Number Twenty-Five (Chaelisa ver.)

33

Lisa cursed at every single red light. She hated seeing pedestrians laughing and smiling because how could they be? She kept hitting the red lights, but when they turned green, she floored it. She slammed her hand on the wheel because she wanted to get to Chaeyoung as quickly as she could.

Finally pulling up to the hospital, Lisa quickly put her car in park and raced inside.

The first person Lisa spotted was Jennie.

"Jennie!" Lisa called desperately, rushing over to her.

"Lisa!" Jennie called back. "Where's Jisoo?" She asked, looking behind her.

Lisa looked at her in confusion, before answering.

"She's finishing the game for me." Lisa answered, starting to make her way to Taeyang's room.

"Wait!" Jennie exclaimed. "You can't go up there."

"Why not? Where's Chaeyoung?"

"All of Chaeyoung's family is there, including her extended family. You can't walk in there right now. They will question you and you know it."

"Where's Chaeyoung?" Lisa asked irritated.

"Stairwell. Just past his room. She told me to go get you. I promise I will get them all out soon, so you and Chaeyoung can have a moment alone before he-"

"Okay." Lisa cut Jennie off. She didn't want to hear it right now. She just wanted to get to Chaeyoung.

Lisa found her exactly where Jennie said. She was hunched over, with her hands covering her ears, sitting on the steps. Lisa closed the door to the stairwell, and took cautious steps towards her. Lisa could feel her heartbeat in her ears.

"Chaeyoung?" Lisa asked so quietly, she barely heard herself. Lisa's adrenaline was still pumping from the game, and this just added to it.

Chaeyoung didn't answer, just wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

"Chaeyoung?" Lisa called louder this time, making her way over to her.

Chaeyoung snapped her head up, locking eyes with Lisa. She was looking at her like she didn't know her for a second. Lisa crouched down in front of her, softly taking her hands away from her ears.

"He's gone. He's gone," Chaeyoung muttered. "He's gone and he's never coming back."

Lisa let out a silent sob, crawling closer to Chaeyoung.

"I know. I know." Lisa whispered, slowly wrapping her arms around Chaeyoung.

"You came." Chaeyoung said, not hiding the surprise in her voice.

"Of course I came."

"You were in the middle of a game."

"I don't care about that." Lisa felt weird saying that. Basketball was the most important thing to her, but she didn't care right now, not with Chaeyoung crying in front of her and not with Taeyang-

Lisa couldn't even bring herself to think about it.

"Thank you," Chaeyoung whispered. "Thank you for coming."

Lisa offered her a slight nod, resting her head against Chaeyoung's. The blonde was in distress. She kept muttering things to herself, that made it hard for Lisa not to break down too.

"He can't be gone. We were talking and it was so nice. He can't be gone. I thought I'd have more time. I thought I would." Chaeyoung kept muttering that over and over again, Lisa wondered if she should interrupt her.