When He Showed Up

Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Jess’s POV:

I awoke once again from the black sea, seeing not Brie but instead a steely-eyed Korean nurse, who prodded me with cold metal and bustled about the room, checking the various beeping machines.  Once I had fully awoken, she said, in broken English, “You need x-ray now.  Come with me.”

Once again, another person speaking to me in English. THIS IS KOREA, SPEAK KOREAN FOR PETE’S SAKE! I thought, bizarrely annoyed.  But calmly, slowly, in KOREAN, I replied, “Why?”

She gave me a withering look, and in Korean snidely replied, “We need to check that your lung has not been punctured, and confirm how many bones have been broken.  You got beat up pretty badly.”

I decided I didn’t particularly like this nurse.  So, I started taking enormous, overly dramatic breaths the size of Russia and said perkily, “Nope, no punctured lungs here!”  It hurt really bad, but I felt smug satisfaction when I saw the look on her face.

“Even so, we must check.  Doctor’s orders.”

“Fine,” I muttered, and swung my bruised legs off the hospital cot, leaping off.  And nearly passed out.  My chest and body exploded in fiery anguish, and I plunked back down on the cot.

The nurse smirked.  “As I said, we also need to check how many bones you broke.  The doctor suspected broken ribs as well.”

I groaned, still in pain.  This was going to be a loooooooong day.

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Min Su’s POV

Sitting in the cafeteria, the gang and I picked out our crappy hospital-food lunches, which did not even begin to look appetizing.  I sat down at our tables that we put together, and began unwrapping my rubber “turkey” sandwich.

“Do you think Jess will be okay by herself?  Maybe we should take our lunches with us,” suggested Key, getting out of his chair.

“Nah, that dumb nurse would yell at us.  AGAIN,” replied Tae.

Tae...Tae has been so sweet this WHOLE time.  I sighed, remembering the cute moments we’d shared with Jess.  Before Little Miss Priss Da-Hye had to go wipe the floor with her.

“She is pretty mean...” said Lee sheepishly, meaning the nurse.

“Pretty mean?  Talk about possibly hiding a knife in her cutesy little nurse hat and using it to slice people in half!” exclaimed Tae overdramatically.  I laughed at this, because sadly enough it was quite believable. I had just bitten into my disgusting turkey sandwich when suddenly another nurse walked in, looked around, and saw us. She walked over to the table, holding a clipboard, and said, “Are you with Jessica Coben?”

Brie stood up instantly.  “Is she ok?” he demanded nervously.

She nodded serenely. “She’s about to go in to get x-rays done, to check for broken bones and such. We suggest that she has friends and family with her for moral support, among other things.”  We all agreed that it would be best to be with her.

We followed the nurse down the long, tortuous hall. Geez, this place is starting to make ME claustrophobic. We finally reached the door to the x-ray section of the hospital. We followed her down more and MORE halls, until finally, we got to where Jess was sitting, waiting patiently for her turn.

“Jess!” I called.  Jess lifted her head.  The moment she saw us, her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Annyeonghaseyo!” she said, starting to get up, but the nurse (thankfully a different one than before) grabbed her shoulder lightly, and warned her not to stand up too quicklybecause of the meds and Lord knows what else they had running through her.  She reassured the nurse that she would be careful, then slowly stood up to give us hugs.