I Hate You, Don't Leave Me

Chapter 25

The next morning passed in a blur for Chaeyoung. She woke up beside Lisa in her hospital bed, relieved when the brunette didn't have a nightmare, but she barely even got to say two words to the girl before the doctor was back, asking Lisa to remove herself from the bed so that he could clear Chaeyoung. Once the blonde was released, Bom brought her back to the house and stayed with her for three more hours, despite Chaeyoung's insistence that she was fine, wanting to make sure that her daughter stayed hydrated and ate a decent meal. Chaeyoung was relieved when it was time for her mother to leave for her flight, not at all enjoying being fussed over. She almost screamed when Bom began to wonder if maybe she should cancel her flight and stay here with Chaeyoung for another night. The blonde loved her mother, she really did, but she couldn't handle the constant coddling that came from Bom being both a mother and a doctor. She politely argued that Bom did not need to stay here with her and that it would be fine for her mother to go back home. Bom just stared at her, looking as if she didn't quite believe it.

"I'll be fine, Mom. I promise," Chaeyoung said again.

"How can I trust you right now? After what happened?" Bom asked, and Chaeyoung knew that her mother had a point. How could she expect the older woman to ever trust her again when she had gone out and done the one thing that Bom had sent her here to prevent her from doing ever again?

"I will never drink again, Mom. I mean it this time," Chaeyoung said, shuddering at the thought of what she had went through in the past day. "Drinking that much was the stupidest thing I've ever done. I didn't even mean to. I was just so upset, and once I started, I couldn't stop."

Bom was still looking at her warily, so the blonde decided to tell her mother what had really scared her into never wanting to drink again. "There was a moment when I woke up after I had passed out in the car. Lisa was carrying me into the hospital, and it was like I could feel the life leaving my body. I knew I was dying, and it was all I could do to cling onto her sweater. Chaeyoung closed her eyes at the memory, wishing she could shut it out as easily as she could shut out the sight of her room. "I never want to feel that way again."

She opened her eyes to gauge her mother's reaction, and she felt slightly better when Bom nodded. "I spoke with Lisa yesterday, and she said that you two had been having trouble with your relationship since I last saw you, yet you never drank throughout that whole time. So, what happened yesterday that made you want to go to the bar?"

Chaeyoung averted her eyes, looking down at her lap as if there was something very interesting resting upon it. "Lisa had been avoiding me, and I always suspected that she might have her own stubborn reason for keeping us apart, but I couldn't get her to tell me what it was. I couldn't even begin to guess, so I left this drawing on my bed for her to find because I knew that it would get her to see that I loved her and hopefully come to her senses. What happened was all a misunderstanding, really."

Chaeyoung couldn't keep the embarrassment from showing up as a blush on her face. "I was waiting for her in the attic, and when she didn't show, I thought that she had seen the drawing and that she didn't care about me anymore. I felt worse than I had in a long time, and that's why I went to the bar. Turns out that Lisa had detention after school, and she hadn't even seen the drawing when I left. It was stupid really, but I thought that she didn't love me, and I couldn't handle that when I was still so in love with her."

"That's no excuse to drink, Chaeyoung," Bom reprimanded. "Especially as much as you did."

"I understand that now," Chaeyoung said solemnly. "Besides, I couldn't even get my hands on any alcohol if I wanted to because you've already confiscated my fake ID."