Yonghwa woke up to his mother’s soft voice.

“Adeul – wake up and eat something. The nurse has to check on Joohyun and help her change to fresh clothes.  Her ultrasound is scheduled in an hour.”

His eyes felt so heavy that it was an effort to open them. Joohyun was still sleeping- her body pressed against his side her hand grasping his shirt. He motioned his mother that he would get up.

He had to very gently disentangle himself from her.  She made a soft sound but settled again when he moved the pillow against her. He was tired and his whole body protested as he stood up.

Sunlight was streaming from the windows and he quietly adjusted the blinds so that the light would be softer. He lightly kisses her forehead and goes out of the room.

He was greeted by Dr. Kang, his parents and Joohyun’s parents eating breakfast and Min Sun busy in the kitchen.  Dr. Kang smiles and motions him to come to table to eat.

“I will – thank you.  I will just freshen up.”  He takes the luggage nearest the 2nd bedroom and goes in.

The 2 sets of parents were getting to know each other while their children slept.  Dr. Kang had a hard time controlling her amusement at how very well the wives got along and how the 2 husbands were engrossed about business. The lady doctor and Min Sun would occasionally glance at each other and smile.

While Yonghwa was taking a shower the nurse came and went to Joohyun’s room. Dr. Kang excuses herself to check on her.

Joohyun was still sleeping but Dr. Kang was happy that her color was no longer pale. The lady doctor sits lightly on the bed and gently wakes up the sleeping young woman.

“Joohyun – wake up. We need to take your blood pressure and your ultrasound is in an hour.  Wake up and eat breakfast.”

Very slowly her eyes open and Joohyun tries to orient herself. Her hands grasp the pillow that Yonghwa placed next to her. “Oppa?”

“Hm…of course you would look for him.  Well, he’s in the other room taking a shower and he’s going to eat breakfast soon.    You, my dear, need to eat breakfast as well.  So let’s begin shall we?”

Dr. Kang watches as the nurse takes Joohyun’s temperature and her blood pressure.  The nurse nods that all was well.  The nurse then gently asks Joohyun if they could go to the bathroom so that she could assist Joohyun in taking a shower.

Joohyun nods in agreement and with Dr. Kang’s help they make their way to the bathroom.  She was reluctant to remove her clothes for fear of seeing blood but Dr. Kang assured her that there wasn’t any blood. She leaves Joohyun to the care of the nurse and calls Joohyun’s Omma.

Her Appa had also bought clothes for Joohyun and her Omma laid out her favorite pink pajamas on the bed.  Her bedroom slippers were also there as well.  When the nurse came out with Joohyun, her mother was ready wth a smile and a kiss.  Joohyun embraces her mother tightly and leans on her heavily as they make their way to the bed.  The nurse and her Omma helps her into her pajamas and combs her damp hair.

“Omma – I didn’t bleed last night. I’m so relieved.” Joohyun grasps her mother’s hand.

“That’s good – you just rest and stay healthy for your baby.” Her Omma tenderly touches Joohyun’s stomach.

“Omma – I am so hungry.” Joohyun says.  Both the nurse and her mother were happy to hear this.

“What would you like? Min Sun made breakfast for all of us.”  Her Omma arranges the pillows for her while the nurse pulls in the movable tray.

“I actually want sweet pumpkin porridge and gogumas.” She said shyly.

“There’s porridge but its abalone.  And we don’t have any gogumas.  I can go out and buy you some would you like that?”

“I can try the abalone.” Joohyun nods.  She wasn’t sure if her stomach would take it but she had to try because she couldn’t drink her vitamins – vomiting on an empty stomach was too painful.

Her mother steps out with the nurse and Joohyun examines her room for the first time.  It didn’t look like a hospital room.  There was a television set, 2 arm chairs and a cabinet for clothes.  It had an ensuite bathroom and unlike the usual hospital room it was carpeted.  Her bed was huge and she was glad that it could accommodate Oppa and herself.

Min Sun comes in bearing a tray.  She was smiling at Joohyun and puts the tray in front of her.

“This is special for you.  I made you just plain porridge.  I will still need to talk to the hospital dietician about what we can feed you.  I know you’ll be picky but Dr. Kwon wants you to eat healthy.”

Joohyun looks at porridge and unconsciously pouts. “But I wanted sweet pumpkin porridge and gogumas.” 

The two older women look at each other and sigh.  Early pregnancy had its quirks and for Joohyun it was gogumas.

“Alright – I’ll have Yonguk go and buy gogumas for you for lunch. But for now you eat this first so you can drink your vitamins.” Min Sun pats Joohyun’s hand trying to soothe her.

“Joohyun – be good and follow Min Sun-ssi.  She went thru all the trouble to make you porridge so you should eat it.” Her mother tries to keep her voice firm.

“What is this?” Her Appa steps into the room.

Both women see Joohyun pale at the sound of her father’s voice.  Her hands unconsciously grasps the bedsheet.

“Don’t be difficult, Joohyun. Try your best to eat the porridge. You and the baby need it.” He pats her head and gently runs his hand down her face.  He gently removes her tightly fisted hands and holds them. “Mian Appa was wrong to leave you.  I thought I was doing what was best for you at the time. Let’s talk later when you are better.  Right now – try not to be so afraid of me.”

Joohyun nods her head.  Her father spoons the porridge and offers it to her.  She opens and tentatively swallows the porridge. 

“How is it?  Good right?”  Her father dabs . Joohyun just nods. He continues to feed her until she finishes the bowl.

Then it happened.

Her father barely reaches the basin in time for half of the porridge to come up from . Her mother immediately rushes to the bathroom to get a towel.  Min Sun runs outside to call the nurse and Yonghwa.

“Ah- your morning sickness is so bad Princess.” Her father wipes with the towel her mother got.

The nurse offers her a glass of water for her to rinse .  Joohyun lies back on the pillows visibly paler than she was when she woke up.

“I’m sorry.  Let me just rest for awhile and I’ll have some more.”

“You need to eat Princess. The baby needs the vitamins.  Now what did you want to eat? Appa will buy for you.” Her father asks her.

Yonghwa just watches the interaction between Joohyun and her father.  He was glad that Joohyun was at least talking to him.

“Goguma.” She says. “I have at least 1 goguma everytime I eat so I keep half the food down.”

“All right then.  I’ll see what I can do.” He leans over and pats her head.

“Alright Appa.”

Her father stands up and before he leaves the room hands something to Yonghwa. “Here put this on her – it must have fallen out of her bag when we were leaving the house.  I found it in her room.”

Yonghwa looks at the bracelet and looks at Atty. Seo.

“Yes, you can put it on her” Her father repeats before waving at his daughter, kissing his wife and leaving the bedroom.  They could hear him calling out that he was going to the office.

Yonghwa climbs up on the bed and puts the bracelet on Joohyun, kissing the heart charm and her wrist. “How about some more porridge?”

He could see how reluctant she was to have some more but he just had to push it. Her mother sits down on the bed with half a portion of the porridge.  The nurse was on stand by with the basin and a glass of water. Joohyun was able to keep at least half of the porridge down. She swallows the vitamins with a grimace and Yonghwa felt sorry for her.

Another nurse came in saying that it was time for the ultrasound.  Dr. Kang and her mother were to accompany her but Joohyun did not want to let go of Yonghwa’s hand so he had to go with them. They met Yoona and her father by the elevators.

The two friends tearfully embrace and Yoona’s Appa gives Joohyun a kiss on the top of her head.

“Ommonim – you can take them back to the room.  I’ll just be the one to go with them.”  Yonghwa says as they step into the elevator.

Dr. Kang looks up at the very tense young man next to her. She taps his arm and slightly shakes her head.  He had to keep his worries to himself and not let Joohyun see them.  She was tense enough as it is seeing that she held Yonghwa’s hand in a death grip.

“Yah – I’m losing circulation in my arm!” Yonghwa bends down to kiss her cheek.

“Mian” She smiles back but the grip remained.

They were next in line in the ultrasound room when Yunho came in with a young woman.

“Hyung! Noona!” Yonghwa stands up to greet his older cousin and his fiancé. “Annyeonghaseyo”

“Yongie! I just heard from the Chairman and Samonim about this. Mianeheyo I was off duty last night so I wasn’t here to meet you. I’m still off duty but I wanted to stop by to check on Hyun. Annyeong Hyun!”

“Annyeong Yunho Oppa” Joohyun said shyly.

“This is my fiancé, Bo Ah” Yunho introduces his fiancé to Joohyun and Dr. Kang. “She’s my sunbae.  She’s a 4th year resident while I’m 3rd year.”

The two girls bow shyly to each other. Yunho and Bo Ah makes a more formal bow to the lady doctor.

“Thank you visiting our hospital Dr. Kang.  My uncle said you were his student.” Bo Ah said.

“Ah, yeh. Seonsaengnim was my favorite professor when I was in SNU.” Dr. Kang smiles.

It was Joohyn’s turn so Yonghwa takes off the bracelet and the nurse takes her to the ultrasound machine.

“She’s having a hard time Samonim said.” Yunho turns to Yonghwa and Dr. Kang.

“Yes, she is.” Yonghwa sighs.”I’m so sorry I had to leave her and her father’s actions added to her stress.”

“Yong – your maternal uncle and aunt died in a horrible accident. You had to leave.’ Yunho wraps his arm around his cousin’s shoulders and gives an affectionate squeeze.

“Samonim’s holding off on Suzy and Ga Young visiting.  Even Eunji and Key until Joohyun’s a bit better.” Bo Ah says.

“Yes, she’s not in the best of conditions now. I’m so worried about her.” His tone was anguished.

“Yah, calm down. If you show her that she’ll stress out more.  Just try to treat it like she was down with the flu. “Yunho advises.

“Very good advice.” Dr. Kang said. “Joohyun is very sensitive to people around her.  She needs encouragement.”

“Dr. Ha Ji Won is coming to see her sometime today I heard from Uncle.” Bo Ah said.

“Yes, Chairman said that last night – to administer a psychological stress test.” Yonghwa nods his head.

“She needs one. If we had ended up in Ever Hospital I would have still ordered it. She’s very fragile now.” Dr. Kang sighs.

“Are you going to stay with her?” Yunho asks.

Yonghwa nods. “No matter what.”

The resident operating the machine raises a hand and calls them to enter.

“It’s not ectopic Sunbae. Please tell the Chairman.” He glances at Bo Ah. “Here you can see the fetus is settled correctly in the womb.   She’s almost 6 weeks but not quite – the fetus size is about normal.  Next time the fetal Doppler will get a heart beat.”

Yonghwa’s eyes fill with tears. A baby – a living breathing being.  He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.  He was simply awed. His child with Joohyun.

“The mother’s medical history states that her own mother had 3 miscarriages so Chairman wanted to be sure.  The little one is a fighter though – the mother has very bad morning sickness and can’t keep anything down.  She’s young though and very pretty in a fragile kind of way.” He continues unaware that the father was there.

 Yunho shakes his head indicating that Yonghwa shouldn’t reply. His raises 1 finger then 2 before Bo Ah angrily exclaims, “Yah, Min Woo no personal comments arasso!”

“Mianheyo Sunbae.” He bows to the three of them before printing out the report and handing it to Bo Ah who in turn gives it to Dr. Kang.

They wait for Joohyun come out. When she does, Yonghwa puts the bracelet back on and takes charge of pushing her wheelchair. She was bit pale and told Yonghwa that she was dizzy.  Bo Ah immediately takes her pulse and tells Dr. Kang that it was a bit fast. They hurry to the elevators.

As soon as she enters the room Joohyun immediately knows what she’s smelling. Her face breaks into a smile dizziness forgotten.

“Gogumas!” She claps her hands like a child.

“Ah-so that’s what makes you happy!” Yoona’s Appa laughs.

“Hm…you have to thank that nice man over there with Yong’s parents, he said he found a goguma vendor 3 streets down.  He got you 6 pieces. Your Appa is coming tonight with uncooked ones and we’ll just steam them here for you to eat tomorrow.” Her Omma puts down a plate of with 2 gogumas on the dining table. Yoona starts peeling the gogumas for her friend.

“Yonguk kamsahamnida.” Joohyun calls out to the head guard who was in the veranda talking to Yonghwa’s parents.

“Anything for you Agassi.” The head guard bows to her.

Yonghwa introduces Yunho and Bo Ah to Joohyun’s mother and to Yoona and her Appa while Joohyun happily starts eating gogumas.

“They don’t taste the same.” Joohyun declares. “Dr. Kang come taste them – they’re not like the ones that my Gwangju Ahjumma makes.”

Dr. Kang sits down beside her and takes a portion of the gogumas. “They taste the same Joohyun. At least to me they do.”

“But they’re still gogumas.”  Joohyun smiles and proceeds to finish the rest of the gogumas. “Can I have some more?”

“You might throw up.” Her mother cautions.

“I never throw up gogumas.” Joohyun smiles.

Min Sun gives her just 1 more goguma. Peeling the skin off Joohyun motions for Yonghwa to stand up from the sofa where he was chatting with Dr. Kang, Yoona and her Appa, Yunho and Bo Ah.

“Oppa! Eat this.”  She gives him a portion of the goguma.

“Are you sure? I can finish this.” He says eyeing the peeled and portioned goguma.

“I will feed you.”  She smiles at him and gives him another portion.

“I thought you were going to eat it.” Min Sun remarks.

“No – want to see Oppa eat it.” She tilts her head on one side and smiles at Yonghwa.

“How different you look from yesterday!” Her mother exclaims.

“Yes she looked so pale and tiny in Yong’s arms.” Samonim nods.

“Well, you can imagine how terrified I felt when I first saw her.  That’s an unforgettable introduction wouldn’t you say Joohyun?” Hwejangnim looks her.

Joohyun blushes and nods her head clearly shy as this was the first time Yonghwa’s father had ever addre