Doctors and Nurses rushed inside the ICU and started reviving Mia.Mr. & Mrs. Chang anxiously watched through the gla.s.s window as their daughter was being resuscitated.
Mia suffered from several injuries, a few broken ribs, a broken arm, and a skull fracture. Nancy had a minor leg fracture and some scratches. Apart from a cut in the head and a few scratches, Samantha had a whiplash. Due to the position of their car when it crashed to the concrete roadblock, Mia experienced more damage compared to the other two.
As Samantha and her family waited outside, Nancy arrived at the hallway in a crutch. She somehow realized what was happening in the ICU and her facial expression became rigid. Nancy watched from afar and met Samantha"s gaze. They both looked at each other for a few seconds before Nancy looked away.
The doctors have been trying to revive Mia for 23 minutes since the curtains of the window have been closed to spare the family members from seeing the chaos inside.
Seo Joon held his sister in his arms as he tried to calm her down, Samantha was pretty shaken by what"s happening.
On the 25th minute, a doctor came out and walked towards Mia"s parents. He pulled his mask away from his face as he looked down and shook his head. A loud cry echoed in the hallway as Mia"s mother fell on the floor.
Samantha started to snivel when she became aware of the situation. Her friend is gone. This was her first death experience and she was 13 years old. Who would"ve known that Mia"s birthday would turn into a tragedy?
The police investigated the matter to have a clear understanding of how the accident transpired. But the parents of the three girls refused to talk about it before Mia"s burial. So they had no choice but to wait until after several days, after all, the girls were still minors.
On the day of Samantha"s discharge, 2 days after Mia"s pa.s.sing, Nancy Jung visited her room. Samantha"s family left the two girls so that they could talk alone.
"How"s your leg?", Samantha asked Nancy.
She nodded as she looked down at her injury, "It"s difficult to walk but I can manage."
Samantha sat on her bed and waited for Nancy to talk.
"What should we tell the police?"
Samantha raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Of course, we should tell the truth!"
"But we can"t! We"ll be in trouble!"
"As far as I remember, Nancy, I tried to stop you several times but you didn"t listen."
Nancy"s eyes started to flicker and she walked hastily with her crutch towards Samantha. Nancy held Samantha"s hands tightly and started pleading. "Save me this time, Sam. Please."
Samantha was startled by Nancy"s actions that she didn"t respond. "What do you mean "save" you?", she thought.
"Sam, you know my parents are just regular workers, and if word gets out people will say bad things about us."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Your family is very rich, right? You won"t have problems like we would, Sam! Your parents can just pay off people and all and they wouldn"t say anything bad about you. It"s the total opposite of what will happen to me."
"I don"t understand what you"re saying!"
"Sam, tell them that you were the one who convinced Mia."
Samantha"s eyes widened upon hearing Nancy"s shameless request, "You want me to admit that it was me who forced her into doing it?"
Nancy looked sideways and stuttered, "Y-you don"t have to say it like that... you can tell them that it was Mia"s fault alone. She decided to do it by herself and that we.. we just... came with her."
Samantha couldn"t believe Nancy"s ideas. Her friend, Mia is dead because of her dare and now she wants Samantha to admit that it was all Mia"s fault?
"Think about it Sam, it"s only the two of us now. We have to collaborate! Anyway, Mia is-"
"What?!", Samantha became agitated, "Were you about to say that Mia is dead?"
Ever since she knew Nancy a couple of years back, Samantha always had weird feelings towards Nancy. She felt like Nancy had this dark aura around her that even though she was smiling in front of you and befriending you, she secretly hates you.
"I didn"t mean it like that, Sam. Please think about it, save me... just this once.", she pleaded.
"I can"t do that, Nancy!", Samantha said as she tried to break away from Nancy"s grip, "I can"t lie."
Samantha left Nancy behind and came out of her room. Nancy watched as Samantha"s figure walked away from her. The moment Samantha Kim was no longer in sight, Nancy"s expression became dark.
The next day was Mia Chang"s funeral. Family and friends were all gathered at the cemetery to pay their last respects and cries were heard all throughout the ceremony. When the burial ended, the people slowly dispersed. Since Mia"s family were quite well known in the entertainment industry, the news of the young miss"s accident and death spread like wildfire. Mr. & Mrs. Chang actually tried to contain the news from spreading but someone still leaked information and so it became a piece of big news in City M. So several meters from the burial site, news reporters and journalists were gathered.
Chairman Kim tried his best to shelter his daughter away from the media and the journalists also respected their distance knowing that the man in front of them was an influential business magnate. They tried to get information by asking them questions but the Kim family didn"t give any response.
Not far from The Kims, Nancy Jung and her parents walked towards their car and the moment the journalists noticed her, they rushed to her side and started hounding her questions.
"Miss Nancy, you"re involved in the accident right? Can you tell us what happened?"
"How did a bunch of 13-year-olds managed to steal a car? Who caused the car accident?"
"They said it was distracted driving, what can you say about this?"
"Who is at fault for the death of Mia Chang?"
Nancy Jung was frightened by the sudden aggressiveness around her. How could they ask those questions casually to a child? Nancy glanced at Samantha"s direction and their eyes met. All the cameras were currently pointing at Nancy while Samantha was being ignored. This made Nancy"s blood boil. "Why am I the only one being pestered? Just because my family is average, is that it?"
"It"s her! She was the one who forced Mia to take the car. It was her fault!", Nancy Jung pointed her finger towards Samantha. "She caused the accident! She killed Mia!"
The reporters and journalists looked at each other and very quickly.
"Chairman Kim"s daughter?"
They turned their attention back to Samantha Kim. Nancy and her family took this opportunity to escape and leave the cemetery.
Samantha got terrified by the hostile expressions and movements around her, she saw the eyes and faces of the media looking at her like she was a monster. Cameras pointing at her face and microphones were pushed towards her causing her to fall on the ground. Her parents were struggling from the chaotic situation, they did everything they could but the media became violent.
Seo Joon managed to crawl and got in front of Samantha to s.h.i.+eld her away from the media. Police sirens were heard causing the journalists and reporters to back away and leave.
Samantha was shaking and constant utterance was heard from her trembling voice. "I didn"t do it. It wasn"t me. I didn"t kill her." She kept repeating the same statement over and over again until she fell asleep.
News about the car accident in Marble Road spread fast and the story about the death of a 13-year-old became everyone"s topic. Samantha had a hard time going out of the house because the media were always following them around. She went to the police station to give her statement and was once again hara.s.sed when she came outside. Once, she met Nancy outside of the station and Nancy glared at Samantha like she did something horrible.
That night in Samantha"s sleep, she dreamt about Mia smiling at her while she played with the teddy bear keychain. Samantha tried to hold Mia"s hand but as soon as she got near, blood gushed out from Mia"s head and her expression became dark. "It"s your fault. You did this to me. You killed me.", she said. And Mia"s face transformed into Nancy. She had the same glare that she gave Samantha earlier outside the station. Samantha was petrified upon seeing both her friends in one body, "It"s your fault, Sam. You caused the accident. You killed Mia.". The next second, hundreds of people surrounded her with cameras, microphones, and paper in their hand like they were reporting something and asking her questions. She screamed in her sleep and cried relentlessly.
The sound woke Samantha"s family. They ran towards her bedroom and found her screaming and crying while still asleep. Mrs. Kim tried to wake her daughter, she tapped her several times in the face until Samantha"s eyes finally opened.
And the first words that came out of her mouth made her family speechless, "I killed Mia, it was me. It was my fault. I killed her."
Samantha"s parents looked at each other not knowing what to do. Why did their daughter say she killed her friend?