It made the evening news in Korea.

The accident occurred on a mountain in northern Italy. As mountains went, it wasn’t that majestic. But it was sufficient enough – sufficient in height and ruggedness to win the respect of even the most expert climbers. A fall into a chasm of rock thirty feet deep was adequate to seriously damage Kwon Jiyong’s spine, merit headlines and pitch hundreds of his employees around the globe into a panic.

Shane didn’t panic though. But the news report certainly made him pause from repairing the electronic helicopter for his son, Nathan Song, and gruffly demanded his son to pipe down along with his daughter, Natasha. Shane then reached for the remote control and turned up the volume of the Samsung Smart TV in the kitchen.

“…the only survivor. He has just been flown here to Rome, where the extent of his injuries will hopefully become known later this evening. Other members of the mountain climbing expedition party were reported dead at the scene. Mr Kwon, an internationally renowned tycoon, is the sole owner of the Hotel Kwon Conglomerate. He is also…”

“Isn’t that Uncle Jiyong’s company?” Nathan commented.

“Appa, are they talking about our Uncle Jiyong?” the younger one, Natasha asked.

Shane let out a long heavy sigh.

“It seems so,” Shane replied grimly.

“But please don’t mention it to your mother.”

“Let me be the one to break the news to her.”

“Promise?” Shane asked his two beloved children.

Both his children nodded their head in agreement as they kept their eyes fixated to the television. Shane patted his son’s head and gave the two children a grim smile. He knew how much both of them loved their Uncle Jiyong, especially Nathan.

“Appa, will Uncle Jiyong be okay?” Natasha meekly asked, tears pooling around her bright eyes.

“Appa don’t know Natasha-ah,” Shane replied with a heavy heart.

“Let’s just listen to what the reporter is saying. Maybe they have more information.”

“Are the doctors speculating on Mr. Kwon’s condition at all?” the anchorman in Korea asked the field reporter who was live on broadcast in Rome.

“No they are not.”

“Hospital officials refused to release any information until Mr. Kwon has undergone a thorough examination and his condition is fully established.”

“All that is said for now is that his injury, or injuries, involves the spine and appears to be serious.”

“Was he conscious when he arrived?” the anchorman asked again.

“Again, we have no official confirmation though it is speculated that he was not conscious.”

“As soon as the helicopter arrived, he was rushed inside.”

“We’ll have more information…”

Shane immediately turned down the volume of the television upon hearing the front door of his house unlocked. Soon enough, his wife’s voice rang through the house.

“Annyeong! Is anyone home?” Dami cutely called out despite knowing that her husband and stepchildren were inside the house.

“Omma!” both Nathan and Natasha ran towards her.

“Oh my beloved children. How have you been?” Dami hugged both of them.

She then untangled herself from their arms and looked at each of their faces. Natasha tried her best to not show her tears to Dami but Dami saw it and frowned. She could sense that something was not right. She looked past them and towards her husband, Shane. Her expression was filled with her unspoken question. Shane knew that it was never going to be easy feat to explain to Dami about her brother’s condition.

“Oppa?” Dami shakily asked.

Shane let out a long heavy sigh.

“Nathan, bring your sister out to the living room.”

“Appa needs to talk to Omma in private.”

Without a word, his two children walked out of the kitchen and towards the living room. He then walked towards Dami and placed his hands on her shoulder.

“Dami-ah, I don’t want you to get too upset,” he slowly started.

“Oppa, that look on your face has already upset me.”

“What’s going on? What is it? What happened?”

“Something terrible right?”

“Oh god, not Jiyong!” Dami rambled on, getting more panicky as she vocalized each of her questions.

Dami lost her parents to a dreadful accident. She knew what it felt like to receive such news. She could feel the sinking feeling sensation in the pit of her stomach again, just as she had the morning she’d received the phone call from the hospital stating that her parents had passed away. In that span of a few minutes, both she and Jiyong were made orphan. All that they had were just each other. Fearfully, Dami gripped the front of Shane’s shirt.

“Dami-ah. Please. You need to pull yourself together.”

“You are pregnant,” Shane attempted to calm his wife down.

“Just tell me please,” Dami pleaded.

“Yes it’s Jiyong.”

Dami took a sharp intake of breath, as her grip on Shane’s shirt got tighter.

“Go on,” she replied as she held her breath.

“He… he… he injured himself while on that climbing expedition.”

“He’s not dead,” Shane quickly rushed.

“Just that he is seriously injured.”

“They’ve taken him to Rome.”

“How seriously injured is he?” Dami enquired as she slowly closed her eyes, preparing herself for the worst.

“They are not sure of the extent of the injury.”

“Shane.”

Shane sighed with resignation. He knew it was no use to hide the seriousness of Jiyong’s injury. She would find out sooner or later.

“Spinal injury.”

Dami took another sharp intake of breath and another and another. Before she knew, she was having a panic attack.

“Dami? Dami!”

“Breath. Take slow deep breaths.”

“Please Jagi-ya. Slow deep breaths,” Shane guided Dami into a calming breathing pattern. It took a couple of minutes before Dami managed to calm herself down.

“Here, take a seat,” Shane directed his wife to the nearest chair at their kitchen table.

“Oppa, was… was… was his spinal cord severed?” Dami choked out her words through her tears.

“I don’t know.”

Dami studied her husband’s face.

“Jingja Dami-ah. I really don’t know.”

“The reports are sketchy.”

Dami slumped in her chair, making Shane to quickly embrace her tightly.

“I told Jiyong to not go on this trip.”

“But he doesn’t listen,” she said through his embrace.

“I told him that he is crazy to even attempt such a sport.”

“I mean he already has all that he could ever wanted.”

Dami suddenly pulled herself out of Shane’s embrace.

“What about the other members? What about them? Did they survive as well?”

Shane slid his fingers up into her hair and pulled her close down to his shoulders. He massaged her scalp.

“They died in the accident,” he quietly answered her.

“Oh god,” she groaned, “Jiyong would be blaming himself.”

“But according to the report, it was not his fault.”

“One of the team members slipped into an icy chasm and dragged the others down with him,” Shane explained.

“Oppa, you know Jiyong’s character.”

“He is a natural born leader.”

“He would blame himself, whether it is his fault or not.”

“When we were younger, he blamed himself for our parents death.”

“At that time, he was only 13.”

Shane merely nodded his head in reply. He knew his brother-in-law well. That part of his personality was the one thing that propelled him into being the youngest self-made millionaire hotel entrepreneur. Jiyong had been on the cover of Forbes Magazine for 5 consecutively years. His Kwon Hotel Conglomerate could be found everywhere in the world. But somehow, despite the successes, Jiyong was never satisfied. He kept finding new things to challenge himself and his latest escapade was to climb mountains – the higher, the better.

“There’s nothing we can do as this point.”

“Let’s just wait for the doctors’ confirmation.”

“Oppa, I’ve got to do something.”

“This is my only brother we are talking about,” Dami adamantly stated.

“Jagi-ya, you’ve got to think about yourself. And also the baby.”

He laid his open hand against her lower abdomen, which was firmly rounded with pregnancy. She was in her last trimester.

“Jiyong would be angry at you if you were to ever endanger his godchild.”

“He already threatened me to take proper care of you or else he would make sure I won’t be able to get any business for my company.”

“I could ask Seungri, our younger cousin, to come and stay with the children,” Dami attempted to plead her cause.

“He doesn’t mind. He is on his university break.”

“Plus the children love him.”

“Jagi-ya, Seungri is currently busy dating his latest girlfriend, Chaerin.”

“He won’t have time to babysit Nathan and Natasha,” Shane slowly reasoned with her.

“Oppa, this is my brother we are talking about.”

“He would need us to be around,” Dami pleaded again, this time pouting as well.

“Uh-uh,” Shane replied, sternly shaking his head.

“You’re not flying to Rome.”

“But I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” she cried in frustration. Her husband was being too mule-headed to understand the seriousness of the situation. She needed to be there with Jiyong. She needed to assure herself that Jiyong was going to be fine.

“Jagi-ya, you’ll have plenty to do for the next few days,” Shane calmly voiced out as he slowly pulled Dami back into his embrace.

“There’ll be million and one details to be taken care off.”

“Everything will be in a state of chaos until Jiyong’s prognosis is officially handed down.”

“He would be relying on your levelheadedness in this current crisis.”

“As his sister, you’re far more valuable to his company now.”

“You will need to take over his duties like taking calls, staving off the curious reporters who are looking for juicy tidbits and also managing his anxious business contacts.”

Dami let out a long heavy sigh into her husband’s chest. She knew that her husband was right. Though she was not fully involved in Jiyong’s company, she did know a thing or two about it. She did liaise with some of his clients before, as they wanted to promote their product on her online store. She mostly sold clothes and fashionable items. But there were times where Jiyong’s client had special vacation offer to put up on her site. She slumped dejectedly in her husband’s arms.

“I hate it when you are right,” she whined.

“It’s just that I feel so useless when my brother is over at Rome, perhaps fighting for his life.”

“That stupid brother of mine.”

Shane knowingly smiled over her head. He knew that her bluster was mostly Dami’s way of coping with the situation. He hoped for Dami’s sake, Jiyong survive.