the impossible is possible | s. jake

12. apologies

She shrieked. Her scream was so loud it sounded as she could shatter glass windows. Sobbing and in excruciating pain, she laid motionlessly on the ground, by the bottom of the stairs.

"Seri! Seri!" Jake screamed in panic, rushing to her aid, "Seri, are you okay?"

She answered him with her cries of agony.

"I-I can't move," Seri sobbed.

"Don't worry, Seri. I'm going to get help."

**

At the Seoul Hospital...

"She finally fell asleep," Youngmin sighed with relief, "It must've been a long day for her, right?"

"Hyung, I'm so sorry. I should've been more careful," Jake said with guilt, "I instigated the fight, and she-"

"Jaeyun, don't worry about it. Our parents are coming soon, but I'm sure she was being nasty. I didn't think she'd fracture her ankle again along with the front part of her foot."

"If it's okay, can I ask what happened to Seri? Everyone in our school knows about her temper and her reputation, but really. What happened to the happy girl I knew before?" Jake asked.

"To be honest, I had to ask my mom too since I recently came back from Australia. But she does have anger issues and severe depression. Somehow antidepressants never worked so my dad thought the best cure for her would be to play tennis. You know, release endorphins. It seemed to work for a period of time, but now she can't even play and I think her symptoms are getting worse. Her mindset is already so negative and she's always been pessimistic as a kid," Youngmin exclaimed, resting his back against the hospital chair.

Jake couldn't respond. He had no idea how much Seri was suffering. After all, it had been years since they last talked.

"Anyways, I'm pretty thirsty. Do you want a drink from the vending machine?"

**

"Ah, Mr. Hwang, Mrs. Watanabe," Dr. Park said as he entered his office, "Did not expect to see you so soon."

"Ah yes. We were not expecting this either," Mr. Hwang exclaimed.

"So it seemed that Seri had fallen down 10 flights of stairs earlier today. The pressure from the fall led her to balance on her fractured ankle, making it more severely injured. The parts of her ankle that were healed, unfortunately, broke again along with the tarsals on her front foot. She also has a minor concussion from the fall. Luckily, she has no injuries on her hands, wrists, neck, etc. We're going to keep her here overnight and then she will be discharged tomorrow morning after some tests. However, she will need surgery in order to fix the tiny fractures."

"Thank you, doctor. Anything to help her will be amazing," Mrs. Watanabe exclaimed with gratitude, "How much longer do you think it'll take for her to heal?"

"From this point, it might even take 8 months to a year."

**

The hallways were silent as Jake waited for Mr. Hwang and Mrs. Watanabe to come out of the doctor's office. Seeing the silhouette of two tall people, he immediately ran to them.

"Mr. Hwang, Mrs. Watanabe, how is she? Is Seri okay? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. This is all my fault and I-"

"Jaeyun," Mr. Hwang warmly smiled, "It's fine. Accidents happen. And besides, Seri is going to be just fine. Her foot and ankle is a little more shattered and has a little concussion, but she's just gonna be just fine."

"That's a relief," he sighed.

"Do you want to go see her? There are only 30 minutes til visiting hours close," Mrs. Watanabe suggested.

"Can I?"

"Of course, sweetie. Her room is the 8th one to the left."

"Thank you," Jake sweetly smiled while walking towards her room.

Jake peeked through the small window of Seri's hospital room. She was laying peacefully in bed as a humidifier was generated. He silently slid the door open and walked into the room. He could hear the beeps of the heart monitor and saw her foot laying out on a rest board. Jake walked by her bedside and gently rubbed her beat up, blistery hands.

Seri's eyes slowly opened after feeling the touch of a warm hand.

"Jaeyun," she said weakly, "I'm sorry."