head spin, and for a long while, they both just laid on Lisa's bathroom floor, groaning and whimpering in pain.
"I hate alcohol." Lisa muttered. "I'm never drinking again."
"Ditto."
"Do you remember anything from last night?"
"I beat you in darts--"
"In your dreams, Kim."
Jisoo shook her head. "It's just blank. I can't believe I blacked out."
"You're lucky your shift starts in the evening." Lisa grumbled as she used the bathtub's edge as leverage to get up. "I've got work in an hour."
"Lucky you." Jisoo hummed from the floor. "Lucky me."
She shifted slightly and felt a stabbing pain in her breast. "Ow. What the fuck?"
Lisa concentrated on trying to wash her face while Jisoo pulled out a folded piece of paper from her bra.
"What the fuck is this?"
Lisa glanced at her briefly and shrugged. "Like I care."
Jisoo unfolded the piece of paper and took a long while to try and decipher what the squiggly writing even read.
Ur wife is hurt, she's in W. Vallley Hopsital – Jisooo
Jisoo stared at the paper, her mouth hanging open. "Lisa?"
"Huh?"
"Do I have a wife?"
"No?"
"Then who the fuck was I talking about in this?" Jisoo stood up, her head spinning, and shoved the piece of paper into Lisa's hand.
"What the fuck..." Lisa began, but then a short memory returned to her. "Oh, right. You got a phone call. A hospital lady, you said."
"A wife? I was joking, right?"
"Probably. Easy to find out, though." Lisa quipped as her hand darted to Jisoo's back and pulled her phone from her back pocket. Jisoo grumbled and snatched her phone from Lisa's hand.
Lisa moved out to try and get dressed while Jisoo rummaged through her phone log.
"I have a call from an unknown number." She muttered as she walked into Lisa's bedroom, where the brunette was struggling to get herself into a tight pair of jeans.
"So call it back?"
"I can't, it's private."
"Maybe they'll call you again. It's probably a mistake." Lisa said. Her voice was low and hoarse, and she certainly did not look ready for work. "I can't believe I have to go to work and answer idiotic questions like this." She gestured at her Apple store employee shirt and her worse for wear face. "I'm not ready to answer yet another question about charging your fucking phone with a different charger, people are such idiots, I just can't--"
"Lisa, you need the money." Jisoo reminded her.
"That I do." Lisa grumbled. "But if I die because some idiot thought his phone could withstand the rain, it's on you." She popped an aspirin into her mouth and dry swallowed it before heading to the kitchen and pouring herself a large glass of water. After she'd downed at least three of such glasses, she wiped her mouth and looked at Jisoo expectantly.
"Well? Are you just going to stand there all day?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Make me your delicious eggs, you goddess." Lisa said, rolling her eyes. "I'm dying and only you can save me."
Jisoo's head was still pounding, but she too felt the hunger gnawing at her newly emptied stomach. She opened Lisa's fridge to find that the only two things in it were a carton of eggs and a six pack of beer.
"You were prepared, weren't you?" Jisoo quipped as she took the carton and began preparing her infamous eggs. It wasn't as delicious as Lisa made it out to be, but any half-assed attempt at cooking was delicious compared to Lisa's disastrous cooking.
Lisa scarfed down a hefty amount of eggs before realizing she was going to be late and darting out of the apartment. She was already out of the door when Jisoo realized her shirt was on backwards, but Jisoo figured Lisa would notice soon enough.
She swallowed a few painkillers herself and laid back onto the couch in hopes of catching a few more hours of sleep before she'd have to get to work.
But, of course, the universe was not going to let her have that. The instant Jisoo felt herself falling asleep, her phone rang. The sound was so loud and shrill it pierced through Jisoo's conscious and struck at her already hurting brain. She cried out angrily, grumbled a few curse words and then grabbed her phone, answering it with an angry bark.
"What?"
"Mrs. Kim?"
"Who is this?"
"My name is Angelica Sternway, and I work for the legal department of West Valley Hospital."
"Why are you calling me?"
"Your wife is currently at the hospital, ma'am, and we'd like you to come here as soon as possible."
"Why is the legal department involved?"
"She was in a car crash, ma'am."
Jisoo felt a moment of fear striking her chest, despite the fact that she had no idea who her supposed wife was. She wasn't supposed to feel anything about a stranger, was she?
"Are you sure your paperwork is right? I don't have a wife."
"It says right here in the documents that you, Jisoo Kim, are the legally wed wife of Ruby Jane Kwon. You are more than welcome to come here and see them for yourself, but your presence is direly needed. Miss Kwon's legal representation is soon to arrive as well, and I'm sure that they will be more than happy to arrange transportation for you."
Jisoo huffed. "There's got to be a mistake. I don't have a wife."
"According to these documents that I received from the State, you do."
"I'll come there to fix this." Jisoo grumbled.
"Of course. We will be waiting for you."
The phone clicked, and Jisoo immediately tossed it aside in frustration.
"Who the fuck is Ruby Jane Kwon?" She practically yelled. The sound made her head throb with another wave of pain, and she rolled to her side whilst groaning. "What the fucking shit..."
*****
She had just finished her eight-hour shift at the diner down the street when her phone rang again. Seeing it was yet another private number, Jisoo felt the sudden urge to toss her phone into a trash can and to just walk away. But she knew it was foolish, and besides – she was broke and couldn't afford a new phone.
"Jisoo Kim." She answered, trying to keep her voice as level as possible.
"Hi, yes, this is Daesung Kang from Kwon Legal Services. I represent Ruby Jane Kwon?"
"Yes?"
"And, as you're her wife, you are aware that I represent you as well?"
"What?"
"I understand there is some issue with your getting here, yes?"
Jisoo could not believe what she was hearing. "Listen, I don't know what kind of sick joke this is, but I'm not married. This Ruby Jane...I've never met her in my life."
"The documents say otherwise, Mrs. Kim," Daesung sighed on the other end. "If you'd be so kind as to send me the contact info of your workplace, I will take the liberty to arrange for some personal time off work so that you can come here. There are legal matters that we must discuss."
For the first time that day, Jisoo found herself wondering about the person who was inevitably as much stuck in the middle of this as she was.
"How is she? Is it serious?"
She wasn't so sure why she asked. She wasn't even sure she cared. But hearing that someone had been in a car accident, well, it brings out the human in all of us. Even she couldn't be so cold as to not care about the fact that whoever this Ruby Jane woman was could be dying at this very moment.
"She's still in surgery." Daesung said shortly. "Send me the info."
Yet again, Jisoo was hung up on. And, yet again, she felt the urge to throw her phone into the trash. But she didn't.
"Who the fuck is Ruby Jane Kwon?" Jisoo muttered to herself as she trudged through puddles back to Lisa's place. "And when the fuck did I marry her?"
This had to be some kind of sick joke.
©artsypolarbear