Despite the rain, with the low temperature and cool breeze he knew autumn has arrived. Before exiting the car, he had told his driver to return in an hour’s time. Walking into the decrepit school, he cannot deny how much this once venerable school has aged over time. He had come to this place very often but he never notice how worn out it had become. As he walked up to the flight of private stairs towards the classical music department building, he met with the Acting Head of School before he could step into the room that was specially designated for his usage.

“Young man, you are here again,” the fair lady in her mid-fifty walked up to him, “and you are always 15 minutes early.”

The man in a black suit bowed politely, “Mrs. Hwang, it’s been quite some time since we last met.”

Mrs. Hwang smiled before looking up to the taller man, “Indeed. So do I still address you as Mr. Do Minjoon even when there is no one around?”

He checked on his watch before turning to her again and asked “Mrs. Hwang, should we talk in the room?”

“She’s not coming for today’s practice so you don’t need to worry that you would bump into her at this hallway,” she said and almost instantly, she saw his face dropped. “I guess you have some free time to have a casual chat with me.”

He nodded with his usual composure and followed the older lady strolling towards the indoor garden. Taking a seat next to her, he asked “Mrs. Hwang had been with Yoon Hwa Arts High almost 20 years, right?”

“Yes, I’d been with Headmistress Yoon Hwa since the day she became the head of this school.” She turned to him with a grateful smile, “thank you, thank you for your sponsorship and donations to our school. It’s with your continuous contributions that we could keep the school and orchestra running.”

His heart was eased by her warm smile, “don’t mention it Mrs. Hwang, Headmistress Kim Yoon Hwa had always been a role model to me. I remember attending a career talk by her, till today; I still remember what she said that inspired me so much.”

She nodded, “she’s indeed a person that could inspire and influence people around her.” Looking up to the rainy sky through the glassed roof, “I miss having her here; I believe we could have achieved more with her leadership.”

Gently patting on her back, he assured “She would return very soon, I’m positive. Her condition has stabilized, isn’t it?”

“Yes, thank goodness her niece had been with her throughout the process,” Mrs. Hwang stated. Seeing the man beside her froze upon her mentioning Yoon Hwa’s niece, she smiled “speaking of her, you may have not say this but I’m pretty sure the reason for you making sure our school could still run as per normal, was because of her.” Folding her arms before her chest, she queried “you had been coming here without fail over the past 7 years, won’t you want her to know what you’d done all this while? At least give me a chance to show our gratitude to you, your real name.”

He lowered his head and smiled before shaking his head “I don’t need any special acknowledgement. All I need is only that room next to hers, that’s more than enough.”

Holding on his shoulder she uttered, “Your shoulder is very tense but sadly, she has emergency matters to attend to. Looks like nobody could ease your pressure for now.”

He just smiled, could not really recall when did he started to rely on her music so much to free his stressful mind from problems.

-

Running in from the main entrance of the hospital towards the lift lobby, she bumped and knocked on the people along the way with her violin case. Her heart was racing extremely fast upon receiving her brother’s urgent call when she was on her way for the orchestra practice. Before the lift doors open completely, she rushed out and ran towards the room right at the end of the hallway. One of the nurses almost shouted at her but she could care less, all she wanted at that second was to see her father.

Opening the door of the ICU ward hurriedly, the occupants in the room was surprised. “Yah, how could you just barge in so rudely, where are your manners?”

She bowed lowly in fear, “I’m sorry eomma I was rushing over and didn’t...I shouldn’t have just run into the room,” she stuttered.

“Eomma, she is just worried about appa. I just called her out of the sudden and sprang up to her on father’s accident, you can’t expect her to step into the room leisurely” the older guy held on his sobbing mother’s shoulders, turning to his sister he said “have a seat first, appa just came out from the operation theatre and the doctor is checking on him now.”

Leaning her back on the wall behind for support, she lowered her body and took a deep breath. After receiving her brother’s call, she had hopped on the cab and rush over. She could barely breathe normally. Feeling a hand reaching out to her violin case, she looked up to see her sister in law who had flashed a kind smile.

The older lady took hold of her violin case before patting on her back, “don’t worry, the surgery went on well. We’ll just wait for Dr. Ji to check on appa and brief us on his condition.”

“Taeyeon unnie, did something happen in the office? Something terrible must had happened that caused appa has attack,” she held on her hand, Taeyeon could feel the latter hands were trembling. “Jumyeon oppa is not answering my calls too.”

Taeyeon turned to her husband and noticed his signal; she smiled “that’s not what you need to worry. Everything will be fine, okay.”

She knew they would not be telling her anything. It had been like that since day one, no matter what happen in the family or to their family business, to her parents, she does not need to know or worry about it. All she needs to do is live a normal and ordinary life without worries.

After fifteen minutes, Dr. Ji finally came out from the ICU room. Removing his mask, he said “we found blockage caused by blood clot in Mr. Bae’s right brain and this has resulted swelling. We have cleared the blood clot and removed the brain tissue that has died due to lack of oxygen.”

“That’s ischemic ?” Taeyeon asked.

Dr. Ji nodded while fixing his specs before continuing, “Yes, Dr. Kim. Fortunately you all had sent him to the hospital in time for us to carry out the surgery. However, there may be aftereffect. At this current moment we can’t be sure on his condition yet until he is awake. Worst case scenario, Mr. Bae may suffer with paralysis on the left side of his body.”

Mrs. Bae sobbed even harder, “oh no, what are we going to do,” she held tighter onto her son.

“Doctor, how severe would it be?” he asked.

“We can’t be sure for now; we still need to carry out some tests before we could identify it. But that’s worst case it may not be that serious.” Dr. Ji stated positively. “Let’s wait for Mr. Bae to be awake. Due to the anesthetic, he may not be awake so soon. You all should get some rest.”

“Thank you Dr. Ji,” Taeyeon bowed and escorted him out from the ICU ward.

“Eomma, I’ll get Taeyeon to send you home to get some rest first.” When he saw his mother’s objected, “Come back at night, all of us can’t be here all the time. We have to take turn. Any of us falls sick, who is there to look after appa?” he reasoned.

“What he said is right, let’s go home have some rest,” Taeyeon wrapped her arm around Mrs. Bae’s shoulder before turning to her husband and murmured “Baekhyun-ah, we’ll come back at night with some toiletries. Take care of your sister, she’s in a bad shape.” He turned to his sister who was staring still at their father through the glass panel emotionlessly.

When they have left, Baekhyun walked up to the frail young lady. “Joohyun-ah,” his heart winced in pain the moment she looked up to him with her dejected face expression, “let’s go to the cafeteria I bet you have not taken your lunch yet.”

“But oppa, what if…”

Baekhyun cut her off “you heard the doctor; appa won’t be awake anytime soon.”

Joohyun nodded and followed him to the cafeteria. Placing the tray before her, he knew she wouldn’t have much appetite but he needed her to eat at least some light food. “The portion of the noodle is very small, don’t you dare to tell me you can’t finish it,” he passed the chopsticks to her.

Grabbing hold of the chopsticks, “oppa…” she eyed at him waiting for him to respond but to no avail. The older man knew what she wanted to ask. “Are you really not going to tell me a single thing? I am old enough to handle stress. How long do you all want to keep me in the dark?” she sighed heavily while putting down the chopsticks.

He could see tears pooling in her eyes, “Joohyun-ah, appa and I just want to protect you…”

“Protect me? Hiding everything from me is called protecting me?” she cut him off. “Appa is already lying on the bed and there’s nothing I need you all to protect. How long do you intend to treat me like a 16 years old kid? I’m 26 this year, old enough to even get married and have my own kids and here you are telling me that I need protection.”

It was the first time Baekhyun have seen her losing cool this way. He sighed “I’m sorry Joohyun…”

“I don’t need you to apologize, I just want to know the problems that we are facing and help in any way I could even though I may not be able to help much.” She lowered her head avoiding showing her brother the tears that are falling from her eyes, “in the past, Jumyeon oppa would still tell me how appa is doing in the office. Even he now is avoiding my calls.”