For the past two months, I had only two hours of sleep before the early hour by which I was to wake up. Today was no different.

I groggily dragged my body off the bed and went through my daily morning routine. In the bathroom, I met with a hideous reflection of my sleep-deprived face; the lack of rest had affected my eyes; noticeable dark heavy bags outlined their edges, giving me the look of a panda. After an internal argument with myself, I had finally donned what my brain had deemed the most fashionable clothes, my sleepless eyes visible beneath the many layers of makeup. Giving up on trying to veil them with eyeshadow, foundation and all other failing solutions, I set off to work. 

Arriving at the company, I headed to my desk in the finance department and prepared a few documents. By the time I'd finished, Mrs Baek, the secretary, came and informed us that the CEO wished to meet our department’s employees. I should have been delighted to be called to the meeting room and see Mr. Choi, even if it did mean that I'd have to prepare huge reports, but I wasn't in the mood to do anything; my problems were just messing up my life and state of mind.

Choi Seung Hyun, the young alluring president that has stolen all the female employees' hearts, was such a kindhearted man. Sure, I never hid the fact that I found him attractive but I was realistic; these types of people always marry into rich, wealthy families with hopes of expanding their own business.

When we reached the assembly room, Sajangnim was not there and I decided to put the reports in front of the members of our department, in front of the boss, and in front of his secretary. Sajangnim seemed to have been taking a while so I rested my head on the hard wooden table, using my slender arms as pillows. After what seemed like a few minutes, I was woken up by the obnoxious noise of throats being cleared. I raised my head and was startled to see Mr. Choi, along with all the other workers glaring down at me. Thoroughly embarrassed, I hastily shot up and bowed deeply. I hadn't meant to sleep, but I had been extremely fatigued.

“I am so very very sorry! Please forgive me! I’ll make sure it won't ever happen again!” I apologized while bowing multiple times and blushing.

Beside me was the our furious department director, “It better be the last time," he threatened. 

Two boring hours later, I made my way to the office to continue my monotonous work, only to be stopped by a deep voice, a voice that couldn't have belonged to any but Mr. Choi. 

He didn’t really address his staff members unless it was about work, and knowing that the meeting had just ended, it was a bit surprising that he would talk to me. I thought that he would merely ask for more detail on this month’s sales but I was completely wrong.

“Miss Lee, could I have a word?" 

I walked towards him nervously as he started speaking. 

"It's come to my knowledge that you've been getting more and more easily distracted from your duties. Of course, this is an intolerable form of tardiness. However, as this is your first time, consider this a warning; for now, I'll allow it to pass.” 

I’m screwing my career now, I thought. He must have been mad, but at the end, he let out a small reassuring smile. This was it; the beautiful smile that added beauty to his words. I had been certain that he was a simple, nice human being. I gave him a 90° bow and politely excused myself.

Later, when my work shift had ended, I did like the same as I had been doing for these past two months: I went to the hospital to see my mother before sneaking to my part-time job as a barista in a coffee shop. If someone from the Choi Corporation found out that I had another job, I’d have been fired immediately.

Upon entering the ward where my mother lay lifelessly, I did my best to greet her with a smile. My heart broke to see her gradually yet swiftly changing from the once smiling mother to a pale one who couldn't even move freely.

Ever since my mother had been diagnosed with heart failure and the doctor had said that she needed a heart transplant, I couldn’t sleep or eat; I was devastated. 

Why was it that the only remaining family member I possessed had to leave so early?

“Annyeonghaseyo Umma, how are you doing today?” I greeted as cheerfully as I could while sitting in the chair next to her bed. 

She looked over at me, and did her best to move her hand and place it on mine, letting out a small smile before saying, “I'm fine, so don’t worry about me. You've been skipping your meals, and you overwork because of me. I’m an awful mother. Please forgive me.”

I couldn’t bear to see tears freely flowing from her guilty eyes so I softly wiped them off her wrinkled face.

“Aniyo, Umma; look I gained two pounds! That's more than one kilogram! So don’t say things like that because you're the best thing in my life. I love you,” I disclosed in an undertone. I knew she was right; I had lost weight but lying was surely for the best.

Just then, the nurse entered the room, and told me to report to the doctor’s office; he had some important things to tell me. 

I made my way to his office, hoping to hear good news, so my way there was full of prayers. When I reached there, I knocked and entered to find the doctor sitting behind his desk, when he saw me, he stood and greeted me. 

Hoping to hear good news, I made my way to his office, praying with every small step I took. As I walked in, the Doctor stood up, greeting me,

“Ah, Miss Lee! I have some good news for you; we’ve finally managed to find found a matching donor organ!” 

Hearing the words drop out of his lips, I couldn’t maintain my tears from dropping. The word euphoria was not strong enough to describe the elated feelings that had burst inside my miniature body, filling it up like a multi-colored waterfall. I could only thank the doctor for his kindness.

However, bad news always has to accompany good news. But I think that I’m not destined to be happy in my life, when I was so excited, the doctor had to announce the bad news.

“ However, you should know that the cost of the procedure is quite hefty as a heart transplant will cost you $997,700. 

And you should also know that a heart transplant is a high-risk surgery that takes a patient about 6 months to reach full recovery. This surgery will take plenty of preparation to ensure a healthy, best-matching donor organ, as well as extensive recovery and follow-up procedures to ensure the patient’s prolonged health.”

No way! I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. The blow was huge and it had hit me full in the face. How on earth would I ever be able to gather this great amount of money? It was too expensive for me; it was just below $1000000, but I couldn’t let my mother die. 

After a moment of pure, tense silence, I pleaded to the doctor, “ Sir, don’t worry, I’ll do my best to give you that sum of money, but can you help my mother and allow her to do the surgery now?” I couldn’t stop crying; my tears of happiness had transformed to tears of sorrow, misery, and depression.

“ Sorry miss, I’m afraid we can’t perform the operation until you provide that amount of money. I suggest you’d pay the bill as soon as possible. Your mother does not have much time left.” 

I felt like my heart was going to stop beating now, how can they be that cruel and heartless? I left his office without saying anything with just tears that didn’t stop.

My heart practically stopped beating at his harsh words. How could anyone have been so cruel and heartless? I stormed out of the office, furious, tears streaming down my grief-stricken features.

Goodevening, hope you will enjoy this chapter,

I would like to thank lovejunsu for editing the chapter, and making it enjoyable.

And also a great person who when she read the description, told me that she had the same fanfiction's idea and gave me all her ideas, so basically that's a mixture between our ideas, but her ideas are more dominant, Thank you so much Playfulkissbof . Thank you for giving me your ideas.

And for the price of the procedure i didn't imagine it, it's from here go check