Tiffany was more than tempted to work at DaMasque. In fact she was actually pretty much ready to run back and accept the job now. But the control-freak demanded that she come back tonight and scout out the place for herself. Even then, that pressing ominous mood never really left.

Let’s say she did take this job and made a ton of money, it still might not be enough to cover the huge mountain of medical bills. Not to mention there was still no news of a donor. Life was hanging on by a thread. And the thread was fraying.

Returning to the coffee shop, she found Nayeong and her baristas and waitresses bustling at the peak of business hour. She ordered her usual black coffee and found a seat where she could keep an eye on the counter…and Nayeong.

The woman was so engrossed in her own work she never realized that Tiffany was there, much less that she was under intense scrutiny. As Tiffany sat there sipping her coffee and watching Nayeong’s every move like a hawk, she felt a curious desire to protect the darn woman.

To an outsider, it might seem that it should have been the other way around. But Tiffany was no stupid defenseless girl in need of someone’s charity and pity. She may have been on the of fate’s jokes, but she wasn’t broken and waiting to be thrown around like a ragdoll. The girl was more than capable of holding her own. Nayeong however, despite her being in a position of comfort and stability, seemed to hide a very vulnerable self underneath those smiles. But before Tiffany could contemplate more on the matter, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

It was the hospital.

Tiffany’s fingers trembled slightly as she picked up the call.

“We found a donor…” and that was all she heard before she was sprinting out the door like the Hound of the Baskervilles had its spectral fangs and rancid breath breathing down her neck.

Nayeong glanced up as she heard the clatter of a chair falling onto the linoleum flooring. She caught a glimpse of black hair streaming behind a girl as she flew out the door. Unconsciously, Nayeong felt a little sad she hadn’t been able to see the girl’s face.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tiffany sat once again in the much-hated white waiting room. They had already started the surgery by the time she had gotten there. She was all sweaty and gross from running. Now all she could do was what she hated the most. Wait. The not knowing, the not being able to do diddly-squat, the sterile dead disinfected air, the flickering fluorescent lighting, the wondering ‘what-are-you-here-for’ looks, the distant squeak of runners on cheap linoleum flooring. Everything. She loathed everything that was this place. Hated it hated it hated it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two hours later, she was still there. She hadn’t even moved to go to the bathroom or to grab food. It was always this way. She would become a dead husk until it was over.

Another hour in and a scrub nurse came out to give her an update. The surgery was going well. She was stable and they had just finished transplanting the lungs. The intestines were next. Tiffany just nodded stiffly, not even looking up to acknowledge the nurse.

Two hours more. The surgery was done. Tiffany watched as they wheeled her into an intensive care unit. The next hour was crucial.

An hour had passed and gone. She still hadn’t woken up. Something was wrong. Tiffany didn’t know what to do. Then…the sped up beeping of the EKG machine decided it for her. Tiffany ran out of the now crowded room, stumbled into a deserted hallway, and did what she hadn’t done in four years. She broke down and cried.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mr. Lee paced back and forth in front of his wife’s hospital room, wringing his hands nervously. She had complained of severe pain in her abdomen and he had rushed her to the hospital. There was the sound of running feet and his head snapped up, expecting to see the doctor. It wasn’t.

He watched as a young girl leaned her back against the wall and slid down slowly, ending up sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up. She was crying bitterly. Mr. Lee’s heart ached for the poor girl. Was she alone? Why did she look to be in such bad shape? What had happened? Did she loose someone?

He wanted to stay unmoving at his station, to wait for the doctor to come out and give him a report on his wife’s current condition. But rationally, he knew that standing here was of no practical use to anyone. The girl needed him more.

Walking slowly towards her with loud deliberate steps so as not to catch her by surprise, he knelt beside her and placed one arm around her shoulder in a comforting, fatherly way. She stiffened for a second before dissolving into a new bout of heart wrenching sobs. They stayed like that for the next twenty minutes until the doctor came out. Mr. Lee wanted to run to the doctor, but he controlled himself and gently hauled the girl up with him, slowly guiding her to where the doctor stood waiting.

“Your wife is fine. We treated her and she’s resting now. You can go in and check on her,” the doctor informed him. Mr. Lee bowed low in thanks and steered the girl into his wife’s room where he found his darling sleeping peacefully.

He moved to hug his wife but the weight on his arms stopped him. He had almost forgotten. The girl. Leading her to a nearby chair, he sat her down and then made his way over to his sleeping wife. Brushing a fringe of hair from her lovely face, he planted a dry kiss on her forehead. Convinced his wife was fine, he turned his attention back to the now silent girl. She had finally stopped crying, but occasional hiccups punctuated her breathless panting. Sitting gingerly beside her, he grasped her small delicate hands in his. He frowned as he saw the rawness of her skinned-up knuckles.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Mr. Lee asked softly as he gently rubbed the back of her hands with his thumb in order to calm her down. It seemed to work as the hiccups soon disappeared and her breathing became smooth and even again.

“We got into a car accident and I’ve waited for days for the news of a donor and then we got one and she just got a lung and intestinal transplant but now she’s not waking up and then she started to crash and now I have a huge ton of medical bills I can’t pay and I’m so tired and beaten up and just so sick of everything and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do! Ohgodohgodohgodohgod! She’s going to die then I’ll be all alone and left with nothing and no one and waist deep in debt. I’m so tired. I’m just so tired,” the girl said in all in one exhaled breath.

“W