Colors

XXI : Numb

"Jiminnie?" I opened the door to the practice room, which was unlocked.

The room was practically dark. But then I saw light in a shape of a rectangle, which of course came from a phone's screen. And next to it was Park Jimin, slumping against the mirrors.

"Park Jimin?" I flicked the lights on and approached him. I can't see his face for his head was hung low.

It was when I sat next to him that he finally looked up and said, "Lee Jinhee.."

His face was still as pale as snow, his eyes filled with fear as he looked into mine. He took some short breaths before saying,

"I-I can't feel my legs."

"You what? What do you mean?"

"I can't feel my legs.. I can't walk.. I can't even stand up.."

"You- How did you get here?"

He sighed, "I.. I don't know. It wasn't up to this extent when I came here."

"When we were on our way to school, it felt weird. It felt.. weak?" He gulped before continuing, "But then when we were walking up the stairs it can't even move properly. It was like... so exhausting."

I paid attention to each of his words and stayed quiet.

"Lee Jinhee, I don't know what's happening right now," he messed his own hair and ended the gesture by resting his palm in front of his eyes.

I felt terrible for leaving him earlier. Besides from physical suffering, I knew that he was also afraid and confused, yet I left him on his own. I should've stayed with him. I should've been here with him.

"Hey hey, maybe you're just tired. First, let's just rest here okay?" I rubbed his back, trying to give him comfort, "We'll go back to class when you're feeling better. If not, then we can always go to the health facility."

"Don't worry, our homeroom for this year is Mr. Baek. He'll understand," I continued.

"No," he looked at me, "You should go back to class."

"I'm staying with you."

"It's your first da-" but then his sentence was cut midways by mine.

"And yours too. I'm not going to leave you again, Park Jimin."

-

After about an half hour or so, his legs went back to normal. He was then able to stand up and walk to our class with me. The whole day then went smoothly, we soon forgot about what happened to him earlier the day. We studied, had our lunch, studied again, and eventually went home like all the other days.

Four days went by with us as fresh and new students in our second year at high school. It was then already Friday, where we would go to our respective clubs on the last sessions. I switched from cooking and signed up for photography, while Jimin stayed with his guy friends on hip-hop dancing.

It was about forty minutes to dismissal when I received a call from Jin oppa, telling me that Jimin had injured himself while doing acrobats in one of the routines. It was so bad that I came running to their practice room while Hongbin sunbaenim, my club president was on the midst of talking in front of the room.

The moment I stepped in the room, Jimin laid unconscious on the floor. His friends were trying to bring him back to his senses, except for Hoseok which seemed to be in too much of a shock. Not long after, the medics arrived and brought Jimin with them. The teacher in charge came with them but strongly forbid us to tag along, since it was still in school hours. All we could do was bite our nails and wait in anxiety for news concerning our friend.