Decoupled • KTH ✔

Chapter 44

Jang-Mi

Maya collapses suddenly, her eyes rolling back as her knees buckle and her head lols about. Fortunately, my reflexes are quick, and I grab her by her waist, stopping her from hitting the ground.

"MAYA! MAYA, OPEN YOUR EYES!" I frantically tap her cheeks and shake her shoulders as I drop down on my knees and put her head to rest on my lap.

There is a small crowd that quickly gathers around us, and everyone is muttering and whispering among themselves, but no one is stepping forward to help her. They're only crowding the area and reducing the air supply, making it more suffocating than it already is.

"Assholes!" I curse under my breath as I grab my phone from my purse and call the ambulance, giving them details about our location.

Maya is still breathing, and I don't know what happened and why she suddenly fainted when she seemed all okay up until this sudden attack.

A few seconds pass, and two men in the crowd help me in lifting Maya off the ground and helping her limp form onto a vacant chair that's part of the outdoor dining area of the café.

They also sprinkle a little water on her face while I sit by holding her head safely against my shoulder. The water wakes her up, but she looks disoriented and lost.

"Maya, it's me, Jang-Mi. Are you feeling okay?" I ask her, taking the bottle of water from the man's hand and extending it to Maya when she sits up, holding her head in her hands.

"Thank you," she says weakly, and clumsily helps herself to a few mouthfuls of water, and I cannot help but assume that she had a sudden attack of stroke or something.

"I've called the ambulance. Do you think you need to visit the emergency room?" The worry in my tone is evident.

"I don't think so, Jang-Mi," she turns her head to look at me. "But I don't know how it happened," Maya adds worriedly, but her speech isn't slurred even though she still looks a little lost, indicating that it probably wasn't a stroke.

"If this is the first time that you're experiencing this, I think it's best you visit a doctor and get checked. I'll go with you," my offer is followed by the dissonant two-tone beeping of the ambulance siren.

I don't find it hard to coax her into the ambulance, and I get in with her as well. The paramedics in the ambulance scan her irises and her tongue and throat with a flashlight, and they also check with her about her experience on the whole, and any specific symptoms that she experienced before or after, that could be a cause for worry.

There is none, and they chalk it up to exhaustion and almost dismiss it as nothing else until the female paramedic, who is taking down patient notes, suddenly pops up with a question.

"When was your last period date?" Her question makes my eyes freeze on Maya, and Maya's eyes fly to the paramedic.

"I was supposed to start my period a week ago. But I haven't yet," she lowers her head, keeping her hands tightly clasped together on the top of her lap.

"Okay. You could get tested for pregnancy at the hospital if there's a possibility of that, I mean," the paramedic laughs softly, her eyes flitting between Maya and I.

Maya nods silently while I sit there not knowing how to react to this entire conversation, even though it shouldn't be surprising to me when I know fully well that they have been physical. My mind struggles a bit to come up with some nice words to say to her, but even though my words fail me, I still do my best to show my support for her by reaching out to hold her hand in mine.