***
Narim didn't sleep well. Fear wrapped up the girl turning from side to side. Outside the window it was dark, but at heart, it was so restless. And what if the tide comes at night? Will she die? How often do such tides happen at all? How did she curse herself for not wanting to talk to that guy then? She was so short of answers to the crazy number of questions she had that she had visited her head at such a late hour.
The screen of her mobile phone, which had lit up in the dark, did not bother to take off the silent mode after the couples. The girl reached out to the nightstand and with a light touch of her finger unlocked the screen, looking at the content of the received message.
00:17 [Jeon Chongguk] - Hey, you poor thing, I have a bag of your books as hostages. Be glad I'm so right, I still haven't looked into it and found some nasty pink notebook with secrets there.
Narim gently bumped her forehead against the edge of the nightstand and, shaking from the pain received from the impact of the blow, closed her eyes.
- You little bastard," she shouted quietly, clicking her fingers on the screen, typing back a text.
00:18 [Yu Narim] - Don't read, okay? Have you lost your fear at all?
00:18 [Chongguk] - How do you feel?
00:18 [Yu Narim] - Normal.
00:19 [Chongguk] - Well, I'm worried. I saw how normal you were today... Tell me.
Narim gently wrinkled her nose and slightly defocused her eyes on the phone screen. The letters floated, the pixels turned into one big color spot. Shall I tell you? How so. He'll think she's crazy. Or won't he? How do you know, because Chung is her friend? Will he be able to understand?
A new message came up on the screen.
00:21 [Jeon Chongguk] - Narim, tell me, I'm worried. I won't sleep until I find out, well.
The girl didn't even have to think for a long time. For some reason, she wanted to tell someone what was bothering her, because if she didn't do it now, she'd be all right. Narim flipped over on her stomach and started to dial quickly. She will tell him. After all, it's Chongguk, who takes all her quirks like she does with him. He has to understand, at least a little bit, a little bit, but he has to understand.
Narim was still painting for five minutes the whole spectrum of emotions and feelings she felt on herself while the water was wrapping around her whole body. How crazy it was, how that guy helped her... The girl pressed her lips and barely pressed the departure button. It was done.
Just a minute later, the screen came back on, but there was an incoming call from Chongguk. Narim looked at the call with dumb eyes and nervously ruffled the red hair on the top. He must be in shock.
- Oh, yeah?" the girl put her phone to her ear.
- Are you serious? - I heard the guy's worried voice on the phone.
- Seriously, Connie," Narim exhaled. - Just trust me...
- In this...?
- Please believe me, it's true! - The girl panicked and started to break the knuckles of her fingers nervously.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey," Chongguk interrupted her. - Okay, okay, but don't shout.
- Do you believe that? - A girl whispered with some warm hope in her voice.
- Go to bed, okay? You have to get a good night's sleep for a good day," smiled at Gukk's pipe.
The guy didn't give an answer to the question, but his smile, his care - all this was more important to Narim now.
But Jeon's smile was strained, his care was forced, and inside there were contradictory panic feelings. The guy waited for the end of the call and stared straight at the ceiling.
***
In the morning, Narim was met with a forced early awakening by a phone call. The girl barely opened her eyelids and raised her head above the pillow, still looking at the blurred numbers on the screen with her unfocused eyes. Having walked along the palm of her hand a couple of times over the centuries, Narim accepted the call from an unknown number for her.
- Yu Narim? - I heard a nice man's voice on the other end of the wire.
- Yes, it's me," the girl answered with a husky voice, coughing a little afterward.
- You're worried about the psychiatric registrar," said the man. Something died inside Narim at that moment. He died without a chance to recover. - You have an appointment at 8:20 p.m., we call just to remind you. Dr. Kim has a busy schedule, and if you're uncomfortable with that time, we'll move the queue up a little bit.
Pupils Narim dilated, the throat was approached by a nasty lump, the chest painfully colossal. Only two people knew about her condition: that strange guy and Chongguk. But the stranger did not know her contact details or her name. Zhongguo. What was that? Betrayal?
- Miss Yoo," he recalled.
She drilled a wall with a heavy, lifeless look, stubbornly unwilling to believe in the reality of what was happening, and tears were flowing down her cheeks, dropping silently on the edge of a white blanket, leaving gray traces on it.
- Miss Yu, will you come? - The man who is surely tired of waiting for an answer repeated his question.
The girl hastily wiped her tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand and forcefully clenched her fingers in her fist. Betrayal.
- I will come.
"to be continued in the next part"