Upon A Time (JoongNine AU)

Upon A Past

Joong

I could hear murmurs, incoherent words, the pressure upon my chest, the touch of another lips upon mine. I suddenly breath in a gush of air, my lung felt expanded, something strong was lifting me from the darkness and slowly the voice became clear. "Come on Joong, breathe...please", another push of air and I coughed painfully. There was a relieved sighed and a comforting touch caressing my face. Slowly, the worried face of my best friend, who was drenched wet; his hair plastered haphazardly on his face, with water dripping down his temple and neck; came into view.

"Nine?", I said trying to sit up, but I felt dizzy, making me lay back down again.

"Yes, I'm here. Don't push yourself, they had called for the ambulance...", he said and kept me calm by consistently rubbing my chest gently.

"Ambulance? So, we are safe? Are you alright?", I kept asking, focusing to the worried look that was still there in his eyes, his furrowed brows, his half opened lips that seemed surprised.

"Safe? Yes, you're, thank God. But, why are you talking...about us? Do you feel delirious? You're out for a few minutes, Joong, you scared me so much...", he said as his hand held mine.

"The crash...it's a miracle that we are in one piece...did we land safely on water? ", I said as I tightened my hold on his hand too.

"Joong...what crash are you talking about?", Nine said quietly.

"Airplane...we sat next to each other, I tried to calm you down, but I passed out earlier than you, so I wonder what had happened...".

"Stay back, the medic team has arrived...", an unknown order suddenly was heard. Nine released his hold on my hand slowly, with worried lines dented between his brows. A man in white jacket checked my vital immediately. I stayed as still as possible, though I suddenly realized that Nine was wearing something for the beach, a hawaian shirt and a swimming trunk. But, he was with shirt and jeans as he sat besides me in the plane? More surprising was that, the realization, that my upper body was bare too, with only a swimming trunk that reach my knees.

"Who was the first responder?", the paramedic asked and people pointed at Nine. "Good job there, or else his respiratory system would collapse with that much water. Did you learn CPR, anywhere?".

"I played a medical student in one of the series that just ended a few months ago; am an actor, learnt it for the job, but didn't know it helped a lot just now...", Nine answered briefly, but his words caused me to feel disoriented. Series? Medical student? But that was so long ago, how many years, ten? Might be more? Aria is already five.

"Yeah, my sister is your fan, actually both of you and this one", the medic was talking to lighten up the tense atmosphere, but his hand work fast without missing a beat, "Sir, we will need to lift you using a stretcher, the sandy beach could risk drowning the ambulance tyre deep in, so we park at that nearby road. Stay still alright", and, immediately, four people lifted me up onto the mobile stretcher.

"Nine!!", I called him in panic and confusion as I was lifted.

"It's alright, Joong. I follow you later on. You are in good hand. I need to fetch Mae and my siblings first from the resort".

Before I could ask more, the paramedics moved forward and thus my confusion had yet to get an answer.

Nine

I said it calmly because Joong seemed to be confused and panicking. But, something was worrying about what he'd said, the randomness baffled me. Airplane crash? Did he see that while he was in an unconscious state?

We were on a family vacation, mine, and I invited Joong to come too. He had no one else aside from his aunt here in Thailand. His family was at a foreign country, as his mother married a foreigner, with three half siblings in tow. His aunt was always travelling, working at an airline company. Might be that, caused the delirium about an airplane crash, somehow.

He wanted to dive deep, thus went quite further from the shore. I was taking pictures of the beautiful evening sun, the gentle breezed cooling my sweat and the sound of the crashing waves were calming. My camera focused on Joong as he detected my lens, and he playfully raised both of his hands being lifted by the coming waves which would carry him forward. But when the waves height subsided, but there's no sign of him, I immediately thrown the camera aside and went into the water, full shirt on and tried to reach the last point that I saw him.

My heart was thumping liked a running horse hooves, clopping on the ground. The adrenaline rush, giving my small stature an added stamina to reach for him. As the wave bouncing again, I could see the sign of part of his hand and top of his head. His feet might get a cramp, since he'd been in the water quiet long after playing several water activities beforehand. That energetic bunny, didn't know when to slow down, maybe because he was too excited as this was his first vacation in a long while.

With whatever strength I had, I managed to get him halfway, until several other people came to help. Fighting the waves carrying an unconscious person who definitely taller than me was not easy no matter how well I could swim. As people dragged him to the shore, nobody dare to do anything except called the emergency, as resuscitation was not as simple as how the tv made it look. There's certain placement of your hand, the deep consistent pressures and stable counting before exhaling air as artificial ventilation into the subject.

Although tired, I couldn't wait for the medic to arrive without doing anything. It made me felt liked I was losing precious time, when it was the most critical. So, I performed the CPR immediately, until he started to coughed roughly, spluttering water, and then called my name.

It must be temporary, ingesting too much water, near death situation. People should be disoriented waking up from that, yes, I reasoned that, to calm myself. I put a trust on the paramedics who would take very good care of him. I fetched my family who was waiting at the resort, as we were supposed to check out today, but opted to extend till the evening since Joong said he wanted to try more activities before we go back to town. I understood, he must feel stressed, lack of time to enjoy, as after the series, his works continued to soar. Meanwhile, I opted to focus on my study that was halted during filming for our series.

Mae looked worried as she sat next to me in the car. My sister gave a call to his family, informing about the accident and promised to give updates once we reached the hospital. My little brother, we kept him from worry, and just said to focus on playing the game from his phone.

I looked at the road ahead, and felt some uneasiness in my heart. But, until I saw him again, I would keep what he said, during his delirious state, from my family.

Something odd, was definitely, brewing.