Strings & Stitches

Chapter 16

For the last thirty minutes, Bora has been walking around Gahyun's patient room nonstop. Handong was sitting on the bed, looking at her friend go through a few different levels of worry.

"Would you sit already? I'm dizzy just by looking at you" Handong told her, patting the bed beside her. It wasn't like she didn't understand her feelings, but maybe it would be best for her to just calm down a little bit.

The brunette didn't reply but did sit down, literally not knowing how to handle herself. It felt like every muscle in her body felt the nerves and she couldn't keep her leg from bouncing. "Why is it taking so long?" Siyeon had told them it was a long procedure, but the wait was killing her.

The orange-haired woman held her shoulder, kind of giving her a side hug. "It's only been half an hour, stop overthinking, please, it won't do you good"

Half an hour? Bora looked at the time on her phone and let herself fall backwards on the bed. It had felt like several hours had gone by already...

Handong didn't say much for another few minutes, just letting Bora be lost in her mind for a bit, but then she started pinching her forearm without giving it a thought, and the Chinese woman pushed her hand away. "Stop doing that," She said, now sounding more worried. "You won't be able to help with anything but wait. And... it's not like Gahyun's in bad hands"

"I know" It just killed her to not be able to do anything. She wanted to be there, to help or whatever... but she just had to worry until Gahyun eventually came back. "I need to be busy right now"

Handong thought about it for a moment, and then stood up. "Well, we could go to the cafeteria, I'm sure you need some coffee right now, no? It's really close."

Considering only half an hour had passed, the operation would still take a while. Maybe a quick coffee break was indeed what she needed. "If it doesn't take too long..." the smaller woman sighed, nodding her head. She wanted to be here when Gahyun was out. "Thanks for being here, Dongie" Having to keep her company was probably not the most pleasant thing to do right now.

"Of course. There's no need to thank me, Gahyun is like my sister, too, you know that." She smiled, taking Bora's hand and walking towards the door.

As Handong said, the cafeteria wasn't too far away and the row there to order luckily wasn't too long either. The Chinese woman just needed to get Bora out of that room so her mind could take a break. These next hours would be too much for her otherwise.

Bora could see all of Handong's attempts to make her feel better, but she couldn't stop this unbelievably painful fright growing deep in her chest, making it hard for her to even think about anything else. She had been getting ready for this day for months, but now, when she knew Gahyun was lying on the operating table fully unconscious, a few doctors probably deep in her flesh, she felt as if there was someone cutting her own chest with a scalpel, too.

As those thoughts swirled in her head, a voice almost next to her ear startled her. "Bora!" Handong asked for the fifth time already, finally having gotten her attention. "The lady asked what you wanted." she pointed at the woman behind the counter.

The question goes straight to Bora's head with a piercing alarm, and she shakes her head to make it at least a little bit lighter. "Uhm, yes. Double espresso, please."

Receiving a weird look from the lady, Bora stepped aside as Handong placed her order as well and gave a little explanation as to why her friend acted off. Just so there weren't any wrong ideas.

It didn't take long for their coffees to arrive and Handong had ordered a piece of cake as well, knowing it was something Bora liked to eat.

"We should probably go back," Bora said, not even finishing the coffee halfway. There was something wrong, she could feel it. She usually was never right when it came to her prophecy, but this time, it wasn't over something silly.