Junsu woke up and felt like something was missing; he looked next to him and saw empty space.

“Morgan?” he called out, panicked.

He hastily pulled back the covers, grabbed his pajama pants off of the floor and slipped them on.

“Morgan!” he shouted again. He checked the kitchen and the bathroom; she was nowhere in sight. Out of desperation he looked outside at the balcony; he saw nothing but a bird’s claw marks in the snow drifts.

He felt his stomach doing flips; he actually had butterflies in his stomach. He turned around to grab a shirt before heading out to look for her in the rest of the hotel when he noticed something that wasn’t there the night before.

On the computer desk there was a slip of paper.

He walked over to the desk and picked up the paper; he recognized Morgan’s hand writing.

“Hey sleepy:  I looked downstairs at the complimentary breakfast but thought you should eat something better. I’ll be back soon!! - Morgan”

Junsu laughed out loud at himself.

“She’s out getting food. That’s all! I really am losing it, .” Junsu said.

Relieved, Junsu took a shower and dressed in work attire; he had to continue his work with Henry Bishop at around noon.

He made the bed and sat at the foot of it; he flicked on the TV and channel surfed. After about 30 minutes of mindless surfing, he checked his watch.

It was 11:00 AM. He had woken up around 10 and he could only assume she had been gone earlier as her note joked at his sleeping in; “hey sleepy” was her wording.

He checked the wall clock to see if maybe his watch was wrong; no, the wall clock read 11:01 AM.

“She knows we have to be back with Bishop for noon….” He reassured himself.

He tried not to feel anxious; it really wasn’t like her to push time this way.

Junsu switched off the TV. He got up from the bed and grabbed his coat and put on his shoes. He left the room and entered the elevator and pushed “L” for lobby.

As he listened to the soft elevator music he thought of the night’s events. He caught himself smiling and his heart beating quickly.

“Ah, what am I going to tell Sara…” he murmured to himself.

The elevator doors opened and he walked to the seats in the lobby. He figured he would sit and catch her as she came in; they could eat in the car or at Bishop’s office.

He sat reading a Reader’s Digest magazine and waited. He waited some more. He flipped through pages he honestly didn’t read and looked at sentences that weren’t really registering in his brain.

He checked his watch; it was 11:30. Now he was anxious. She hadn’t even called…had she?

“God I’m stupid.” He thought, as he pulled out his cell phone. He saw the light flashing. He flipped open his phone and saw he had a voicemail message.

He dialed into his voicemail box and listened.

His breath caught in his throat and he clenched the phone tightly. He shut his eyes, as though trying to push away reality.

“No….this can’t be…happening” he said, his voice hoarse.

The voice mail message ended and he snapped his phone shut, violently.

He rested his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands. He stared down at the floor, unblinkingly. He took a deep breath in and held it…1…2…3 seconds, then let it out in a rush.

Junsu flipped his phone open and dialed the number for Bishop’s office.

“Henry Bishop’s office, Michael Stevenson speaking; how may I help you?” said the assistant Morgan had been training.

“Kim Junsu here; tell Bishop I won’t be making it in today….Morgan won’t be either. If he absolutely needs to know why just tell him that I’m at St. Vincent General Hospital, okay?” Junsu said emotionlessly.

“What…what?” Michael stuttered. Junsu heard some fumbling and he could guess that timid Michael had almost dropped the phone.

Junsu sighed. He didn’t have the heart to be brusque with the assistant; he was a nice boy and he seemed to have taken a liking to Morgan. Junsu decided to explain it to him.

“I don’t know the whole story, Michael. I listened to my voicemail and all I know is that an ambulance rushed Morgan to the hospital about an hour ago. They called me because my number was the first on her cell’s speed dial…..” Junsu died off.

His heart broke at that detail. It was cheesy but it was true that people programmed their closest friends and loved ones on their speed dial, usually in order of importance.

He heard Michael gasp in shock.

“Michael, I’m sorry but I have to go. I need to go see her, okay. I need to…” Junsu said. His voice sounded strained.

“Yeah, of course…” Michael trailed off.

Junsu hung up the phone and rushed out of the hotel to his car. He strapped his seatbelt on and sped away towards the hospital.

Junsu parked at the first available spot he saw; he wasn’t sure he could remember this later on, everything was a blur to him. He simply needed to get to Morgan’s side. He needed to see her face and hold her hand. He needed to know that everything was going to be okay.

He reached the Emergency Room’s front desk and stood anxiously waiting for the nurse to acknowledge him. After a moment or two, Junsu’s anxiety got the best of him.

“HEY!” he shouted at her.

The nurse looked up from the chart she was making notations in; she raised her eyebrow at him.

“I’ll ignore the tone of your voice because this is the Emergency Room. How can I help you, sugar?” she said calmly.

“I need to know where Morgan Blake is. She was brought in, via ambulance, about an hour ago” he blurted out.

The nurse walked quickly to the log sheet the paramedics sign off at to make sure Morgan’s name was there. She stooped down to type at the computer nearby.

“She’s up at Intensive Care. Go down the hall and to your left, you’ll see elevators. Take them up to the 4^th floor. It’ll be room 413” She rattled off.

Junsu, against his better judgment, felt a tad annoyed at how calm she was. How can she be so calm? Morgan was in the Intensive Care unit. Intensive!

“Thank you!” he said, hurriedly.

He ran to the elevators and jammed the button for the 4^th floor. The doors opened and he looked around hectically; odd numbers to the right. He walked down and saw room 413. He was about to walk in when an orderly spotted him.

“Excuse me, sir!” the orderly said.

Junsu turned to look as the orderly walked towards him.

“Sir, you can’t go in without checking in first. A lot of patients are in too critical of a condition to be visited. Come with me; let’s go to the reception desk.” The man said kindly.

“How did you know I wasn’t checked in?” Junsu asked curiously.

“The badges they hand out are ridiculously noticeable” the man bluntly stated.

The two reached the reception desk and the orderly spoke quietly with the nurse. She nodded her head and walked up to Junsu. She brought with her the sign in sheet and a large cue card sized, fluorescent green paper encased in plastic and hanging off a string. Big bolded letters shouted “VISITOR” to all who read the card. Junsu assumed the string was so that it could hang from his neck.

“The orderly tells me you’re here to see Morgan Blake, in room 413; sign your name next to hers and write the time. This badge needs to be visible on you at all times.” She handed him the sheet and the badge.

Junsu signed his name next to Morgan’s and took the badge; he hung it around his neck.

“Okay, so let me go over a few things with you before you go in.” the nurse said.

Junsu leaned forward so he was sure to not miss a single word.

“Miss Blake was picked up by paramedics after they received a call from a bystander on Rene Levesque Boulevard. It seems Miss Blake was hit by an SUV as she was crossing the street.” The nurse said, quietly.

“Was she crossing out of turn or what?” Junsu asked, his voice raising a few octaves above normal.

 “They’re not sure. A few bystanders say that the crossing light was on; others say that she wasn’t paying attention and it wasn’t on. Either way, she was hit and the driver left. Don’t worry; the police are looking into who hit her.” She quickly added once she noticed the anger flash in his eyes.

“What’s the damage like?” Junsu asked, hesitantly. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

“She’s in a lot of pain. She has broken ribs; her left shoulder was dislocated when she came in and there are fractures to her left leg. She also has some pretty severe lacerations along the left side of her torso.”

Junsu flinched at every detail the nurse mentioned. By the time she reached the end of her list, Junsu was ready to personally find the driver responsible.

“What about her head….?” Junsu asked. He knew head injuries were usually the most serious.

The nurse sighed, sympathetically, “She suffered a mild concussion and we are checking her responsiveness to see if there’s any brain damage. Unfortunately, we can’t move her right now for fear of off-setting her bones or having a bone puncture something vital. The lacerations are pretty deep too and we don’t want to rip the sutures. Once the condition of her fractures and breaks and lacerations is more stable, we’ll take her in for an MRI. Don’t be too worried though; her responsiveness and alertness seems well within normal range. We’re not too worried about head trauma.”

Junsu felt like he could breathe a little easier. His chest had felt constricted since he started speaking with this woman!

“Can I go see her?” he pleaded.

The nurse nodded and Junsu practically flew to Morgan’s door. Once at the door he took a deep breath to brace himself.

He opened the door and quietly walked in.

There were machines beeping and little plastic tubing sticking out of her arm. Morgan laid there completely motionless, except for the steady and almost imperceptible rise and fall of her chest.

Junsu felt a lump in his throat. Was it all a dream? Was it really only the night before that she had been so alive; so vibrant? This pale and heavily bandaged body; was it really her?

He walked towards her, afraid that he would harm her by being near but unable to stay away. He stood at her side and looked down at her. She seemed so fragile.

Gingerly, he reached out and caressed her cheek.

“Morgan, oh dear Morgan….” He whispered.

He stood listening to her ragged breathing, watching her chest rise and fall with each and every breath she took.

“You have to be okay; I need you to get out of this perfectly fine. I need you…” Junsu trailed off.

He moved away from her to reach for a chair. He brought the chair and placed it as close as possible to her bedside. He sat and reached for her hand. He held her hand and leaned forward; his forehead resting against the hospital bed’s side railing.

He closed his eyes; his thumb circling gently against her hand. He began to pray, in his mind, as he had never prayed before.