Hong Ji Hong leaned across the table, giving Kim Tae Ho a look as they sat down for lunch together. "When exactly can I come back to work?" Ji Hong simply smiled at the waitress for just water. "I've been back for two weeks now. Korea's cold chilly water has finally taken over, getting rid of the hot, sweaty Los Angeles weather out of me. I am ready to go back to work."

"I know you're ready," Tae Ho sympathically responded after giving his order. "It's the board members. They're a bit on the down side about someone who had eye surgery. They think you might still be impaired."

"You're wearing a bright red shirt that doesn't match with that tuxedo jacket," Ji Hong said. "I think I can see perfectly fine. I mean, what else is there missing? I gave you and the board members the respected medical paperwork giving me the green light to start working."

Tae Ho nodded his head. "You did and it helped out a lot with some of the board members. We'll come up with a decision after your reinstate interview."

"My what?" Ji Hong asked. "Reinstate? I wasn't fired or forbidden from work. I had a leave of an absence. There's nothing that can cause me go for a reinstatment interview."

"The members feels as if it's a neccessary process for them and yourself." Tae Ho sighed as he took a sip of his wine. "Let's not argue and go along with the party. The more we do, the faster you will be back to the neurosurgery department." He smiled as he look at his good friend. "And you might take up the vacant spot as Chief Hong."

"What?" He shook his head as a response. "I'm not interested in that. I rather stick as a doctor, I get to do more surgeries that way." Ji Hong argued.

Tae Ho sighed, he knew that this was going to be a long conversation. "The spot has been empty since I left it. I can't be both Director or Chief. It's bound to happen. You're the next in line of the ranking in neurolougy department. It has to be you."

"If we do the math, I've been gone for a year. Doctor Jung has been there for a while, why don't he take it?" Ji Hong suggested.

"I don't think that's possible," Tae Ho answered. "He was very presistent on you taking the position."

"Why?"

Tae Ho shrugged. "I think we all know that realistically, you have to take it. As the son of the previous Director Hong, it's your position in the first place."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Ji Hong said. "The board might not even agree to it."

"Actually, most of them want you to take it."

"Oh? They want me to take up the position but are still debating the fact if I could come back to work?"

Tae Ho gave him a look. "You and I both know that as Chief, yes - you would possibly do less surgeries since it's more of a desk duty supervision position. But it could also mean your only way back."

Ji hong looked at his water with a blank expression. Does he still have to give up being a surgeron despite having surgery and vision back? He sighed and just gave Tae Ho a small smile before he opened the menu to see what he could eat. Just how much more can he lose in this short time?

. . .

A few days later.

"Hey!" Pa Ran walked over with a bright smile as he hugged him. "Welcome back!"

Ji Hong chuckled as he shook his head. "I'm not back officially. I'm here for my reinstatement interview."

In Joo made her way over, pushing herself into the middle of her two male best friends. "You'll do fine in the interview. The board members will love you like they always do."

"Let's be honest," Pa Ran added. "They love Mentor Hong more." In Joo and Ji Hong look at each other and nodded their heads in agreement. Pa Ran sighed as they stop in front of the conference room. "Well, buddy. Go in there and ace this interview. Can't wait for your official grand return."

Ji Hong smiled at his friends. "It'll be nice to seeing your faces everyday if I can. Living in Los Angeles alone for one year was really hard." He gave them one last group hug before letting go. "I'll meet you guys later for drinks." He watched as they walked and turned away from the hallway. Ji Hong took a deep breath as he fixed his tuxedo one last time. Turning toward the door, he knocked three times. Once he heard someone respond to come in, he twist the doorknob and walked in. "Hello, I'm here for my - " he paused once his eyes landed on Yoo Hye Jung, sitting in the middle of the room. "My reinstatement interview...." his eyes diverted over to Kim Tae Ho, confusion written all over his face.

"Professor Hong," one of the board members pointed over to the empty chair next to Hye Jung. "Please take your seat. The interview is about to start."

"I thought - " Ji Hong breathed in slowly. "I thought I was supposed to do the interview alone?"

The board members looked at each other before looking at him. "No. We stated that we would interview you but we never said that there wouldn't be anyone else in the room." Pointing at the empty seat again. "Please sit down so we can start."

Ji Hong cleared his throat as he walked over and sat down. His eyes stayed glued on Hye Jung for a few seconds before looking away. This is the first time that they're inches apart from each other. Taking her off his mind, he stared straight at the board members.

"Okay, here is how it goes." One of the board members spoke up as they looked at the piece of paper in front of him. "We will ask one question and each of you will have a chance to answer on your own. There is no time limit." Looking at the first question, he smiled. "When did you leave the hospital and for what reason? Miss Yoo, you can start first."

Hye Jung sat up straight and sighed. "I left on November 18th. I resigned my position as a fellow due to personal reasons."

"Personal reasons? Would it be too much of if we ask for you to be more specific?" a different board member asked as he wrote down what she said earlier onto his own paper. "I mean, the reason must be specific enough for you to just give up all the schooling you went through."

"I was too focused on an issue a year ago. My work was lacking, I was worried that it would start to affect my patients, my colleagues and even myself." Hye Jung explained, she looked straight at Tae Ho. "I turned in my resignation letter to Director Kim the following day after I made the decision." She interlocked her fingers together. "If you don't mind, I'll like to keep the certain issue to myself."

Tae Ho nodded his head. "Of course. You won't - "

"I'm sorry but it says here on your record that you were in jail for about a month? And this isn't your first offense?" a board member asked, interrupting Tae Ho.

Hye Jung looked down at her hands briefly before looking at the board members. "No, it was my second offense."

"How are you so sure that we will reinstate you back to this hospital after what you did?"

"I mean, you took me in despite my first offense. I don't see it as a problem if you take me back." Hye Jung answered.

The board member scoffed. "Like you said, it was your first and only offense. This is about the second one." He sighed and looked at Ji Hong. "Professor Hong, what about you?"

Ji Hong fixed his tie as it was uncomfortable to be in the same room with an ex-fiancee. "About a year ago, I was in a deep coma for four months in this very building due to a car accident. When I woke up, my fellow colleagues has infomed me that I had to fly out to Los Angeles for surgery." From the corner of his eyes, he could see someone opening their mouth to talk. "A surgery for my vision. I had Toxic Optic Nerve Disease, it slowly started affecting my vision. I had frequent blackouts, causing me to wear mismatch socks on occasions." He could feel Hye Jung moving around in her seat, her arm slightly touching his. The small physical contact between them caused them both to freeze for a few seconds. Collecting his thoughts calmly, he drew a deep breath. "Waking up from coma and being sent off to Los Angeles right away, it was hard but I had to do what was needed. My...vision returned back to normal. I am perfectly capable of performing surgeries."

"That's good to know but we only asked you for the reason of you leaving."

"And I gave it to you with further explanation." Ji Hong retorted, arching his eyebrow.

One of the board members cleared his throat as he looked over some of the paperwork. He sighed and looked at both Ji Hong and Hye Jung. "I won't deny that taking you both back in will be great for this hospital. Considering your incredible skills as a surgeron, having you Professor Hong back will be a good help. And from what I can understand, Doctor Yoo - you did amazing as a fellow." He sighed and looked at the others. "Here is where the problem lies at. Director Kim shared that you both have made a great team together. One of the best we've seen in the years of this hospital."

Tae Ho nodded in agreement. "The best."

"Yeah. Well, you both have a history together."

"You mean our previous engagement?" Hye Jung asked. "It's nothing. Doctor Hong and I share nothing together except for our past now."

Ji Hong silently scoffed to himself. "It ended if that's what you're worried about."

The board members nodded their heads. "That's what we wanted to hear. We are willing to consider to bring you both back if you can decide if you're willing to work together and use your amazing teammork into this hospital. That option is completely out of the blue. Neither one of them had expected for this to happen. Heck, neither of them expected to see each other in this room for the same cause. Both Hye Jung and Ji Hong stayed silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to exactly to say at this situation.

Tae Ho smiled. "I take the silence as a sign for the both of you to talk it out. Or have more time to decide this upon yourselves."

Hye Jung shook her head. "Actually, I have no problem with it. What he and I had was the past, like we all said. It has nothing to do with our profession as doctors. I am more than willing to keep working as Doctor Hong's fellow."

"That's great." Tae Ho smiled at the other board members. "The board members and I will finish up the paperwork and call you when you can come back to - "

"Sorry," Ji Hong interrupted. He exhaled and cleared his throat as he had enough in this suffocating room. Taking off his tie so it could help him breathe. "I can't work with her anymore."

Hye Jung knit her eyebrows in confusion as she finally turn to look at Ji Hong's face clearly. "What are you talking about?"

Ji Hong looked at her briefly before turning away. "If I am going to be honest, I will find it hard to work with someone like her."

"Someone like me?"

"I will respect whatever decision you come up with," Ji Hong said as he got up. "But I refuse to work with someone that I believed loved me, that I believed would stick by side through the hard times. And that I believed wouldn't just up and leave again." Ji Hong chuckled as he held onto his tie in his hands. "See? Look at me. I can't even handle the thought of working with her in the room that will decide if I can work here again or not. I don't have the confidence that I won't let my personal feelings affect this." He gave Tae Ho an apologetic expression. "Sorry, I just can't do it."

"Professor Hong, you do realize if you deny this - it could be your last chance to work here. To stay at the place that your father worked so hard to build." One of the board members said. "Please rethink this."

Ji Hong shook his head. "I don't think so."

Hye Jung watched in disbelief as Ji Hong opened the conference doors and walked out of the room. Oddly, if this situation would've happened a year - the situation would be switched around. She would be the one that would decline the offer because she's stubborn like that. He would be the one that will be presistent on working together because it's what needed to be done. She sighed and leaned back in her chair as she adverted her attention over to Tae Ho, who also shared the same blank expression as her.

. . .

"Hye Jung!" Soon Hee jumped up in happiness to see her best friend back. "How did the interview go?"

"Not good," Hye Jung answered. "Looks like they only want me back if Teacher Hong and I work together like before."

Soon Hee froze and nodded her head. "Oh, I see." She started collecting the trash that customers left behind. "What did you say?"

"I agreed to it but he didn't want to." Hye Jung sighed. "I don't know why but it's whatever."

"You don't know why?" Soon Hee looked at her. "I mean, you don't believe that right?"

"What are you talking about?" Hye Jung asked.

Joong Dae appeared and waved at Hye Jung before walking around the tables to grab some leftover chips. "You left him."

Hye Jung turned to face him. "What? What does that have to do with anything?"

Soon Hee knew her best friend was oblivious to most things but she can't be thinking that what has happened between those two is as simple as a turn to the next page on a book. "Hye Jung-ah, you left him. Without a word, simply disowned your engagment and everything."

"I was in jail." Hye Jung corrected her.

"No. You were in jail in the last month he was in coma for. You weren't for the other month." Soon Hee argued back. "You quit the career you had to chase after someone that the police could handle."

Hye Jung looked away. "I don't want to talk about this."

"Face it, Hye Jung. Doctor Hong will probably be the one that gets to go back to work. He is a well respected doctor with skills that the hospital want and need." Soon Hee put the dishes away and crossed her arms. "They will choose him over you."

"Fine," Hye Jung said. "I'll just go somewhere else."

Joong Dae looked at her. "We all know that you love working at our hospital."

"I can't work there if Doctor Hong doesn't want to work with me."

Soon Hee simply smiled. "I love you, I've known you for years." She put on dishing cleaning gloves as she sighed. "But as you sit there, are you even thinking on why he doesn't want to work with you? Maybe it's just the fact that you had history together. But you also had history 14 years ago and he had no problem with working with you then."

"So?"

"Sometimes I don't know if you're really oblivious or you choose to refuse that you're in the wrong."

Hye Jung stood up from her seat and looked at her. "If you have something to say, say it."

"You broke his heart." Soon Hee said. "You left him while he was in a coma because he simply just didn't tell you about his eyes? Didn't Husky Doctor or the others try to make you understand that it was for your best interest? Yet you refused to listen once you knew that you were the last one to know." Soon Hee shrugged her shoulders. "So what did you do? You took off that engagment ring that you refused to take off and handed it over to In Joo unnie? With his ring? Because merely of a secret? You stayed with him for two months, crying and screaming to protect him because you loved him so much. Like how he loves you. But you just left and forgot about him for a year because of a little secret?"

"It was a big secret!"

"Yeah?" Soon Hee asked. "What other secrets did you hide from him in the past? Or even now?"

"Soon Hee, you can't possibly be mad at me."

"Actually, I am." Soon Hee start to walk away as she breathed in deeply. "You didn't just leave Doctor Hong for a year. You left all of us."

. . .

Ji Hong sat on his bed as he drank from his beer, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Since returning from the hospital, he can't get rid of Hye Jung off his mind. It's like the world is trying to play a joke on him. He spent most of his time in Los Angeles trying to forget about her - especially since their last conversation. He slammed the beer bottle onto the nightstand as the memories came rushing back.

One Year Ago, a few days after waking up from coma.

His footsteps were still jarred from not functioning his bones for so long but it didn't matter. He only has one thing in mind at this moment. Clenching onto the wall, he watched as the officers from the jail walk out of the police station. Most people who are in jail for more than a month, they would be sent to the station for a final paperwork check up. Knowing that this would be the day that Hye Jung is released, he managed to hold off on flying out to LA so he could see her. Since he woke up from the coma, he has tried to call her but she wouldn't answer. And from what he could understand, she even moved out of her shared house with Soon Hee. When he came home, expecting to see her there - all her things were gone. He didn't want to believe that she broke it off. He didn't want to believe it - he still doesn't. And this is his only chance to see her before he flys tomorrow.

Ji Hong sighed out relief to see Hye Jung okay as she walked out of the station. "Hye Jung!" He smiled as soon as she turned to face him. "Hye Jung!"

Walking over, she crossed her arms and looked at him. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? I'm here because I have to be. I'm your fiancee."

"Ex-fiancee," Hye Jung corrected him. "We're over."

"Hye Jung-ah, I don't know what I missed while I was - "

She sighed and looked at him. "You lied to me!"

Ji Hong stood and stared at her a little startled by her sudden screaming. "I understand that you might be mad but I kept it to myself because..."

"No, that's not what you did. Doctor Jung knew. Your bestfriends knew. I was the only one left out!" Hye Jung scoffed.

"You seriously can't be mad about this. Look, I'm flying out to LA tomorrow. When I come back, can we please sit down and talk about it?" Ji Hong tried to grab her hands but she pushed him away. "Can't we?" He was about to try to grab her hand again but he froze when his eyes went blurry. "Wait..." He shook his head several times trying to get his vision back.

Hye Jung watched as he struggled. "I can't believe I missed all the signs." She bit her lower lip and backed away from him. "Have fun in Los Angeles. Don't call, don't text - just don't bother."

"Stop! Please!" Ji Hong could hear Hye Jung walking away, he tried to reach his arms out for her. As soon as his vision came back, she was gone. She left him just like that - in his most weakest moment while he was struggling, she just walked away.

Present Time

The sound of the doorbell interrupted his thoughts as he returned back to reality. He cleared his throat while getting up from the bed, walking over to the monitor. He scoffed once he saw the familiar face. Ji Hong made his way over to the door, opening it. "Yes?"

Hye Jung stood there. "I would like to talk."

"Okay..." Ji Hong leaned against the door with his arms crossed. "Talk."

"The option that the board members gave us today, would you reconsider that option? At least give it more thought."  Hye Jung suggested.

Ji Hong could manage to let out a small chuckle. "I don't think it's the best idea for the both of us to be working together."

"Fine. I can handle that. The problem is that it's obvious the board members favor you more than they do toward me. With their bias opinion, we know that you get to work there while I won't be." Hye Jung shrugged her shoulders. "We both know it's true."

"It could be," he sighed. "Personal or professional business, the members aren't interested in that." Ji Hong said, he checked the time on his watch - already past midnight. "It's about our loyalty, our skills, and thier trust in us. Here is the thing, Miss Yoo Hye Jung. I didn't leave the hospital because I wanted to. I'm not the one that turned in my resignation letter. Keep that in mind." He started to close the door, he gave her one last look. "It's late."

Hye Jung exhaled deeply. "What we had...." she paused as she cleared . "What we almost had...that marriage." Ji Hong opened the door wider so he could listen to her further. "It was an almost. We know that but we can't let it affect us right now. If a miracle does happen and they both let us come back to work, we're bound to meet or run into each other in the hospital."

"Where are you getting at?"

"I'm telling you to get over it." Hye Jung said. "It's what you always said to me - of course, it was in a nicer tone but it's the same thing. Whatever you have against me, get over it."

Ji Hong couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Get over it? Get over it?!" He screamed, having enough of this conversation. "I finally get it, you know. You can't get over certain things, like this one." He clenched his teeth to hold back his anger. "I don't care about what we had, Yoo Hye Jung. It's the last thing in my mind. The real problem is that you left me there on the middle of the streets as I was struggling to see RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Of all the times that I stood by you, listened to your problems, tried to help you out and understand you - the one thing I expected is for YOU to do the same thing." Ji Hong scoffed at the memory. "You complain about how I don't share my problems with you before? I get it, my fault. Maybe the end result between us is exactly why we should never had..."

"Should never had what?" Hye Jung asked.

"Together." Ji Hong finished speaking as he looked at her straight in the eyes. "We should have never been together." And just like that, the door shut closed.

. . .

One Week Later.

Yoon Do and Seo Woo leaned against the nurse's station as they sipped into their drinks. "You know, today is definitely going to be a hard day." Seo Woo said as she checked the time on her watch. "Everyone's been talking about since it was announced at the meeting this morning."

"I know." Yoon Do exhaled deeply. "Sometimes I wish people would just shut their mouths and go on with their lives."

Choi Kang Soo walked over with everyone's lunch orders. "You should hear the gossip downstairs."

"Kang Soo, did you take the patient's CT Scans before coming out here?" Yoon Do questioned.

"Yes. I may have just returned a few months ago but I remember certain procedures." Kang Soo chuckled as he looked at the both of them. "You're waiting for the show?"

Joong Dae walked over. "Show? It's like a repeated concert that every single hospital staff is eager to witness." His eyes roamed around the floor. "I mean, when is the list time you guys remember our neurology department being this packed?"

Young Gook nodded his head. "They're all waiting."

"Let's be honest," Seo Woo said. "It's been a year, we've all been waiting for this moment."

As soon as those words left, the sound of two elevators arriving to the floor alarmed every one in the room. Their eyes stayed glued at the two elevators as the doors opened. Walking out of the left side elevator, Ji Hong fixed his doctor gown while walking out of the right side, Hye Jung starting putting on her name tag. Both of them froze and looked at each other briefly before turning their attention in front of them - the neurology hospital staff.

"Doctor Hong and Doctor Yoo," Yoon Do offered a small smile as he held out his hand for a handshake. "Welcome back."

A/N: Hello! This chapter is posted a lot faster than I expected! I just really LOVED all the comments that I got from the previous chapter! It kept me so motivated to write this chapter faster! Thank you so much for loving and commenting this story! Thank you, it means a lot! Thank you! Sorry for the mistakes!