JIYONG

Is someone playing on me again? Did someone realize that my life is getting better and decided a plot twist?

“NO!” Danny screamed like that of a horror movie while looking out the window. Next thing I know it, he unbuckled himself and was about to jump out of our running car. “Hey!” I grabbed his arm, my fingers wrapped tightly around it.

“DAD! STOP THE CAR! STOP THE CAR! PLEASE!” he is frantic. As I look at DK from the rearview mirror, she’s just looking straight, eyes wide and teary. They are starting to scare me.

“MUM AND GABBY!” DK screamed on top of her lungs, making my ears ring. At that point, shivers run down my spine. Goose bumps appeared on my arms.

That’s when it hit me. The car that is wrecked is mine. It crashed to a huge tree. I can see smoke coming out of the car’s hood. There are traffic police, rescuers and some more people around. The moment I turned off the car’s engine, DK and Danny rushed out. I followed a minute after, because I cannot get a grip of things yet. I’m trying hard to clear my mind and compose myself.

“This is not happening” I muttered to myself, “This ain’t happening” I keep on repeating as I step out of the car.

As I walk to the site, my chest tightened when I noticed that none of the car’s passengers are pulled out of it yet. It seems like the rescuers are still figuring out how to do it or something.

“No” I choked when I noticed that the driver’s hair color is the same as Gabby’s. She’s bent forward to what seems to be another person. This other person is surely going to be in a bad state.

Next thing I know it, the rescuers pulled out a woman with the same hair color as my wife’s. The woman is wearing the same dress hers. Her white dress is bloody. Blood is trickling down from the back of her head.  A few seconds more and the driver was pulled out. Unlike the passenger, she’s not as harmed, though she’s unconsciousness as well.

“Mr. Kwon” a police officer approached me but I’m out of my element to even respond. Good thing, DK and Danny are there. They were the ones who talked to the officer. “They were over-speeding. Ms. Gabriella Kwon, the driver, lost control of the wheels as the car is going very fast. From the looks of it, she intended to crash the car to the tree, to not cause a huge accident on the road by hitting other cars”

The rescuers came to me at the same time the kids are with the officer. “Mr. Kwon, we are rushing them to the hospital now. Kindly follow us there” she said and I just nod but didn’t move a muscle.

“Mr. Officer” I heard DK said, “Can you take my Dad to the hospital while we wait for our grandparents here? They’re already on their way. It’s just that, my Dad is needed at the hospital as soon as possible and I don’t think he can drive” she explained.

“No problem, Ma’am” the kind officer said and ushered me to the police mobile.

On the way to the hospital, my mind is totally empty. My phone keeps on ringing but I don’t have the energy to pick it up. All I did was stare out the window, while asking myself over and over again if this is really happening.

“We’re here, Mr. Kwon”. I must say, I’m totally out of it. The officer even has to me to the emergency where my wife and daughter are being attended. Nurses and Doctors are going in and out of their cubicles.

“Mr. Kwon” a doctor called upon seeing me. “I’m Dr. Lee” we shake hands, “I’m in-charge of your daughter, Gabriella Kwon” he smiled a little, “Upon checking her, it seems like she didn’t get the impact at all. She lost her consciousness due to shock. She has wounds and bruises on her left arm and forehead from glass shards. We’re about to do an X-ray followed by a head CT in a few minutes”

Hearing that, it seems like Gabby is going to be fine. We still can’t say for there are still tests to be done, but I can strongly feel that my daughter is okay and she’s going to make it.

Ten minutes in and Gabby is already wheeled out of her cubicle to the x-ray room. I was able to hold her hand and whispered I love you.

“What’s taking them so long?” I’ve been waiting for a doctor to talk to me about Clara. It’s been a while and unlike with Gabby, they haven’t given me any update.

“Dad!” my whole family arrived. Our kids, even the little twins are with Omma and Appa. “How are they, Jiyong-ah?” Omma asked. She’s obviously nervous and worried. “They are doing scans on Gabby, while I haven’t heard anything from Clara’s doctors yet” I answered. Omma pulled me for a hug, and that’s when tears started rolling down my cheeks.

I was holding back my tears for a time now. My emotions are beginning to pour in and I’m so close to breaking down, but I can’t. This isn’t the time for me to go weak. I have to be strong for my family.

“Mr. Kwon” At last, a doctor called me. “I am Dr. Baek, your wife’s attending Neurologist” we shake hands, “And this is Dr. Park, her attending Physician” we shake hands as well. “Mrs. Kwon seemed to be the one who got the most impact. As per the investigating police and the rescuers as well, it looks like your wife shielded your daughter with her body before they fully crashed. Her injuries are more severe than your daughter. What we’re sure of now is, aside from getting wounds from shard glass, she also broke her shoulder bone. We are going to bring her now to CT to check for brain injuries and will also check for spinal abnormalities”

“hmmm…” I am lost for words. Here we are again. Clara is in danger. “Is she going to…” I cannot continue what I’m about to ask, because I am afraid of the answer.

The doctor patted my arm, “We’ll do everything we could to save her, Mr. Kwon” and that’s it. He said nothing more.

So, upon talking with the police investigator who is handling my family’s accident, the car is over-speeding. Gabby lost control of the wheels, given that the car runs different than normal ones, it went crazy the moment she stepped on the pedal to go much faster. According to him, Gabby seemed like she did everything she could to gain back control but it was too late.

As for my wife, their report said that Clara unbuckled herself while the car is going crazy and when it was about to crash, she made herself as a shield by hugging Gabby, receiving the wrath of the impact. The back of her head banged on the steering wheel even before the airbag acted. Fortunately, even when the impact is strong that it nearly wiped out the front of my car, none of them got stuck and was crushed from waist down.

This is where we can really say that Clara is going to do everything for our children. She took things in her own hands and became a hero to our daughter. I’m so sure that she didn’t even think twice doing so, that she’d rather lose her life than lose a child. If I was in her position, I’ll do the same. This is what parents do. We’ll give everything even our lives to our children without regrets.

Hours passed by and the only news we got are all Gabby’s. Her scans went out well. It’s just that, she got a long deep cut on the forehead and received ten stitches because of it. I’m sure she’ll freak out once it scars, but it can be fixed.

At this point, I don’t know what to expect of Clara anymore. Half of me is saying that she’s going to make it, while half of me is preparing for the worst.

“Mr. Kwon” Clara’s Neurologist finally called me and we went to a corner, away from people. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “Upon seeing your wife’s scans, we can officially declare that she has Traumatic Brain Injury. This occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. We already suspected this the moment she arrived. As of now, she’s stable. We’re strictly monitoring her for anything major can happen within twenty-four hours. As for her spinal scan, we didn’t see anything alarming”

Here we are again. Why is it every time Clara is rushed to the hospital, she’s always in a life or death situation?

“Will she make it? When do you think is she going to regain consciousness? Will she ever recover?” these questions are floating in my mind.

He sighed, “Even when stable, we still consider her critical, but the patient seem to be fighting. She’s been through a lot in that short span of time. As to when she’s going to wake up, we can’t be sure. It can be tomorrow, in a few days or a month, and when she does, recovery period will take four weeks to three months”

What to do? How trippy can life be? Just this morning we are so happy because our family reunited again after weeks of being apart. This afternoon, I had a very sweet heart to heart to with her where I fell in-love with her all over again. And now, this. She’s in deep danger and