Hauntings

-Bora’s Immunity-

Siyeon and the others still suffered slight side effects from their night of drinking, but luckily, they went into work early and crashed in the overnight room.

The plan was to get a couple more hours rest and get up two to three hours before their shifts and start to look for ghosts around the hospital. It wasn’t a very well thought out plan, but everyone was feeling the side-effects of the drinking and needed the nap badly.

Once they woke up, though, Siyeon quickly realized that splitting up was pointless because only she could see ghosts after all. With a sigh, they relaxed for a bit before going up to spend some time with Minji.

When Siyeon walked into the room, Minji was sleeping soundly. Her gentle breathing and peaceful face looked adorable to the nurse as she stood in the doorway, admiring her crush. The way that Minji’s lips parted slightly when she slept made the sleeping girl look so peaceful that Siyeon didn’t want to disturb her.

But Minji’s slumber didn’t last long when you have a tiny loud manager shouting Minji’s name as she hip-checked Siyeon out of the way. It startled Minji awake as she snorted in shock while she looked at the tiny yet loud night manager.

“morning!” Bora shouted as Siyeon sighed and rolled her eyes. It was clearly nighttime. Bora thought she was funny by saying a night shifter joke. Siyeon just groaned as she rolled her eyes, but Minji just laughed sweetly.

Siyeon’s expression softened at Minji’s laughter, and it didn’t go unnoticed by the injured girl. She was starting to pay attention to how what she said or did would affect Siyeon. It was cute to watch her melt over the smallest things.

Siyeon thought that she could control her expressions well around others, and that was usually true, but she had such an extreme weakness for Minji that she couldn’t stop herself from feeling soft just at the smallest things.

After Bora came in, Gahyeon and Dami followed and noticed that Minji was smiling happily at Siyeon, who couldn’t make eye contact. Whatever happened, Dami knew that Siyeon was completely oblivious to the fact that Minji was staring at Siyeon with hearts in her eyes.

Dami just rolled her eyes at her friend and walked over to Minji to say hello when Handong walked in with Yoohyeon.

Minji could tell right away that her friends must have been doing something before coming in. Handong’s lipstick was slightly smudged, and Yoohyeon looked WAY too happy for a workday. Minji raised a brow at her friend who smiled mischievously and winked before walking over to give Minji a hug.

“you look so guilty…” Minji teased as Yoohyeon smiled.

“you know it!” Yoohyeon whispered back as she walked over to Handong. The doctor had gotten her hands on Minji’s chart and was looking it over.

“Minji, you haven’t been eating well lately?” Handong asked as Minji pouted and nodded.

“my stomach has been upset lately. I can eat, but not much before I start to feel sick. I don’t know why, though. You know I usually eat very well.” Minji said as Handong nodded and looked at the chart with a worried expression.

“well, is it the food made by the cafeteria or all food?” Siyeon asked as Minji thought about it.

“Oh. When you brought me food, I was able to eat just fine. Does that mean that there is a problem with the food here?” Minji asked worriedly. The others weren't sure of the answer and just shrugged.

“I'm not sure of that, but we will make sure to get you food from outside the hospital and see if you can eat and start to feel better,” Siyeon said as Minji smiled gratefully.

Siyeon was now bright red at the eye smile she just received and was in her own little world as the others ignored her and chatted with Minji until it was time to leave for their shift.

As everyone filed out of the room, Bora linked arms with Siyeon and led her to her office. The nurse was confused because Bora looked serious for once, which was a bit startling. Siyeon started to feel a bit nervous as she watched Bora flop into her chair behind her desk with a serious expression.

“Siyeon, do you know why you are here right now?” Bora asked seriously, but Siyeon just shook her head. She had no idea.

“you are so frustrating! Just ask her out already!” Bora shouted as Siyeon jumped at the loudness.

“what are you talking about?” Siyeon asked as Bora rolled her eyes.

“Minji! She clearly likes you! Just ask her out! I'm sure that she will say yes!” Bora whined as Siyeon shook her head at her friend. Bora loved to get involved in others' relationships, but most of the time, her advice ended up hurting instead of helping.

“I'm not so sure, though… what if I'm wrong? I would just make a fool of myself. What if I lose her completely? Maybe I should just keep my feelings to myself. I don’t want to lose her if I'm wrong…” Siyeon said as Bora sighed in frustration.

“but if she really likes you but is waiting for you to ask her, she could be heartbroken. What if she really likes you but thinks you don’t feel the same?” Bora asked as Siyeon winced. She didn’t know what to say to that.

“I… I don’t know. Bora, I'm not sure-” Siyeon was interrupted when Bora let out a panicked whine.

“s, Siyeon…!” the shorter girl said as Siyeon’s eyes snapped up. Her eyes went wide as she watched the large creature behind Bora.

It was playing with a few strands of Bora’s hair, which caused the tiny managers panicked reaction. Siyeon didn’t know what to do besides stand there in shock as the creature let Bora’s hair fall between its claws.

“s, Siyeon… what do you see?” Bora asked in a shaky voice.

Siyeon tried to think of an answer quickly but was coming up with nothing when an idea finally popped into her head, and before she knew it, the words escaped her mouth.

“it’s the boy! From your apartment, remember?” Siyeon said as she continued to watch the creature with wide eyes.

“But I thought you said that he moved on?” Bora asked while still sounding panicked. She wasn’t buying it just yet.

“I did, but it looks like he wanted to check on you and make sure that you are ok…” Siyeon said as the creature let out a breath that blew Bora’s hair gently. The manager took it as confirmation, not that the creature was just fucking with her and sighed in relief.

“Oh… I was worried. You shouldn’t linger here, though. I'm sure that you have people waiting for you, hey!” Bora shouted as a tissue box went flying at her.

Bora dodged easily and stuck her tongue out like a child in the direction that the box came from, but the creature was already behind her. It went to snatch her hair, but suddenly there was a flash of light as the creature dropped Bora’s hair like it burned him.

Whatever happened, the creature didn’t like it. It seemed frustrated and attempted it again only for the same thing to happen. Whatever that light was, it seemed to reflect whatever the creature tried to do back at it. Clearly, it wasn’t used to feeling pain and picked up another object to throw.

“don’t even think about it! When I was in school, I was in the dance club and can dance circles around you, little one. You won't even be able to touch me!” Bora shouted as she pointed her finger at the floating object threateningly.

The creature took it as a dare and sent it flying, but as Bora said, she dodged it easily and soon picked up an object and launched it at where she thought it was.

The object that she threw was a stress ball and just barely missed the target, but Siyeon wondered if she could even hit the creature if she aimed properly.

But she was going to find out because Bora and the creature now had an intense dodgeball match going on in her office. Objects were flying all over the place, and in the end, it would probably look like a war zone, but right now, Bora seemed to be having some fun.

“Siyeon, toss me that tissue box!” Bora shouted as Siyeon grabbed the box at her feet and tossed it back when the creature dodged whatever Bora was throwing and went right in the way of Siyeon’s throw.

The nurse gasped, expecting it to thud into the creature and anger it, but instead, it sailed straight through it and right into Bora’s arms.

Bora wound back and let the tissue box fly. Siyeon panicked because yes, the creature was in between Bora and Siyeon, but it was going to go right through it and smash into Siyeon. Or it should have.

Instead, the box stopped on impact with the creature as a bright light flashed. All three looked stunned. Bora cheered for finally hitting her target while Siyeon stared on in shock. How could Bora hit it when Siyeon couldn’t?

The most confused, though, was the creature. Nothing had been able to hurt it before unless it wanted them to. It was a new experience, and the creature was not happy with this new development.

It let out a growl of frustration as it stomped out of the now open door and stalked down the hallway. Siyeon didn’t know what to do or say. She honestly didn’t know what to think. How could Bora hit the creature, but Siyeon was unable to? It didn’t make sense, but she was soon pulled out of her thoughts when she heard someone shout down the hallway.

“ouch!” someone shouted, and without thinking, Siyeon charged in the direction of the shout to see Yoohyeon lying on the ground while rubbing her head. A box of tissues was lying beside her as she pouted and looked around her.

“no fair! Why do you always hit ME!?!” Yoohyeon shouted as the others jogged up to her. They, too, heard her shout.

“are you alright?” Dami asked as she knelt beside Yoohyeon and checked her for injuries. The girl seemed alright but was sulking and grumbling about how it always hit her and never anyone else.

Siyeon looked down the hallway towards the creature's room only to see the creature standing outside its room, and though its image was shadowed and blurry, Siyeon was pretty sure that the creature just flipped her off before stomping into its room and slamming the door shut loudly.

“well, that was rude…” Siyeon mumbled to herself as Gahyeon looked up at her questioningly.

“what was? Did it do something else besides tossing that tissue box?” Gahyeon asked as Siyeon nodded.

“I'm pretty sure we just got flipped off…” Siyeon said as Gahyeon gasped and looked at the door in shock.

“that IS rude!” Gahyeon said as Dami secretly entwined their fingers and rubbed the back of her hand soothingly.

The gentle and secretive touches had been happening behind everyone's back, and both girls couldn’t get enough of it. Dami was so patient and gentle, while Gahyeon was surprisingly more dominant than the older girl expected, and Dami had to admit it was thrilling.

Right now, though, the two just held hands as they watched Siyeon and the others explaining the situation to Handong, who was fretting over Yoohyeon more than needed. It was only a tissue box, after all. That bible was much harder. Yoohyeon voiced those same thoughts and was scolded by her girlfriend.

“yes, but you just got injured the night before and then went drinking. I want to make sure everything is alright, so stop fidgeting!” Handong said as Yoohyeon pouted, but the doctor wasn’t having it and gently pinched Yoohyeon’s lip, but the younger girl was feeling playful, and Handong managed to remove her finger just in time to dodge the playful bite that Yoohyeon attempted.

“Nice try!” Handong said as she flicked her girlfriend in the forehead and announced that she was fine.

“was that thing angry because I was playing with that boy ghost?” Bora asked as she looked around. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. They all knew that the boy ghost had moved on and looked at Siyeon suspiciously.

“I think so… maybe it's jealous?” Siyeon said with a wide-eyed look that told Dami that she was lying. The transporter signaled that once this was over, the two needed to talk, and Siyeon only nodded before looking back at Bora and smiling.

After everything calmed down, Siyeon was dragged into the break room by Dami. The younger girl was waiting for an explanation, but Siyeon was hesitant to give it. She was expecting Dami to yell at her for lying to Bora.

“well?” Dami asked as Siyeon winced.

“well… I might have lied to Bora…” Siyeon said, sounding guilty as she looked at the ground.

“really? I had no idea…” Dami said sarcastically as she waited for the nurse to elaborate.

“well, I couldn’t help it… I just panicked! I looked up to see the thing playing with Bora’s hair, and she looked completely terrified… what should I have said? If I told her it was the creature, she probably would have died of a heart attack on the spot!” Siyeon said as Dami nodded. She knew Bora would not handle the situation well at all. Maybe Siyeon’s method was best after all.

“that’s not all, though…” Siyeon said as she leaned in conspiratorially.

“what?” Dami asked. Siyeon behavior said that something interesting happened.

“Bora hit it. That’s why that thing hit Yoohyeon and flipped us off.” Siyeon said as Dami looked at her suspiciously.

“she hit it? Are you messing with me? Is that even possible?” Dami asked as she gave a skeptical look, but Siyeon looked serious.

“wait, seriously?” Dami asked as Siyeon nodded.

“is that really possible?” Yoohyeon asked as she walked into the break room. When Siyeon and Dami looked at the door, they could see that the others were eavesdropping on the conversation. Everyone looked guilty except for Yoohyeon, who felt no shame at her eavesdropping.

“is it because that child protected her before?” Yoohyeon asked as Siyeon thought about it.

“actually, it tried to pull her hair twice, and it seemed that Bora didn’t really feel it at all. There was a flash of light, and it seemed that the creature got hurt instead. Does this mean that Bora is protected from ghosts?” Siyeon wondered as everyone thought quietly.

“well, if she is, then it means that you will have a bit of an easier time, right?” Gahyeon asked as Siyeon laughed.

“you forget that Bora is terrified of anything ghost-related. When we once told ghost stories while drinking, Bora was under the table while clinging to my legs, begging me to save her…” Dami said as Siyeon nodded in agreement.

 It took Siyeon and Dami an hour to calm the drunken girl down, and even then, she continued to sniffle until Dami ran out and got her a giant stuffed elephant plushie.

Now every time Bora would get scared, she would hug it for comfort. Right now, that plushie was hidden underneath her desk, but everyone knew it was there. They had caught her under the desk holding the plushie several times when the ghost activities became too much for her.

“I think we need to test this…” Yoohyeon said as Handong laughed at her.

“How can we test it? They are ghosts, and only Siyeon can see them. Plus, it's not like they would do as we say…” Handong said as Yoohyeon thought carefully.

“well, actually, the two that Siyeon has encountered so far seemed to be nice. I'm sure that if we find another like that, they would have no problem helping us if it means they get helped in return, right?” Yoohyeon asked as Handong nodded. She had a point.

“I wonder if we should call Taeyeon…” Yoohyeon asked as she pulled out her phone only for it to be snatched out of her hand by Handong.

“oh no, you don’t! she cleaned you out last time!” Handong said as Yoohyeon pouted.

“But we found out so much with her help last time! And it wasn’t that much…” Yoohyeon said when Handong raised a slender brow. Yoohyeon’s shoulders slumped. She knew she wasn’t going to win against her girlfriend.

“never mind…” Yoohyeon mumbled as everyone laughed.

They wanted to talk more, but their shifts had officially started, and they had to get their day started. The first couple of hours were uneventful when Bora walked up to Siyeon.

“Siyeon? We are running out of a couple of supplies. Can you go and pick some things up from the ER? They got our supplies shipped to them on accident.” Bora asked as Siyeon nodded happily. She was getting bored with just sitting at the desk and jumped at the opportunity to move around a bit.

Siyeon quickly jogged to the elevator and said hello to the elevator ghost and waited patiently until the elevator doors opened. Siyeon thanked the ghost and walked out of the elevator happily as she headed to the ER.

Siyeon didn’t think much of it, but as she walked closer to the ER, the temperature dropped slightly. The air was chilly. Her bare skin prickled at the chill, and without realizing it, she rubbed her arms for warmth as she swiped her badge into the staff-only side of the ER.

If Siyeon thought clearly, she might have been more hesitant to head to the ER. So many died in an ER after all, but she didn’t even think about it or the small warning signs. She would kick herself for not realizing later, but for now, she was just happy to be out and about.

Siyeon walked down an empty hallway when suddenly a girl passed by her. Siyeon didn’t think much about it at first, but the chill that followed her made Siyeon stop in her tracks. The temperature drop was just too drastic to be ignored, but she refused to look back at the girl.

Slowly Siyeon started walking again when another person walked past her. Siyeon’s eyes went wide in panic. This was a staff-only section, but both people she had seen were not staff here. In fact, the girl that just passed had blood stains visible on her clothes and face.

Siyeon’s eyes went wide, but just like before, she refused to look back. The hair on the back of her neck rose as she felt the chill come closer. The cold was biting at her arms, and she could swear that she felt a chilly breath on the back of her neck, but she didn’t look and picked up her pace.

Siyeon refused to look in the direction of the cold and quickly walked to her destination when another figure walked in front of her. It was horribly disfigured, and Siyeon couldn’t tell if the person still had a face. It was so damaged.

It seemed like the person was a victim of a horrible car accident and moved jerkily. It was like the damage that happened to them even affected them in death. Siyeon thought that wasn’t true, but these people seemed to not know this fact.

The person slowly staggered by, and when it was close, it turned to look at her. But there was only a gooey mess instead of a face, and Siyeon suddenly had enough as she fled the ER and ran back to Bora’s office.

Bora was shocked to see the nurse running into her office and even more shocked when Siyeon shoved her chair aside and hid under Bora’s desk to hug her elephant plushie.

“hey! That’s mine!” Bora said with a whine as she knelt down to see Siyeon better. Whatever happened in the ER seemed to really fluster her. It made Bora worry, but it was most likely ghost-related.

Bora paused as she thought seriously. Did she really want to ask what happened? She knew that if it seemed to terrify Siyeon so much, it would definitely scare Bora, but she hated seeing her friend so scared.

When Bora heard Siyeon sniffle as she snuggled into the plushie, Bora felt her heart ache and knew her decision was made.

Bora grabbed some tissues from the battered and beaten box that somehow survived the dodgeball match and leaned closer as she wiped Siyeon’s tears.

“Siyeon? Everything is ok. Alright? Come here!” Bora said as she held her arms wide. It didn’t take long for the girl to drop the plushie and hug Bora fiercely.

“Please don’t send me to the ER again… I don’t think I can face those ghosts…” Siyeon said weakly. She hated herself for feeling so weak. She knew that she needed to get stronger to protect Minji, but it was just too much right now.

“it's alright. I won’t send you there ever again. I'm sorry… I didn’t think about how many ghosts might linger there. I'm so sorry, Siyeon…” Bora said apologetically. She felt guilty. Siyeon was her best friend, and to see her so upset made her feel horrible.

“They weren't like normal ghosts… one didn’t have a face, Bora…” Siyeon said as she clung to Bora’s scrub top. That comment made Bora shiver in fear, but she pushed it aside for her friend. She couldn’t think of anything that she could say or do to make Siyeon feel better until an idea popped into her head.

“Siyeon? Do you want to go see Minji?” Bora asked as Siyeon peeked at her boss to see if she was serious. Siyeon could see that she was from the worry on Bora’s face and just nodded as she hid her face again.

“ok. Let's get you cleaned up first. She might worry if you look like you have been crying…” Bora said as she helped Siyeon slowly stand and wiped her tears. Siyeon only nodded and let Bora lead her like a child. Siyeon didn’t want Minji to see her like this, but she really needed to see that smiling face right now.