The Day Taeyeon Knows

Kwon Jiyoon makes Taeyeon follow her into her car. A modified Range Rover that seems so out of place on this side of the country. When the car brings them to the dock, Taeyeon's eyes go wide. Docked calmly beside Haepung Hospital's humble operational boat is a huge boat. A yacht that, more than the car, looks too luxurious to be here.

Please don't force me to get abroad. Taeyeon whispers to herself. A wild scenario of Kwon Jiyoon's maids throwing her out of the yacht plays in her mind. Her eyes follow the two maids as they get out of the car first. One of them pushes a button and a ramp slides out from under the car. When the other offers a hand to help Kwon Jiyoon out of the car, the medical magnate simply shakes her head and gives them a sign to close the car door.

Taeyeon sighs. Trapped inside a car with Kwon Jiyoon is not a very good idea either.

"What do you actually want?" From her wheelchair across Taeyeon's seat, Kwon Jiyoon stares out into the bright ocean through the one-way view window. "Why can't you stay away from my grandson?"

"I just...." Taeyeon takes a deep breath. This is hard. She hasn't even confessed her true feeling to Jiyong yet. "I don't know. Maybe Jiyong and I are not meant to stay away from each other. Maybe we're in love."

"Don't hide behind the facade of love." Kwon Jiyoon slowly turns her head, staring into Taeyeon's eyes. "You and Jiyong. Your best friend and Jessica. It can't be a coincidence. I've run a background check. I know everything now."

"What do you mean?"

"Just tell me the sum. I'll have the money wired to your account before the yacht leaves this dirty shore."

"Money?" Never Taeyeon had ever felt this offended. Inside her chest, her heart drums in anger. "You think I'm after Jiyong's money?"

"If money is not on your mind, do you want my life in return instead?"

"Huh?"

"Yunho was just a ploy, wasn't he? A window for you to take a peek into my life. Now you've got inside and seen who's actually matter to me, you want to destroy me through my grandchildren."

"What? Why would I want to destroy you?"

"I admit my wrongs." Slowly, the old lady reaches under her silk shirt and takes out a pink satin pouch. "I've tried my best to do good but things seem to go out of hand often. I'm sorry if you and your family fell into some of the mess I had created."

"Martina has gone." She clutches the pouch against her chest with one hand and uses the other hand to reach under the armrest of her wheelchair. "Jiyong and Jessica are all I have now. I beg you not to hurt them."

Taeyeon freezes in confusion. Laying still on Kwon Jiyoon's palm, shining in contrast against the dark brown leather interior of the car, is a stainless steel syringe.

"Put your revenge on me, Kim Taeyeon." The old woman holds out her hand. The silver needle is gleaming on her palm as the wheelchair takes her a few inches closer to Taeyeon. "Inject me with this and I'll die of cardiac arrest in an hour. No one will suspect anything but a usual heart attack."

"I don't understand." Taeyeon, sitting uncomfortably on her seat, looks at the syringe in horror. "Why do you want to die? What revenge you are talking about?"

"You've come too far to throw in another lie, Kim Taeyeon. Just do it. Let me apologize to your mother in the afterlife."

"My mother? What my mother got to do with this?"

"Stop acting like a fool. Do it." Kwon Jiyoon grabs Taeyeon's hand and crams the syringe into her fist.

"No!" Scared, Taeyeon throws the syringe fall onto the carpeted floor. "Are you crazy?"

"I AM crazy ." Slowly, Kwon Jiyoon bends to retrieve the syringe. It's too far though. Her body slides in a muffled thud into a kneeling position on the car floor. "I've lost everything. Everything but my grandchildren. Now that you've won their hearts, can you just let them be happy and has your revenge on this old woman."

"I don't understand, Mrs. Kwon." Taeyeon bends down to help but Mrs. Kwon swats her hands away. "Please, let me help you up so we can talk about whatever this crazy stuff is."

"You really don't know?" She grabs the syringe with her right hand."You didn't come for me?"

"No." Taeyeon, grabbing the edge of the seat, once again trying to help the lady up. "Come on, now. Let me help you up."

"It doesn't matter. It ends with me anyway." With those words, Kwon Jiyoon tries to jam the needle into her vein. Taeyeon yells, grabbing Kwon Jiyoon's hand. She ends up knocking the old woman onto the floor. They tangle between seats in a fight for the syringe. Taeyeon has no choice but to scream for help.

"What are you doing? Get off of her!" Jessica barges into the car, forcefully pulling Taeyeon out of the car and pushes her to the ground. "Get off my grandma!"

" I was trying to help her." Taeyeon can feel someone helping her up from behind. Turning her head hoping to see Jiyong, her eyes meet Yunho's worried expression instead.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" With his usual caring touch and soft gaze, Yunho puts a hand on Taeyeon's shoulder.

"Your grandmother tries to inject herself with this." Shrugging Yunho's hand, Taeyeon holds out the syringe in her palm. "I don't know what it is."

"Liar!" Jessica yells from inside the car while helping her grandmother back onto the wheelchair. "I saw you attacking her."

"Why would I? I was trying to stop her."

"Dad, call the cops!" Jessica gets out of the car directing a very angry glare at Taeyeon. "I don't believe her words."

Whipping her head to see who's Jessica talking to. Taeyeon's eyes meet a much older yet more handsome version of Yunho standing a little bit to the side. She recognizes the man as Jung Jaehyun, Yunho and Jessica's father; one of the most prominent figures in this country.

"I think you should believe her, darling." The man comes close to see the syringe in Taeyeon's hand. "The silver bullet can't be obtained just like that by a nobody."

"The silver bullet?" Taeyeon stares at the silver syringe in her hand.

"Yeah. A myth from war. The ultimate silent killer. It's only deserving of Kwon Jiyoon, the war heroine, to possess it. Was your secret husband that gave it to you, mother-in-law?"

"Shut up, Jaehyun." On the softly-whirling wheelchair, Jessica's grandma gets out of the car. She calmly fixes her silk tunic while staring coldly at her son-in-law.

"Oh, come on, dear mother. Most of your secrets are out already." The man throws a sinister smile. "Whatever new secret you were trying to create in this car has certainly met its abrupt end so why don't we just move along and pay Martina our last respect. I have a lunch meeting I need to attend after this."

"Don't you dare to mention my daughter with your filthy mouth. No one invited you anyway."

"Your dear granddaughter did."

"Dad, please. Stop." Jessica begs. It's so easy for Taeyeon to see the tears threatening to fall from the ice princess' eyes. She hates this, getting caught in their family issue once more.

"Grandma, are you okay?" Jessica shifts focus to her grandma, gently reaching to check the old lady's pulse. "Let's get you some rest."

"I'm fine. Leave me and Dr. Kim alone."

"But-"

"I said leave us alone."

Yunho's father laughs, grabbing confused-looking Yunho by the shoulder and lead him to the dock. Taeyeon gapes, eyes following the two maids who also gracefully walk away. This can't be it. She can't be left alone with crazy Mrs. Kwon once more.

"Grandma...." Jessica stares at the syringe still sitting in Taeyeon's hand.

"Go, Jessica. Prepare the ceremony for your mother. I don't want to be on the same premise as your father for too long."

"He deserves to say goodbye to mom too."

"I said go."

"Fine." Jessica walks away but stops in front of Taeyeon, taking the syringe. "This goes with me though."

Taeyeon can not agree more. The silver bullet or whatever it is shouldn't be put between her and Kwon Jiyoon. The last thing she needs right now is being accused as the murderer of Jiyong's grandma.

"You." Jessica hisses into Taeyeon's ear. "I don't know what's going on but let it be known that if you ever hurt my grandmother-"

"With all due respect, Dr. Jung." Taeyeon sighs. "I think it's more likely for your grandmother, the war heroine, to hurt me first."

Jessica says nothing, throwing her grandma a worried look over her shoulder before stepping out.

"I promise to return you in thirty minutes." Kwon Jiyoon looks at the slim leather watch around her wrist. "Only five minutes left so let's cut this short."

"Honestly, I can't agree more."

"Stay away from my family."

"If that includes Jiyong, I have to disagree."

"Don't be as stubborn as your late mother."

"Okay, you need to elaborate on that. What my dear mother got to do with this?"

"Just stay away from us."

While curiosity bubbles inside, Taeyeon chooses not to push forward. She'll get into this later. Right now, she just wants to stay as far away from the creepy lady.

"I can only promise that I'll stay as far away from you." She sighs, turning around. "Now excuse me, Mrs. Kwon. I have to assist in an important surgery."

"Don't let her get into your brain. We have a patient to save." Dr. Park skillfully makes a half-inch cut on the patient's belly while keeping his eyes fixed on Taeyeon.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Park." Taeyeon sighs, handing the laparoscope. "Mrs. Kwon just so...."

"Scary?"

"For the lack of a better word, yes."

"That was my first impression of her too." Dr. Park slowly inserting the fiber-optic instrument through the cut he just made. "Scary. Stern. Overbearing."

"Please don't tell me that you think she's actually kind. Jiyong keeps on saying that too."

"She is kind. In some ways. You have no idea how many poor medical students and patients she has saved. Want to try operating the laparoscope?"

Taeyeon nods, stepping closer and grab the handle of the device while observing the image on the screen above the patient's head. The laparoscope allows them to see into the abdomen without fully cutting the patient open which in turn giving the patient a chance of faster recovery. "How do you know her?"

"Her family rooted here. Kwon Jiyoon's mother was a fisherman's kid who lived on General Bang harbor by the south beach. Same village with my parents."

"Whoa. I thought Kwon Jiyoon is the descendant of a king or something."

"Nah. She started as humble as every one of us." Dr. Park laughs, making another incision a little bit to the left of the patient's stomach. "We were neighbors at some points of her fantastic life. Her kids and I were best friends in high school."

"No kidding. Her kids weren't schooled in some crazy expensive private school?"

"Nope. Same school as me. They lived here for a few years when their mother was giving hospice care to her old man."

"School buddies with David and Martina Kwon, huh? How cool was that? " Taeyeon points at the opening Dr. Park just made with his scalpel. "What's that last small incision for?"

"Grasper." Dr. Park stares at the image on the screen now. "David and I were on the same soccer team. Martina loved my late mom's fish stew more than anything her mother had ever cooked. I believe the great Kwon Jiyoon is still upset about that fact. Move the laparoscope a little bit to the right, please, Dr. Kim."

"Here?"

"Okay a little bit further." He quickly makes three more incisions. "What do you think? There's seems to be no colon blockage right?"

"No." Taeyeon looks up at the screen once more. It's easy to see the cancer as angry-red spots all over the colon surface. "The cancer spreads further than what we saw on the scan though."

"Yeah. It looks like we'll be removing most of the descending colon ." Dr. Park opens his palm and receives more surgical instruments from the scrub nurse. "Want to try dividing the sigmoid and rectum?"

"Of course. Does that mean I handle the splenic flexure and arteries too?"

"Down to the anastomosis, Dr. Kim. Might as well get you neck-deep in this." Dr. Park shrugs, gesturing for Taeyeon to takes over his spot as he inserts another device through an incision.

"Are you sure I'm ready to perform anastomosis on my own?" The excitement in Taeyeon's betrays the doubt in her question. She's been wanting to do this forever. Even as she weighs her own readiness, her feet already bring her to Dr. Park's side of the patient.

"I am not until you prove to me that you are."

Taeyeon grins, grabbing the handle of the laparoscopic bipolar scissors that Dr. Park has just inserted. "If I manage to prove that I'm ready, will you tell me a story?"

"About The Kwons? I don't think so." Dr. Park moves aside to hold the laparoscope. He moves it around a little bit to give Taeyeon a better view of the cancerous area. "Kwon Jiyoon has been the subject of so many medical myths of this country. I'm afraid I can't separate truth from lies."

"I'm just curious about how she knows my mom." Taeyeon, eyes on the screen, carefully makes her first snip to divide a blood vessel connected to the colon.

"She knows your mom?"

Cauterizing the blood vessel quickly, Taeyeon nods. "She dragged me into her extravagant SUV just to show me that my mother is somehow connected to her family."

"Wait a minute.... your mother? Didn't you say you were born on Pearl Island?"

"Yes."

"Please don't tell me your mother is Kim Heeja?"

"You knew my mom too?"

"!"

"Dr. Park! The laparoscope!" Taeyeon immediately stops moving the handle in her hands as the image on the screen turns dark.

"Sorry. My hands slipped." Dr. Park quickly recovers from what seems to be the biggest shock in his life. "Did you make any wrong cut?"

"I don't think so. I stopped immediately."

"Let's see." Moving the laparoscope carefully, Dr. Park sighs as the image shows a clear abdomen. "No bleeding. Good job, Dr. Kim. I was so afraid my clumsiness made you cut the colon into pieces."

"What was that about?"

Taking another deep sigh, Dr. Park shakes his head. "Let's just focus on the surgery."

Letting go of the instrument in her hands, Taeyeon looks up at the senior surgeon. "Dr. Park I can't just ignore what has just happened. You knew my mother and you know how she was connected to Kwon Jiyoon."

"Dr. Kim, come on."

"We almost butchered this patient's colon because of your reaction so either we both stop operating or you tell me what you know"

"Later." Dr. Park sweeps a look at the other people in the room.

"Promise?"

"Promise." Squaring his shoulders, Dr. Park nows has his eyes fixed on the screen. "Now carry on. Get all the vessels quickly so I can teach you how to take care of those lymph nodes."

"Yes. Dr. Park."

Mouth wide open, Taeyeon stares at Dr. Park in disbelief. They hide their conversation from others by choosing the silent backyard of Santa Clara Hospital but what Dr. Park has revealed feels like roaring thunder to Taeyeon's ears.

"It's the truth. I'm sorry."

"My mother and Jiyong's father? Really?"

"I saw the love blooms before my own eyes, Taeyeon. May I call you Taeyeon now?"

Taeyeon nods. Can not take the burden of truth standing up against the wall like this, she moves to the abandoned garden and sits on one of the stools made of flat stones. "I can't believe it. My poor