Chapter 27 – Jealousy, Misunderstandings, Fear

Seohyun sat up straight after taking a long nap while watching Hyuna. She fidgeted a little when she realized she had some extra weight lying in her lap. The girl smiled slightly as Yonghwa rested his head on her as if she were some kind of pillow. She almost wanted to wake him up due to how uncomfortable her shoulder was, but she refrained from it when she saw how dearly he needed the rest. Seohyun then looked over to see that her old friend Hyuna was still sound asleep as she had been for the past few hours.

The talk that she had with Yonghwa earlier that evening made her doubt her actions at that moment. Hyuna had done nothing but be a jealous and selfish woman that would stop at nothing to achieve any and every desire that she had. Even when they were just starting out as friends, there was something about her that made Seohyun stand on her toes at all times. As time went by, Hyuna’s strength and ‘friendship’ made her forget about those uneasy feelings. The situation at the moment was no different.

Seohyun definitely had her reservations about the wounded woman, but at the same time, her curiosity got the best of her. She just hoped she wasn’t making a mistake by not outright ignoring Hyuna like she should be. “Still thinking about Hyuna and if we should just ditch her?” a voice whispered from beside her.

“Aish! You scared the crap out of me!” Seohyun hissed back. “Tell me when you wake up next time.”

“Arasso,” Yonghwa chuckled. He stood up grudgingly to check up on Hyuna’s vitals. The young doctor wished he could just be asleep in the warmth of his own bed with Seohyun alongside him for the rest of the night. However, just like Seohyun, some form of duty bound him to the woman that saved his life hours earlier.

“How did you know I was thinking about Hyuna?” Seohyun questioned while walking over to his side. She almost reached out to Hyuna to give her hand a firm grasp, but quickly recalled why she hadn’t in the first place.

Yonghwa scribbled a few words in her patient chart before dragging Seohyun back to the pair of chairs they had just been asleep in. “You’re too obvious with your emotions Hyun. Obviously I would be able to read you easily.” Seohyun gave him a cute, but momentary, pout. It was after all very, very true.

“What am I doing Yonghwa? What are we doing?” she asked herself. “Hyuna is a bad person. I know she is. Even if she says she’s sorry, she’s not. I know she is not someone I should ever feel anything good about. I should hate her. I should want to unplug all her machines and strangle her with the cords.”

The words coming out of Seohyun’s mouth frightened him a little, but he couldn’t argue with the facts. Hyuna was bad news for everyone and that wasn’t a lie in any sense of the word. Yonghwa was sure that she wouldn’t be missed for long by anyone if she were to be gone. “I don’t know Hyun I really don’t know,” he admitted. “I really don’t want to feel pity for her, but she saved my life. She was crying because she had just gotten in a fight with Joon but she still took a bullet for me.”

“I just can’t find it in me to want to hurt her,” Seohyun confessed. “I want to hate her but I’ve never hated anyone in my life. How do I something that I’ve never done before?”

“I guess it’s because of our names,” Yonghwa pointed out. Seohyun broke out of her pensive trance to give him a confused glance. He chuckled a little before speaking, only further throwing her in a state of confusion. “If you put our names together you get the word ‘yongseo’.”

“Yongseo meaning forgiveness? Ugh, this is not the time for your cheesy wordplay Yonghwa,” she groaned while Yonghwa continued laughing as if feeling rewarded for his awful sense of wit. “You’re an idiot, but you’re right.”

“She hurt me but I don’t care about that. I’m angrier that she dared to hurt you. However, when I saw her take that bullet for me, I blanked out. I just wanted to help her,” he explained.  “Damn, we’re screwed.”

Seohyun decided it was time to admit that they were just too nice and good to hold a grudge. She wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t extremely angry at Joon and his currently hurt wife. At the same time, she was actually grateful they betrayed her since it made her life better in every way possible. Still, there was no reason she should forgive Hyuna. Even if Hyuna decided to risk her life to save the world and everyone in it, she was still a dark soul. No matter how much light shone on that woman, she would never be good.

Unknown to them, Hyuna was currently smiling a wide and evil smile inside of her devious mind. The plan was working well, too well even. She couldn’t believe how easy it was to get those two on her side even if it was only just a little. All she had done was cry a little and take a bullet for Yonghwa. Even if she had saved his life, those two were falling too hard for it to not be a tad ridiculous. She wouldn’t complain though.

“You should go to bed,” Yonghwa suggested. “I’m still on duty for two more hours. I shouldn’t even have taken that short nap with you. If the director finds out I’m screwed. You should go to my house. I don’t want you to be alone in your apartment.”

Seohyun scoffed at the comment. “I’m a big girl Yonghwa,” she shot back teasingly. “Don’t treat me like a child.”

“Oh are you really a big girl?” Yonghwa asked her mischievously. “I don’t think I can agree with that.”

“I guess I’ll just have to show you.” With that, she wrapped her arms around Yonghwa’s neck to plant a seductive kiss on his lips. He easily felt himself melting into it but was left disappointed when she pulled away as he began to deepen it. “We’re in a hospital so that’s as far as we go.”

Yonghwa whimpered like a puppy that had its food bowl pulled away after the first bite, but let her go. After another quick peck on the lips, he began to walk Seohyun towards the hospital lobby. As the door closed, Hyuna poked her head up and cursed silently. She greatly regretted her actions of the past. Joon was a fool and even if she enjoyed his money, she wasn’t happy. If she hadn’t left with him, she could have possibly been the one kissing Yonghwa in such a cheesy manner.

“ing stupid Seohyun,” she cursed under her breath. “Your happiness won’t last you long so enjoy it while you still can.” Footsteps echoed in the silent hospital halls, warning her to go back to her resting state.

Yonghwa sighed loudly when he glanced at Hyuna’s ‘sleeping’ form. It was a shame that problems like her existed in his life. In the three years she was gone, he was content with his life. Now that she was back, things were becoming unnecessarily complicated. Just before exiting the room, a hoarse voice called his name. “Y-Yonghwa…” Hyuna whispered. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he answered. “How are you feeling? Are you in pain anywhere?”

“I’m fine. I just feel a little sleepy and sore,” Hyuna responded in a fake manner. Once again she inwardly smiled at the concerned tone Yonghwa was using with her. At least she knew that she could tug at his heartstrings with pity. That was all she needed to get her plan going.

He flipped through her chart once again before examining her vitals one last time. After confirming that everything was fine with her, he decided that it would be better to let her rest. “Hey, you should sleep more. I can give you more pain medication if you have trouble sleeping.” Yonghwa turned to leave once more, but was stopped by a weak grip on his forearm.

Yonghwa looked down at his arm to see Hyuna’s small hand grabbing hold of him. “Can we talk? Just for a little? I don’t want to be alone.” He pulled her hand off of his arm and continued his walk to the door. Even if he felt some form of pity for her, he still didn’t trust her. No matter how ‘sorry’ she said she was, he wasn’t going to forgive her.

“Sorry, I can’t get close to patients. It would impair my judgment as a doctor,” he gruffly replied. “I have other things to attend to so I can’t stay.”

“Please,” Hyuna cried in a begging voice. “Just for a few minutes.”

It scared him to be in the same room with Hyuna for more than a patient/doctor basis. Had Seohyun been in the room he wouldn’t have minded. However, there was just something about her that made him want to run away. Yonghwa’s brain kept telling him to not even go within ten meters of her. “Hyuna, we have nothing to talk about. I appreciate you for saving me earlier, but that’s as far as it gets.”

The faith she had in her plan slightly diminished upon hearing his words. Maybe it wouldn’t be as easy as she thought. That fact only made her want to try even harder. “I don’t need anything from you. I know I don’t even deserve to look at you, but… but I have nobody to turn to. I turned everyone away from me and I can’t bear being all alone.”

Yonghwa had to admit that she did sound desperate. Even Hyuna surprised herself with how she was dealing with the situation. Truth be told, she wasn’t acting. Those were Kim Hyuna’s real feelings. Deep, deep down inside of her, she knew it was the truth. Nobody was on her side and that made her want to cry even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud. She didn’t need to act to tell Yonghwa she was lonely, because that was a cold, hard fact.

“You did that to yourself,” Yonghwa angrily shot back. “Don’t come begging for pity and compassion when you don’t know how to give it yourself.” Before the conversation became more heated, he decided that it would be a better idea to just drop it. It wouldn’t bode well for anyone to hear him yelling at a patient.

“I know, but I regret it every day. Even though I betrayed you, I feel like you’re the only person I can trust. Yonghwa, I know you’re a guy with a huge heart. I’m clinging onto a tiny shred of hope that you can at least be with me for a minute,” Hyuna begged desperately. Her inner child, needy for any affection, was back and ready to take over her senses. As always, she needed validation that she was a person that was worth something.

No matter how angry someone was with Hyuna, they would be able to tell that she was being sincere. The pain in her voice was too real for anyone to fake. Even though she had her ultierior motives, she wasn’t telling complete lies. “Hyuna, I can’t forgive you for what you did. You hurt the one person in this world that I love. You turned my best friend that I loved like a brother into a traitor,” he reproached.

“I’m sorry for all of that! I’m really, really sorry!” she yelled, feeling pain in her side. “I know I don’t deserve forgiveness from anyone, but I can’t help it. I hate myself for having hurt you and everyone else that day. I know I shouldn’t have done it.”

“If you know that now, then you should have known that three years ago,” Yonghwa argued back. Anger was once again getting the best of him. He wished Seohyun was in the room, but he couldn’t call her back now just to get her angry as well. “Hyuna, leave me alone. Call a nurse if you need anything.”

The plan was failing and fast. As much as she begged, Yonghwa didn’t seem to want to fall for the bait. Hyuna supposed that the only thing that kept him from feeling angry was Seohyun since she didn’t seem to really hate her. However, Yonghwa alone was a different story. Before he could leave, she began to fake a pain in her wound. “Ahhhh!” she squealed. “ Ahhh, it hurts a lot!”

Yonghwa sprung into action and peeled off her blankets. A small amount of blood stained the wrap around her wound, indicating that it had opened. When he unraveled the bloodstained cloth, he sighed in relief. The wound was only slightly open and would be fine. “Yah! You’re a patient. You can’t be getting worked up like that,” he scolded.

“Sorry,” Hyuna apologized meekly. “I’ll stop. Just go.”

“I don’t understand women sometimes,” he groaned. “First you beg me to stay and now you beg me to go? Whatever, I’m leaving.”

“So what are you and Seohyun going to do?”

“About what?” Yonghwa asked. “You mean about you? Nothing. Why should we even care about someone as black-hearted as you? Don’t get your hopes up Kim Hyuna. You’re dead to us.”

“You’re not going to tell Joon about what I told you right? I know you told Seohyun, but please don’t tell anyone else,” Hyuna begged. “He’s been getting out of control lately and he’s too possessive of me. I have no idea what he would do to me if I told you of all people.”

That part of the conversation intrigued him. Joon was always a laid back and easy going guy when they were all friends. If anyone was going to hit his wife, Joon would be the last person. Something about Hyuna’s story didn’t add up. “So Joon was the one that gave you that black eye? How do I know you’re not lying to me? You seem awfully good at that from what I can tell,” he insulted sarcastically. “Spit it out already.”

Once more Yonghwa had taken her bait, but now was where the real acting had to begin. Since Joon hadn’t actually hit her, it would be hard to prove anything of the sort. Even worse was the fact that Joon and Yonghwa knew each other for around 15 years. She would have to play her cards right if she wanted this to work. “Right before he left for the U.S. we had a fight. Lately he wouldn’t let me go out without my guards. I think anything else is between Joon and I.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that Joon just hit you because you had a fight? He’s also possessive? He wasn’t like that when he was with Seohyun,” Yonghwa countered. “This doesn’t make sense to me.”

“He’s angry because he has always felt that I never loved him,” Hyuna began to explain. “A lot of people tell him that I married him for his money.”

That was Yonghwa’s cue to scoff no matter how rude the action was. Hyuna had to be shameless to imply that she hadn’t married Joon for his money. That was a glaringly obvious fact of life. “Wait, are you trying to tell me that you didn’t? Hyuna stop lying to yourself. You did just that,” Yonghwa rudely, but justly, remarked. “You clearly kissed me when we met in Japan.”

Yonghwa would soon regret having had recalled that even. Unknown to him and Hyuna, Joon had just finished his run towards his wife’s room. He was just about to open the door when he heard Yonghwa mention that they kissed in Japan. Joon felt that he heard wrong, so he decided to listen in a little longer onto that conversation.

“I… I messed up,” Hyuna admitted. “I never loved Joon and I should have known better. I’m never going to be forgiven for what I’ve done and I acknowledge that. Karma is getting me back fair and square.” Yonghwa had to admit that he was surprised Hyuna was confessing all her faults. He thought he would never see the day.

“So you just married Joon for his money and now what? You plan to seduce me just because I felt a little bit of compassion for you? Is that why you saved me?” Yonghwa wondered. Joon began to tune out all of the words he was hearing at the moment. He always suspected that Hyuna was just with him for his money. That thought was always buried deep in his heart, purposefully sealed away. Ignorance was bliss after all.

“I love you and only you Yonghwa,” Hyuna professed. “I know the error of my ways now. I shouldn’t have done what I did in Japan. I had no idea you were going out with Seohyun and it was wrong of me to do that,” she lied through her teeth. Her downcast gaze indicated that she was going through some form of penance.

“Funny way to show your love.”

Hyuna looked up and noticed that there was a figure standing near the slightly open doorway. She quickly realized that it was her dear husband Joon. The cards had laid themselves on the table completely in her favor. The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect.

“I love you and I regret doing that to you and Seohyun,” she continued. “I’ll apologize to her when I get the chance.”

“Are you really serious?” he asked in astonishment. “You have to be lying.”

“Yonghwa, please don’t doubt me. I’m being serious. I have lived nothing but a sham of a marriage with Joon. I want nothing to do with him anymore,” Hyuna pointed out, adding more fuel to the raging fire inside Joon. “I threw away too much and I’m not happy with my life.”

Yonghwa decided it was time to leave Hyuna to get some rest so he refrained from continuing the conversation further. It didn’t matter to him how ty her life was because that wasn’t his problem. It was hers for making the wrong decision. “I’ll leave now. Rest or else you’re never going to heal.”

“Alright…” she mumbled quietly. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

“It’s my job. I have to do it,” Yonghwa replied without any enthusiasm. “Also, I owe you for saving my life. I’ll have to make it up for you sometime in the future. Thanks…”

Hyuna smiled brightly knowing that Joon could see her from where he stood at the door. All that she had said before was getting to his head. Everything he had lived for in the past three years was a lie. Hyuna hadn’t ever really loved him. He somehow knew that everything would turn out that way, but he always tried to deny it. Maybe he heard it wrong and Hyuna did actually like him?

“I did it because…”

“Don’t tell me. I don’t need to hear it. Just concentrate on getting better. I still don’t trust you Hyuna.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yonghwa finally exited the room, leaving Hyuna to get some rest. A sigh of relief escaped his lungs when he was finally alone. The level of discomfort he experienced by Hyuna’s side was astounding. He hated the way she threw herself at him, but he had to admit she was a pitiful woman. His eyes caught sight of a familiar face when he turned to check up on his other patients.

“Yonghwa…” Joon grumbled. “Let’s talk.”

“Joon? When did you get here? Don’t you want to see Hyuna first?”

“Follow me,” Joon ordered without any emotion in his voice.

It struck Yonghwa as odd that Joon was acting that way. From what he understood, Joon was madly in love with Hyuna. He had even made a thirteen hour flight back from a very important business meeting to see her. It didn’t make sense that he was asking to talk rather than see his wife. “What do you need to talk about?” Yonghwa asked when Joon reached a secluded stairwell.

Suddenly a punch was thrown in Yonghwa’s direction, sending him into the wall. “That’s for my wife, bastard.” Joon stared his ex-brother down as he stood up holding his jaw in pain. He felt like throwing another punch and then kicking Yonghwa while he was down. Anger welled up inside of him, fueling him with rage.

“What the hell is your problem!?” Yonghwa angrily reprimanded. “Why did you punch me?”

“It’s your fault Hyuna is in there isn’t it?” Joon accused. “She defended you from that bullet. If it wasn’t for you, she would have been fine.” Yonghwa wanted to scoff at how crazy Joon sounded. There was no way anyone in their right mind would blame him of all people for the incident. He never asked Hyuna to defend him. She did it of her own accord. The blame was 100% off of him. Yet, Joon didn’t seem to be backing off.

Yonghwa spit blood down onto the floor before looking Joon back in the face. “You’re a crazy bastard aren’t you? I didn’t do anything. It all happened fast and I’m sorry she’s here. I didn’t ask her to save me.”

“You’re lying. You’ve been meeting her behind my back haven’t you?” Joon asked, acting like a delusional and possessive husband. “You met in Japan while I wasn’t with her. I know you did. Yonghwa, you can’t do this to me. Are you trying to get revenge or do you really like her?”

The things Joon was saying almost made Yonghwa throw up in disgust. At the same time, he wanted to burst out in crazed laughter at how stupid all of that sounded. “Joon I’m dating Seohyun right now. She’s the girl I was in love with all of our childhood. You know about that girl because I told you millions of times. I’m not about to cheat on her with Hyuna of all people.”

“I’m warning you right now Yonghwa,” Joon threatened. “If you ever touch my wife again, I will make sure you pay. I will let today slide. If I see you meeting her again without my permission, you’re not going to get away without a fight.” Hyuna’s words suddenly became the truth. At first she was lying about everything, but now it seemed all too real in Yonghwa’s eyes.

Joon was afraid, deathly afraid. After having learned that his whole marriage was a sham and an act, he feared that Hyuna would one day leave him. Everything added up when he put the pieces together. At first she was against coming back to Korea. Suddenly, she urged him to come back. It was all because she wanted to be back with Yonghwa. There was no reason for them to meet at that café unless they were meeting secretly. Now they also had  reasons to meet in the hospital.

“She’s not your property,” Yonghwa defended. “You can’t say crazy stuff like that.”

“I can do whatever I want with my wife. If you really are with Seohyun like you say you are, then stay away from Hyuna. I won’t let you take her from me,” Joon continued to threaten.

“What did you become? How did you fall so low Joon?” Yonghwa asked in pity. As much as he disliked Joon for doing what he did, Yonghwa still felt a small bit of friendship towards him. It saddened him to think that Joon had changed so much over a woman that wasn’t even worth it.

Joon ignored Yonghwa’s rebukes and turned away to see Hyuna. “I didn’t fall low. I’m still the same person I always was. Now, stay the away from Hyuna or I will find a way to make it so you never see us again. We should have never come back to Korea.”

“Joon!” Yonghwa called out, but was only greeted with the sound of the heavy steel door closing. Now all of Hyuna’s claims made sense. Joon was out of his mind and obsessed with her. At first he had a hard time believing her, but now it seemed all too true. With the way he was punched earlier, Yonghwa now believed that Joon had caused that black eye on her face.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Jae Hyuk  did you see what happened?” Hyuna whispered into her phone.

“Those two had a fist fight over you,” Jae Hyuk laughed over the phone. “Your little husband knows how to throw a mean punch. Yonghwa was knocked over in one hit. You do not know how much I’m enjoying this. Although I wish I had thrown that punch myself.”

Hyuna was so close to yelling some nasty words, but stopped herself quickly. Jae Hyuk was being a , but she couldn’t blow her cover. To him, they were getting revenge on Yonghwa. As long as she kept him appeased, he would follow like a little sheep following the shepherd. “I can’t believe how well that worked out. Joon hadn’t actually been possessive.”

“You mean this wasn’t planned?” Jae Hyuk questioned. “Damn, you lucked out. I guess your plan really is foolproof.”

“Now that Yonghwa knows just how violent Joon can be, he won’t hesitate twice to believe what I say. This is all going according to plan. Soon we will move into the stages where we completely ruin everything,” Hyuna explained. She felt Jae Hyuk hesitating on the phone, prompting her to rouse him up some more. “You’re not forgetting our plan are you?”

“Hyuna, I think you’re taking this a little too far,” he remarked. “Yonghwa is a goody-two-shoes prick that I would love to throw a punch at, but I don’t want to ruin his life. I will admit that I hate him for screwing me over a few times, but I don’t want to kill the guy.”

Cold feet was something that Hyuna could not tolerate. If she didn’t have Jae Hyuk by her side, she wouldn’t have easy access to someone that was always near Yonghwa. Without him, the plan was nothing. “Jae Hyuk, this isn’t about you anymore. We are screwed if we don’t finish it. I didn’t take this bullet for nothing.”

“Pay me. I won’t do this for free. I don’t gain anything from hurting Yonghwa aside for my enjoyment.”

“We’ll deal with that later. Did you get me what I asked for?” Hyuna asked, anticipating Joon’s arrival.
 

“If I give you this, I will be screwed if I get caught,” Jae Hyuk hesitantly replied. “You have to promise me I won’t get in trouble. I will get thrown in jail the second someone finds out I stole these medications. They’re too potent to just hand to anyone.”

“Just give them to me. I’ll be fine.”

“Aye aye, boss,” he groaned.

Before he even got a chance to say goodbye, the rude woman hung up on him. The vial of drugs he held in his hand shone in the dim light he stood in as he closed up the vault where he took it from. Hyuna was doing some crazy stuff, but he couldn’t back out now. If Hyuna went down, she would bring him down too. Even without proof, she had money and that fact alone made her far too scary. Money could buy her anything she wanted, even a judge willing to place him behind bars. As much as he wanted to back out now, he had to listen to her. “Just what the hell are you going to do with this stuff? I can’t even read your intentions you crazy .”

Author’s Note: Cliché incoming! Prepare yourselves. Wow so it’s been over a week since my last update. Things are just not going well for me and this story huh? Well, now that I think I may have the end planned out, I think I’m going to end this in around 5 chapters (possibly less, but probably not). I still have to pace myself with the material so I’ll be figuring that out. Hopefully, I won’t take another week to update. I will definitely finish this soon since school is starting and I don’t want to write while that’s going on.