"Eomma, Appa, What happened?"
Her parents were startled after seeing their daughter barged in.

Her mom just looked at her and smiled 
" Seong Im calm down, I'm fine"

Jihyo tried to calm down after hearing her mother use her real name.  Seongmoon also left the room together with their father to give them space.

"What do you mean fine, then why are you lying here helplessly? Why did I hear from Seongmoon that you passed out?"

Gwija slowly sat down and Jihyo went to help her and also took her place on the chair beside the bed.  Gwija then looked at her like she was memorizing her face.

"Look, I won't tell you if you keep on getting angry at me"

"Fine just tell me, I won't get angry"

Her mother paused for a while then held her hand as she looked deeply into her eyes.

" You're right, I'm not fine. "
Her mother paused for a good minute and took a deep breath before continuing. 
" I have cancer, pancreatic cancer to be precise."

Jihyo couldn't process what her mother said. She has so many questions but she can't open to start. Her mother seems to notice and answered all her unsaid questions.

" Before you ask and call the doctors and make a fuss. It's stage four pancreatic cancer, It already spread out all over my organs, there's nothing we can do now. "

She just stared at her mother with furrowed brows, none of this is real, everyone is just playing jokes on her, but the thought of someone trying to mess with her using her family as a source of amusement seemed to be out of the question, she knew they wouldn't go this far making it worse for her as she realized that this isn't simply a joke.
She can slowly feel something stuck in making it difficult for her to talk, but she forced it down while trying to bring herself to ask the questions running around in her head.

" Eomma, Why -- I mean -- did you know all along? "

"No, I just found out two weeks ago"

" Then why didn't you say anything!"

"It won't change a thing."

" You don't know that! Why are you deciding all by yourself!"

Gwija sighed, she knew out of all of them Jihyo was the one who will be the most stubborn, hot-tempered, and will also be the one who will take this the hardest.

" I didn't tell you guys first, because I also needed time to accept it."

She saw a different glint in her mother's eye, It showed sadness for a second but was soon replaced by contentment as she looked down and a small smile appeared on her lips. She wasn't used to seeing her mother so vulnerable that It took over the anger she was feeling. Silence filled the room, both of them were lost in their own thoughts when Gwija decided to break the silence.

" How was your filming? I guess you finished early huh? How did you get here?"

Jihyo looked at her with disbelief in her eyes. She couldn't comprehend how her mother is trying to act like this isn't a big deal. She was still overwhelmed with everything making her filled with emotion rather than rationality. 

" Eomma How can you think of asking me that in the middle of all this! "

Seeing her moth