a heartbeat away (just pull me in)

Five

Time in: 9:00 pm February 14th, 2023

Reason: Broken leg, fainting, anemia

Symptoms: Heart rate accelerated, pale, shallow breathing, low blood pressure, fracture on left leg, nausea, vomiting.

Someone could correct her later if she was wrong, but Hyunjung was fucking positive she told Jiyeon not to die while gone. So, seeing Jiyeon in a hospital bed a year later on Valentine's Day, completely out of it with a puke bucket next to her bed was a little more than concerning.

"Stupid," Hyunjung muttered, though her heart was racing.

It started with a call from one worried Cho Sojung. Of course, Hyunjung had been off at that point, settled in her apartment after a long day at the clinic. She only worked at the hospital on weekends, typically. But, Sojung had mentioned Jiyeon's name and mentioned the hospital. Hyunjung had already been halfway out the door when Sojung began talking about how Jiyeon refused to let the other doctors see her. Basically begged for Hyunjung.

One year and the first emotion Hyunjung felt was anger (and worry and panic and, okay, a lot of complicated things).

She stormed into the hospital, her hair a mess and lab coat swung on half-heartedly over teal scrubs. The woman at the front desk seemed taken aback. "Patient Kim Jiyeon?" Hyunjung asked, looking up at the clock. It'd taken her twelve minutes to get here with speeding. Twelve minutes could mean a lot depending on condition.

"1512," The woman said, a little timid.

Hyunjung skipped the elevator and went for the stairs, glad that the woman up front was most likely new and didn't recognize her. She knew that later she'd get scolded for coming in on an off day and taking a patient, but that could come later.

It took her three minutes to run up the stairs, one minute to talk to the doctor outside her door and quickly explain the situation.

359 days to see Kim Jiyeon.

One second to become utterly breathless at the sight of her, head pushed to the side on a hospital bed.

"Dr. Kim!" someone chirped from beside Jiyeon, and Hyunjung quickly realized that Jiyeon wasn't the only one in the room. "Thank you for coming here. I tried to tell her that you weren't working but she's on pain medication and not exactly reasonable," Dawon said.

Hyunjung looked back to Jiyeon, her leg was propped up and in a big, white bulky cast.

"Hyunjuuung," She heard from the back of the bed. Jiyeon lazily turned her head up, a dopey grin on her face. She was paler than Hyunjung remembered, smaller— Jiyeon had always been pretty small. "You came to see me."

"What happened?" She asked Dawon. The ER attendant had passed Hyunjung the chart before she went in, but she hadn't gotten a proper look.

"She was dancing, and then started to lag a little. I was trying to get her to stop, but she's stubborn. Anyways, the next thing I saw was her falling in the middle of a move. I went to check on her and saw she was passed out."

Hyunjung nodded, then pinched the bridge of her nose. Stupid. "Is Sojung-ssi here?"

Dawon nodded. "She's in the cafeteria, trying to find something Jiyeon will eat. She's been pretty nauseous, but the other doctor put something into her IV that would help, I think."