Our Child

Chapter six

In a whirl of black, Jisoo burst into the busy hospital. It had taken her half an hour to get there, and every second of it was excruciating. Nurses were shocked by her presence, wondering why someone so famous would be here. Calmly, she strode past them, searching for her little girl. At the very least she looked calm. On the inside, she was tearing herself apart. This cold place was no playground for her daughter, less of all a safe haven for its delicate mother. Finally, a nurse stopped her, informing her of which ward her child was located.

When Annie saw her, she burst from her seat, "You're finally here!"

At the sight of the happy girl, relief filled her. Jisoo took the little girl in her arms, enveloping in a tight embrace, "Yes darling, I'm so sorry I'm late."

Annie shook her head, "Can I go with you now?"

"Not quite," Jisoo let her go, a warm smile still on her face, "I need to make sure your mother is okay."

With much more excitement that it required, Annie nodded, running back to her seat. This was when Rosie chose to stand, an awkward grin on her face. Jisoo had not seen her in years. Her features had sharpened, yet her iconic cheeks still somewhat remained. The actress had more than one memory of them being stuffed with ice cream. They were simpler times, when a tub of ice cream would leave their stomachs the same size they were before.

With the picture in her head, Jisoo nodded, "Rosie."

The ice cream lady took that as her right to approach, "It's been a while."

"Too long," She responded softly, "Are you well?"

"Well, mum and dad are okay, Alice got a promotion, and I'm sure you know how the shop is doing," She listed.

"That is lovely."

The actress remembered giving Rosie half of her cheque from her first role. At the time, the small amount had seemed like millions, able to pay for Rosie's supplies for a whole two weeks. Jisoo always hoped that it would take her much further. She had not been disappointed.

Still, Jisoo could not hold back any longer, "Where's Jennie?"

A strange expression took Rosie, one of confusion, or frustration. But, her smile returned, "Just through that door over there, she's still asleep. Sweating like crazy."

Jisoo gave her old friend a look of gratitude, "Thank you."

The mother gave a small, fickle wave to Annie, letter her know she would not be long. As the actress made her way in, nervousness took centre stage. It was a hard hit. She had not felt jitters quite like it since her first audition. Even then, her hands had not shaken so severely. The sight that greeted her was no comfort either.

Covered by a thin cotton sheet, Jennie lay sleeping in paper blue hospital robes. Needles were pierced into her hand so she could be given water. Wires monitored her vitals in a thousand ways Jisoo did not understand. Sweat, the one symptom Rosie had informed her of, still trickled down her face. Her skin was twanged with green. The only thing that could be heard was Jennie's shallow breaths, over shadowed by the beeps of the machines.

"Darling," Jisoo breathed, "What have they done to you?"

There was no response. Carefully, Jisoo made her way to sit on a small plastic chair next to the bed. Her hand, still shaking, made it's way towards Jennie's limp one. It was boiling to touch. Jisoo gripped it tightly.

A nurse entered, seemingly unsurprised with Jisoo's presence, "Will you be signing off for her then?"

"Yes," Jisoo responded, feeling too self conscious to continue holding her hand, "I'm Jisoo Kim."

"Very good, Miss Kim," The nurse wrote something down on her clipboard, "Your friend here seems to be suffering from food poisoning, severe food poisoning to be exact. We have already performed an endoscopy to review the damage, and luckily it seems minimal. Since she has already recieved some strong medication, we would like to keep her overnight to make sure she improves. After that, she will need to rest for at least two weeks for her to completely recover with no complications. Understood?"

With so much new information, Jisoo felt a tad overwhelmed, "Why was the food poisoning so severe? Shouldn't it be no more than a stomach ache?"

The nurse thought for a moment, "Well based off of her blood levels and her response to stimuli, I would say she is both severely malnourished and overworked."

"Oh?" Jisoo pretended to understand.

The nurse sighed, "She's burnt out. It left her body with no defence to fight off the infection."

"Oh." Jisoo looked back down at Jennie, her breath still light, "She can stay with me afterwards."

"I suppose you're taking the child too?" The nurse enquired.

"Annie," Jisoo's mind calmed at the very thought, "Yes, she's safe with us."