Two (1/2)

<i style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;">"Sir," A kind voice—a woman's—says from above. Taekwoon stirs. "Sir, were you the one to call 911?"

<i style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px;">Taekwoon then becomes aware of what happened. His entire body screams in pain from where he is on the ground. He knows that just beside him is his old Fiat, smashed, with Hongbin inside. The rain is still steadily falling, and he pries his eyes open enough to see the woman in paramedic uniform hovering over him, her soft and rain-blurred face distressed. Weakly, Taekwoon nods.

"What's your name?" She asks, crouching down.

"Jung Taekwoon," Taekwoon croaks. God, his head is killing him.

"Alright then, Taekwoon. We're gonna get you and your friend to the hospital, okay?" Taekwoon nods again before everything fades out. 

Taekwoon tosses fitfully, having trouble finding sleep. He hasn't relive this in his dreams for so long. He throws his covers off, kicking his legs out and heaving a sigh. His eyes are squeezed tightly shut so as to hopefully fend off the bad memories, the memories of seeing Hongbin broken beyond repair. Taekwoon presses clenched hands to his eyelids. "Go away," he mutters. It should be better now. He knows now after the day's events that Hongbin doesn't hate him, that Hongbin waited.  He rolls over and buries his face in his pillow.

<i style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px;">"Hongbin!" Taekwoon sobs, lunging for Hongbin's gurney as they enter the Emergency Room, pushing open the great swinging doors. The lights in the hospital are bright, and the pastel walls swim in Taekwoon's vision. Hongbin's face is still, eerily still, and the blood on his temple looks sticky and congealed. Fear courses through Taekwoon's body like an electric current, and his heart falters in a strange pattern. A nurse snags Taekwoon by the elbow and Taekwoon hisses, not realizing that part of his body was hurting.

"Mr. Jung," the nurse says calmly. "Why don't you come sit down?"

Taekwoon turns anxious and confused eyes on the small woman. "I need to be with Hongbin, it's my fault he's hurt." His voice is quiet but stressed.

"Mr. Jung, the ER doctor needs to take a look at you, you're quite injured." Her tone grows tenser.

"Let go of me," Taekwoon mumbles, pulling his arm away from the nurse and looking after Hongbin's gurney. "Where are they taking him? I need to go with them," Taekwoon panics. The nurse takes Taekwoon by the arm again, and forcefully leads him to a small room. "No," Taekwoon protests as she pushes him down onto the sheetless emergency room bed.

"Wait here," she says sternly, holding up a finger. "I'm going to go get the ER doctor. After Mr. Hongbin receives the urgent care he needs, we can arrange for you to see him. But until then," Taekwoon opens his mouth to protest. "Wait."

The nurse breezes out of the room, letting the door shut softly behind her. A wave of pain then washes over Taekwoon, and he clutches his head, a sharp, searing pain piercing through the back of his skull. He hunches over, screwing his eyes shut. There's a strange ringing in his ears, and he barely notices when the door swings open again and the doctor steps in, a blur of white lab coat. The doctor pulls up a small rolling stool and sits in front of Taekwoon, but Taekwoon barely stirs. "Hello Taekwoon," the doctor's voice is distant yet warmly familiar-sounding. Taekwoon tries desperately to focus on it, but the throbbing in his head won't let up. "Can you tell me what happened?" The doctor asks.

Taekwoon sucks a shuddering breath in. "We were in a car accident." He says quietly, pulling his hands from his head. They come away slightly bloody, and Taekwoon winces.

"Who was driving?" The doctor asks as he pulls on latex gloves.

"Hongbin," Taekwoon rasps.

"Which side of the car was hit?" Taekwoon thinks the doctor is asking an awful lot of questions, but Taekwoon doesn't have the stamina to talk back.

"The driver's side," Taekwoon grits his teeth as the doctor places gentle fingers on Taekwoon's head, inspecting the tiny split in his scalp. The doctor hums a response, prodding delicately at the area.

"Taekwoon, can you lie down on your stomach?" The doctor takes his hands away from Taekwoon's head and allows for him to lay down on the hospital bed. Taekwoon pillows his head on his arms, and the doctor fetches a piece of gauze to press firmly to the back of Taekwoon's head. "Did you hit your head on the window?"

"Yes," Taekwoon whispers.

"Luckily the cut's not serious, but you've probably got a concussion, so take it easy for the next couple days. Give your doctor a call if you're having difficulty concentrating, feel dizzy or lightheaded, have any anxiety or experience changes in your sleep pattern, alright? And wear your seatbelt from now on." The doctor's voice continues to sound muffled and distant, like someone stuffed cotton in Taekwoon's ears. His vision swims even though his eyes are closed, and he allows himself to waver in consciousness until the gauze is lifted, his bleeding stopped, and the doctor helps him to sit. He pries his eyes open and vaguely understands as the doctor tells him he needs to quickly shine a pen light in his eyes. The light is bright and brief, and Taekwoon blinks sluggishly afterward. A nurse opens the door to poke her head inside and exchange a few words with the doctor before disappearing, and it takes Taekwoon a few moments to process it. The doctor smiles softly at Taekwoon, and his vision clears slightly. "I was told to relay to you that Mr. Lee Hongbin is currently receiving emergency surgery and will be out of the operation room within an hour or so." He places a comforting hand on Taekwoon's knee.

Taekwoon furrows his brow. "Can I go see him?" Panic creeps into his voice and he can feel his anxiety rising as the car accident flashes through his mind again. "I need to go see him," he insists, climbing down from the hospital bed. He can tell his feet have touched the ground but he can't seem to feel his legs—regardless, he bolts for the door before the doctor can force him to sit again. Everything tilts around him as he throws open the door and sprints down the hall, following what he can see of the signs directing him towards the emergency operation room.