Nineteen hours later and I’m pacing outside the OR.

“How long does it take to operate on someone?” Hajoon asks as he takes another lap around the room. He’s almost as wound up as I am. My fingers tear into my dress as my anxiety rises.

Someone sits next to me. “How are you holding up?”

Turning my head to look at Jay, I swallow hard. “I think I’m fine.” I feel like puking.

“About earlier. We didn’t mean to come off so rude.”

“You aren’t wrong though. Hajoon helping me can cause some tension.”

“But I’m not saying you should ignore each other either. You just have to be careful. To be honest, I thought he needed a break from us. We normally talk to each other but lately our communication has been off.”

“I am sorry for dragging you into this,” I whisper. They should be home asleep instead of sitting here at the hospital with me.

“Why are you apologizing?” Sunshine sits on the other side of me. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

I still felt sorry though. “He has so much he can do instead of helping me get into an audition.”

“You’re going to learn that Hajoon does what Hajoon wants to do.”

“Miss Lee.”

Everyone pauses as the doctor comes out in his scrubs. Blood is splattered across his shirt and I fear the worst. On shaky legs, I stand up, moving toward him.

“She’s good. It went very well and we have moved her to recovery.” He informs with a smile.

My legs give out and I bow my head to the floor. “Thank you, doctor. Thank you.”

“I’ll check on her later to make sure she gets settled into her room okay.” He tells me before I hear his footsteps disappearing. Hands grab my shoulders.

“Did you hear that?” Hajoon grins. “She’s good.”

“I’m so relieved.” I sob.

He pulls me into a hug. “You did well, Yuna.”

I bury my head into his chest and sob. She is okay.

“Group hug!” DaeDae cries before I’m tackled. “I really hate girls crying.”

“I think we need a drink.”

“Kang, no drinks on hospital property.” Jay growls.

“Oh yeah.”

I chuckle at the light banter before pulling away to wipe my tears. “Thank you. I couldn’t have been this strong if you guys weren’t here.”

Jay’s phone rings. “Crap. It’s Manager Taejin.” He answers it with a cheerful, “Manager!” before moving away from us.

Hajoon leans back. “Now that your Mom will get better, we can send off your video in a few days.”

“I still have a month left. Right now I’ll just stay with Mom.”

“As long as you get it done. You worked so hard on this.” He points a finger at me before reaching out to ruffle my hair.

“Times up. Manager wants us back for a meeting. That means you too, Hajoon.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He stands up. “I’ll check on you later.”

DaeDae scrunches his face as he watches the others leave. “I’ve never seen him act like that before.” What did that mean?

He sprints to catch up with them. Getting up slowly, I dust myself off and go to the nurse’s station to ask where the recovery rooms are. I go into her room, listening as machines beep beside her bed.

“Rest easy.” I whisper while holding her hand. “You did it, Mom.”

After a moment, I lay it back down before sitting on the sofa. My head rests on my arm as I watch her.

I wake up to my phone buzzing in my pocket. I don’t remember falling asleep. Blinking groggily at the clock on the wall, I reach for my phone and answer it.

“Hello?”

“Did I wake you?” Hajoon’s voice is a bare whisper. I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face.

“Why are you awake? It’s nearly four in the morning.”

I can hear something rustling on the other end of the phone. “I don’t want to wake the others. How’s your Mom?”

“Her vitals are steady. Everything looks good.” I run a hand through my hair. Standing up, I stretch the kinks out of my legs.

“I’m glad.”

Strolling around the room, I run my fingers over the walls. “Hopefully if she’s still stable tomorrow, I can run home and change clothes. I might bring back my bag that has all my music stuff in it. Maybe singing to her will help her recover faster.”

“I think she will like that.”

Leaning against the door, I sigh. “Hajoon.”

“Yuna.” He replies at the same time.

We both began laughing. “You first.” I say before he can get a word in.

“I’m proud of you.” The words make me happy. Pressing a hand to my chest, I smile.

“Thank you.”

He raises his voice slightly. “What did you have to say?”

Licking my lips nervously, I clear my throat. “With everything that’s happened lately, I need to know where we stand so my mind doesn’t get ahead of itself. I don’t want to confuse anything between us. What am I to you?” Did I want him to say that we are friends or that we might be more?

There’s a silence on his end before I hear him mumble, “It’s... complicated.”

“Complicated?”

He sighs. “I care about you. You’re smart, super sweet, and you hide secret talents from me because you want everything to be perfect. But, I can’t date you.”

I close my eyes. How was I supposed to answer that? “Got it.”

“It’s not what you think.” He hurries on. “I want you in my life. This isn’t me saying to stay away. Far from it. Like I said before, it’s complicated.”

“Should it be complicated?”

“That excuse is better than me butchering these thoughts in my head, believe me,” he groans. “Give me until after you perform on stage for your audition. Will you give me until then?”

After a second of just standing there, I can barely manage a “Yeah.”

“I should go to bed. I’ll call you when I first wake up. Get some sleep. You must be exhausted.”

“Okay.” I move the phone away from my ear and hit the end button before dropping it onto the floor. Pressing my head against the wall, I cry.