8th✯

My eyes fluttered open and saw the stinging brightness of the lights hanging above me. My head hurt and I felt tired. 

"You're awake."

I slowly sat up and looked around. Oh, I was in a hospital. That was expected. I turned to my side and found Sanha sitting there worriedly. My head lowered as well as my eyes and I found him tightly holding onto my hand. How long has he been doing that?

"Are you feeling okay?" Sanha continued asking with a pair of worried eyes. "You went unconscious for nearly two hours now."

"I'm... fine," I answered, though there was this throbbing pain in my head telling me otherwise. "What exactly happened?"

"You fainted all of a sudden. The doctors said something about it coming from shock. You turned pale all of a sudden in front of the entertainment, too. Is something wrong?" Sanha asked, pulling his chair closer to my bed. 

"Did you call my parents?" I asked instead, not wanting to talk about what happened back there. I don't think he needs to know about it. 

"No. I decided to wait until you wake up to call them," Sanha replied. He took out his phone and asked me, "Do you want me to call them now?"

My eyes immediately widened as I snatched his phone away. "No!"

By now, the other patients who shared the room with me were looking at me oddly. As if they were saying, "I think she's supposed to be in the mental institution." 

Everyone, calm down. I'm just going crazy from my life changing event but that does not mean I need to be locked in a mental cube. 

Sanha was confused as he knitted his eyebrows together. "Why?"

"They're handling enough now," I quietly muttered, my eyes dropping onto the blanket over me. With Jeonghan suddenly disappearing without contacting any of us, I think my parents are dealing with enough. "Can we go back? I don't want to stay here."

"I'll go call a doctor, wait here," Sanha said, standing up from his seat. And before I could stop him, he was already out of the door. 

I sighed. Oh, well then. I realized that his phone was still in my hand so I decided to play around with it. I unlocked it—dummy, he didn't put a password or passcode—and was shocked to find a selca of me—probably from Instagram—as his wallpaper background. 

The phone in my hand dropped onto the soft blanket and I felt another wave of shock wash over me. I wasn't sure whether to be surprised or crept out. 

"Aerim! I found a doctor— Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?" The sudden presence of a voice made me jump a little as my hands immediately reached out for his phone, trying my best to lock it back in the least obvious way. Sanha plopped back down on the chair next to my bed and squinted his eyes. "Are you feeling sick again?"

I shook my head and saw a streak of white approach my bed. A doctor was here now. He gave me a warm smile before checking on me. "You don't seem to have any other symptoms so I think you're good to go after the nurse gives you an IV."

I bowed my head. "Kamsahabnida."

Once the doctor left, a nurse appeared and helped me with my IV before bowing and left as well. Sanha was still sitting by the chair near my bed so I took the opportunity to hand him back his phone. 

He checked his phone and then told me, "The members are worried. We should get back after that IV thingy."

I just nodded. I felt too weak, too tired, to talk right now. 

After the nurse removed the IV needle from the back of my palm, I was discharged from the hospital. Sanha and I took the taxi back to the entertainment. 

"What happened back there? At the entertainment? You were scaring me," Sanha was saying, his eyes flickered with concern. 

I stared at him for three more seconds before shaking my head. I said, "I don't want to talk about it. Can you not ask me again? I don't want to remember, relive or even rethink about it."

Sanha understood what I was saying so he just kept quiet and stopped asking. Though, it didn't seem to stop his concerned eyes boring into my soul. I just chose to ignore them. 

Once we arrived in the entertainment, the five other boys stood by the entertainment's entrance with their own worried face. Once I got down with Sanha, they rushed over to me and attacked me with questions.

"Yah! Are you okay?" Jin Jin asked, examining me from head to toe.

"I heard you hit your head! Are you okay?" Eun Woo asked, patting my head softly. "Does that hurt?"

I managed to smile at the way they treated me. We weren't very close, yet, they treat me like I'm their little sister. It was as if we've known each other ever since. 

"I made you hot chocolate so you would get better," MJ said, handing me a Styrofoam cup. "Sweet things help when you just woke up from fainting."

"Feel better soon, Aerim-a!" Moonbin said, giving me a smile. 

"Thanks guys," I whispered softly then drank up the warm cup of hot chocolate MJ made for me. 

Rocky was standing there, unable to mutter words as easily as the others. He just continued to stare with worried eyes. "A... a..."

I stopped sipping from the Styrofoam cup and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Rocky oppa. Just a little out of everything but I'm doing fine."

Sanha put a hand over my shoulder and said, "I don't think you should go on set today."

"Why not?" I raised an eyebrow. 

"Um, hello? You just discharged from the hospital. Is it quite possibly healthy for you to be faking and acting with me after that?" Sanha asked me. 

At least he admitted we were just faking and acting this whole thing together. "I did it once—"

"Can't hear me? That time you didn't faint. This time, you actually fainted and went to a hospital. With doctors, nurses, IVs and everything! This isn't healthy, Aerim," Sanha was saying as his forehead wrinkled up. 

"You're not my doctor, thus I can do whatever I want. I say we start the filming," I stubbornly said, walking into the entertainment. 

Sanha was heavily breathing behind me with his members that kept quiet in our argument. When Sanha didn't come after me like I expected him to, I just continued walking, even if I still had little knowledge on which door leads to what. 

Minutes after losing my way, I just sat down in the break room, which didn't require a door because it was an outdoor—as in, it wasn't in a room—break room. 

"You guys are really starting to act like a couple. Bickering, fighting and arguing and all that," a voice then said out of nowhere.

I glanced up and found Rocky leaning by the wall with a grin on his face. He approached me and took a seat across me. "He's the one being overprotective."

"I agree with Sanha, though. He's just being caring, Aerim. You should listen to him." 

I don't need to hear more about this talk. I stood up and walked away but before I could make it to the hallway, Rocky gripped onto my wrist, pulling me back.

"It's not healthy, Aerim. We're just caring for you. Stop being so stubborn and go home and rest," Rocky told me with stern eyes. 

I pushed him away ever so slightly, which made him take a centimeter back. "I never told you guys to care. This is all for show and everything else after that is not required!" 

Rocky, in a soft voice, told me, "You're wrong, Aerim. The show is one thing but becoming our friend is another. And from this show, we gained a new friend. A friend we care about, Aerim. Why are you being like this?"

I avoided any eye contact and stared out of the nearby window. "Just... leave me alone for a while."

Rocky took a step closer, looking like he wanted to say more but only walked away, granting me the wish I needed. 

I sat back down on the seat and buried my face in my hands, letting out mouthful of sighs. The screams, the car wheels screeching, what do they all mean? And what was that scarf about? It was just a red scarf but looking at it, it made me drown in these scary things. 

Worst thing was that I felt like it has something to do with me. 

✯~✯ ~ ✯

We didn't get to film because Mr. Fancy Suit—whom I found out was their CEO but I still didn't bother with his name—told me to go home and rest after hearing my fainting incident. Before I left, I gave the boys a glare before walking back alone. It must be them who told their CEO to send me home.

But I didn't go back home.

I decided to meet Ayoung so I called her to meet me as the playground with the big ship attraction. It was a playground for kids to play around as if they were pirates and I often wished I was small enough to play with them. It looked fun. 

Ayoung came and squealed, "Yoon Aerim!" 

I stood up and gave her a smile and found myself being tackled onto the ground with her killer—literally—hug. "Ow, Ayoung! My bones!"

Ayoung eventually let go of me, giggles escaping her lips non-stop. "I missed you! School has been so boring without you, Aerim."

"I agree," I said, sitting back on the bench under the tree. 

"Where have you been? Why aren't you at school? Are you a runaway? If you are, let's runaway together! My uncle owns an inn in Busan and I think he could keep us a secret there," Ayoung said jokingly. 

I managed to laugh as well. Shaking my head, I answered, "No, I'm not a runaway. I'm just busy these days so I can't go to school."

"Busy? Busy with what?" she asked. 

It was time I finally explain to her what I've been up to these days. "Remember that dude who looked for me on the first day of school?"

"Oh yeah." Ayoung nodded her head. "Who is that dude, by the way? He has a fancy suit."

A small smile curled onto my lips. See? Mr. Fancy Suit was such a great name for him. "Well, he's the CEO of one of the K-pop entertainments here. And he asked me to be Sanha's, a member of a K-pop group called Astro, pretend girlfriend for a show. That's what I've been busy with these days."

Ayoung was nodding along, almost as if she wasn't listening, but once she was able to process what she heard, she yelled, "Nae?! You, what?!"

I clammed a hand over her mouth, eyeing the kids who got startled. To them, I bowed my head and smiled, "Don't mind this unnie, kids! She's angry because her toy broke."

"Yah!" Ayoung slapped my arm whilst I laughed. "Aish, Yoon Aerim. I see this show thing hasn't changed you at all."

"Geureom! I'll always be your Yoon Aerim, Ayoung," I told her, continuously doing cute movements. 

"Ew, aegyo." Ayoung pushed me away and covered her eyes. "You know those things give me goosebumps!"

I touched her arm. Yup, lots of goosebumps right there. "Look at this!"

"Yah!" Ayoung was just about to slap my hand away when I stood up, causing her to slap the air. "Hey! That's not fair!"

"Nothing's ever fair," I said, sticking my tongue out. 

Ayoung stood up and immediately, I ran around the playground, avoiding to get hit by Ayoung. She yelled, "You get back here, Yoon Aerim!" 

The kids even joined in, laughing excitedly as they sided with me to defeat the big noona/unnie. Literally, she's 168cm. 

After ten minutes of non-stop chasing each other around, we sat back down on the bench, exhausted, while the kids continued to play around. What did they eat to stay this energetic? A truckload of sugar every morning? 

"I'm beat," I said, leaning against the sturdy bark tree. I closed my eyes and folded my hands over my chest, wanting to sleep. 

"Was it..." Ayoung panted, "...okay for you to run around like that? In the middle of us running, you mentioned something about you just getting discharged from the hospital."

I opened one eye and told her, "Hey, it's not like I'm a disabled person, okay? Plus, if I don't move around after fainting, what good would it do to my cells? They'd be dead if I haven't moved around like that."

"That's not exactly how cells work, but okay, whatever you say, Yoon Aerim," Ayoung said, taking out her bottle from her bag. I called her after school ended, knowing she'd be pleased to meet me after three days of disappearing. And three days is a long period of time, especially when you haven't contacted or seen that person. 

I opened my eyes to watch the kids play then noticed someone on the other side, behind the tree. He was just staring at us like we were targets and he didn't stop even after our eyes met. He just continued staring at me with furrowed eyebrows. 

"Ayoung..." Before I could point out the dude to Ayoung, he had already walked away. 

"Hmm? What is it?" Ayoung asked me, putting the cap back on her bottle. 

I couldn't even talk after seeing the red scarf wrapped around his neck. 

~Author's Notes~ 

Hi, guys! It's April Fools Day today (at least where I'm living) and I wanted to do a prank on you guys but authornim is too good-hearted so I decided not to or you Kimichies would hate me XD 

Anyway, so, I hope you Kimichies enjoyed this chapter :3 

xoxo 

Byun Sang Kyung