peony- good health

Recap: Myungsoo's mother has liver cancer but it has progressed too much to help her; the doctor won't tell Myungsoo that there's no chance of helping his mother. Myungsoo believes that the doctor is stupid and wants to transfer his mother to another hospital. Jessica's doctor has informed her that her cancer has progressed rapidly and the medical team is rushing for a cure to save her. However, when Jessica learns that she has to take chemotherapy, she freaks out; deciding that running away is better than staying at the hospital, Jessica escapes when her aunt falls asleep. She is then hit by a truck because of her recklessness.

Having finished his assignment, Nam Woohyun was pleased to see that it was 11:27; he would be able to eat his lunch shortly. When the digits on the clock finally changed to 11:30, Woohyun jumped up from his seat, straightened his tie, and walked out of the building. His mind was on an assignment for tomorrow when he spotted a girl step in front of him and twirl. Rolling his eyes, he side-stepped her and continued to walk briskly.

Silly girls.

He paused as the crosswalk signal turned red, tapping his foot lightly on the group under him. And in a split instant, everything changed: the girl who was twirling before stepped forward, even though the signal hadn't turned green yet. Woohyun, shocked, stared at the girl. She was mental! She wasn't right in the head! Woohyun was starting to step forward to pull her back when there was a loud honk.

To his horror, he found a truck speeding towards the pair of them. Woohyun, as self-preservative as he was, quickly stepped back, saving his own life. And then, just like that, the girl who was standing previously seemed to disappear under the truck. The drive hit the breaks, screeching to a halt; only, he was a second too late: he had already hit the girl. From all around him, screaming people rushed to the girl- or, he assumed they were running to the girl.

At this point, he couldn't really think of much except that he killed the girl. It was because he hadn't pulled her back that she died. Nam Woohyun, the respectable, intelligent man, had killed someone accidently. He found himself pushed aside by a tall man; Woohyun fell to the floor, but of course no one helped him as they were all concerned about the girl. The ambulance, with its annoying wails, stopped in front of the truck and gingerly pulled the girl out from under the truck; to say she was bloody was an understatement. 

Woohyun watched as the ambulance placed her on a trolley and roll her into the back of the car. They then proceeded to check on the truck driver but Woohyun didn't have the chance to watch from the floor for the tall man had roughly pulled him to his feet. "What the hell were you doing?!" the man shouted at him. He looked like he was Woohyun's age. "Why didn't you pull her back?! ANSWER ME!" And the last thing Woohyun remembered before passing out was a fist flying towards his nose. 

Fate was a funny thing. Fate was cruel, fate was ignorant, fate was hurtful. It seemed that whenever Myungsoo developed an attachment to someone, fate would be there to tear them away in the cruelest way possible. As he sat there in the hospital behind the doors of the OR, he decided that he was going to die early. He had far too much stress and the people he cared for were all going away. He had to cancel his photo-shoots, losing close to 3,700,000 won. His mother seemed to be sleeping all day and the doctor wouldn't explain why she wouldn't wake up, and Jessica just got hit by a truck.

Myungsoo gave a bitter chuckle. A truck, of all things. No, it couldn't have been a simple, small little bicycle. Of course, fate wanted Jessica to be hit by a truck. Once again, there it was: fate was determined to take everyone away in the cruelest way possible. After three long hours, three surgeons pushed open the doors of the OR. Myungsoo jumped up, searching their faces for answers. "Is everything okay?" he asked frantically.

One of the surgeons removed his mask and nodded. "She's in critical condition but she's still alive. Are you her guardian?"

"Yeah," he lied. Seeing as her aunt wasn't here, Myungsoo decided to take action.

"Please meet me in this room-" the doctor handed him a piece of paper with the room number,  "-and I'll be over in half an hour with a detailed description of Jung Sooyeon's current status." Nodding, Myungsoo  glanced at the paper and started to look for the room. Within ten minutes he was settled into the room; it looked like the surgeon's office. Myungsoo was painfully aware of the twenty minutes going by. There were pink flowers in the vase on the doctor's table, moving slightly from the breeze coming from the open window. 

"You like the flowers?" the surgeon asked. 

Myungsoo jumped, not having heard the surgeon open the door. "Er, yeah," he replied. "I guess."

"They're peonies," the surgeon said before taking a seat behind his desk. "They're a favorite of my wife's so I keep them around to remind me of her." Myungsoo nodded, not in the mood for light talk. "Anyway, I know you're curious about Miss... Jung Sooyeon."

"Jessica," Myungsoo corrected. "Her name is Jessica."

"Right. As you already know, her cancer is progressing rapidly-"

"Her what?!" Myungsoo shouted, scooting forward to the edge of his seat. "She has cancer?!"

The surgeon looked surprised. "I thought you already knew...?" When Myungsoo failed to give a reply, the surgeon continued on. "Her cancer is progressing and she has a concussion- thankfully, it's nothing too big, but there was hemorrhage-"

"What's that?"

"Bleeding inside the brain," the surgeon clarified. "It was only a little so we were able to stop it. On top of that, we're afraid that her left leg won't ever function properly as it received quite a blow this afternoon. There was a large, deep cut from her rib cage to the bottom of her right hip but we've sewn it together so everything should be fine. She'll just need to stay in the hospital for a few weeks to recover and then you can take her home.

"Thank you for your hard work," Myungsoo said, bowing. The surgeon smiled, bowing back in return before leaving. It was then that Myungsoo decided fate really, really hated him.

Like really. 

The nurse raised an eyebrow at Myungsoo. "You're serious?" she asked.

Myungsoo nodded. "Yes. Please transfer these two women to Seoul National University Hospital by tomorrow morning," he repeated firmly. If he could help it, Jessica and his mother were going to receive the best treatment he could give them.

"And you are aware of the cost, I'm sure?" the nurse asked in a bored voice.

Myungsoo blinked. "C-cost?"

"Yes. To transfer, it will take at least 30,000 won and to admit these two women would take another 50,000 won each. Not to mention the cost of general treatments, which would probably range to 200,000 won to 400,000 won each. Then there's the monthly cost, which is around 300,000 won each, so 600,000 won every month. You have enough?"

At her words, Myungsoo's chest seemed to drop. There's no way he'd be able to pay. But at the thought of having to bury Jessica and his mother, his desire to transfer them only increased. "Yeah," Myungsoo said. "Yeah, just transfer them. I'll find a way to bring the money...."

"Well, just sign here and we'll take care of everything."

"Okay," Myungsoo replied. When he handed the paper back, he went outside the hospital, phone in hand. He pressed the number of the person he hadn't contacted for a year.

"Hello?" a female voice on the other end answered.

"Yoona? It's me. I'll take your wedding photos but... I'm going to have to charge more."

"Why? Because I'm your ex?"

"No...I'll explain when I get there."

"Oh, good!" the nurse exclaimed when she saw Jessica sitting up on her bed. "You're awake! I have to tell you very sad news." Jessica didn't give signs that she had heard the nurse at all; instead, she was looking at the alstroemeria flower in her hand. "Jessica? Your aunt, I'm sad to say, has passed away."

Jessica, startled, looked at the nurse for explanation. "She went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. We tried to bring her back but she's pretty aged herself and... I hope you understand." Jessica felt tears prickle her eyes. She pointed to the painting of flowers on the wall, Dead Leaves. The nurse, having studied botany, understood: the flowers meant sadness.

"I know sweetheart," the nurse said, nodding. "I know." She waited a few seconds, in respect for Jessica's aunt, before resuming her talk. "You're also going to be transferred to Seoul National University Hospital tomorrow morning. Oh, and there's someone waiting to talk to you."

The nurse moved aside, revealing the utterly heartbroken, melancholy face of Myungsoo. 

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Introducing Namgrease to the story! I'm getting tired of love triangles so he's not in the story to make Myungsoo jealous, nor will he be a love interest of Jessica.  The next chapter will be called Anthurium.