Come Back Home

Bom

Chaerin told us about Dara's panic attack after she put her to bed. Hearing this made my heart sink, I can't imagine what she is going through.

"I want to come with to her doctors appointment," Minzy chimed in "I want to be there for her every step of the way."

I nodded my head in agreement "you know, being back home brought back so many great memories."

"I was thinking after the appointment we take Dara down memory lane," I said cheerfully.

Chaerin raised a brow "how will we do that?"

"Take her to our favorite spots when we were in school," I began "like the bowling ally two blocks away from our college."

Minzy laughed "oh, I forgot about that place!"

"I think it would do Dara some good to get out and forget just for a little bit," Chaerin said.

"We have to keep this as a surprise," I said excitedly.
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The Next Day

"You girls really don't need to drag yourselves to a boring hospital visit," Dara whined.

We protested to every complaint she kept coming up with. I forgot how stubborn she can be, but no matter because this was her day.

As we walked into the hospital Dara turned to us.

"I don't know if I want to hear anymore about my illness," she started to walk back to the car "I can't."

I grabbed her arm "Dara, I know you are scared we are too, but you can't run from it."

She came into my embrace and the girls soon joined in.

Minzy brushed the hair out of her face "you have to face this head on, you can't let it win."

With that Dara slowly walked into the hospital with us behind her. Minzy and I stayed in the waiting room while Chaerin went in with Dara.

After the appointment we decided it was time to take Dara out for the girls day.

We pass the college and that is when Dara asked "where are we going?"

"You will see," Charin chuckled.

We pull up to the bowling alley "girls," Dara chuckled "what is this?"

"SURPRISE!" We all shout filling the car with laughter.

"We thought it would be nice to get you out," I said.

"By taking me to our old bowling alley," Dara shook her head "I thought this place closed."

We head in and get to our lane "how about we let the leading lady go first," Minzy said handing a bowling ball to Dara.

As soon as Dara took the ball out of Minzy's hand she lost her grip and it came crashing to the ground.

"Ah, I must of not had a good grip on it," she said disappointed.

She picked it up, but we noticed her wince a bit. She took it over to the lane and it seemed as if she struggled to toss it into the lane.

The ball anchored her down and Dara began to sob. We rushed to her side holding her and trying to get her to calm down.

"I can't," she managed to say between her tears " I'm too weak."

"Don't beat yourself up," I said "we will help you."

With that we each took our turns helping Dara toss the ball and by the end of the game she was the winner.

Seeing her cheer because of her victory was a victory for us girls. To see her forget what she is going through even for a little bit.

"Why don't we go grab a bite to eat?" I asked.

Chaerin turned to Dara "since you are the winner, you can choose where we dine!"

Dara chuckled "well since it seems as if we are taking a trip down memory lane, how about the old diner?"

"What news did you hear this time?" Minzy asked Dara.

"The cancer is progressing of course," Dara said while taking a fork to her salad "next week I will start my chemo."

"What did he say about your panic attack?" I asked.

She shrugged "he said it was a common thing for people when they are stressed."

Chaerin furrowed her brows "yes it is but, you have gotten stressed in the past, I would say it was worst back then and yet you never had a severe panic attack like the one last night."

Dara let out a sigh "this is a different type of stress Chaerin, it isn't stress over a test or something small, it's my life that's on the line."

"I get that I do, it's just new to me, new to us, I guess," Chaerin said softly.

Minzy cleared her throat before saying "how about we look for apartments again tomorrow?"

I could tell she was feeling uncomfortable with the conversation. If I'm being honest I am too, this was suppose to help Dara forget, not worry.

Dara shook her head "you girls can on your own, I promised Chi-Won I would take the kids to the zoo with him."

I nodded my head "yeah, we can look ourselves."

As soon as we finished our meals we headed back to Dara's place. We walked up to the door following Dara.

She stopped and turned "thank you girls, for the wonderful day and since it seems like we are going down memory lane, I thought I'd show you something."

We follow her to her room, she goes to her closet and takes out a black book.

"This is what reminded me of us," Dara said with her eyes swelling up.

The rest of the night we flipped through the pages, reminiscing what happened within the time of the photo.

With the memories and laughter it felt as if we never lost touch with each other, it felt as if we were closer than ever.