Rainbow 彩虹

#7: Reunion?

Jae's POV:

Days... Weeks... Months passed by painfully... Slowly...

I missed Dad... I missed Ze... I missed Joong...

The war didn't cease... In fact it turned for the worst... We were being bombed... So all of us had to be evacuated from our homes... Joong's mum, my mum and me had to go stay at a shelter...

But that was not the end of the bad news...

I received news that my dad got seriously injured at the frontline, and didn't make it cos there were insufficient medics to attend to him... My mum fell ill upon hearing the news... And a few months later, she too didn't make it... I was left alone... Painfully disheartened by the news, I decided to join the military medics to provide my skills to good use saving lives... I left Joong's mum in the care of Ze's granny and bid them farewell...

I wrote to Ze and Joong to tell them that I would be joining the medics. But I didn't know if they would get the news at all. The situation was very chaotic. Since I haven't had much practical experience, I was assistant to a doctor at the camp, helping him tend to the various casualties.

I was at the medic camp one day as usual and that day a lot of casualties were brought in. Many of them suffered serious injuries from bullet and explosions. Our supplies were being used up very quickly.

Jae: Dr Jung... Our supplies are depleting at a very rapid rate... There are too many casualties...

Dr Jung: We need to inform them to send some of them to the other nearby medic camps... Nurse Kim, please see to that...

Nurse Kim: Araso Dr Jung...

Just as Nurse Kim went out, another few more casualties came in and we were tending to one of them. He was shot at his knee and was bleeding profusely. I tapped the soldier's shoulder to see if he's still conscious.

Jae: Can you hear me? Are you conscious? Can you tell me your name?

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Joong's POV:

I didn't know if the pain was so much that I was hallucinating. I thought I heard Jae-nuna's voice calling me. I turned over to face the voice.

Jae: Joongie!!!

I forced my eyes open to look at the speaker. I saw Jae-nuna's face over mine looking all concerned. The light hanging over the camp, illuminated her face in such a way that she was glowing with the aura of an angel...

God is letting me see my angel one more time before I die...

My lids grew heavy and threatened to shut...

She shook me vigorously at my shoulders.

Jae: JOONGIE!!!! DON'T FALL ASLEEP!!! HANG IN THERE!!! YOU STILL OWE ME MONEY!!! YOU PROMISED TO RETURN IT TO ME!!!! WAKE UP!!! DON'T SLEEP!!!

I forced my lids open again. But the pain was draining my life away, as my blood soaked the sheets.

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Dr Jung: Jae, we need to operate on your chingu (friend) now to get the bullet out of his knee... Or else he'll be crippled forever...

Jae gathered her composure and answered.

Jae: Yes Dr Jung... Anesthetic please... Nurse Shim...

Nurse Shim (worriedly): Dr Jae, we've run out of anesthetics... The last dose was just used by Dr Park...