Somin stopped in front of the hospital lobby with wide eyes. In front of her were a swarm of doctors, nurses, and many patients either bleeding or standing around in pain. She heard Hyunjoong’s footsteps stop behind her absorbing in the chaos in front of him too. She felt constricted as she was forced to move with nurses and doctors pushing pass them.

 

“If you’re here to identify a patient please stand on this side please!”

 

Somin and Hyunjoong followed their instructions and joined the people who looked exactly like Somin, afraid, worried, and most of all scared. She wrapped her arms around her staring and zoning out. She wanted to know what was going on.

 

“Somin?!”

 

Somin turned her head towards the direction of whoever had called her. She spotted Jinho in a crowd of people, pushing his way through. Somin began to run towards him telling people to move. Once they reached each other she pulled him into a hug. He enveloped her in his arms holding her tight. She could feel him breathing deeply. “What’s going on Jinho? Where’s Yoomi?”

 

Jinho buried his face into the crook of her neck. “There was a huge bus accident. She…she was going home, I—I was supposed to—“ Somin felt droplet of tears fall on her arm. “ “Pick her up from the store but she wanted to take the bus, she insisted not to bother me at work. The bus driver was almost hit by a huge truck and veered off the road and out of control. She---the baby is gone.”

 

Somin closed her eyes and began shaking her head, letting tears fall from her eyes as well. “No, it can’t be Jinho. The baby can’t be gone!”

 

“They told me that there was nothing they could do. There was too much damage.”

 

“Oh god Jinho, where is she now?”

 

Jinho slowly let Somin go and looked away wiping away his tears. “She’s in a hospital room.”

 

“Please, take me to her.”

 

Jinho nodded, put his hand on her back and began leading her to Yoomi’s room. She staggered inside the room staring at Yoomi on the hospital bed. Yoomi wasn’t in great shape. There were cuts on her face and arms and she was unconscious. What was obvious, was the signs of a lost baby. She looked at Jinho who was only staring at Yoomi with sad eyes and guilt. She squeezed his hand for comfort and walked towards her bed. She stared down at Yoomi before kneeling down by her bed side, taking her hand in hers, putting it to her face and crying and crying. “I’m so sorry Yoomi.”

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

Hyunjoong was standing outside of Yoomi’s hospital room doorway staring at Somin who was sobbing. When Somin had told him to drive her to hospital, he had assumed that it was because of her dad. She was quiet during the ride over and her hands shook in her lap. Hyunjoong had never seen Somin like this. When they arrived at the hospital and saw the aftermath of a major bus accident and Jinho running towards her, he had figured sadly that it was Yoomi.

 

Hyunjoong caught eyes with Jinho just as he was leaving the room. Jinho looked away and brushed past him. Hyunjoong turned and followed after him. Jinho gently sat down on the waiting room couch. Hyunjoong walked over and sat down beside him.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Somin…invited me to dinner. I was with Eli in the afternoon.” Hyunjoong looked over at him with a cocked head. “What happened to Yoomi? Is she alright?”

 

Jinho slowly nodded his head. “She’ll be fine. The baby is gone.”

 

Hyunjoong was taken a back for a moment before awkwardly putting an arm around Jinho’s shoulder. He didn’t move but didn’t reject him as Jinho let his head down. Hyunjoong looked away as he saw small tears fall from Jinho’s eyes. He didn’t know what to say in these kind of situations. “I’m sorry…”

 

“I just don’t know what to tell her when she wakes up,” whispered Jinho.

 

Hyunjoong squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll be here for you, Somin and I.”

 

Jinho stayed quiet as he rested his elbows on his knees, running his fingers through his hair.

 

Hyunjoong could feel the sadness and pain envelope Jinho. Although he didn’t voice it out loud, Hyunjoong could feel that Jinho had forgiven the past between the two of them. Hyunjoong needed to be by Jinho’s side through this tough time. Jinho needed a good old friend.  

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

Somin stared at Yoomi’s unconscious body. It had been two days since the accident. Somin hadn’t the left the hospital since. She hadn’t had a change of clothes nor a proper shower. It had been two long days. She turned to the side and saw Jinho sleeping on the couch. Although she had been the one to persuade Jinho to take some rest, Somin couldn’t take up on her own advice.

 

“Hey,”

 

Somin turned around and found Hyunjoong standing in the doorway. “Hi,”

 

He walked into the room and laid a hand on Somin’s shoulder. “Come on, you should eat.”

 

Somin slowly nodded as she felt Hyunjoong’s hand take hers and help her up. He put his arm around her shoulder and began leading her to the hospital cafeteria. She sat down on a chair and waited for Hyunjoong to get food.

 

He arrived back to the table a couple of minutes later with two sandwiches. He unwrapped the both of them and slid one to Somin. “Come on, eat.”

 

“I should go visit my dad,” whispered Somin.

 

“No,” said Hyunjoong. “You need to go home and get some rest. Eli misses you and honestly I’m worried about you.”

 

“I’m fine,”

 

“You’re not fine, have you looked at yourself lately?” said Hyunjoong. “You look like a mess. Jinho is here by Yoomi’s side 24/7 but you have Eli at home and a company to run.”

 

“Hyunjoong, I appreciate your concern but Yoomi needs me. I’m going to stay at this hospital until Yoomi wakes up.”

 

Hyunjoong shook his head. “You need to rest.”

 

“No I don’t!” snapped Somin. “I’m fine.” She looked at Hyunjoong with a stern expression until he finally gave in.

 

“Fine,” He said as he took a bite of his sandwich. “Then you have to eat that whole sandwich.”

 

Somin picked up her sandwich and took a bite off it. “Happy?”

 

“Completely,”

 

They continued to eat in silence. Somin watched Hyunjoong as he in turn watched her to eat all her food. She rolled her eyes at him. He had been at the hospital everyday since Yoomi’s admittance prompting her to sleep and eat and to go home. He gave her news of Eli for the past two days. He had even picked up some of her work from the office. Hyunjoong was being there for her but that didn’t mean Somin had forgiven him.

 

“Jung Somin?!”

 

Somin turned around and found a nurse breathless in front of her. “I’m Jung Somin. What’s wrong?”

 

“Han Jinho wanted me to inform you that Han Yoomi is awake.”

 

Somin bolted up from her seat. She turned to Hyunjoong with tears in her eyes. “Yoomi’s awake.”

 

Hyunjoong gave her a solemn smile. “Let’s head upstairs then.”

 

...........................................

 

Somin ran to Yoomi’s room where a couple of doctor’s were talking and explaining to her about the bus accident. Somin saw Jinho holding onto Yoomi’s hand tightly.

 

“The accident caused too much stress and damage to your baby. I’m very sorry but we tried everything to save her. The damage had been done.”

 

Yoomi stared blankly at the wall. “You mean…I lost my baby?”

 

The doctor nodded. “Yes, Mrs. Han. You’ll need to be treated for a few more days and than you can be discharged and be able to go home.”

 

“Its okay baby, we can try again,” said Jinho as he her hair. “As long as you’re okay, everything will be alright.”

 

Suddenly Yoomi begins to cry out in pain, pushing Jinho away. She continued to scream as tears were endlessly falling from her eyes.

 

“Yoomi, calm down!” yelled Jinho, trying to calm her down. “You need to calm down!”

 

“No! Jinho our baby!” screamed Yoomi. “Our baby is gone!”

 

“Her blood pressure is rising!” yelled one of the doctors. “We need to sedate her!” The doctor grabbed a needle from the table and put it in her IV line. Yoomi immediately calmed down and went off to sleep. “I’m sorry we have to do that but her blood pressure was rising out of control. We’ll come back in a couple of hours when she awakes.”

 

Somin moved aside for the doctors to pass. She put a hand over as she silently began to cry. Yoomi was in so much pain and Somin didn’t know what to do. Jinho caught eyes with her with the same expression on his face. He sat on Yoomi’s bed and looked down at her. Somin figured that this was a sign for her to get out of the room.

 

Somin quietly walked out of the room. She looked up and spotted Hyunjoong standing a couple of feet away from her. He stared at her indicating that he heard everything that had happened.

 

“Hi,” He said.

 

“Hey,” She replied quivering from her tears as she crossed her arms over her body.

 

They stared at each other for a moment before Somin began walking towards him. Hyunjoong opened his arms just as she walked into them. He wrapped his arms around her as he let Somin lean against him and cry. He began to her hair whispering, “It’s going to be okay.”

 

Somin sobbed loudly, burying her face deeper in his chest as Hyunjoong continued to console her and whisper comforting words in her ears.

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

Hyunjoong propped up his feet on his office desk after a long day of work. He looked at the time and realized it was already late afternoon. He figured Ahjumma had already picked up Eli from school. Eli was worried for Somin. She hadn’t stepped inside her home since Yoomi’s accident. Eli hasn’t seen her either. Hyunjoong had gone over to the house to make sure he was alright. Eli really missed his mother. So, Hyunjoong promised to bring Eli to the hospital after he had finished all his homework. Hyunjoong decided to head on over to the Jung house.

 

Twenty minutes later, he arrived outside of the house. Hyunjoong walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Ahjumma answered the door with a smile and let him in. She told him Eli was upstairs in Somin’s childhood room, doing homework. He thanked her for picking her up and headed upstairs. He knocked on the door before entering. Hyunjoong found Eli on the bed surrounded with school work. Hyunjoong called Eli’s name and Eli immediately ran towards him and gave him a hug.

 

“Are you almost done?” asked Hyunjoong.

 

Eli nodded. “Just a few more reading problems and I’ll be done for the day!” Eli hopped back on the bed. “Are we going to see Mommy today?”

 

Hyunjoong nodded. “She misses you and can’t wait to see you.”

 

“Is she okay?”

 

Hyunjoong smiled. “She told me to tell you that she’s alright.”

 

“How about Aunt Yoomi?”

 

Hyunjoong paused for a moment before answering, “She’ll be okay.”

 

Eli smiled. “That’s good. Will I be able to see her too?”

 

“We’ll see,” Hyunjoong pushed Eli’s homework to him. “Now stop asking questions and finish your homework so that we can go see Mommy already!”

 

...........................................

 

Hyunjoong and Eli arrived outside of the Seoul National Hospital Entrance around evening time. They headed upstairs to Yoomi’s room. Hyunjoong had called to tell Somin beforehand that Eli and him were coming in for a visit. So, Somin was already waiting for them in the waiting area. Once upon seeing them, she opened her arms and let Eli run into them. He began to cry quietly in Somin’s arm.

 

She smiled as she rubbed his back. “Hey, come on, men don’t cry remember?” Somin crouched down to take a good look at Eli. “I know you missed me and I missed you too but be strong buddy, I’ll be home with you before you know it.”

 

Eli nodded as he wiped away his tears. “Can I see Aunt Yoomi and Uncle Jinho?”

 

“Aunt Yoomi is asleep but Uncle Jinho is inside her room. Why don’t you go ahead and say quietly hello to him so that Aunt Yoomi doesn’t wake up okay?”

 

She stood up and watched Eli run into the room. Hyunjoong walked up beside her.

 

“He hasn’t had dinner yet so he’ll probably be hungry later on.”

 

Somin turned her head to him. “Thank you, for bringing him here.”

 

“No problem,” said Hyunjoong. “How’s Yoomi doing?”

 

Somin shook her head sadly. “She won’t speak to anyone, not even Jinho. I feel like Jinho is blaming himself for this whole thing. I try to tell him that it’s not but he’s so convinced that he caused this that it’s tearing them both apart from each other.”

 

“How about you, how are you?” asked Hyunjoong.

 

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

 

“Are you eating?”

 

She chuckled. “Every meal.”

 

Hyunjoong nodded. “That’s good.” He smiled at her. “Hey, you should go inside with Eli. I’m going to go home.”

 

Somin nodded. “Thank you again, Hyunjoong. Goodnight.”

 

“Goodnight Somin,” He watched her enter Yoomi’s room before heading off to the elevators.

 

Once he entered, Hyunjoong hesitated as he hovered over the lobby button before pressing the number that headed up towards the hospital’s suites. He had to pay a very important visit.

 

...........................................

 

“Mrs. Jung?”

 

Somin’s mother turned around and stared at Hyunjoong with shocked eyes. She was sitting by Somin’s father bedside. He was awake as well. Hyunjoong immediately bowed his head to the both of them.

 

“What are you doing here?” asked Mrs. Jung.

 

Hyunjoong silently kneeled down on the floor with his head faced down. He heard the scrape of Mrs. Jung’s chair across the floor as she stood up.

 

“Hyunjoong what are you doing? Whatever it is, this isn’t necessary,” said Mrs. Jung.

 

“Honey, let him speak,” spoke up Mr. Jung. “I’m interested to hear this.”

 

“I want to apologize for everything,” started Hyunjoong. “I want to apologize what I’ve done to you both and to Somin. My actions were despicable of me and I regret them fully. All I want is your permission to court Somin again and to be a good father to Eli.”

 

“Does Somin know about this? The bigger question is, does she want you back?” asked Mrs. Jung.

 

“I want to work on it,” answered Hyunjoong.

 

Mrs. Jung turned to Mr. Jung. “Honey? What do you think?”

 

Mr. Jung gave a soft smile to the two of them. “You’re asking a sick man his opinion on this? Come on, stand up Hyunjoong. Come here by my bed and take a seat.”

 

Hyunjoong stood up from his position and obediently sat where Mrs. Jung had.

 

“I can see that you are sincere. But how far is your sincerity willing to go? That is what I’m worried about. You’re a good person. You both were very young back then, that I can understand. Your mother was very disappointed in you and I was against hiding Somin but they both wanted it. Are you willing to make up these past five years?”

 

Hyunjoong nodded. “With everything I have.”

 

Mr. Jung smiled widely. “Then go for it.”

 

Hyunjoong reached for Mr. Jung’s hand and held it tightly. “I will,”

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

“Yoomi, let’s talk.”

 

Yoomi stared at Somin with empty eyes. “What’s there to talk about?”

 

Somin sighed. “You can’t continue to do this. You can’t not talk to us Yoomi, you need to tell us what you feel.”

 

“Do you really want to tell you how I feel?”

 

“Yes!” replied Somin, irritated. “That’s all Jinho and I want.”

 

“Get out.”

 

“What?” asked Somin taken aback. “What?”

 

Yoomi stared at her in the eyes. “I want you to leave. I want you to go. I want you to go home.”

 

Somin shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t understand Yoomi I—“

 

“Because it hurts to look at you!” yelled Yoomi. “I did everything right Somin! I married the man I love. I wanted that baby. I wanted that baby more than anything I’ve ever wanted. But you, Eli was a mistake! Hyunjoong cheated on you! Yet, you have Eli who’s alive and my baby’s DEAD! I did every single thing right! Why do you still get everything?! I really hate you.”

 

Tears began to fill Somin’s eyes as she said. “Yoomi, I’m sorry…”

 

“Don’t cry Somin,” said Jinho. “Yoomi doesn’t mean any of that.”

 

“But I do Jinho,” replied Yoomi sharply.

 

Somin nodded as she began to take her things. “I’m going to go,” She shrugged on her coat. She saw Jinho staring at her with worried and sorry eyes. She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

 

Jinho nodded. “Okay, I’ll call you.”

 

Somin nodded back. As she was leaving Yoomi’s hospital room, she heard Jinho angrily whispering to Yoomi. Somin fought back tears until she reached the walking area for patients outside. She found a bench to sit on and let all the tears fall.

 

The words Yoomi said to her had hurt, a lot. Somin didn’t know that Yoomi had so much pent up feelings against her. The accident had changed her. Somin sighed as she propped her elbows on her knees. Her eyes began to water more as fresh tears continued to pour.

 

“I hate to see you cry,”

 

Somin turned to see who it was that had talked and surprisingly found Hyunjoong sitting next to her. He was looking out, with his arm draped around the bench. He turned to Somin with a small smile. He reached for her face and with his thumb, wiped her tears away. “It’s cloudy out. You know you’re always crying.”

 

Somin shrugged. “That’s my life.”

 

They began to stare at each other. Somin felt so vulnerable. She wanted to lean on Hyunjoong but she was hesitant.

 

Hyunjoong, seeing how upset she was, announced. “Come on, let’s go somewhere a bit…nostalgic.”

 

“Nostalgic, what do you mean?”

 

He gave her that trade mark smirk.

 

“You’ll see.”