17

T w e n t y f o u r

J ran to to her best friend who looked lifeless as he laid in a pool of his own blood. She lifted him up from the ground as she sat there on her knees with Chan's head in her lap. She felt as if something was weighing on her heart and she couldn't breath. She couldn't stop screaming and everything from then on was a blur. Joshua running back to the shop to tell the rest of the guys what had happened. The flashing red and blue lights of the ambulance, the police telling them he was hit by a drunk driver and it was a hit and run and the doctor talking about how his head had a lot of impact on it but they would do the best they could. It was all just a blur. Everyone sat outside as the nurses and doctor were with chan inside cleaning him up and trying to figure out what was wrong. They all sat in silence too afraid they'd set off a ticking time bomb if they said the wrong thing in that time.

J barely blinked, she sat there emotionless because of all the emotions she was feeling at that time. Coups had his hand on top of hers as they sat in the chairs but she didn't feel it. She couldn't feel anything. She hadn't even cried yet but she understood why. She still didn't fully believe what was happening yet.

Chan's mom and dad ran to where they were all sitting and J quickly stood up. As soon as she saw the tears in his moms eyes, it all came crashing down on her. This was real, it was all really happening. That's when she finally broke and started bawling with his mom. She pulled J into a hug as they both held each other tightly feeling each other's pain in that moment. The gang looked down at their feet afraid they'd break if they continued looking at J like that. Felix was already crying. He hadn't stopped as soon as he saw chan on the road. After a little bit the doctor and nurses came out and told them they could all go inside now. J could feel her heart drop looking at chan in a hospital gown with machines hooked up to him, looking barely alive.

"I wish I could say we have good news." The doctor came back into the room looking through some papers. "There has been a lot of direct impact to his head."

"We're-we're still high schoolers. What exactly does that mean?" J spoke up for the first time not taking her eyes off chan.

"It means that..." the doctor trailed off. "Your friend has gone into a coma."

"What?" His mom fell to the floor.

"So what exactly does this mean?" J had a little bit of fury in her voice and she was getting impatient as she walked over to Chan's mom.

"It means that, he could be fine and awake by tomorrow or that he could be in a coma for years." The doctor shook his head looking a little sympathetic. "We're trying our best."

"What can we do?" Coups asked the doctor.

"For now, I need all of you to leave. Only parents stay." The doctor walked out.

"I'm-im not leaving." J shook her head.

"J hunny, it's the first night. They won't let you stay." Chan's dad tried to comfort her.

"I-I can't leave him alone." J wouldn't budge.

"He's not alone. We'll be with him all night. You guys need to get some rest, it'll all be alright." He smiled through the pain that was clearly seen in his eyes.

"Can-can we stay together tonight?" Felix asked through his tears.

"You can stay at our house, if you want." Coups nodded at felix.

The gang, along with J and Felix drove home and no one dared to speak. They all sat around in the living room but J quickly went upstairs and sat down on the floor by wonwoo's bed trying to understand what was happening. She looked down at wonwoo's white sweater and realized it was completely red, covered in Chan's blood. She put her head between her knees and didn't look up when someone came into the room.