Silence & Chaos | Kim Jungwoo

Chapter 8 - Ritardando

Saturday. Saturday was Sunhee's self-care day. On Saturdays she would let herself sleep in until noon. It was the day she would soak in a bubble bath with music loud enough to be heard from other neighbors, who of course knew her well and never minded. Saturdays were the days meant to destress and forget the troubles of work and social dramas, and to truly focus on herself.

Saturdays were not meant to be that day where you wake up at five in the morning. It wasn't supposed to be the day that had Sunhee's heart running wild out of her chest. Most of all, Saturdays were not meant to be spent in a racing car, hands pressing hard on the shoulder of a man who would be bleeding out otherwise.

But low and behold there she was, almost completely on top of Johnny as she distracted herself from the situation by telling him to stop giving her a pitiful look that seemed stuck to his face at this point.

"Johnny, breath slowly. It'll calm your heart and you'll bleed less. Or meditate, even—"

Johnny laughed breathlessly. "Sorry, but meditating might be a little hard with a bullet in my shoulder."

Sunhee grimaced, and nearly whined, "Just relax, please."

"Sweetie, I'm very relaxed. You need to calm down." His breath was slow and deep as he kept his eyes on the air conditioner vent. He seemed to know what to do in these kinds of situations, which was both relieving and alarming to Sunhee.

"Did you just call her sweetie?" Jaemin looked at the older, oddly taken aback.

Lucas braced those in the car a little too late about a bump in the road. The car jolted up, and Sunhee, being unbuckled and practically hovering above Johnny, hit her head on the top of the car. She yelped and retracted her arms, but instantly pressed them back to his shoulder when he grimaced from being moved around too much.

Johnny let out a deep laugh and grit his teeth. "Now is not the time to nag at the dying man, so please just focus on navigating to a hospital."

Jaemin shut his mouth and turned back to the front. Jeno kept checking on the two in the back constantly, ready to switch with Sunhee every time he did. "I think you really do need a break, Sunhee."

She stubbornly shook her head again and remained as she was.

"Then you need to calm down," he soothed. "Your stress level is high, and you're going to start making Johnny nervous too."

"I can't let go." Her eyes locked on her hands that were starting to become blood-stained.

"You don't have to. Keep pressing hard, but look at me."

Sunhee didn't want to. However after Johnny gave her an expectant look, she took a breath and looked Jeno straight in the eyes.

If Jeno didn't know that she was moments away from a mental breakdown, her intense stare would have frightened him. Instead, he calmly widened his eyes a bit and instructed her to breathe slowly. "You see how Johnny's breathing? He knows how to calm the body. You need to breathe just like that, and you'll feel a lot better. I promise."

Sunhee nodded, not breaking her eye contact, and breathed in and out as slowly as the man beneath her.

When they finally got to a hospital, she hadn't even noticed that much time had passed.

Jaemin was rushed to the ER, as some residents called for an OR to be prepared for Johnny. Sunhee stayed with the other three boys in a waiting room while both Lucas and Ten were making phone calls. Jeno was placed under the duty of keeping the the poor girl sane as she was checked for shock.

It was all blurred together, and when Sunhee finally came-to, Lucas was sitting in the chair beside her, staring off at the far wall. Jeno noticed that she was gradually becoming frantic.