"Yerin."

The room was filled with the scent of flowers the visitors brought the night before. There were also "get well soon" cards on the table, beside fruit baskets which also came from the kind people who came to see Mr. Jung.

"Yerin. Wake up, you'll be late for work."

"Hm?" Yerin squinted her eyes as she rose up from the couch. The sun rays coming from the windows illuminated the whole room, and thanks to the white painted walls, everything was brighter than usual.

"Go home now and prepare for work," Mr. Jung spoke as he watched his daughter fumblingly search for her phone in her bag, "I told you, you shouldn't sleep here anymore. Waking up becomes more difficult for you whenever you stay here in the hospital for the night."

"It's alright, dad," Yerin smiled, "Aunt will be here by 10:00, please don't forget to take your medicine and have enough rest," she said as she took her phone from her bag and checked the time.

Mr. Jung scoffed, "I always get enough rest. That is the only thing I do here!" he clearly looked upset for having nothing to do while he was at the hospital. It had been four months since he got confined because of his heart ailment, and those four months were the most boring months of his life.

"I'll buy spicy chicken for you later," Yerin smiled, "So please cheer up, dad. Nothing's wrong in taking your weeks off by doing nothing here. The doctor said you need to avoid strenuous activities at the moment."

Mr. Jung sighed; his condition had limited him and his actions. Also, because of him, they had to close their barbecue shop, Yerin had to leave college to work, and his sister had to attend to him even if she already had her own family.

Yerin immediately noticed the glum look on her father's face. She sat beside her father and held his hand, "Dad, I know things are a bit difficult right now, but don't worry. Everything will be fine. I can take care of this. Remember what Dr. Park said? He said as long as your examination results improve day by day, you can be released within a month."

"Yeah, I remember that," Mr. Jung lowered his head, "But what if it gets worse? I'll be living in this hospital until I die," he added, before clearing his throat to change the depressing atmosphere between him and his daughter, "You--you should go now! You shouldn't be late for work."

"I won't leave until you smile!" Yerin pouted. She knew her dad was already feeling discouraged by all of the unfortunate things that were happening to them, but she was still doing her best to make things better for them, "Dad, please smile! Ah, I will be late for work because of you."

Mr. Jung forced a smile, which made Yerin laugh. The old man sighed after realizing that Yerin just turned him into a laughingstock, "There. I smiled already. Go now!"

Yerin nodded, before leaving a kiss on her father's forehead, "Bye, dad. Please be good while I am away," she smiled before exiting the room.

"Sure," Mr. Jung whispered to himself before reaching out for the remote controller and turning the television on.

-

Because of the business partnership, the CEO gave the largest and most expensive room in Solario Hotel to the Wen family. The room was big enough to be considered a fully-furnished house on its own, with a living room, four bedrooms, a giant kitchen and dining area, and two bathrooms with one having a jacuzzi inside it. The whole place would certainly make someone feel like he was on vacation, but not Junhui. He sat on his bed, glaring at his phone, waiting for his father to call again.

A few hours ago, he received a much unexpected call from Wen Jindao. He was preparing his things because his flight back to China would be at 12 noon, so he did not expect that his father would stil call him at that time. Thinking that his father would only remind him to bring chocolates back home, he immediately answered, only to find out that his father wanted him to extend his stay in Korea.

"This isn't good," Junhui whispered to himself. He felt more agitated as seconds passed; his father was really serious about ordering him to stay longer in Korea.

The clock ticked. His father was not calling.

He did not want to sound disrespectful, but Junhui did not really want to stay. He was dying to go back to China and enjoy his days off from work after graduating. He would appreciate if his father gave him a month or two of being away from work that would have sufficed as a graduation gift. But no. Right after he came back from Japan, his father immediately sent him to Korea to fix the partnership between their company and Solario Hotel. Life hated him, Junhui thought to himself.

"That's it! I'm through!" Junhui exclaimed as he dialed his phone to call his father. Making him stay longer in Korea to work felt like injustice on Junhui's part.

"Hello? Why are you calling me, Jun?" his father answered.

"Dad!" Junhui immediately spoke, "Dad, why do I have to stay here? I want to go home already! Besides, Mr. Oh was expecting you to be here, not me!"

"Is that the reason why you called? Just to ask me why I want you to stay there?" Mr. Wen chuckled, "Don't waste money on overseas calls, son."

Junhui rolled his eyes in annoyance, "This is not about overseas calls, dad. Look, I just came home from Japan and you want me to spend my vacation here in Korea? Alone? Doing business? Heck, is this even vacation? I should've just stayed in Japan if this was going to happen."

His rant made his father laugh, and hearing it from the other line made Junhui more chafed. He could not understand what his father was planning for him; he was probably out of his mind, Junhui thought to himself.

"Dad."

"Son, you need to understand this," Mr. Wen's voice was calmer; "You need to learn how to actually do business. Your six years in business school won't be enough for you to learn everything. You need to know how to do things. I am entrusting you our business with Solario Hotel, apply what you learned in university. Stay there for three more months and make sure everything will go well for Solario. After that, you are free to come back here."

Junhui sighed. It seemed like his father already made up his mind; he really wanted Junhui to stay in Korea for three whole months and Junhui knew that he could not convince his father to change his decision anymore.

"Junhui? Are you listening? Do you understand me?"

"Yes, of course, dad," were the only words Junhui was able to utter before ending the call.

-

"We did a good job today, first shift salesladies," the department store supervisor had a wide smile on her face as she greeted her employees before allowing them to leave, "I know these months have been very tiring for everyone but I am glad all of you are diligently doing your tasks here. Please give yourselves a warm round of applause."

Everyone did clap for themselves. Yerin and Sowon glanced at each other and smiled; they were happy to finish another day of being overworked cashiers.

"Well then, see you tomorrow. You may now leave," the supervisor said before going back to her office. The first shift salesladies of the department store started to get themselves ready to go home, including Sowon and Yerin.

"Yerin-ah," Sowon patted Yerin's back while the latter removed her high heels to change into comfortable sneakers, "Eunha called me a few minutes ago. She said she is inviting us to their house today. It's her brother and her sister-in-law's wedding anniversary."

Yerin paused for a few seconds before answering. She was trying to remember if she had any prior commitment for that day, "Um, I'm sorry, unnie. I can't go right now. I promised my dad I'll go straight to the hospital after work and bring him spicy chicken."

"Ah, is that so?" Sowon's eyes widened, "It's okay. I'll just tell Eunha about it. Please tell your dad that I hope he will feel better soon. I'm going to visit him one of these days," she added.

"Thanks," Yerin nodded, "I guess I'll go ahead, unnie. I'll buy dad some spicy chicken, and I feel like there will be a long queue of customers at the chicken shop. Bye!" she waved her hand at Sowon before leaving the room.

Knowing how much Yerin sacrificed for her father, Sowon could not help but let out a deep breath, "Such a hardworking kid."

-

The chicken shop was only a few meters away from the department store but Yerin could already see how full the shop was. Inside the shopping center, there was only one chicken shop that specialized in spicy chicken; she knew her father enjoyed the food there, and despite the long queue of people, she was still determined to buy a small box of spicy fried chicken wings for her father.

Yerin entered the shop, and a lot of people were inside, waiting for their numbers to be called by the cashier so that they can get their fix of fried chicken. She went to the counter and the cashier greeted her.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to Keolpy's Chicken!"

"Um, hi," Yerin greeted awkwardly; she was already tired and the cashier in front of her had this high energy which made her feel a bit intimidated, "Uh, one small box of chicken wings, please," she spoke as she gave her payment for it.

"Honey, spicy, or garlic, ma'am?" the cashier asked.

"Spicy," Yerin responded, "Please," she added to show politeness. She was too exhausted from work that she felt like her