Chaeyoung stared at the patient placard. It couldn’t be right, could it? The new VIP room couldn’t possibly belong to the woman she was thinking of. She had to be overthinking this. 

PARK MIYEON

There were plenty of Miyeons. There was no way it was the room belonging to her mother.

“It’s exactly what you think.” Chaeyoung flinched before turning around finding herself face to face with her half brother. The tall lanky figure awkwardly towering over her. His cunning face smirking arrogantly. “It’s really such a shame, she has stage 4 cancer. She checked into one of our country hospitals around 2 months ago. I thought I should do you a favor.”

Chaeyoung knew her brother wasn’t one to ever help her. He despised her and she knew it. 

“I see.” Chaeyoung wanted to hold in her sadness, her anger. She knew that her brother desired a reaction, she didn’t want to give him any. It had been 15 long years since she had seen her mother.

When she had first graduated with from medical school she had gone to see her mother. But she refused to see her. 

Was this why? She was on her final stage of cancer. 

“Why didn’t she have surgery?” Chaeyoung questioned coldly.

“She did. However, it was at another hospital and it only caused an infection. That was six months ago.” He continued.

Why had her mother not come here? Why had her mother gone to another hospital? 

“Oppa. Thanks for bringing her here.” She sighed to try and show as much indifference as possible. 

“Of course my dongsaeng. But I don’t think you’ll be able to save her in time. As your oppa I thought you should say goodbye before she leaves.” His voice was almost gloating, filled with self satisfaction as if he truly believed he was doing her a favor.

Chaeyoung walked out as poised as possible. She made it to the professor offices a place that was usually empty this time of day. She ran into her boyfriend’s office and began to breakdown. 

She wept thinking how pitiful she felt. How could she have not known before that her mother was sick? How alone had her mother felt? Now it was too late. She might never speak to her mother again.

She wailed aloud cursing herself several times. 

“Chaeyoung I saw the patient transfer form are you ok?” It was her boyfriend entering. She ran over and wrapped her arms around his sturdy figure. Her tears sliding from her face into his fresh button down shirt. She wept for some time as he stood beside her, in the darkness, silently, holding her tight.

“My mother… My poor mother. Oppa, she must hate me. How much did she have to have hated me for her not to tell me?” She could barely organize her thoughts.

This was when Jaehyun really shined as her boyfriend. His ability to remain composed in the toughest situations, it comforted her a lot. He was her stone, her rock.

“Promise me you’ll save her. Please.” She begged, she knew as a doctor herself he couldn’t make any promises, she knew that he wasn’t the type to make those empty promises. Still she wished she could hear those words.

“Chaeyoung. I’ll do my best, you know I will.” He her hair again and again. Her face fitting perfectly between the crack of his neck.

“Oppa, you have to save her. I need to talk to her again!” She pleaded, she needed to say goodbye to her mother, it wasn’t fair that she would never talk to her again.

What hurt more was that she would never get to tell anyone else that this was her mother. She would never be able reveal the fact that she was born not of her father’s wife.

Then it was still as they stood together in the silence Jaehyun keeping her close. His warmth and manly scent emanating onto the total mess that she was.

“Doctor Park. You don’t look ok. Is everything ok?” Nurse Jang always seemed to notice the little things. Though she found it comforting... it was also something that she could not expand on at the moment. Instead the reputation of the So family had to be held up. 

But it wasn't like she could really hide it. She knew she undoubtedly looked like a mess.

“Sloth is everything alright?” Taehyung inquired in his usual bright tone, she knew he was just teasing her. As usual. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

“I’m fine.” She brushed them off. Truth be told she wasn’t sure if she should be operating right now, but with the loss of Doctor Ko and the scramble to find replacement Professors, she had been forced to help fill in for more of Taehyung’s surgeries.

“Let’s begin then.” Doctor Yoon announced making his way towards the patient. “Operating Surgeon will be Yoon Taehyung and First assistant Park Chaeyoung. We will be conducting a Carotid Endarterectomy.” 

The surgery, though a fairly easy surgery for both of them started smoothly. Taehyung skillfully began the first incision, however, as the surgery went on Chaeyoung’s thoughts began to drift away from the surgery in front of her and to her mother. 

She must've felt so alone.

“Tighten that one more.” Taehyung interrupted her. She quickly fixed her mistake.

“No, you need to remove more from here.” He spotted another one of her mistakes. Chaeyoung gasped as she realized she had almost allowed her focus to harm the patient.

“Actually, Doctor Park, I’ll finish up from here.” She quickly stepped back. She knew he was right, she was nowhere close to a mindset to operate. She wasn't able to seperate her feelings from her work. She was a failure.

“I’m sorry Doctor Yoon.” She bowed her head in shame. Once again her emotions were holding her back. She didn't want to see the look of disappointment on the faces of her teammates who she had come to admire.

She wondered if he would get angry. If he would yell at her. After all, how was she any different than Doctor Ko, who let his greed and jealousy get in the way—“Don’t come in here ever again, if your sole focus isn’t to fix the patient.” Taehyung firmly responded.

“I dont' know what is it is that you're hiding from me, but you’re not in a good mood right now. Go get some rest.” He didn't yell at her like she had expected.

She knew he could finish the surgery himself, that was the kind of surgeon he was. She envied it, how he always seemed to be able to remove emotion from his surgeries when he needed to.

He had told her it was just from experience, but how much more experience did he have? He was only a year older than her.

She couldn't rest, not after letting down her team. Instead she waited in the doctor’s lounge. After about an hour Taehyung entered, he had already removed his scrubs and was wearing a simple button down and ankle length black slacks. 

“I’m sorry about what happened.” She quickly repented knowing the severity of the situation. 

“I won’t ask again, why do you look like you were going to cry?” He questioned, he was serious, instead of goofy. Yet there was a warmness in his voice, as if he truly cared about her.

“I, I, I…" Chaeyoung knew she shouldn't tell anyone else. This was a private family matter and involved the So family reputation. But he deserved to know.

As a result of his kindness to her all those times, she trusted him. "Let me just show you.” 

He nodded and she brought him to the VIP room with her mother’s name on it.

He stared in confusion at the sign.

“Park Miyeon. Stage four cancer patient with Colorectal Cancer.” He recalled from the files that he had probably seen earlier. "If she's a Park, and you're a Park."

“Yes. This, is my mother.” She spoke quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear. His jaw dropped, but he quickly silenced himself with his hand.

They both entered and he shut the door behind them. "You don't have to explain if you don't want too but—"

“You're right, I’m an illegitimate child.” She wasn’t used to saying it, but she wasn’t going to hide it. She had put a patient in jeopardy because of her emotions and Taehyung deserved an answer. “My mother left me with my father when I was 10.” 

“I’m sorry.” He answered.

“No, I had just moved on from her thinking that I’d make it big and go back and take care of her. But she never met me again no matter how many times I tried to meet her.” She continued her story wondering if he would find it boring. “I found out today she had cancer and never told me much less come to my own hospital.”

“I understand how you’re feeling.” He comforted her, his eyes staring attentively at her. “Everyone has already forgiven you. I just need you to tell me when you’re not feeling well so I can find another surgeon.”

“I just want to tell her one last thing.” She let out everything she had wanted to say. “I never even got to say goodbye.” 

“My father sacrificed for me as well. He passed away and I couldn’t do anything about it.” Chaeyoung had never heard him talk about his family before. It was comforting to see him be vulnerable with her.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and for a second she could feel his empathy. 

It wasn’t the pity she felt when she stood in front of her father or even her boyfriend. He showed her empathy. "Thank you." She mumbled surprised herself that those words had come out of . And to Yoon Taehyung of all people.

Chaeyoung entered into her father’s office, she wasn’t really sure what it was for. She barely came up there  because she dreaded the idea that she ever had to face her brother. 

Inside she found her father, her brother, and Jaehyun. Why was he here? 

He should’ve been preparing for her mother’s surgery. She knew that it was a long shot but she had hope, she believed in her heart that Jaehyun was the best surgeon in the hospital and she trusted him with her mother. If not then who else?

However, when she saw him, there was a pained expression on his face.

“Chaeyoung.” Her father began. “After much consideration, under the circumstances, we have decided to push back Miss Park Miyeon’s surgery and request to transfer her to another hospital for Hospice Care (care for people with life expectancy of 6 months or less)."

Chaeyoung wasn’t sure how to react, the words from her father she knew were final. But why? Her mother might not last another week in her current state. If they didn’t get her surgery, Hospice was pointless.

“With the current shortage of staff, and the low probability of success, you can understand that this is not something we can justify easily.”

Numbers, it was always about the numbers with her brother. She wondered if he would sell his own mother for the right price.

“Why?” She struggled to hold back the rage towards her two family members. “Why my mother?”

“Operating on her puts her at heavy risk, and without a known guardian to give consent…” Chaeyoung didn’t want to hear her brother’s voice anymore.

“Father!” She cried rushing towards her in desperation. “Please don’t do this. Please don't do this to her."

“Chaeyoung, please understand the situation. She might still wake up on her own, but if we operate…” It was Jaehyun's voice this time.

No. She refused to believe it. Jung Jaehyun was on her side. He was her boyfriend. Her resent towards the coward that was her father and the schemer that was her brother justified their words. But not Jaehyun. Jaehyun was on her side.

“Father! I know you never once loved her. But please have mercy on her.” She forced herself to tune him out as she collapsed onto her knees now. Her father stared at her. His cold eyes glaring at her. They were dead.

She already knew he wasn’t going to give in. He didn't give in when he stole her from her mother and sent his mistress out of Seoul. He didn't give in, when Chaeyoung spent her entire life trying to search for her mother.

“Chaeyoung!” He shouted commanding her attention. “My words are final. Miss Park Miyeon has lived a fulfilling life, I’m sure she’d hate to see her daughter begging like this when she’s in so much pain.”

“Please.” She begged tears flooding to her eyes. “Please.” 

She knew that it was probably her step mother. Her brother and his mother held more power over her father than anyone else. 

“Leave before I become angry.” His voice sounded inhuman, like there wasn't an ounce of compassion towards her or the woman he had once loved enough to conceive a child with.

“Please.” She watched his imposing figure return to his desk. Her brother walked past her scoffing as he did. 

“Chaeyoung please understand.” Jaehyun stood in front of her his arms on her shoulders as he begged for her to stand up. 

He should've been kneeling beside her. If he loved her... that's what he would've done.

“I hope you never forgive yourself.” She screamed at he