Chapter 2

When Seohyun opened her eyes, she found that her airbag had deployed. Smoke and the acrid smell of charges filled the inside of her car. Coughing, she got out and looked at the mess around her. The passenger side of her car was crushed. There was a blue car smashed in on 2 sides and a station wagon with a smashed rear end and a 4th car that had received damage.

Reaching a hand up to her face, Seohyun headed in the direction of a child crying. She stumbled over something. Looking down she saw that it looked vaguely familiar. Focusing harder, she tried to concentrate. Then, suddenly she realized what the object was. It was a man's forearm.

With that realization, everything around her immediately went out of focus. Her vision tunneled, and the rushing winds of unconsciousness rolled over her.
 

~

The meeting hadn't turned out the way Yonghwa had planned it. He felt mostly to blame. He could barely think after the bombshell Seohyun had dropped on him just prior. Sitting at the conference table he placed his head in his hands. At least now he knew why Seohyun had been so moody lately. It was just too soon. She was trying to get her own business off the ground, and the fall was a particularly busy time for CNSDCorporation as well as for him andSeohyun. They hadn't really had time to enjoy one another. Besides, they had planned to wait two more years before they had children. Why didn't she followed the plan?

Juniel stuck her head around the corner, having led the visitors out of the complex, "Yonghwa-ah, are you sure you're okay?"

Yonghwa nodded disheartened, "Yeah." He sighed, "I'm alright. Sorry about what happened; I wasn't at my best. I just hope it wasn't too obvious."

Juniel grinned wryly, "You seemed a bit preoccupied. That's not so bad. It actually allowed me to get in some well needed practice. Overall, I think they thought you were just training me. I think it turned out to be a good thing." She looked at the sad expression still lingering around his eyes, "Well, if you need someone to talk to, you know where I am." She allowed the invitation to hang open as she always did.

Yonghwa smiled wryly up at her. She had been a good friend. Even though Seohyun’s moods had strained their relationship lately, he could always rely on Juniel to be the same. A sudden page by Krystal, alerting him that he had a call on line 17 precluded his saying anything on the subject.

Standing, he reached across the large conference table for the phone, "This is Jung Yonghwa." He spoke into the receiver.

Juniel was leaving the room when she heard Yonghwa's sharp inhalation. She turned to see that he'd gone at least 3 shades paler.

"Which hospital?" He asked in a choked voice. A moment later he slammed the receiver down and was out of the office passed Juniel like a shot.

"Yonghwa-ah, what's wrong?" She called after him but to no avail. She doubted that he had even heard her. She rounded the corner into the reception area just as Krystal jumped out of his way. The woman's worried gaze looked with hers.

"Was that Seohyun that called?"Juniel asked. Something seemed terribly wrong here and she meant to find out what it was.

"No."Krystal thought back to the phone call, "Actually he introduced himself as Lt. Ilhoon with the city police dept. I thought it had something to do with the radar equipment or something."

Juniel shook her head, "No, that couldn't have been it. Yonghwa was pretty shaken up by whatever they told him. In fact, I think he's going to the hospital. I just don't know which one."

Krystal's eyes widened and she gasped in horror, "The hospital, how do you know that?"

"I heard him ask." Juniel said, "And Yonghwa was as white as a sheet when he asked it, too. Something is very wrong here, Krystal."

"I hope it's not Seohyun." Krystal breathed a small prayer, "Whatever it is, we're going to have to wait for Yonghwa to tell us."

"I guess you are right." Juniel said, "I certainly hope it's nothing serious." She headed down the hall towards her office, but neither she nor Krystal could keep their mind off whatever it was that was happening with Yonghwa.

Yonghwa parked in the emergency room parking lot. By the time he arrived in rush hour traffic it was getting dark. He jogged up to the glass doors and stopped short. He could do this, he told himself, raking a hand through his hair. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he entered the emergency room.

A central desk sat at the head of two corridors leading off in the opposing directions. He approached the desk, "I'm Jung Yonghwa, my…my wife Jung Joohyun had an accident and I got a call, saying she has been admitted here. Where is she?" Yonghwa asked.

The heavy set nurse behind the station looked up at him, "Just a moment, Sir." She said, picking up the phone. She spoke so softly into the receiver that Yonghwa couldn't make out what she was saying. A minute later, she hung up, telling him that someone would be coming down to meet with him, all the while she was writing on a clipboard.
Without missing a beat, she handed the clipboard to him, "Please fill out on this forsome informations."

Yonghwa numbly nodded his head as the woman began to ask questions, "Do you have insurance Mr. Jung or will you be making other arrangements?" The nurse asked. She had obviously asked the same question many times before that very day.

"Yes, I have an insurance card." Yonghwa answered.

"Would you mind removing the card from your wallet, sir?" The nurse asked.