Chapter VIII: The Trade

"I thought Dara-noona was coming?" Sanghyun asked as Jiyong walked into his room.

"She fell asleep, so I came to keep you company." Jiyong showed him the two coloring books and a box of crayons and markers he brought with him.

"I thought we could color together until she woke up."

"You know how to color?" Sanghyun asked with a doubtful lift of a nonexistent eyebrow.

Jiyong nodded as he wheeled the tray Sanghyun normally ate on over to his bed.

"I'm an Ad executive. So I color with words as well, that I do." He placed the books on the table and waited for the boy to pick one.

"When did your teacher leave?"

"Not long ago." Sanghyun said as he flipped a book open and leafed through the pages.

"Did you two have fun?" Jiyong sat beside Sanghyun and set the now open box of crayons on the table.

"What did you two do?"

"She read me a few stories and then we played with finger puppets." The boy smiled and wiggled his index fingers.

"It was fun."

"What was your favorite story?"

Sanghyun stopped at a picture of a boy flying a kite at a picnic and reached for a red crayon.

"Ummm, I liked the one about the girl who went onto the three bears' house."

"Ah Goldilocks."

Jiyong nodded his head and Sanghyun looked up at him in surprise.

"You know that story?"

Jiyong puffed out his chest comically. "Any self-respecting adult knows that story."

“Yeah but I hate porridge." The boy pulled a face.

"I think it's kinda like oatmeal."

"Yeah I don't like hot cereal all that much. I like cold cereal that I do."

"Me too!" The boy clapped his hands.

"I like fruity-O's."

Jiyong winced, not the healthiest of choices, but considering the boy was a ten-years-old.

"What about Life?"

"It's okay." The boy nodded

"Always had a good ad campaign."

Jiyong muttered. But the boy wasn't listening. He had already broken out the markers on the coloring book. Jiyong sat back and watched as the child carefully colored in the lines. After a few minute of concentration, Sanghyun looked up and smiled.

"It's fun coloring with you. I'm glad you're going to be my new big brother, hyung."

Jiyong felt the same stab of panic the last time he had said that. But Jiyong calmed himself down. He was just a sweet little boy. A sweet boy who belonged to someone else. He couldn't let himself get too close. Not when he would be walking away in nine months.

"Look!" The boy held up the book showing off a red boy running on yellow grass with a purple kite in the air.

"That's wonderful, that it is. Perhaps one day you'll grow up to be an artist." Jiyong smiled as the boy grinned up at him. Sanghyun went back to work on his coloring but after a few minutes; Jiyong noticed that he was slowing down. Squinting, his breathing irregular, he finally slumped over his work, the marker in his hand slipping to roll on the table.

"Sanghyun? What's wrong?" A prickle of fear climbed up his spine.

"My head hurts."

"Do you think I should call the nurse?" Jiyong asked, climbing quickly to his feet.

"No." He said, but Jiyong left the room to get a nurse anyway. He wasn't going to take any chances.

"Nurse." He waved to a woman sitting behind the desk at the nurse's station. The woman stood up right away.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Sanghyun says his head hurts. I was wondering if he should be checked."

The nurse wasted no time, she quickly followed Jiyong back to Sanghyun's room where they found the boy curled up and crying. The nurse pulled out a thermometer and took the boy's temperature. She frowned and turned to Jiyong.

"Sanghyun has a fever; I'm going to call the doctor."

A few minutes later a gray-haired man walked into the room.

"I'm Dr. Forte" He introduced himself to Jiyong.

Sanghyun hardly seemed to notice that the doctor had arrived, he was curled up and whimpering as he rocked back and forth.

"I'll give his sister a call." Jiyong said. He wondered if he had made a horrible mistake by letting Dara sleep. He called her cell but could only leave a message. He hoped it was enough to wake the tired woman.

After calling, he sat by Sanghyun's side as the doctor took a look at him. The nurse ran about the room gathering some things together. She started some medication on what she called a central venous catheter.

"What’s going on?" He finally asked, unable to stay silent any longer.

"He has another blood infection." The doctor answered.

"We're going to start him on some antibiotics."

Jiyong took Sanghyun's small hand, hoping to comfort the boy and help him through his pain. As soon as he touched his cool flesh, the boy reached out and clung desperately to Jiyong.

"Please don't go." He begged.

"Stay with me."

The scene that greeted Dara when she rushed into the room nearly an hour later just about knocked the wind out of her. A nurse had intercepted her long enough to tell her that everything was fine, for now.

But Dara still expected to find Sanghyun crying, wondering why his Dara-noona was gone so long. Or perhaps suffering quietly while Jiyong paced the room, waiting for reinforcements.

Instead she found her new fiancé lying in the hospital bed with Sanghyun curled in his arms and they were both sleeping peacefully. CL sat in a chair next to the bed wearing her blue checkered work uniform and reading a magazine.

Dara stood there and allowed the panic she had felt during her mad rush to the hospital drain away in one deep breath. She stood there and tried to stop shaking, it had been a close call, but Sanghyun had managed to survive again.

CL's sympathetic smile from her chair told Dara that she understood.

Dara indicated Jiyong with a point of her head.

"I'm in real trouble here aren't I?" She whispered.

CL followed her gaze.

"If you want to call that trouble. It could also be your once-in-a-lifetime chance at happiness."

"Maybe." Dara shoved her hands deep in her pockets and gazed at the sleeping pair.

"He came here tonight on his own, you know. To baby-sit for me so I could sleep."

"I'd say that's pretty amazing."

"Yeah, considering he hardly knows us."

CL put her magazine away and sprung up from her chair.

"He has a lot of compassion in him."

She lowered her voice even further so Dara had to lean in to hear.

"Perhaps you should rethink your relationship a little bit. Maybe think of it as not so temporary."

Afraid that Jiyong might wake up and hear their conversation, Dara waved CL out into the hall.

A nurse looked up at them and smiled before going back to her work when she realized they didn't need her.

"I admit he has a certain appeal" Dara said softly.

"But I don't think it would be wise to see our relationship as anything but temporary. He's still in love with his dead wife."

"Time's on your side, Dara."

"Nothing is on my side; except for how fiercely Sanghyun is trying to hang on to life. Besides, you should see what I'm up against…His last wife was."

She let her breath out in a soft whistle. "Wow."

"Pretty huh?"

"More than that. You could tell from her picture that she was well-adjusted, fun-loving, graceful...everything."

"You got all that from a photo, Dara?" CL scoffed.

"It's easy to idealize the dead. She's not here to prove anyone wrong."

Dara motioned for her to keep her voice down.

"Don't you think he idealizes her?" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

"I can't compete with that."

CL grunted. "I don't care what you say, no one's perfect."

"Yeah I know that." Dara snapped.

"But do you think he cares? His heart tells him differently."

"I think KwonJiyong is smarter than you think."

Dara glanced down at her white shoes as she thought, then decided to change the subject.

"How long have you been here?"

"Just a few minutes, the store closed early today. But things had already calmed down by the time I got here."

"Did you get to meet Jiyong?"

"No, he was already asleep with Sanghyun when I got here. The doctor told me you were on your way so I thought I would wait."

Dara wanted to tell CL that she took a lot for granted from a man she had never met, but CL was usually right about people, so she kept silent.

"I'm glad you're here. It's good to see you and-"

Dara fought hard not to squirm.

"-I need my house key, I'm locked out."

CL didn't say anything, but the look she gave her friend put Dara on the defensive.

"Well if Jiyong hadn't let himself in my house on two