He blatantly lied, saying he was her husband and then demanding to see her. One of the nurses motioned him through a series of doors and then pointed down the hall and told him she was in room seven.

As he rushed forward, he realized that Ryeo-wook was standing out in the hall. He was about to call out when the door to Bom’s room opened and Taeyeon came out.

Ryeo-wook put his arm around his wife and started to lead her down the hall when he and Taeyeon both looked up and saw Jiyong.

He hadn’t expected there to be much love for him from Taeyeon at the moment, but the anger in Ryeo-wook’s tight expression surprised him.

“How is she?” he demanded.

He would have just shoved by and gone into her room, but Ryeo-wook blocked him. Then Taeyeon put her hand on Jiyong’s arm, which halted him immediately. He had no desire to risk hurting her. She shouldn’t even be running around the hospital after just having had a baby.

“Jiyong, please,” Taeyeon said softly. “Leave her be.”

He backed away and shoved his hand through his hair.

“Leave her be? I need to see her. I need to see for myself that she’s okay. You can’t possibly understand what it was like to drive up to her apartment and imagine that she was trapped inside that inferno.”

It made him sick all over again just thinking about it. It was an image that would live with him for a long time to come.

"She’s exhausted. She needs rest. Jiyong, she’s so…fragile right now.”

Her hesitant description only made him more determined to get into that room.

Taeyeon gripped his arm once more and it was only then he realized he’d moved forward.

“Let her rest. You’ve done enough tonight. You can’t barge in there and upset her. She’s been through hell. She doesn’t know you were the one who called us. She didn’t even ask us how we knew she was here.”

He closed his eyes as bleakness settled over him. “She hates me.”

“No, she loves you,” Taeyeon said softly. “And that’s the problem. It’s why you can’t go in there and take advantage of how distraught and run-down she is. I'll never forgive you if you don’t give her some space and let her at least sleep a few hours. She looks terrible, Jiyong. Part of that is your fault.”

“Don’t upset her,” Ryeo-wook said, speaking up for the first time. “Taeyeon’s right. She’s extremely fragile right now. Barging in there to assuage your guilt won’t make that any better. For once think of someone other than yourself.”

The angry censure in Ryeo-wook’s voice made Jiyong flinch.

“This has nothing to do with guilt,” he said in frustration. “Damn it, I love her. I have to tell her. I can’t let things go the way they ended between us.”

Ryeo-wook put his hand on Jiyong’s shoulder. “If you love her, then it'll wait. You can wait. Don’t push right now, Jiyong. I promise you, the result won’t be good. She’s past her breaking point.”

“I’m not leaving,” Jiyong said fiercely.

“Nobody says you have to.”

Jiyong closed his eyes, his shoulders sagging.

“All right. I won’t go in now.”

The idea that she was exhausted, weak and emotionally spent tore at him. He wanted nothing more than to hold her. To cradle her in his arms, whisper that he loved her and that everything would be all right.

He hadn’t been there for her before but he’d be damned if he’d desert her now.

Taeyeon’s gaze found his and her big brown eyes stared imploringly at him. But they also held a warning.

“Make this right with her, Jiyong. And don’t you ever hurt her again.”

“I'll spend the rest of my life loving and protecting her if she'll have me.”

Ryeo-wook blew out his breath. “Yeah, that’s the big question, man. You’re not going to have an easy time of this.”

Jiyong knew it but his heart still sank at the conviction in Ryeo-wook’s voice.

“I'll be down later to check in on her,” Ryeo-wook said.

It was a warning to Jiyong that Ryeo-wook would be back and that he better not find her upset.

Jiyong acknowledged him with a nod and then watched as Ryeo-wook and Taeyeon slowly walked down the hall.

Jiyong glanced at the closed door, wishing for the world that he could just see her. Just touch her. He walked to the end of the corridor and grabbed a chair. He set it across from Bom’s door and sat down to begin his vigil.

He wasn’t leaving.

And so he sat, staring broodingly at her door. At one point a nurse went in, giving him an apprehensive glance. A moment later, she came back out and Jiyong surged to his feet.

“How is she?” he asked, his voice almost a croak.

The nurse stared at him a moment, her brow furrowed.

“I’m sorry but I’m not allowed to give out that information.”

“I’m her husband,” he said, and then realized how stupid it seemed for him to be sitting in the hall if he were married to her.

“I…I just wanted her to rest and I’ve been so worried