Masterpiece

Chapter 26

Chaeyoung was just 6 years old at the time she was busy watching her brother, Jeong-Hoon play with his playmates in the playground. She sat on the swing alone since she didn't have any friends other than her brother. She was told not to play because of her chronic lung disorder, asthma. She wasn't allowed to run too much, play too much. Her parents knew that it was more than asthma because the doctor told them that Chaeyoung wasn't allowed to have her heart beating fast. Meaning, she must not feel the following emotions; excitement, overflowing happiness and such emotions that could bring her heartbeat in a faster pace.

Chaeyoung dramatically frowned when she sees Jeong-Hoon trying to catch the ball, running after it and then passing it to somebody else. How she wished she can do that but she can't and never can she.

After a few swings, she felt tired and stopped swinging around, she just stared at her feet when three pairs of legs appeared. She looked up and saw three girls, smiling at her except for the one who had her black hair right at the top of her shoulders, the other two had long black hair and they didn't look Korean at all.

"What's your name?" The girl in the middle asked.

Chaeyoung hesitated to answer but still did, "C-Chwaeyoung." She answered but due to her shyness, her talk was more like a baby's.

The girl on the left cooed, "aw!" And pinched Chaeyoung's cheeks, "so cute!"

"Why are left alone here?" The girl in the middle now asked.

Chaeyoung shrugged, "my pwarents told me not to play." She frowned, accepting that she can never answer with the right pronunciation.

"Really? Why?"

Chaeyoung looked up again and saw that the short-haired girl was also waiting for an answer.

"Asthma. I have Asthma."

The girl in the middle jumped, "really? Yah, Eun! Isn't Papa a doctor for the lungs?"

The girl on the left nodded, "eung~ he is! What's it called again..?" She asked and the two girls looked at the girl on the right. The short-haired one.

"Nana, what's its called?" Eun asked.

Nana sighed, "Papa is a Pulmonologist."

The girl in the middle clapped her hands, "yeah! He's a pulmonologist! I'll ask Papa if he can check up on you." She smiled.

Nana sighed, "Jiji, you know Papa is busy."

"But I'm sure he'll make time for our friend."

"Friend..?" Chaeyoung asked

"Yeah! From now on, you will be EunJiNa's friend!" Jiji exclaimed.

"EunJiNa?"

"It's a combination of our names," Nana explained.

"EunJiNa." Chaeyoung smiled, testing the name on her tongue as the smile on her face took a permanent residence.

—●●●●—

Dizzy, that was what Chaeyoung felt the moment her eyes slowly opened. Her chest felt heavy as her head felt like breaking, she really can't move an inch without feeling pain. She groaned loudly in frustration and that's when she heard chairs scraping on the floor, she looked around and realized that she was in the campus clinic and Taehyung, Dahyun and Jungkook is here.

"What happened?" Chaeyoung asked and sat up slowly, her headache was getting worse.

"Stop moving, you'll hurt yourself more." Dahyun said and helped Chaeyoung.

Taehyung in the background then groaned, "Chae, why must you keep on making me worry?!"

Chaeyoung flinched once his voice started to voice out as echoes.

"It's your last year as a college student and I'm afraid if it's also your last year in this world!" He growled and faced Chaeyoung, his eyes were red and puffy. He was always crying whenever Chaeyoung would end up in a white bed and he can't stand it if the next he sees is Chaeyoung on a white bed, peacefully sleeping as her body is slowly rotting 6 feet under.

Chaeyoung can't help but sigh, "Taehyung Oppa, you know that I'm done with my 'suicidal-stage' and I know that even if I do kill myself, Id have regrets. I want to die peacefully."

Taehyung felt overjoyed at the sound of Chaeyoung calling him 'Oppa' but still, it hurts him to imagine that Chaeyoung is dead. It's a no-no for him.

"But what if someday-"

"Stop your 'what ifs' I'm not going to die, okay? I'm not going to kill myself anymore. I already stopped!"

Dahyun sighed, "but Chae, you know that old habits never die right? What if you're killing yourself behind our backs? It will also kill us to know that you're dying whilst laughing along with us."

Chaeyoung facepalmed herself, she was about to reply when a ringtone disturbed their conversation, they looked around and saw Chaeyoung's phone was going off.

Chaeyoung reached for her phone and looked at who was calling. Her eyes almost dropped when she saw who it was, answering, she put the phone on her ear and shushed her friends.

[Hello, Chaeyoung?]

"Y-Yes?"

[Ah, are you still in the clinic?]

"Yeah, I am. By the way, how do you know I'm in the clinic?"

Silence reigned over the other line but a clear of throat sounded, [Dahyun asked Sana in a call about first aid and I accidentally heard their conversation.]

"By the way, is Myoui Mina worried about me?" Chaeyoung teased and managed to crack a giggle.

A sigh came on the other line, [no. Dr. Myoui Mina is worried.]

"Oh so you're worried as a doctor? But I thought you're not my doctor?"

[Chaeyoung, stop teasing. I'm only worried about you. Anyways, I have work to do. Take care.]

Chaeyoung pouted when Mina ended the call, she looked around and saw her friends patiently waiting for her to answer their questions in mind. She sighed, this was going to be a long q-and-a portion.