Addicted To You

41 - Don't Regret

I remember flashes of light overhead, people hovering over me, a strong antiseptic smell, and the echo of voices filled with urgency. There was pain, so much pain. And then there was Minhyuk. Through heavy lids, I saw his perfect face. I heard his voice, "Noona, you're going to be okay. You have to be okay." And then I faded out again, but knowing he was there gave me something to fight for.

Sometime later I awoke to the beeping of machines and the rhythmic hissing of a ventilator. I was disoriented and confused at first. My eyes fluttered open and I tried looking around. I realized I was in a hospital room and Minhyuk was resting his head on his arms beside me, holding my hand.

"MinMin." It came out as a muffled whisper inside the plastic mask. He raised his head and smiled at me. "You're here," I croaked.

"Shhhh, don't try to talk. Just rest." He stroked the side of my face gently. "I'm not going anywhere, Naekkeo."

"I thought I would never see you again," my voice quivered.

"You are safe now. Just rest. I'm going to let the doctors know you are awake." He leaned over and gently kissed my forehead. I didn't want him to go, but he stepped outside my room and came right back. I could see the nurse's station right outside.

"Jinki... is she okay?" I asked when he returned.

"She's perfectly fine. Changkyun is taking care of her and Jooheon and Wonho hang out and keep her company. She does miss her mom though. She looks for you and cries."

"I need to see her."

"I'll see if we can smuggle her in to see you."

"My family... I need to tell..."

"Kihyun already did that. We wanted them to hear it from us instead of finding out online. Your uncle is on his way. His flight lands in about seven hours. I would give it an hour for him to get through immigration and get his phone sim card, and then 30-45 minutes to get here."

I smiled and tried to nod. I felt so groggy and it was hard to make even tiny movements.

"Did they get her?"

"Just rest noona, we can talk later." He evaded my question, but before I could say anything else, the doctor came in. He spoke in perfect English.

"Ms. Clemmons, I am Doctor Kwon. You gave us quite a scare. You lost a lot of blood and we had to give you a few pints." He spoke as he reviewed my machine readouts and wrote notes in his chart.

"Thank you," I rasped. I pulled the mask down so he could hear me.

"Thank your boyfriend here. He was a perfect match and donated it." He smiled and looked at Minhyuk. He gave me a tiny smile and pretended to be innocent. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"Then I'll just go over what we did. We had to perform emergency surgery to stop the bleeding in your abdomen. You got lucky there. Just a few more millimeters and it would have punctured your liver and you probably would not be here."

"HoSung saved me. He pulled her off me." I closed my eyes as memories began to fill my head.

"He really did save your life, but there was still some damage done. The entry wound was fairly deep. The blade sliced across your abdomen, right above your bikini line." He pointed to the bandaged area on my stomach and illustrated his words. "We stitched you up and thankfully no organs were damaged. Liver, ovaries, all your parts are intact. You'll mostly be dealing with tissue damage, but it is still going to hurt. A lot.

"You also have a cracked rib. That is going to be very uncomfortable, especially with the wound in the same area. Breathing may be difficult and laughing will hurt like hell, but it will keep the muscles working, so do it if you can handle it. You have an orbital bone fracture, which is the area around your eye. That is going to hurt when you move your facial muscles doing things like talking, eating, or blinking. You'll hear strange sounds like squishing or clicking. That is the muscles getting caught on the bone. There isn't much we can do. We just have to make sure it heals properly. If not, we may have to perform a bit of reconstructive surgery."