Letting Go { Jung Jaehyun Series }

Chapter 6

            Rosa slipped on a teal T-shirt and some black yoga pants. She pulled her hair up into a topknot. Jaehyun had invited her to work out with him. She had agreed despite the fact that she was pretty sure she wasn't able to keep up with him. He had a rigorous workout schedule to keep up the ultra-fit image of a K-pop star. But as part of Rosa's new determination to be more open, she was taking more chances with Jaehyun and allowing him to see her more vulnerable side.

They planned to meet outside the gym. As Rosa neared the crosswalk in front of the building, she saw Jaehyun on the other side. He looked both ways and began to cross. Suddenly, a black Porsche rounded the corner at high speed. Rosa stood immobilized as she heard the squeal of brakes and the sound of breaking glass. Jaehyun lay on the pavement on his side. She watched in horror as a stream of blood began to form a pool around his head. The owner of the Porsche backed up slightly and then swerved around Jaehyun's broken body, fleeing the scene.

Rosa ran to Jaehyun and knelt beside him. She shouted his name several times, but he was unresponsive. She pulled her phone from her bag and dialed 119. She did her best to describe her location in her frantic state. She realized she had not tried to check Jaehyun's pulse. So, she carefully touched the side of his neck with two fingers, but she wasn't sure if she felt a pulse. If it was there, it was faint. Rosa tried to breathe, but she felt like she was being choked by invisible hands. She tried to shake herself back to reality. She questioned if she should do CPR, finally deciding that she should since she hadn't felt a strong pulse. She rolled him over gently and clasped her hands and began to push on his chest. "Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive," she whispered as she pushed at what she hoped was 100 beats per minute.

She continued to do compressions for several more minutes, as she looked around frantically for the ambulance. A small crowd had begun to form around Rosa and Jaehyun. One teenage girl appeared to be filming everything. Rosa continued the compressions as she yelled, "Put the cameras away! Respect his privacy, please!" The girl tucked the phone in her pocket, appearing sufficiently chastised for her offense.

"Where the hell is the ambulance?" Rosa questioned aloud, as if calling for it would make it arrive faster.

"Jaehyun, stay with me, baby. Stay with me now," she pleaded desperately to his unresponsive body.

Finally, the ambulance arrived, and Rosa backed away from Jaehyun to allow the paramedics to do their work. He was quickly loaded onto the ambulance and an oxygen mask was placed on his face. One of the paramedics continued chest compressions as soon as they had Jaehyun securely in the ambulance. Rosa climbed in and took the harrowing ride with him to the hospital. The paramedics called out numbers and letters to each other in a code that made no sense to Rosa.

Upon arrival at the hospital, they were met by a nurse holding a clipboard. "I'm going to need a guardian's signature for consent for treatment," she shouted to Rosa above the whir of the oxygen machine. "Are you his guardian or his girlfriend?" she asked.

"I mean, we are dating. So, I guess I'm his girlfriend," said Rosa.

The nurse frowned. "OK, let me put it this way, either you are his girlfriend, and you give consent for treatment, or he has to wait for a guardian to arrive," warned the nurse.

"In that case, I'm definitely his girlfriend," Rosa replied, grabbing the clipboard and signing the document.

They wheeled Jaehyun behind a curtain and pushed Rosa out of the way. Rosa stood outside the curtain, listening for any clue as to their progress with him. She had never felt so helpless. She couldn't hold his hand. She couldn't speak to him. The outcome was totally out of her hands.

At that moment, right there in the crowded ER, Rosa dropped to her knees with her head in her hands. "Have mercy upon him! Save him!" she pleaded softly, falling back on the faith of her youth. In her shaken state, she was unable to even form words after a certain point. She just rocked back and forth on the hard, marble-patterned floor and groaned from deep within her belly.

Unbeknown to Rosa, a middle-aged woman had entered through the double doors and was now standing above her, staring down at the top of her head.

"Are you the one who signed for treatment for my precious boy?" she asked Rosa who looked up at her, not immediately registering her words.

"Are you Jaehyun's mother?" Rosa asked finally as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Yes," the woman replied. "I assume you are the girlfriend I knew nothing about," said the distraught mother.

"Yes, I'm Rosa. I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances," she said, remembering to bow.

Later as Jaehyun's mother sat in a waiting room, Rosa brought her a cup of the sludge the hospital called coffee and sat beside her. "Have you received any updates?" she asked.

"They have him stabilized. That's all I know," she replied with an exhausted sigh. "So, how long have you two been dating?"

"A few weeks," Rosa replied, avoiding direct eye contact with the well-dressed woman.

"I'm always the last to know everything," Jaehyun's mother bemoaned. "That boy doesn't tell me a thing."

Rosa put her number in the older woman's phone and said she could call her any time. Jaehyun's mother gave a thin smile and patted Rosa's arm.

A nurse finally came out and called them both back to see Jaehyun. He was attached to a breathing machine and several IV bags hung from hooks on a mobile metal pole. His eyes were closed, and he showed no sign of alertness.

"As the doctor explained," the nurse began, "he will be kept for a few days in a medically-induced coma as we monitor his vitals and allow him to begin to heal. We are unable to give a prognosis at this time. We know he has several broken bones and will need extensive physical therapy. As to his mental recovery, only time will tell. The brain scan showed no obvious lesions. So, it's just a matter of taking him out of the coma in a few days and seeing what his condition is at that time," she finished in her brisk manner that did not encourage follow-up questions.

When the nurse left, Jaehyun's mother accompanied her into the hallway. Rosa was left alone with Jaehyun. Suddenly, the trauma of the day fell on her like a ton of bricks. In the silence of that moment, she was able to reflect on the day and how close she had come to losing him. She reached for his limp hand and held it gently. Rosa felt a sudden wave of rage sweep over her as she remembered the driver's escape from the scene.

With a deep breath, she refocused on the positive. She didn't want any bad vibes in the room with Jaehyun. She wanted all positivity and light. So, she centered in and tried to imagine beams of light coming from her hands and entering Jaehyun's body. At that moment, she made the decision to pour all her strength into whatever it would take to bring Jaehyun back to health again.

"I'm here, baby. I'm right here," she assured him, hoping that somewhere inside he could hear her.