𝑯𝑶𝑴𝑬 ( Bᴛs Fᴀɴ ғɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ )

𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕

CHAPTER 68

~ A f t e r N e w   Z e a l a n d ~

"You sure I can't get you anything?" Namjoon asked with a worried expression.

"Yes. Just go, alright?" Areum stated with a hoarse voice. "I'm fine. Don't you have a meeting with my Dad downstairs?"

Three weeks since she saw Jungkook with another woman. She always strongly believed in herself until she saw the love of her life holding another woman. It made her feel helpless seeing him with her. She was powerless upon seeing her world being held by another human being that was not her.

But that was all in her head—at least for a while. The next thing she knew after crying over Jungkook, she had her body shielding Da Reum's frail figure against the beating of unknown men near the subway.

The one who was following Da Reum, they weren't just cheap thugs members. They still hurt him even with people watching. She was wrong. She made a poor choice leading that kid's life in danger. She wasn't always right.

She held him as they got beat up. . . but he was already out when she got to him. He was unconscious and blood-covered before she could even wrap him in her arms. If only she was a minute early. . .

"It's okay to be angry," Namjoon told her.

Areum gave him an impatient look as she finished changing and disinfecting  her own wounds from the incident.

"I'm not angry. I don't have time to be angry. Jungkook is the least of my worries right now,"

Namjoon let out a sigh as he stood up from her bed.

"Fine. All I'm saying is that, it's okay if you want to yell at him or call him names. You might mean it for a second but at the end of the day, you're still friends." Namjoon helped pull the shirt over her injured arms without malice as he spoke. "You would've loved New Zealand. Too bad you didn't go."

He then turned her to face him, gently pat her head and left a soft kiss on her forehead before exiting out of her room to visit her father downstairs who was in bedrest too.

———

Saved or unviable—futile. Useless. Failure. No reverse saving. In clinical trials, it was only either saved or dead.

Ri Da Reum has had successful brain surgery but he still cannot breathe on his own. They could not repair his diaphragm until there weren't any leaks on his heart. He was a candidate for a clinical trial of the General Surgery Department as a trauma patient. One that was Areum and the research team was currently working on after they've succeeded their Neurosurgery trial after eight consensual subjects.

It would have been better if Da Reum fell under the Neurosurgery's viable treatment. At least then she memorized all the procedures and wouldn't have to be worried too much as she waited in the waiting room of the OR.

Ri Da Reum didn't have anyone. He just had her. . . and she signed a consent form to perform the trial for him. What was she thinking?

Three out of three of their human subjects failed to survive the trial, though it was completely legal and consensual, all clinical trials do not equate a hundred percent survival. Not only did she lead him to his deathbed but she threw him out to his death.

"Song Areum," a soft voice woke her up from paranoia as she noticed her palm bleeding from her nails dug deep in her skin.

Lee Seung Jae, was on his first year of residency, one of the gifted participants of the University-Hospital Research Program. He's wise and an extremely talented surgeon with a perfect clean cut hairstyle, extremely sleek prescription glasses and perfect skin—he seemed like he was from a good family. . . but he was kneeling down in front of her as he took her hands and gently undid her fists.